Loving the CSA, the Garden, and Cheese

I haven’t updated at all on our CSA adventure and thought it was about time that I should! We just picked up our fresh veggies from our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) for the second time this past Wednesday. We only purchased a half share, so we get our goodies every other week. And for us, it’s plenty!

Week One we picked up: Eggs, Collard Greens, Strawberries, Arugula, Red Russian Kale, Turnip Greens (we think), Endive (?), Spinach, Radishes, and Rosemary. And we made Strawberry Shortcake, stir-fried collards, stir-fried kale, a spinach and cheese quiche with rosemary, sauteed shrimp with Arugala, tomatoes and feta cheese, and Orange and Radish Salad with Arugula (a recipe that our CSA provided from Cook’s Illustrated). This salad left David and I with serious doubts, but I have to tell you… it was delicious! And if David will eat it, you know it’s good. The only items that ended up in the compost pile from week 1 were a couple of radishes and what we think was the endive… we weren’t sure because the CSA had our email wrong and we missed the email that explained (and I don’t know what endive looks like).

Week Two we picked up: Flash Collard Greens, Arcadia Broccoli, Hakurei Turnips, either Beet Greens or Bright Lights Swiss Chard (not sure which), Dinosaur Kale, Easter Egg Radishes (which looked bad when we got them), Mesculin Mix, Savoy Cabbage, Rosemary, and Lovage. So far we’ve made stir-fried collards with white rice, turnip soup using this weeks turnips and last week’s turnip greens (a dapted from the recipe “A Rough and Ready Turnip Potage” by Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors), and Moo Shu Pork from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food: Fresh Flavor Fast using the cabbage (pictured below). The recipe the CSA provided (that we have yet to try) is Chicken, Lentil & Chard soup. I hope my Chard makes it until I can try this recipe because it has been looking rather lousy. I’ve soaked it in water for a full day and it’s looking a little better, but if I don’t cook it tomorrow, it may end up in the compost.

Needless to say, we are pretty happy lately with all the fresh veg. It has been so rewarding to try new veggies and put them to good work. We have enjoyed everything we’ve tasted so far (EVEN DAVID!). PLUS, we have also been harvesting our own veggies from the garden!

We made Jaime Oliver’s Beef and Vegetable Stir Fry yesterday using our own broccoli and peas from the garden, and I sprouted my own bean sprouts. We already have a squash that’s almost ready, as well as some hot peppers and baby green maters… so it won’t be long now! Our garden has been so rewarding this year… probably due to the fact that I paid attention to when things grow this time. It was about this time last year that I put in my garden (way too late) and we only had tomatoes and basil (no wonder… duh?!).

One other note of interest: WE MADE OUR OWN MOZZ CHEESE! That’s right… fresh and tasty mozzarella cheese from this kit: 30-Minute Mozzarella (which comes with enough to make over 30 batches). It was fun, rewarding and we plan to continue making it. Even David loved it, and he had his doubts. He couldn’t stop talking about how we made our own cheese… LOL! But of course, I didn’t get any pictures of any of this to show you… sorry (next time).

Our First Gourmet Club Dinner – Mexican

My Aunt Kris and I both wanted to start a Gourmet Club, like the one that my Nana is in… so I started us off with an “Ocho de Mayo” Mexican Fiesta this past Saturday! It was so much fun and already I cannot wait for the next one. Here’s the dishes that everyone brought (I linked to their recipes online if I could find them). And if you mouse over the pictures, you’ll see what other fun we enjoyed:

Erin & David – Chevy’s Mesquite-Grilled Fajitas (steak & chicken), Chipotle Lime Shrimp, Pico de Gallo, & Margaritas with a Pineapple Splash

Kris – Tortilla Soup & Sangria

Beverly – Avocado-Bean Salad

Melanie – Bean & Corn Salad and a Yellow Rice

William – Refried Bean Dip

Chris & Julie – Chile Chocolate Torte with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

Terri – she didn’t have time to make anything, but stopped and got a Mexican Pizza and Nachos to share.

Happy Birthday Brenner

Two years ago today we brought home the smooch pooch from our local animal rescue, and we couldn’t be happier. After work we will probably take him to the dog park, and maybe Canine Cafe for “yappy hour” for a doggie cake or cookie. We also have the dog bar where the dogs run wild and humans can have a drink.

We love our pooch and we’re so glad we chose to adopt him. We hope he enjoys today.

My Yard Sale Find

Todays yard sale find for $15. I love it.

My Garden Hoop House

Thought I would show the little hoop house I made to protect my lettuce, spinach, kale and broccoli using half-inch pvc pipe and recycled screen from our porch. It also gives these cooler weather crops a little shade and they are loving it!

