CSA week 8

• 1 head cabbage (cone shaped, I don't know the name)
• 1 head napa cabbage
• 1 bunch of dill
• baby/medium carrots
• red kale
• 3 lbs cherries
• 1 pint blueberries

This week was rather productive. I made blueberry muffins with a crumb topping. The blueberries had just the right amount of tartness- delicious. I made a sweet cherry pie with an almond-coconut topping- amazing as well, the recipe is a keeper. I found both recipes on other blogs, and also on foodgawker.com

I got zucchini and peas from my uncle, and I plan on making a chocolate cake with the club-sized zucchini.

I also made some cukes sitting in a brine with the dill- I can't wait to dig into those pickles. I want to eat them all today, but my hubby loves full sour pickles, so we must wait. and wait.

I'm also waiting for my vegetable garden to come to fruition. We have some pepper plants that are just about ready to be picked, some green tomatoes, and the cucumber plants are going to explode as soon as I go on vacation, I know it. You turn your back, lift a leaf, and woah, there's a 12" cucumber. If my pickles turn out well, we will be eating a LOT of pickles. Yea!

Too bad I can't quit my day job to cook full time.

CSA week 7

Aargh! It's thursday already and I never posted last week's bounty! So here we go:

• 1 bunch of beets
• 1 bunch japanese turnips
• 1 bunch collard greens
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1/2 lb green beans
• 3/4 lb mixed salad greens
• 2 and 1/2 lbs cherries
• 1 container black raspberries

This whole healthy bounty is really having a positive effect on the way my hubby and I eat. We've been eating more fresh produce with every meal, simply because I would feel bad letting it rot and tossing it. It's a bit of a chore, but my body is feeling the difference. The other night at work I had chicken fingers for dinner. Deep fried, crispy goodness slathered with blue cheese dressing. They were delicious. An hour later, my stomach felt like crap. It felt so heavy; my body was saying "what is this foreign fried substance?" It was easy for my stomach to adjust to eating healthier foods, now I have to train my mind to ignore the scents that spur salivation (Homer Simpson style). I have grown up loving crappy, deep fried foods. I will never own a deep fryer for health reasons, but I feel like I could never give them up entirely. Maybe if I feel like crap enough times my mind will learn not to crave it.

-Healthy snack of the day- steamed green beans dipped in ketchup. They're not fries, but they were tasty and my body said thank you.

C25K

I started a new workout this morning- C25K, also known as couch to 5k. I've got the couch part down. It's an interval program where you gradually increase the running time (distance) while decreasing the walking time. Week one involves running for 60 seconds, walking for 90 seconds and repeating for 20 minutes, plus 5 minutes each warmup and cooldown walk.

I could never run. I was always jealous of people who could run and burn calories so efficiently. I would try and run, yet I could never make it past 5 minutes without complaining about something, usually abdominal cramps, my shins hurting, my inner thighs rubbing against eachother (if you're flabby like me you'll know what I'm talking about), always something. Reflecting on this morning, out of the 20 minutes, I was able to run for a total of 8 minutes. Of course I wanted to stop and walk at a comfortable pace. But how could I argue with myself when I kept saying "only one minute"?

According to the site if I follow the plan I can could be able to run 5k in 2 months, but they do allow you to repeat weeks if you're not quite ready yet. Wish me luck!

CSA week 6

So here's our latest assortment:

• 1 bunch beets
• 1 bunch of baby carrots (the real ones, not the ones that are shaped to look like miniature carrots)
• chard
• 2 bunches of lettuce- butter and red romaine
• escarole
• fresh sage
• Fruit share- 4 lbs cherries

I am very excited about the beets- I haven't had roasted beets for around 8 months, and the're so easy to make- rub them in oil, wrap them in foil and bake!

A self-proclaimed sucker for deals

The Buffalo News' discount diva has nothing on me.

