Thinking Outside the (Gift) Box

Fresh herb plants and some fresh vegetables to go along with them for some special people...



Parsley, red & green bell peppers, zucchini squash, cherry tomatoes and basil




Parsley, red & green bell peppers, zucchini squash, cherry tomatoes and cilantro

Tuesday Night Dinner

Well, since Monday's earned rave reviews, here is Tuesday's meal in the works. Looks DELISH!

Black Bean Cocoa Quinoa 

Oh, yeah - it rocked. The boys liked it and I loved it! Being a vegetarian makes me more easier to please in the food department. Simplicity reigns, and I taste my food more than I did before. Not because I eat it differently - the tastes just stand out to me more. I can taste each ingredient in my food now, because I eat so much more simply. One of the many additional benefits I am discovering on my Veggie Journey!

Party of Six

Every Wednesday night, my sister, Jaime, comes to pick up her baby girl, Piper, from our house. We keep Piper with us on Wednesdays while Jaime is working at her internship for school.

When Jaime first gets to our house, the kids, Jaime and I all play together, visit, and laugh, a lot. Then by the time Dave gets home, dinner is started, or already in the works. Jaime and Piper stay to eat dinner with us before they travel home to get Piper's nighttime routine started.

I was saying just the other night how our weekly tradition of getting to spend time together reminds me of that old TV show title, Party of Five. Those five family members had a special table they all sat at to eat dinner together.

So we now have our own Party of Six tradition, and we enjoy every minute of it. I personally enjoy getting to do something to serve Jaime. Both of us have little ones, so schedules are something we have to stick to right now. That doesn't always leave me all the time I would like to serve my extended family. Serving dinner to her is one way that I can do that right now in this season of our lives. We enjoy sharing about our day together, the kids laugh and carry on, and since it is a night Dave is home, we all get the benefit of a real family dinner together at the table. Now, if we can just figure out a way to get Gary here... (his work schedule prevents him from being here on Wednesdays).

Blueberry Pickin' with Nana

The first of many times blueberries were harvested during our week's stay in Georgia. Drew loved the concept of field-to-table with his food!

Bounty from the Garden...

... of one of David's students. YUM-O! It would take way too many words for me to tell you why this was an extra special blessing this week and provision directly from the Lord.



*Missing from these photos are the yellow squash and green beans we devoured at dinner last night! :)

Little Taste of New Orleans

I had some short ribs in the freezer I bought on sale a few weeks back and was in search of the perfect recipe because they can be a tricky sort of cut to cook properly. And, along come the Neelys, with their easy recipe for short ribs.

I made a few modifications, based on what my time frame was and what I had on hand.

• 1/4 cup dry red cooking wine (instead of 2 cups)
• two fresh tomatoes, diced small (instead of a 15-ounce can of diced tomatoes)
• no thyme
• lemon zest (instead of orange zest)

1. I seasoned the meat with salt and pepper on all sides, and seared in olive oil for just a few minutes. Then I placed it in the bottom of my crockpot.


2. My chopped veggie ingredients (carrots, celery, rough chopped onion, tomatoes) were then added to the pan where I seared the meat. I then added the other ingredients and liquids as directed by the original recipe. Then I finished with a little lemon zest on top and 1/2 lemon's worth of juice.


3. All the ingredients from the veggie sauce were added over top of the meat in the crockpot. Set on low for 10 hours.


When trying to decide on a side dish, I was thinking about the wonderfully large bag of fresh cornmeal I have from Georgia and thought I would attempt to make polenta for the first time. I used Giada's Basic Polenta Recipe. After making it in the saucepan, I spread it on a cookie sheet and refrigerated it until we came home. Then I cut it in rectangles and re-heated it, adding a little color on both sides, in the pan. Served it next to the short ribs with the vegetable ragout on top. DELISH!

Fire it Up

My pregnancy hormones were kicking in the other night and it was just too hot for me to heat up my kitchen while cooking dinner, so I prepared everything in such a way that Dave could cook it outside on the grill. Perfection - he is such a grill master, and we sat down to eat in a nice, cool dining room. Here is what we made:

Spice Rubbed Grilled Chicken
5 chicken drumsticks
Olive or vegetable oil
1/4 cup Back to the Basiks Original Blend Spice Rub

Slide fingers under skin to loosen it from meat, but do not remove it. Rub chicken all over with vegetable or olive oil. Season with 1/4 to 1/3 cup spice rub both under and over skin, patting in gently. Let rest for 15 - 30 minutes.

Heat grill to medium low. Oil grates; grill chicken, covered, turning frequently to prevent charring, about 20 to 30 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 175 degrees.

