Need a good side dish?

I was looking back at my posts so far this year and saw that I had started out posting recipes that used fresh ingredients. Well, with the upcoming gardens, CSA's and farmer's markets, now is the time to really start thinking about "Eating healthy, eating local" again. So, I'm going to pull this one back out and I am going to start posting recipes again! Please let me know if you try them, like them, change them or have any other ideas about these recipes as we go along. I love reading your comments and it encourages me to comment more on other's blogs. Anyway, here is the recipe for today, a wonderful summer time side dish that is great to make ahead of time and take to family reunions, church gatherings, or days in the park.


Asian Slaw

2 packages cabbage slaw mix (or grate your own fresh from the garden or farmer's market)
2 packets beef ramen noodles
Green onions (garden or farmer's market)
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup Oil
1/4 cup Vinegar (I used White wine because I was out of regular and have used it every since)
1/2 cup Sugar

Crush noodles in the bottom of the bowl. Set aside flavor packets. Pour in slaw mix and green onions. In another bowl, mix oil, vinegar, sugar and flavor packets. Pour over slaw. Top with seeds and almonds. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and put in frig. over night. Toss everything together before serving to mix flavors. Serve.

Catch up

OK Let's play a quick game of catch up for this week. I have not been doing my P90X like I was supposed to, but I do have a little bit of an excuse, and the good intentions of getting back on the program next week. Last Saturday I walked a 5K with my girlfriends. I have never done this before and although I came in last in my age group, I had a lot of fun. I also have a time on my fitness level and I number to beat in the next 5K. We had planned to walk the Dogwood festival 5K, but found out that they are not going to have it this spring, instead they want to wait until the fall. We are looking into walking during the Relay for Life for cancer awareness. It is an over night relay walk, but you can just come and go too so we might go and walk the distance that would be 5K and see how we do, plus it would be for a wonderful cause.

That pretty much wore me out for the weekend, but at the beginning of this week instead of exercise I put out my garden. We have around a 250 sq. ft. area and Clark was so sweet to get it tilled up for me last weekend. I have set out the following plants:

Cabbage - 6
Broccoli - 4
Sweet Banana Pepper - 1
Bell Pepper - 5
Zucchini - 1

I sowed seeds for:

Yellow Squash
Okra
Green beans - Roma and Blue Lake
Onions - Sweet, Red, and Bunching
Radishes
Lettuce - Bibb and Salad Bowl
Cucumber - Straight Eight and Pickling
Pumpkin
Watermelon
Cantelope

We did it a little different this year. Last year I put down lawn fabric to help keep the weeds out. That has benefits and it has draw backs. This year we have decided to devote more time to working in the garden and do our best to keep it weeded like we should, so we didn't put the fabric down this time. We will see at the end of this season which works best for us.

I did have my regular Thursday weigh in (just to be curious since I didn't actually workout this week) and I have lost two pounds this week. So the moral of the story is, if you can't workout or don't have the desire, as long as you keep your body moving in some way and eat well you can take a little time off if you need it. Well, we will be out of town this weekend, but back on track next week and I'll report back on this subject then. Have a wonderful weekend, everybody!!!

Oh, it hurts...

That was said quite a bit last night as Clark and I struggled to get those last push ups done. We started our P90X workout and it was great. My arms and chest are a little sore today, but so far so good. Although Clark came home saying that he was too tired to workout, when the time came he pushed the chair aside in the living room and joined in. It was great to workout with someone. The first day was the chest and back routine. It felt more like the arms workout because we are both so out of shape that we couldn't do our push ups very deep to get the workout we were suppose to on our chests. And we didn't have a pull up bar to do all the moves that work your back. We have decided to invest in a pull up bar though for next week. Also, we cheated a little because it was getting late and we needed to get to bed so we skipped the Ab Ripper X which was suppose to be done after the chest and back workout. I just did some ab work on my own Wednesday night and you shouldn't work your abs everyday according the Tony, so I didn't feel too bad about skipping it. We will pick it back up tomorrow night like we are suppose to. I think we are really going to enjoy this series. Clark likes that there are a lot of military style moves and of course the Army was when he was in the best shape. I like that you have water and rest breaks like you would have in a real gym setting, he shows you three different ways of doing an exercise, and you set your own goals. I have to print out the worksheets so we can track our progress. Well, I guess that is all for now. We are taking our "fat" pictures tonight so we can visually see our progress. I don't know if I will have the guts to post those, but I am concidering it. And no, I'm not going to pose in a bikini for the pictures. No one wants to see that. I'm going to try my best to post a few times a week just to keep you informed on our P90X progress and so I will have to be accountable. I think it helps when you know there are others out there waiting to see your progress, so feel free to comment (good or bad) as I go along on this new journey. My ultimate goal is to lose 30 pounds by August 9th (we leave for Florida on the 10th) and to look lean for our second wedding pictures. I just have to look better at my second wedding to Clark than I did at my first wedding to him. He wants a similar goal. We were both at our heaviest at our wedding 10 years ago (216 for me, 245 for him). Check out those double chins.