I'm on the Discover card website to get my 20% cashback reward on my restaurant.com purchase. I see a link stating that if I blog about my experiences, I can get a $50 gift card? Heck yeah! Here's my entry!

It's simple. I log into discover's website. I click on the website link through the site. I do my shopping. I can even use other promotion codes, like emailed ones for free shipping. I pay with my discover card, and the next statement or two I get a bonus cash back reward, anywhere from 5-20% back depending on the site.

This past spring I went on a binge shopping trip at Lands End.com, and bought $379.14 of clothing (I know, I justified it by working overtime, and I love their fine gauge sweaters!). I used the code Lands End emailed me for free shipping as well, and when I received my bill at least when my husband said "you spent $380 on clothing???" I could respond "yes, but It came with free shipping and look, Discover gave me $38 cash back!"

It's a vicious cycle. The more I shop the more money they give me. I now have $100 in cashback rewards, which I can redeem for a credit on my account, or I can redeem it for $125 in gift certificates to Lands End (evil grin on my face :-).

I've gotta get back to more shopping!

CSA week 5

I'm suprised that my skin is not turning green with all the greens we have been eating lately, not that it ever turned the color of processed foods during the last few months. I do feel better about what I am eating, even though i can justify eating more bacon when served with the greens (bacon, arugula and tomato sandwich anyone?)

So here's what we got this week:

• 1 lb apricots
• 1 lb cherries
• 1 bunch japanese turnips
• 1 bunch mizuna
• 1 bunch napa cabbage
• 1 bunch swiss chard
• 2 romaine lettuces
• 1 bunch cilantro
• bonus- garlic scapes

I love how we are getting things I have never heard of before. Like Mizuna- yeah, it's one of those greens you'll find in mesculin mix

I also made vientamese spring rolls for lunch today- they were yummy, and I felt good eating something so healthy, so here's what went into them:

Vientamese spring rolls

-rice paper wrappers

-rice noodles, softened

-julienned cucumber

-scallions

-bean sprouts

-shrimp, sliced in half

-thai basil (from the 2nd plant; I killed the first one)

Dipping sauce:

-hoisin sauce

-minced ginger

-rice wine vinegar

-sriracha sauce

-light shake of sesame oil

These really should be eaten within an hour or so of preparing, which I had no problem with. I will definitely make these again.

CSA week 4

I'm falling behind! Thankfully it's mostly on the posting end, not on the eating end. We received our week 4 share June 25th, but I still wanted to let you know what we got:

• 3 quarts strawberries
• 2 lettuces (butter lettuce is my fave)
• 1 bunch of radishes
• 2 pounds of peas (english peas, thank goodness for tv when shelling these)
• 1 bunch of arugula
• 1/2 lb spinach (this was a swap for the bok choy)

At the end of the week the only thing we had left was about half of the arugula, still looking good. The week was a roller coaster week when it came to food. Sunday I made my hubby love me forever when I bought some rhubarb and made my first ever rhubarb strawberry pie (yes, emphasis on the rhubarb, as in 3 cups rhubarb and 2 cups strawberries), and I also created a lattice crust (thank you Pillsbury). The edge of the crust was overbrowned by a few minutes, but I was very proud of my first pie with a top crust, ever.

The low point came when I was eating a sandwich at work, and I had a "friend" join me. I made a turkey sandwich with buffalo wing cheese and butter lettuce (rinsed off under the tap). Halfway through eating the sandwich, a small worm, about 1 cm in length crawled directly on the teeth marks I left less than ten seconds ago. That was the end of THAT sandwich. I visually inspected the worm, and thankfully he was all there, meaning that reverse peristalsis would not be necessary. I called the hubby as I had made him a sandwich the night before as well, and he was already 2 bites into the sandwich and was willing to take the chance. He called it a bonus. My tech called it protein. I called it disgusting.

I thought about giving up the whole organic thing, but then realized there's probably worse stuff in all the processed food I eat. I just can't see it. From now on, every green will be triple washed AND visually inspected.