How things have actually happened

On Monday, I posted our menu for the week. A few things have changed since the menu was posted. First, I was sick on Tuesday, so we ate Monday's leftovers on that day. Second, the chicken we got from the farmer was smoked already, so it did not get turned into sticky chicken, lol. And, since smoked chicken isn't my favorite thing in pot pie, we had it with BBQ sauce on buns on Thursday.

Also, at the market, we found a few things we weren't expecting that we have worked into our meals this week, most notably, a cantaloupe- yummy! We've been snacking on it all week. Plus, we found locally grown blueberries to use in our blueberry muffins, which have been delicious. I think I'll probably freeze the muffins we still have so that they we can eat some next week.

I also made homemade hummus for the first time in a long time. It turned out wonderfully. A week ago, I soaked then cooked the dried chickpeas in the crock pot (love that crock pot!). They were frozen in1 cup packages. Yesterday, I pulled one out, defrosted it then used it in this recipe (adding water since there is no canning liquid). This recipe calls for peanut butter, but I used tahini paste instead. We snacked on it yesterday and will have the rest tonight with supper. Tonight's supper will be the last of the pastured chicken with hummus and veggies for dipping and tabouli using parsley from the garden and onions , cucumbers and tomatoes from the farmer's market.

Summer's bounty has made it really easy to eat locally grown this week.

Garden Pictures

Yay! I think I've figures out our picture problem. Here are some pictures of the garden. The first is from the second week of May and the second is from today. Things change pretty quickly this time of the year :o)



And here is a close up of one of the tomato plants it is in the top left block and is in shadow in the above picture.

Oh, the today's picture shows that we put "mulch" in the path and around the outside of the garden. This was done this morning and N was my helper - he was a great help!

WFMW: Getting Your Kids to Eat Veggies

I'd always read that getting your kids involved with growing and preparing veggies would help encourage them to eat those veggies. My oldest is a very picky eater. He likes (and consequently will eat) exactly one vegetable: broccoli. Now I know, if he's going to like only one veggie, broccoli is a good one, but as his mom, I can't help but want more for him. Getting him to try new things is a struggle to say the least. Experts say that getting them involved in the preparation will encourage them to try new things. For years, I'd tried having him "help me" prepare supper by opening the bag of frozen veggies and putting them in the sauce pan. I wondered why he would help me, but still not eat what he was helping me prepare.

Things have been different lately and I think I know why. As of yesterday, he proudly boasts liking 4 veggies (and he's genuinely excited). The first is, of course, broccoli. The second is carrots. Here's how it happened. I asked for his help pulling the carrots out of the garden, then washing them off before bringing them into the house. Once he had them inside, he asked if he could cut off the tops and help peel them with the veggie peeler. After he'd done that, he asked if he could taste one (gasp!). "Ummm. . . yes, of course (trying to sound casual)." Turns out, he likes carrots :o)

A few days later, this same scene was repeated with cucumbers.

And yesterday, we bought sweet corn at the farmer's market (yeah, I know - a kid who doesn't like corn - whats up with that?). I wasn't even planning to prepare one for him since he doesn't eat them, but he asked if he could help me shuck, so I said, "yes". While we were shucking and talking, he casually mentioned that he'd like to eat one, too. So we prepared one for him and he ate it!! :o) And he loved it!

I think the key to making this work is growing or buying the least processed veggies possible. I think it is the act of growing, harvesting, washing, shucking, peeling that makes them want to try it. And I know he won't love every veggie he tries, but I'm going to keep asking for his help and hoping he'll try more new things. After all, we have sweet peas to harvest today.

Visit Rocks in My Dryer for Works For Me Wednesday

Baby Praying Mantis in the garden!

It looks just like this baby mantis on a blade of grass (I did not take this picture - I am still having trouble resizing my pics - any advice?). It is about 3/4 of an inch long and just adorable. I hope that finding one means there are more. Mantises are one of N's favorite insects so it was so exciting to see one in real life and not just read about one.

Here's a cute website that is linked in the Usborne Book Bugs. Click on the mantis's mug shot to read fun mantis facts. You can email me or leave a comment for more information about Usborne's Internet Linked Books.

Night Animals

We've recently enjoyed several evenings of night animal "visits". A few nights ago, we finally saw our owl and, we guess, it's young (there was an adult and a juvenile hunting together). They were so beautiful and the kids, especially, enjoyed seeing them.

We've also had fun chasing fireflies. Dh and I were commenting, as we chased bugs (all in the name of helping the kids, of course ;o) , that we'd not seen fireflies since we were kids ourselves. Are fireflies typically found in more rural location as opposed to in the city? I know that as a kid, I spent lots of time in the country at my grandparent's farm - I wonder if that's where I remember fireflies from. Hmm. . .

In addition, we got our first glimpse of the year of our bats. Two of them were out hunting mosquitoes (yay for bats!). Its fun watching them hunt. Last year, we had a close encounter with a bat - too close, in my opinion. You can read about it here.

To go along with our fun "nature studies", we've enjoyed a few Usborne Books including Night Animals. The kids always get so much out of our read aloud time when they have some practical experience with the things we are reading about. It was neat that there were pages about bats, owls and fireflies in the book and also fun websites to explore and extend the learning.

Squash in the garden

Because squash are supposed to be such prolific producers, we only planted one plant hoping to get enough from it for use now and some to freeze. I am especially fond of squash, so when it started flowering, I was thrilled. For a week now, it has been flowering and finally, yesterday, we had the first female flower. Since I've yet to see bees in the garden, I decided to pollinate it myself with a small paint brush. Here's hoping this is the first of many squash in our garden.

Menu Plan Monday- June 9

Last week, I tried something new for my menu. Instead of planning a specific meal for a specific day, I listed all of the meals we could make last week with the ingredients we had on hand. I also listed all breakfast items, lunches and snacks available. As the week went by, I would check the list a few times per day and make selections then scratch my choices off the list. This worked well for us, so I'm doing it again this week. Here's the menu:

Breakfast:

Baked Oatmeal
Corn Cakes and bacon
Eggs and grits (twice)
fruit cup with yogurt

Lunch (all accompanied by a veggie and/ or fruit):

PB and honey
grilled cheese sandwhich
Broccoli Cheese Soup
BBQ Roast Sandwhich (from freezer)
Turkey Slices wrapped in lettuce and dipped in ranch (oldest won't eat the lettuce)

Snacks (they usually have a morning and afternoon snack, so some may repeat):

Homemade bread with honey butter
Blueberry muffins with lemon glaze
carrot and cucumber sticks with dip
peaches
chocolate chip cookie bars
hummus and pita
smoothies


Supper:

"Crab Cakes" made with Tuna & white beans on dressed bun with cantalope
Pan Fried Tilapia (from last week's menu)
Roasted Sticky Chicken, squash, tomato and cucumber salad, peaches or plums for desert **
Chicken Pot Pie made with a biscuit crust
Leftover buffet

** This will be our locally grown meal for this week. See this post to read more about our eating local challenge.

Check out Menu Plan Monday for more menues.