Surprises!

So I was really in the mood for ice cream tonight but I was trying to be good because I really didn't have any $$ left in the budget for things like that. So instead I stayed home to do laundry and just relax around the house. When I took my laundry out to put into the dryer, a surprise fell out!
JACKPOT! $5 fell out of the laundry! It was like a gift from the 'its Friday night and you should do something fun' Gods!!! So, I took it down to the Harris Teeter and got myself some chocolate ice cream. YUM! :)

Tour my fridge

Today I am going to take you on a tour of my fridge! You will see how badly I am drowning in produce here! I need some help...or some recipes!

As you can see my fridge is pretty bare overall. On the door I have some cranberry juice (blech - but necessary to help with my 'issues'), tomato sauce, peanut butter, and condiments.Shelf number 1:Broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. In the tupperware containers I have leftovers from a potluck I brought a pepper, carrot, and cucumber salad to. I also have some extra peppers sliced up too.
Shelf 2:1/2 cucumber
1/2 zucchini
1 yellow squash1 bunch of parsley

Drawer 1:Lettuce
Spinach

Drawer 2:Carrots and Arugula


Um ya - so I have seriously nothing but veggies. I have plenty of dry goods in my pantry - maybe I will take you on a tour of that one day soon too - but ya, in the fridge, veggies, veggies, and more veggies!

CSA, week 5

It is another great week for the CSA! The bad thing is - I am still trying to catch up from last week! I have produce coming out my ears!!!

I forgot to take a picture of everything together this week but here is my portion:

1 bunch of broccoli1 bunch of cauliflower
1/2 of a GINORMOUS zucchini1 yellow squash
1/2 head of lettuce
1/2 head of cabbage
1/2 fennel
I have to say - some of the items were a mystery to me this time.

This, for instance.

What is it?!?! Apparently it is fennel which I do not think I like. It smells like licorice which I definitely am not a fan of so I am guessing that I am not going to be a huge fan of this...might need to find someone else to take this one...

And what is with the cone?!?! I mean, obviously it is a lettuce or cabbage of some kind but I have never seen one shaped like a cone before! So cool!
And for fun, here is a perspective picture of the zucchini. Seriously - HUGE!


I am very annoyed with the sideways images! You get the idea though.

CVS

CVS has a pretty sweet ECB deal going on if you are willing to spend a little $$ out of pocket to generate some ECBs. I didn't have any ECBs stored up so I was looking for a way to generate some.

Right now the Gillette body wash is on sale for $4 each with a $4 ECB (limit 2). At some point there was a coupon for a Buy 1 Get 1 Gillette body wash that would make this a $4 money maker. There was also a save $4 on 2 body washes that would essentially accomplish the same thing.

Anyway, I walked over to my local CVS and they actually did have some body wash left (the good deals seem to go fast!). So I paid $4.62 out of pocket with tax and got back $8 in ECBs.


Of course I believe it is 'man-scented' body wash but soap is soap, right? :)

Home Improvement Project!

I'm really tired of the 'everything in my house is the same color' scheme I have going on here. I am used to a little more color in my living space! So right now everything is sort of a neutral beige. I decided to start with the bathrooms since they are the smallest and probably the fastest rooms to finish up. Since they are small rooms, I am comfortable going with a pretty bold color. So here is a picture of my bathroom wall next to the shower curtain (which I LOVE). I thought I'd pull the blue color out of the curtain for the wall color.


So I went to Lowe's and tried to find a reasonable match. I only bought one of those sample containers because I am not positive about the color. It looks like a pretty good match but what this picture doesn't show is the intensity of the color. It is definitely a bold color! I think I like it but it might take some getting used to. I only painted a portion of the wall to test out the color. I think I'll see how it goes this week and make a decision about painting the rest or picking a new color.


What do you think? :)

Scrapbook Organizing - Results!

So you may remember the scrapbook supply disaster that I have ben trying to get under control. Well, I think I made some good progress. I still have too much but at least it is a little better under control.