Grilled Potatoes with Onions and Peppers
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 packet Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix
1.5 lbs. yukon gold potatoes
1/2 cup sliced mixed bell peppers
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped

Roughly chop potatoes and combine with oil and soup mix in a bowl. Mix well.

Create foil packet by folding a 4-ft. sheet of foil in half to make a double-layer sheet. Add the potatoes to the center. Add the peppers and onion, tossing gently. Form the packet, folding the foil over the vegetables and crimping the edges to seal.

Place on grill over medium heat, turning once, until potatoes are tender, about 25 minutes.

Here is the end result, and while it was a struggle for me to eat the chicken, it wasn't because of the flavoring or the grilling. I actually prefer chicken grilled to any other form of preparation; it's just hard for me to eat meat off the bone right now. David gave it rave reviews, though, and said it is definitely a staple recipe. The potatoes, onions and peppers were spot on for this pregnant girl, and I had heaping helpings of those.



I will also add that I bought the drumsticks on sale a while back, so the entire meat portion of our dinner was under $1.70 for the three of us, and we had leftovers.

Jaime's Birthday and Cookie Cake

We celebrated Jaime's birthday as a family on Sunday. My little sister is, ahem, 28 years old! So not possible.

Drew helped me make Auntie J's chocolate chocolate-chip cookie cake. It was her special request, and after reviewing the recipe, you can imagine my elation to know it was Drew-safe. Here are some photos of him helping me with the cake and our celebration.

My Favorite Chocolate

On Tuesday, Dave surprised me with my favorite chocolates from Ingo Wullaert. What made this surprise even 'sweeter' is that these chocolates were given to him from the family of one of his students. They have given Ingo chocolates to him in the past and know that we have thoroughly enjoyed them. So, for the end of the year, they gave him this box. During the day on Tuesday, he emailed me to tell me he had a sweet treat to bring home to his pregnant wife. So, besides the fact that I love, love, love him, and I love, love, love these chocolates, I was more than thankful he selflessly chose to give me the chocolates! When I opened the box, not even one of them was missing.

$4 Chicken, Four Ways

I want to share with you all the things I made this week with a whole chicken. I will include recipes (as I prepared them), but am not able to provide photos. The camera batteries are dead, and preggo brain keeps forgetting to charge them. :)

I had several whole chickens in the freezer that I bought for under $1 per pound a while ago. This particular chicken was $4.86.

MEAL ONE: My take on a cuban favorite, Fricase de Pollo.

1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp pepper
5 lb. whole chicken (rinsed, patted dry, inner parts removed and reserved for later use)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 large yellow spanish onion, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup red, green, and orange bell pepper strips, sliced very thin
15 oz. can plain tomato sauce
1 cup dry white cooking wine
1/4 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives

I put the chicken in the crockpot, and added all the other ingredients to it. I mixed the liquid as best I could. Cook for 8 hours on HIGH setting. The result is unbelievable tender, fall off the bone, tasty chicken with a nice sauce that is great to have because I served it with rice. There will be a lot of sauce/liquid left. Strain and save it; you will need it later for another meal.

MEAL TWO: A soup I prepared using the chicken stock I made from the whole chicken.

To make the stock, I deboned the whole chicken, reserving the meat (there was lots of it) in a seperate container. Put the bones and reserved inner parts in a large saucepan, and add 3 to 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, and simmer for about 1 hour. Remove bones and inner parts; discard.This is how I make the basic stock- I don't add seasonings until I put the stock in a soup.

Eggplant and Edamame Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil
1/4 large onion, roughly chopped
3 to 4 cups eggplant, peeled and cut into cubes
Chicken stock
1/3 to 1/2 package frozen shelled edamame
3 tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. dried marjoram
1/8 tsp. black pepper

Add the olive oil and onions to the pan. Cook about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggplant. Cook 3 minutes more. Stir in chicken stock, edamame, tomato paste, marjoram and pepper. Boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer about 5 minutes until eggplant is just tender. Do not over cook.

This soup was very tasty for me, as right now meat is not all that appealing and veggies are :)

MEAL THREE: Using the chicken meat I pulled off the bone and saved, I made Chicken Enchiladas.

Enchilada Sauce:
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
3.5 tsp. red chili powder, or to taste
1/2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. garlic powder
6 oz. can tomato paste
Reserved sauce/liquid from Fricase de Pollo
salt and pepper to taste

Add flour to melted butter and whisk until smooth. Add spices and tomato paste until well blended. Add reserved sauce/liquid gradually, whisking constantly. Simmer until desired thickness and season to taste. Remove from heat.

