Hope for the best!

As many of you know, I love a garden in the summer, but each year is a different adventure. This year is no different. You plant things and hope for the best, but some times it just doesn't work out. That's when you go back to the drawing board and plant something else. Here is the list I started off with and the results so far.

Cabbage - 6 (One didn't make it so we are down to 5)
Broccoli - 4 (One didn't make it so we are down to 3)
Sweet Banana Pepper - 1 (Looking good)
Bell Pepper - 5 (One broke in two so I was afraid it would die, but it is making a come back)
Zucchini - 1 (Something ate all the leaves and left stumps, so I dug it back up)

I sowed seeds for:

Yellow Squash - (same as zucchini, as soon as they began to come up something ate them, so replaced all squash with tomatoes. You can get squash easily at the farmer's market anyway)

Okra - (Coming up and looking good. I need to replant a couple of seeds)
Green beans - Roma and Blue Lake (Romas didn't come up at all, so I replaced them with tomato plants. Blue lake came up in most of the row, but I'm going to get some more seed and replant the rest of the row)
Onions - Sweet, Red, and Bunching (Bunching didn't come up, but the rest look good)
Radishes - (First to come up, I need to thin them out, they are growing great)
Lettuce - Bibb and Salad Bowl (I've had a few of the salad bowl variety come up, but not much so I might plant something else in it's place soon)
Cucumber - Straight Eight and Pickling (Straight eight came up, pickling didn't)
Pumpkin - (Clark accidently tilled over the tiny little pumpkin leaf that popped up, he doesn't like pumpkin anyway so I'll just buy one at the farmer's market to put up what little I need)
Watermelon - (Looking good)
Cantelope - (Didn't come up, so I replaced it with a tomato plant)


If you are wondering why everything is getting replaced with tomatoes, I bought 14 tomato plants thinking that I would share some with my dad and Clark's dad, who usually grow them in larger flower pots. Neither of them want to grow them this year, so I was left with all my tomato plants. The second issue was the fact that Clark said he would extend my garden to have a section devoted to tomatoes. This never happened and I really needed to get them in the ground before they all died, so once I saw what was coming up and what wasn't from planting seeds, I started to go in and replace what didn't come up with tomato plants. Luckily the areas that needed replacing were in corners of the garden so my tomatoes are easy to get to.

Well, that is my garden update. How is your garden doing?

I did it again!

I walked my second 5K this weekend and shaved two minutes off my time. I was still at the end of the pack, but I did start out at a jog and then walked the rest of the way. I finished and did it in less time than my first 5K, which was my personal goal. This track was similar to the last one, but was a little harder. It seemed to have a few more hills, and I wasn't the only one who thought so. I'm really getting into these little 5K's. I can do these, not well, but that will come in time. I have my eye on another one in June and have already heard about two in the fall. My nephew's wife ran Saturday and it was her first 5K. I was so proud of her. Her time was right around 30 minutes and for her first one with only a few weeks of training, I thought that was great. She is one that really loves to challenge herself, which is an inspiration to me. She just finished the P90X program last month, so 5K's are her new addiction. I just want to be able to see her at the start line and then maybe again at the finish because I don't think I'll ever be able to keep up with her. Anyway, Clark and I slacked on the P90X this whole month and sat and complained about how we need to give it another shot, so tonight we start again with Chest and Abs. Let's see how far we can take it this time. :) I hope everyone has a wonderful week and don't forget those Strawberries. They will be out of season very soon, so stock up your freezer.


Recipe of the week:

Berry, Walnut, and Avocado Spring Salad
(Originally a Weight Watchers recipe, but I have changed a few things)

Ingredients
· 6 oz. spring mix salad
· 3/4 cup fresh strawberries, quartered
· 1/3 cup walnuts
· 1/3 cup golden raisins
· 1 large avocado, sliced
· 1/4 cup Bleu cheese crumbles
· 1/4 cup Raspberry Vinaigrette

Instructions
· In a medium bowl toss together the spring mix, strawberries, walnuts and golden raisins. Top with avocado and bleu cheese crumbles. Drizzle lightly with dressing just prior to serving and pass dressing with salad.

· Yields 6 servings.


This is a great light lunch salad or as part of a meal with marinated grilled chicken and veggies.

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.