More recipes using my basket . . .

From this weeks Farm Fresh Basket I made some of the following recipes. I forgot to take pictures on some nights, but wanted to share any way.

Triple Berry Crisp (but I only had boysenberries, so I tripled them, ha!)
Lemon Garlic Chicken

Lemon Bars (actually Tim made these cause I was sick)

Creamy Red Pepper Soup This would have been awesome with some grilled Panini sandwiches, but everyone enjoyed it with the Chicken Tenders

Crunchy Parmesan Chicken Tenders



(Picture below)

Pasta with Mini Chicken Meatballs This was really great, the kids especially loved it. My lovely daughter Maddy helped me peel, chop, mix, etc. cause I was still under the weather. She is an awesome helper!
Herb Roasted Onions For me and daddy cause we LOVE onions. We made the kids try them, and they said they were good, but didn't ask for anymore. No prob, more for me!

Carrots were also in my basket this week!

So proud of my littlest dancer girl . . .

Happy Fathers Day!

Today we celebrated fathers day with a nice leisurely day at home. Daddy enjoyed a very deserved day of rest. Jacob, Madeline, and Emma fixed daddy breakfast. They did a good job! Jacob made a veggie omelet, Emma squeezed some oranges for juice, and Madeline put the fruit in bowls and set the table. Mom contributed a little by making potatoes and cutting up the peaches.

Then daddy took the three oldest to the park and played tennis with Jacob while the girls practiced soccer. Then spent the rest of the day swimming, or "resting his eyes" ha ha!


For dinner daddy got to pick whatever he wanted me to make. He chose these:
- Grilled Chicken with Basil Dressing
- Orzo Salad
- Zucchini Bundles (in foil)
- Sweet Dinner Rolls


and for dessert
- Italian S'mores


Here are some pictures - and I will note that all vegetables are from my weekly basket from Family Farm Fresh. Even the basil in the sauce on the chicken - yummy!!





We love you daddy! I love you Tim, you are the best, thanks for being a great husband and father, and thanks most of all for being my very best friend!

So proud of my little dancer girl . . .

This weeks basket . . .

I took out all my items from this weeks basket, and THEN remembered I wanted to take a picture of the basket. So I took the picture of everything from the basket, just minus the actual basket it came in. Man, are these oranges ever sweet. And since my family loves orange juice in the morning, I order extra so I can squeeze half for juice, and then we snack on the other half.

This week included peaches, pluots, cucumbers, summer squash, boysenberries, oranges, tomatoes, basil, onion, and lettuce. I also ordered eggs, almonds, and grape juice (which I used on our shaved ice at night!)

Community Supported Agriculture

For the past year or so, I have been trying to support our local farmers, especially since we live in the heartland of agriculture. I have been trying to shop at our local farmers markets, and fruit stands. This has been great, but hasn't always worked for me, with the busy schedules of four children, we weren't always able to go to the farmers market. About two months ago I heard about CSA (Community supported agriculture) and had wondered about it, but hadn't taken the time to do anything about it. Finally, three weeks ago I signed up with our local CSA, which is Family Farm Fresh.


Every Monday, I get one of these lovely baskets delivered to my door. Now, for me, this is like a miracle. I support the local farmers, I get great, fresh food, and they deliver it to ME! I got my first basket last Monday. It had oranges, blueberries, tomatoes, red onions, lettuce, radishes, summer squash, apricots, cucumbers, and scallions. I also ordered farm fresh eggs, and they came in my basket as well. I will take a picture of my actual basket next time.

I wanted to post some of the things I have made for our family to enjoy this week with food from our basket.
- Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables recipe from Giada De Laurentis

This is her picture from the website, I forgot to take pictures. I am getting better. From the basket I used the onion, the summer squash, the tomatoes, and a radish.

- Swedish Pancakes with Lingonberries by Emeril Legasse
I forgot to take a pic, dang it. There were no left overs. I used the farm fresh eggs for these melt-in-your-mouth babies! My Lingonberry jam was from my last trip to LA where we visited the IKEA. Pretty darned good.

- Fish Tacos by Tyler Florence and I made salsa with the onions and tomatoes

This is my actual plate. You can't see my homemade salsa very well on my taco, but it is there. I also used my lettuce from the basket, and oh, I forgot, I made a summer salad. I used the recipe by Rachel Ray. It is there on my plate. Very yummy! Here are my kids enjoying their dinner too!




- Blueberry Scones with Lemon Glaze by Tyler Florence


This morning I made these using the blueberries from my basket. I also used lemons from my friend Melinda's backyard, very yummy! Oh, and we had fresh squeezed orange juice from the oranges from the basket.

Just wanted to share, enjoy!

Being green #2

This wonderful little invention has allowed me to rid my home of aerosol cans of Pam, or any cooking spray. I just ordered a couple months ago, and now I am wondering where it has been all my life.

Just fill it with your favorite oil and pump it and spray. It is awesome! This way I can choose my favorite spray, Olive Oil, and know exactly what I am spraying. No unwanted chemicals, whoo hoo! I highly recommend the Kitchen Spritzer by Pampered Chef.

Being green . . .

For about a year now I have been in the learning process of being better at conserving energy, water, money, and recycling, etc. All of those things that no one ever taught me, and I have been embarrassed to admit that I really was just too lazy to start recycling, or worry about filling up our landfills. This past year God has opened my eyes in so many new ways, that I am finding pure joy and really having fun learning these new things. The first big change happened just after the baby was born, and I just was having a hard time paying for those diapers. I was getting sick to my stomach thinking about it. When I thought of cloth diapers, I would remember back to my babysitting days and think of pokey pins and plastic covers. When I started asking around about cloth diapers, I found a whole new world that I had never explored. To my surprise, I love using cloth diapers! I have a friend who so graciously passed on to me cloth diapers that I have been using, and this has been a HUGE blessing! She gave me Fuzzi Bunz brand, and they are my favorite. I have been using cloth diapers now for 9 months exclusively, except for our trip to Disneyland, and our anniversary trip. Why didn't I ever try this with my other three kids? I don't really know, but I will keep posting of my new adventure in the quest to be a better steward of all of God's provisions in this world. And with the super high gas prices, this is sorta fun! If you have never tried cloth diapers, go for it. Try it! Its really not as hard as it may seem.

The baby turned 1, whoo hoo!

Yesterday my baby boy turned one year old! So fun to celebrate his day and watch him be one. It was also fun to watch his siblings be so happy for him, kiss him all day long, and watch them get excited and laugh with him over his presents. His favorite part of the day - his ball. Hasn't let go of it since he opened it! Too funny! I love you little one -