CSA Week 3 and My New Kitchen Gadget.

Here's my CSA loot for the week (picked up Wednesday):

No giant bugs this time!! 

This week's basket contained Swiss chard, red cabbage, green leaf lettuce (Lucas picked up the basket since I was out of town and couldn't remember if Dana mentioned that it was a special kind of lettuce), cauliflower, garlic, potatoes, onions, tomatoes and summer squash.  We also brought home two half-gallon jars of milk, of course. 

I've got greens coming out my wahoo.  Seriously.  Whether they're raw greens or cooked greens, I've got greens GALORE in my two fridges.  I'm not complaining....it's just a lot to try to get through!

So last week I said I was going to make zucchini chips, butter-roasted radishes, bacon snow peas and turnip gratin (with some ingredient exchanges to make the turnip gratin more Weight Watchersy).  Here's the DL on all of that:

**I didn't end up making zucchini chips.  Instead, I'm taking both the zucchini from last week and the squash from this week to my parent's house on Sunday night to saute as a side dish.  YUM.

**I put waaaaaaaay too much salt on my butter-roasted radishes, because the recipe said to "season generously".  HOWEVER, if you looked past all of the salt, the radishes were DELICIOUS.  So this next Wednesday I'm going to buy a couple of radish bunches and try that recipe again with waaaaaaaay less salt.  I highly recommend this one, even if you don't think you like radishes.  Because you'll like these!

**The bacon snow peas were just okay, but I'm pretty sure that was my fault.  There was nothing wrong with them flavor-wise, but they were a little on the limp and floppy side.  So I'm guessing I cooked them just a tad bit too long.

**Lucas liked the turnip gratin and ate all but the serving I gave myself.  And it WAS good, but the turnips were still a little crunchy, which messed with my head.  I wanted them to be soft and mushy like potatoes get when you cook them "au gratin".  So if I try this again, I want to figure out how to soften the turnips more.

I ended up freezing last week's spinach, last week's brussel sprouts, this week's cauliflower and half of this week's cabbage.  And I intend to freeze last week's mustard greens, too.  Why?  BECAUSE I ALREADY HAVE GREENS OUT MY WAHOO.  And because I knew I just wouldn't make it around to cooking the brussel sprouts or cauliflower this week, and I didn't want them to go bad.  I did end up sauteing the Swiss chard for dinner the other night, but I think I did something wrong.  I normally LOVE Swiss chard (Beast and Barrel had it as a side item a while back and it was SO GOOD), but mine came out kind of bitter.  So before I stored it in the fridge I added some apple juice to the "broth".  I haven't tried it again yet, but I'm hoping the apple juice cut the bitterness out!  I need to Google it......maybe the stems are bitter and I left too many of the stems in?  Maybe the splash of beer I added (since I didn't have a splash of wine) made them bitter?  I don't know.

It's so pretty and colorful!

I'm making a salad for Sunday night with this week's leaf lettuce (which looks awesome, btw - I should take a few pics of how pretty it is during my salad preparation) along with the rest of the lettuce from week 1, half an onion or so, and at least two of the tomatoes.  My cucumbers are already gone or I'd toss those in, too.  So we're rockin' on this week's ingredient usage!)

So I'm really excited to announce that I ordered my very own FoodSaver V3240 Vacuum Sealer today!!

Thar she blows!

She (she who needs a name, of course) will arrive sometime on Tuesday from Amazon.  I've never had any need or desire for a vacuum sealer until the past 3 weeks.  With all of these fresh veggies coming in weekly (with the option to buy more while I'm at the market), I've been Googling how to store each item either in the fridge or freezer.  And as far as the freezer goes, the recommendation is always the same - store in a vacuum-sealed bag if possible.  And that really goes for EVERYTHING going into the freezer, whether you buy it at the market or the grocery store.  So I decided that it was in my best interest to buy a vacuum sealer.  A "wise investment", as some might say.  Well let me just tell you, it took me FOREVER to pick one out.  They range in price from about $40-$400, and they range in size from slim to ginormous.  And their "perks" range from being a super simple manual model with one button ("SUCK IT"......ok maybe it doesn't say that, but wouldn't it be cool if it did?) to basically being a fully automatic vacuum sealer/printer/fax/dishwasher/pressure washer/babysitter/laundry-doer all-in-one.  And the reviews are meant to be helpful, but just like for anything else in the electronic world, they pretty much confuse you even more.  Because for every item with reviews, there are people who LOOOOOOOVE it and people who HAAAAAAAAATE it.  And then if you go to a different website, the percentage of good vs bad reviews may be totally flip-flopped.  Maybe 70% of people would recommend it on one website, but 70% of people would NOT recommend it on another. 