Line the bottom of a baking pan with a layer of enchilada sauce. Using 6 inch tortillas of your choice, wrap 1/4 cup chicken and 1 tbsp. shredded mexican blend cheese into each tortilla. Roll closed and place seam-side down in the pan on top of sauce. Continue until all enchiladas are made. Spoon remaining sauce over top and sides of enchiladas in baking pan. Sprinkle a little cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or chill and microwave one by one as needed.

This recipe will also leave you with more enchilada sauce than you need (unless you like a LOT of sauce). There will be enough to freeze for another time, about 1 cup.

I hope you enjoy!

This Week's Produce

Andrew and I take Saturday morning trips to the Farmer's Market near our house. Because of the wonderful prices they have on everything produce, I have a budget that allows me to spend $15-$18 each week on fresh fruit and vegetables.

Let me also say, that, before, when I would go to the store for my produce, I always felt guilty for spending money on fresh veggies. Isn't that strange? It's because I knew we couldn't spend that kind of money each week to eat fresh. Well, I don't feel an ounce of guilty anymore. In fact, I feel rather victorious, and I think you will see why. Look at what $18 bought us this morning (minus one apple, as Drew ate it for a snack):


1 pineapple
6 fuji apples
3 eggplant (thanks, Cherie L)
2 green bell peppers
1 red bell pepper
3 orange bell peppers
8 zucchini
7 yellow squash
5 tomatoes
1 lb. green beans
8 large carrots

If I would have purchased these exact items, even if from Wal-Mart, I would have paid at least
$38 to $40. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I try to get all my groceries for an avg. of $60 per week. I don't want to spend 2/3 of that budget in produce.

I encourage you to visit the Farmer's Market closest to you; while I can't vouch for the prices in each one, two that I know for sure have great prices: the one at the Collier Co. Fairgrounds (that's where we go) and the one at the Promenade Shopping Center in Bonita Springs. There are more around town, wherever you look. I just don't know what they are like.

Turkey Sliders

This is SO easy- you only need these ingredients to add to some ground turkey meat:


2 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped red, green and yellow bell pepper




Mix together with 1 to 1.25 lb ground beef; form into small patties and place in pan or on grill (I didn't have time to clean the grill, so I did mine on the stove). Right before removing from pan, add a little teriyaki marinade/sauce to the top of each slider.



I served with sweet potato fries, and veggies (yellow carrots, navy beans and spinach).

Drew and I took a little trip to a BIG store tonight... Whole Foods Market. Yes, I know it's been there for months, but this is the first time I've made it.

My reason for visiting is different- my son is allergic to everything. I went just to scope things out (not spend much money) and see what they had to offer. WOW... as the mother of someone whose non-allergy list is shorter than the actual allergy list, this place was a vision.

Of course Drew loved the 'car' part of the cart. I could not believe some of the things I came across. I was OVERWHELMED, but in a good way. It made my head spin! SO, SO many things that would help me get a better balance of things into him while still keeping the allergens out of his food. I think the section I found most surprising as it relates to us was the baking aisle. There were so many ingredients and mixes that would be Drew-friendly, I could hardly speak.

UN-related to us, I could not believe the ready-made food available at this place! And, no surprise, expensive. I did find quite a few things on sale, and the way I shop, you can be sure I know a good deal when I see one, especially on groceries.

We did buy two bags of Veggie Pirate's Booty (the kind with no cheese or milk ingredients), and I found a bottle of the Whole Foods Store Brand gummy vitamins for Drew for which I just happened to have a coupon (no shopping trip is complete if I don't have my coupons!). We spent $11, which I'm certain is no small achievement! So, as if I don't have enough incentive already, I can feel better about all my coupon craziness when I know it will perhaps allow me to buy Andrew a few things now and then at Whole Foods.

Today we voted... tomorrow we test!

No photos to upload right now because it's late, I'm tired and being lazy.

However, Andrew was able to go with me this morning to vote and then tonight with Daddy to vote. He received I voted stickers both times. I was so proud of him because he walked in holding my hand, just like a miniature adult, looked around, greeted the poll workers, didn't wander from me once, and said "thank you" to the poll workers when I did. How funny!

Tomorrow I am planning on trekking over to the lab in town to have Drew's blood drawn for his allergy tests. We think we know all the food he is allergic to, but considering we just learned of a new one last month, we think it is in his best interest for us to be sure.

Meanwhile, if you think about it- please pray for me to remember to give Drew all his medications EVERY day. Some days it's hard because I have to hide the meds in his food, and getting him to eat some days is very difficult :)

Good night for now-