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Today I planted a little kitchen herb garden… can you tell I’m ready for spring? I crammed in chives, cilantro, sage, thyme and rosemary. They sit on my kitchen table where they get a little light and where I can pluck off what I need when I’m cooking. I just hope I didn’t pack them in too tight where they’ll die. For now, at least it looks pretty.

Planted the Spring Garden

Yesterday David and I decided we better hurry and get in the Spring garden before it gets too warm, so we prepared the two beds and got the one on the left ready to go. We bought some broccoli plants to try, although I only wanted 2-3 and they came with nine, so I’m trying some in pots and two went in the other garden for now. We planted peas in one square, kale in three squares, spinach in two squares, green onions in one square, beets in four squares (because my dad sent my 4 different varieties), and lettuce in two squares. I also sprinkled some lettuce leaves in the other garden and I am hoping to have those grown and harvested by the time we put in the tomatoes and other summer veggies.

Here’s the garden plan:

And we are going to try a few different things this year… first, I bought a couple of soaker hoses so that I don’t need to use the sprinkler because they say you should water underneath the plant, not over it. Now I need to invest in a timer for the hose. Two, I went to Gardeners Supply and ordered some hoops, garden fabric (for when it gets cold and maybe to protect from bugs on some stuff), and shade netting (to try saving my lettuce in the summer). This way I can try to extend into all three seasons better. I will update on the progress of those later.

I still need to figure out what to plant in the Summer garden to the right, but I am quickly learning that I need another bed… which would bring us to three. David wants to wait until we get the drainage issue in the yard handled though… sigh. And so far our 5 goji berries and 3 blueberries are doing well and have started to bud… they are babies though and need a few years, but at least I know that the cold we’ve had didn’t kill them last week. I even took extra precautions by covering them with makeshift soda-bottle greenhouses!

We hung strawberries baskets!

How much do you think this cost?

I know you’re up past $20 or $30 by now. Would you die if I told you this cost me under $7.00?!

We have some friends who just bought a house and we wanted to do something nice for when they move in. I figured that cleaning supplies are pretty high up on the list of needs and sometimes you don’t know where you packed them, so I went to the store with my coupons and loaded up. It’s super doubles week at our grocery store so I really put my coupons to work.

Bounty Paper Towels: $ .50 (normally $1.99)
Joy Dish Detergent: $ .30 (normally $1.59)
Glass Plus Cleaner: $ .85 (normally $2.85)
Soft Scrub: FREE (normally $3.69)
Lysol Toilet Cleaner: $1.09 (normally $2.59)
Lysol Wipes: FREE (normally $3.19)
Air Wick Air Freshener: $ .50 (normally $1.19)
Fantastic Spray All-Purpose Cleaner: $1.75 (normally $3.35)
Air Wick Plug In Gel Freshener: $1.49 (normally $10.99)

TOTAL: $6.48 (would have been $31.43) I SAVED 80% and probably could have done better if I hadn’t bought a few things that weren’t on sale!!!

We bought a cleaning tote to put all this in today at Target for about $5, and I added a handful of garbage bags and we have a pretty great gift… at least I think so! We’ll probably get a few more items together but this just shows how you can put your coupons to work for you.

I also have a cousin that I am planning to do this for when she gets her first apartment, and I already have a stash of cleaning supplies stocked away for her in the garage. It just makes such a great gift because everyone needs cleaning supplies!

New Passion: Coupon Clipping

I have decided to learn the tricks of the coupon trade… which is going very slowly. This started because I have a few friends who buy over $100 in groceries and pay less than $10… I’m totally serious (they showed me the receipts). We’ve been getting the Sunday paper for a while now and I clip a few here and there, but I decided to take it more seriously. I took a few hours and went through the Harris Teeter sale flier and my coupons, and then David and I went to the store Monday night. We are not very efficient at this yet and may have gotten a few items we didn’t necessarily need (we got 2 sets of some plastic cups for .50 a piece), but we got some free sour cream and other great deals… check it out:

VIC Card savings: $32.28
Coupon Savings: $22.95
Total we paid for groceries: $48.59

We saved $55.23 which cut our bill just a little more than half! NOT BAD!!!

Then we went to Target and got cat food and dental products… I had a Target coupon for save $1 on Iams Cat food and a manufacturer coupon to save $1.00, and then I combined some target coupons with manufacturer’s coupons on toothpaste, floss, mouthwash, and 2 toothbrushes (which we try to keep on hand for guests)… Our final total for the bill was still about $28 but we saved $9.00 with all of our coupons.

So in one day of clipping coupons we saved $64.23!!! Not too shabby! So guess what I’m doing now? Planning my shopping trip because the sale fliers came out today and so far I have already spied where I can get free tortillas, some free yogurt, some cheap paper towels and toilet paper, breakfast bars, and frozen broccoli for 25 cents! This is worth trying, so give it a shot!