Well, here is to a new start, to being healthy, happy, (and hopefully skinny). :)

What is she saying?

My mom just called me at work and it went something like this:

Meme: Abbey is trying to tell me what she wants for lunch, but I don't understand what she is saying? Listen to her and see if you can tell what she wants.

(she puts Abbey on the phone)

Me: Abbey, honey, what are you trying to tell Meme?

Abbey: Mmmm!

(Meme gets back on the phone)

Meme: Well, she won't say it now. I'll ask her again and put the phone close. See if you can hear her well enough to tell me what she is saying. Abbey, what is it you want for lunch.

Abbey: Abbey want a peee peeeeek.

Meme: So...

Me: No, she can not have "Pink Peeps" for lunch.

Meme: I thought she was saying something like that, and I don't have any.

Me: No, Meme, no peeps for lunch. Even if you do have any.

Meme: Well, we'll see what else we can find. We'll talk to you later!

CSA

I'm so happy. I have found a CSA that delievers to our town. YEAH!!!!!! And it comes from my favorite strawberry grower (that also has farm fresh veggies). It is only for ten weeks, but that is a great start for us. I can fill in with our own garden. Then I can go to the Farmer's Market to buy in bulk for canning. I can't wait. I'll keep you posted on my new adventure and I'll try to post pictures during the growing season.

It's almost time.

I couldn't be more excited about the upcoming growing season. If you take a look back at my blogs from the first of the year, you will notice my new philosophy "Eat Healthy, Eat Local!". Well, it is almost time for that to really kick into gear. Talk about gardens, seeds, plants and veggies have begun both on my favorite blogs and just generally around town, so I'm starting to feel the urge to plant something. Although my seeds did not grow in many cases (It is time to buy new seeds and throw the old ones out), I do have a few broccoli plants to start with and I'll just buy plants from local growers as I need to plant them. I do need to purchase some fresh seeds for things that are planted directly in the ground and I was so happy to have found onions sets for sweet onions this year, so I went ahead and bought those. Now, I just need to get the hubby out there to till up the garden spot so I can get started.

In other news, strawberries are starting to pop up. You can already find the unripe ones in the grocery stores (Yuck!), but there is nothing like holding out for the local ones. I have two sources in Florida that are picking ripe ones already, so they should be picking in our area in a few weeks. I can't wait. Look for those little red stands in town with local fresh picked strawberries and stock up. At this point, knowing that the fresh season is upon us, we begin to really use up what is in the freezer to make room for the summer foods. That will be my challenge over the next few weeks, make meals from the freezer. Then when the season begins, starting with the strawberries, there will be room in the freezer to store the harvest. For strawberries I love to make a little sugar free strawberry freezer jam and then I freeze the rest of the berries whole. Simply cut off the tops and give them a nice cool bath in cold water, dip them out and pat them dry, then I lay them out on a cookie sheet and place them in the freezer for a couple of hours until they are frozen firm. This way when you take them off the cookie sheet and place them in the freezer bags the berries will not stick together and they will keep their shape. No crushed berries. With this process you can also use a Food Saver if you prefer, then you can vaccum seal them without crushing the life out of them.

Well, those are my little tips for today to get you geared up for fresh food season. Please check back with me for more tips, recipes, and updates during one of my favorite times of year.