Of note, I got rid of the suitcase. I saved some of the paper that was in the suitcase but was able to condense it into the other tupperware container. So, what I have left is - one large tupperware container with paper, scissors, glue, etc, one binder with stickers, and one small tupperware container with memorabilia - photos and other things that I want to save for scrapbooking or at the very least to put into an album somewhere.

I need help with photo organization. Right now I have photos in this container and in some dresser drawers. They are uncategrized and still in the photo envelopes. I feel like there must be a better solution for this. Any ideas?

Purging

This past weekend's productivity involved getting rid of a decent amount of stuff. This was a good trip because it got most of the stuff that has been hanging out with no home out of my house. This was stuff that just didn't fit well in my new house. Hopefully someone else can put it to good use! I gave away some other things too that were already in the car - primarily clothes. Sad thing is, I still have quite a bit to get rid of. I am thinking I will probably make a point to go through my house this week and grab any other misc. things that I am not using and don't need. The good thing is that I am definitely in the mood to get rid of stuff so that should make things a lot easier!

Here is the pile of stuff that left my house!

Garden, week 4

Good news! The garden has recovered from the great flood of 2010 and now it is growing out of control! I think that rain really did it good! One of the pepper plants is flowering and the tomatoes have a ton of flowers on them. There is 1 baby green tomato growing! The cucumbers and zucchini grew A TON! I think I am going to have lots of zucchini this summer!


You may remember that last week my carrots were laying down and under water. Good news - they've recovered and they are looking pretty good. There is one random plant growing in the carrot pot. I am going to keep it around to see if I can figure out what it is.Blogger likes to turn my images sideways...I don't know why! It takes so long to upload images and I do not appreciate sideways images! :)

To-do List

This is my first weekend in my new house that I am actually in town for the entire weekend. I've been putting off a lot of things because I haven't been around and the disarray has been driving me nuts! I have big plans for accomplishing things this weekend and I need some accountability. I'll update this list periodically and I am sure I will add to it but here is what I hope to accomplish:

General cleaning/home maintenance:
- Vacuum downstairs
- Vacuum upstairs
- Do/put away laundry
- Clean master bathroom (the other 2 don't really get used)
- Sweep floor in kitchen and dining room
- Wipe down living room furniture

Outside:
- Sweep front steps
- Sweep back patio
- Replant tomato plants into a bigger pot

Errands:
- Trip to Goodwill to drop off donation
- Trip to Restore to drop off donation
- Trip to Scrap Exchange to drop off donation
- Check Restore for anything good (this is the most fun of the tasks!) - nothing good :(
- Drop off/Pick up Rx

Organization/unpacking:
- Figure out what to do with mess of cable/internet cables
- Finish organizing scrapbooking and craft stuff
- Unpack 2 remaining boxes in guest room

Misc:
- Advertise desk on craigslist
- Advertise entertainment center on craigslist
- Hang pictures throughout the house

Hopeful:
- Pick out paint color for at least 1 bathroom
- Paint bathroom


So - I probably won't get to ALL of that this weekend...but whatever I do get to will be a significant improvement over what is going on right now! I'll update periodically....for now, I'm off! :)

CSA, week 4

Our CSA delivery this week was AWESOME! We got 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, 1 cauliflower, 2 broccoli, a bag of arugula, and a bunch of carrots. YUM! I got half of all of that which makes for an awesome week :)

I can't even explain how happy I am that this week didn't include spinach. I am a little tired of spinach! I think I might shred all the squash and make zucchini bread this weekend. Not sure what I am going to do with the rest of it!

It was fun to get the carrots with the greens still attached!

Harris Teeter Super Doubles!

Today was the first day of super doubles at Harries Teeter! I like to get in on day 1 because if you wait too long a lot of the good stuff is gone. People must get up at 5am to be at the store!

Anyway, it was a pretty successful trip. I don't have the receipt in front of me but the pre-coupon total for the below goodies was around $16.50. I paid............ $1.99 for a savings of around 88%. WAHOO!

Of note - the Halls and Floss were all free. The tomato sauce was less than $0.50 but I can't remember how much exactly. The Pasts was $o.35 per bag. The tuna fish was $0.50. The rice was $0.45. All in all, not too bad! I plan on heading back at least once more during this round of super doubles because they were already out of things when I was there.

