Whole Food Lifestyle

So it's been a while. I could make excuses about working full time and going to school, but we're all busy and no one cares how busy someone else is because fuck it, who isn't?

Let's talk about this instead...

That's my first bag of pre-season CSA goodness. We have a little bit of lettuce, bac choi, mustard greens, and swiss chard in there (most of which will likely go to the bunny because he freaking loves romaine lettuce and I dare say he's never had it this fresh) as well as garlic scapes and zucchini. I'm mostly excited about the scapes which I've never seen before.

Turns out if you cut the bits of the garlic that grows above ground before it flowers, you can chop it up and use just like garlic. I took a bite while I was on the farm, and they are not lying! Packed with garlic flavor, but I think it's best you peel the first layer off before using. The texture of the skin was similar to the woody part of asparagus and no one needs that, but the inside was soft and delicious like garlic.

We also decided to split a cow we lovingly named Maggie with four friends, and husband and I offered to take the bones to make stock. Little did we know that it would be like 50 lbs of bone. More on the adventures of trying to figure out what the hell do to with all of those bones to come.

What are some of your favorite beef & veggie based recipes? Because we are going to be drowning in both and I couldn't be happier!

A Little of the Good Life

Hey readers! So I know it's been a while since the last update, but what with moving into the new house (and almost unpacking everything) and trying to get my real estate business off the ground there hasn't been to much time to breathe much less write. However, in the wee hours of Saturday morning before husband wakes up (but after the kitties are fed) I can make time for you all.

DH and I have talked and talked about living a simpler, more wholesome life especially when it comes to food and this week we finally put our money where our mouth is. He took off on Tues & Wed and we went to our local home improvement store and got our first batch of vegetables. I've read a lot about starting a kitchen garden and the number one tip I see over and over for beginners is to start with what you like. It sounds like a no-brainer but I know plenty of projects that I've gotten over ambitious about and just ended up getting frustrated with in the end. It is tempting to plant those spaghetti squash seeds even though I have less than no idea how to cook them, but I resisted. Here's what we purchase.

• Allstar strawberries
• Roma tomatoes
• Tabasco peppers
• Pickling cucumbers
• GIANT pumpkins

We also have the starts of a window box herb garden (which I'm still mainly crossing my fingers on) and some catnip for our new kitties. The first three up there have all been potted in planters in the back deck since they were all established plants. The last two will be planted as soon as I get a real day off in the front lawn. I have a dream of having a front yard that is nothing but I giant pumpkin patch. (I live on a mountain so it seems much much nicer than mowing on a slope)

So we essentially started our garden around things we knew that we would cook and can with. I know jams aren't the simplest to make, but you have to start somewhere and with 6 plants in our strawberry planter I have room to make mistakes and have some left over. DH makes a killer homemade Vodka sauce so the Romas were a no brainer (Bye bye store bought pasta sauce!). My big adventure this year is going to be pickling my own pickles. We go through pickles like crazy since they are such a good snack and I always want them more garlic-y than commercial pickles will ever be anyway. The peppers are all for husband and the pumpkins are my guilty pleasure.

I hope this is the first step towards us inexpensively eating the things we need & love rather than just what we can afford.

Peace&Love