What do you do with Kale?

So this week I got a bunch of kale included in my CSA. Kale is a food that I have very little experience with. To put it simply, I have no idea what to do with it. My go-to meal with leafy greens is to throw it in a salad but kale doesn't really seem like a salad veggie.

So - I googled and found this recipe for Potato Cakes with Onions and Kale.

I have to say - this was a pretty tasty way to eat some kale. I am not a huge fan of the wilted greens but the combination with the potatoes made them tolerable. I didn't use as much onion as the recipe called for, primarily because I was crying too hard to cut any more. Onions make me very sad. I also added salt because I think potatoes always need more salt!

Anyway, here they are right after they came out of the oven.

It is raining....

So, it has been raining here since last night. We are in serious need of some rain down here so overall this is good news. I just wish it didn't happen all at once! My garden loves some water but this is a little out of control!

Not sure if you can see the standing water in my poor carrots! I think they are drowning!!


I dumped some of the water out and tried to shelter the pot from the rain which is basically impossible given that it is basically a monsoon out there.

After I dumped out the water my carrots were lying down. Now, I'm no gardening expert here but this seems bad.

Organization project!

My scrapbooking supplies are OUT OF CONTROL. Seriously. My mission for this week is to get this mess a little better under control and to get rid of things I don't need. I know there are tons of scraps of paper in there that I really don't need to keep. I might purchase some sort of shelf system or organization system because the multiple tupperware/suitcase system isn't really working for me. And yes, I have a suitcase full of paper. I am actually embarrassed to admit that.
Hopefully by the end of this week there will be a picture of a nice tidy scrapbook supply center!

And it won't look like this:

Garden, week 3

Garden is definitely getting bigger! I have a TON of flowers on my tomato plant so I am real excited for some tomatoes to start growing! My peppers almost look like they are ready to go too - very exciting! Neither the sage nor rosemary have sprouted and I am thinking that at this point they probably won't be. Bummer. I may try to replant them to see what happens.

The exciting development this week was - cucumber sprouts!!

CSA, week 3

Well it is another week of leafy greens. It will be tough for me to get through them all given how much I am out of town these days! Spinach and lettuce are back again as are strawberries. Joining the party is kale (seriously, what do you do with kale??!!?!?!) and asparagus (YUM!).

We got another BEAUTIFUL head of lettuce. I took a picture with my hand in it to show how huge it is - seriously, that is a lot of lettuce! It was almost too pretty to cut in half!

Lunch time walks

Most days at lunch time I walk the length of a trail near my office. It is 1.5 miles out and then 1.5 miles back. It is actually a really nice trail

It follows a stream

And crosses over it occasionally

It is shaded and cool and overall a great place to spend an hour every day.

Lettuce Wraps

So I have an abundance of leafy greens thanks to my CSA and if we are being perfectly honest, I am getting mighty tired of eating salads. Enter Thai Peanut Sauce.

Holy moly it was delicious. It was basically still a salad - but I wrapped all the goodies up in the lettuce to make lettuce wraps. Not quite PF Changs but I will definitely be making it again. Actually - the recipe makes quite a bit that I now have in my freezer so hopefully it thaws well!




Not sure why the picture is sideways. Blogger sometimes changes the orientation without asking. Takes too long to switch it around though!

Meal Plan, week of 5/10-5/16

This should be an interesting week since I'm not going to be around much and then I am gone AGAIN for another wedding this weekend. So - I have a feeling I am going to have a lot of produce to eat next week since I won't be around to eat it this week.

So here is what I am eating this week:

Breakfasts: Muffins, oatmeal, bananas

Lunch: Primarily leftovers and misc. produce from the CSA delivery

Dinner:
Monday: Lettuce wraps with Thai Peanut Sauce
Tuesday: Dinner at Candice's house
Wednesday: Dinner with new neighbors
Thursday: Dinner with a friend in town
Friday - Saturday: Out of town for wedding
Sunday: Either salad or a freezer meal, depending on how much produce I have left

This is going to be a busy week!!!

Strawberry Shortcake

What do you do with a bunch of strawberries? Make strawberry shortcake, of course!!!

Garden, week 2

My garden has been growing and I am so excited! Since last week, I've added 3 more pots - 2 with cucumbers and 1 with rosemary. The peppers are getting taller and the zucchini has basically gone out of control! I think I have lots of zucchini in my future! The basil has gotten significantly larger too. It smells AMAZING. I wish a picture could capture the smell of fresh basil.


There have been 2 new developments that are pretty exciting. My tomatoes are flowering which means it won't be too long before I have some baby tomatoes growing. And finally, I have 1 tiny carrot sprout! I put a ton of seeds in this pot so I am hoping to see a lot more soon!!

The sage, rosemary, and cucumbers haven't sprouted yet but I am hoping to see some little sprouts in the near future!!

CSA, week 2

We got our second CSA delivery this week and it is looking like a lot more salads are on my horizon. I just finished the spinach from last week and we got another huge bag of it plus another head of lettuce. We have lots of strawberries this week too! YUM! Finally - for something different we also had some broccoli. We were supposed to have asparagus but it looks like we got broccoli instead - oh well I love both.

Here is my half of the goodies for the week:

Here is our BEAUTIFUL head of lettuce before we chopped it in two.

Sooo - I need some spinach recipes ASAP!!!

May $$ Goals

May is going to be a VERY busy month. I've got events 4/5 weekends in May and plans throughout the weekdays as well.

My goals for this month:
Mini-eating from the pantry challenge. I have a bunch of food in the freezer and with my weekly CSA deliveries I should have plenty of food to eat this month without spending much money. Any money I have extra will go towards my emergency fund. So far it is day 4 and I have spent $0 on groceries. Hopefully I can keep my expenses at a minimum.

My major goal is to not spend too much extra money. I am going to be traveling for 3/4 of the next weekends and I am going to try really hard not to eat on the road or grab food at the airport. It is very tempting to grab something quick and easy but I think if I carry peanut butter sandwiches with me and some healthy snacks I will save money and feel better than I would have had I eaten the greasy 'road food.'

My second major goal is to pay off all my debt this month. I didn't have much and what I did have was related to moving expenses so hopefully by the end of May I will be debt free other than my mortgage :)

Quinoa Pilaf

I inherited a box of quinoa from one of my former roommates. I have been feeling a little adventurous this week so I thought I'd see about finding a recipe to try out for Tuesday dinner and Glee night with Candice. I followed this recipe and added some spinach to it because I have some I need to finish up.

I have to say - it was delicious! We both really enjoyed it and I think I'll probably make it again. We had chicken and cornbread with it and strawberry shortcake for dessert. The recipe says it is 4 servings but I think it is probably closer to 6. Guess I'll be eating it as a side dish for the rest of the week!!

Meal Plan, week of 5/3-5/10

For the time of my CSA I think I will start my meal plans on Monday and then amend them on Wednesday when I have my new delivery of produce. Produce waits for no one so I've got to eat it while I can!

I realize having a pumpkin chocolate chip muffin for breakfast isn't exactly healthy...but it is what I have around the house right now so it will have to do! Next week I'll make oatmeal if I have time.

Monday
B: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin
L: Lettuce, spinach, carrot, and cucumber salad with grilled chicken and a homemade roll
D: Quesadillas using meat, cheese, and tortillas from the freezer
S: String cheese, pirate booty, cookie

Tuesday:
B: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin
L: Peanut butter sandwich (I am tired of salad!)
D: Dinner with Candice - my week to cook! Chicken breast with quinoa pilaf and spinach
S: String cheese, carrot sticks, strawberry shortcake

Wednesday: CSA delivery day!
B: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin
L: Tuesday dinner leftovers
D: Grilled chicken with asparagus (I know this is coming in the box)
S: String cheese, carrot sticks, strawberry shortcake

Thursday:
B: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin
L: Wednesday dinner leftovers
D: Chicken curry with rice from freezer and misc. veggies from CSA box
S: String cheese, carrot sticks, strawberry shortcake

Friday:
B: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffin
L: TBD
D: Pizza night
S: String cheese, carrot sticks, strawberry shortcake

Saturday: Out of town for wedding
Sunday: Out of town for wedding