I've just decided.......my new V3240 is named Lewinsky.  I like it.

This is my most favorite picture of Monica Lewinsky.  We all know what she looks like and what she's famous for, but I think she just looks absolutely beautiful here.

So here's how I made my decision:

First off, this particular model had a high positive Amazon review rating.  As in, 69% of reviewers gave it 5 stars, and only 9% gave it 1 star.  And even though some people were all like THIS PIECE OF SHIT IS A TOTAL PILE OF JUNK AND I WOULDN'T EVEN GIVE IT TO MY TAXIDERMIED RACCOON AS A GIFT, 69% is a pretty decent positive feedback number for an electronic item.

Second, one of the biggest decisions was between buying a "manual" sealer or an "automatic" sealer.  With a manual sealer, you line up the edge of the bag where you want it, clamp it down, and push the button to tell it to go.  With an automatic sealer, you slide your bag in to a certain point where the sealer will detect it so that it will start up and seal it all on its own.  Negatives for the automatic version included people saying they couldn't get their bags lined up just right so their sealers would never click on.....or that the automatics waste a lot of bag space because of how far you have to push it into the machine before it will detect it and seal it (so there's a lot of excess bag edge beyond the seal, if that makes sense).  Of course, these people might be total dumbasses who can't figure out how to use their machines.  But all the same, I decided that I liked the idea of being able to manually put the bag exactly where I wanted to seal it and never fight with a machine that might not "detect" my bag.

Third, another huge decision factor was counter space.  We have a decent amount of counter space here at home, but not tons of space just empty and lying around waiting on gadgets to fill it up.  Our countertops are pretty full as it is.  So I really had to consider counter space, since I have ZERO cabinet space left to store any more kitchen ANYTHINGS.  The cheaper sealers look like automatic paper hole-punchers - slim and flat, super basic and to the point.

I considered getting one of these due to their compact size.  But then I realized that their compact size means that they don't hold the roll of FoodSaver plastic within their being, which means I would have to store my roll (or rolls, plural) somewhere else.  And guess what I don't have?  Anywhere to store MORE SHIT.  So I eliminated all of these due to convenience and lack of immediate storage space.

I then eliminated any of them that looked like this, no matter how awesome reviewers said they were:

I mean, seriously, that's a BEAST!  Ain't nobody got time for that!

That particular model (v4865) has really high reviews, but I just don't have anywhere to put it or store it.  Nor do I necessarily need all of the bells and whistles that it comes with.

So after hours of looking at sealers and reading reviews for useful input, I narrowed it down to the one I bought (the white one a few pics above) or a slightly newer, slimmer model:

v3835

This one is slim (only 5" or so wide from front to back), sleek, holds the roll of FoodSaver plastic, has a few extra bells and whistles I don't remember......but is automatic.  The one I bought is 4" wider at the base but is still relatively slim compared to some others, lacks a few of the extra bells and whistles (though I forget what exactly) and is manual.  But it's what I chose and I can't wait for it to be here!

GUYS.  I JUST DISCOVERED THEY HAVE A SEALER IN CAMO.  For when you're out in the woods with your vacuum sealer and don't want the deer to catch on to what you're doing.

I really, really hope I love my vacuum sealer.  I don't want to be one of those negative people complaining that it wouldn't seal right or that it broke after a few uses.  I want to be one of those 69% who thinks it's total awesome sauce.  It does come with a one-year guarantee, so if I hate it, I can trade it for another one.  But I still hope I don't have to worry about that!

P.S. I'm 5 weeks into Weight Watchers now and down 10 lbs!  Only 11 more to go!

Weight Watchers Update and This Week's CSA.

I've been doing Weight Watchers for 4 weeks now, and I am down 9 pounds.

Celebratory Turtle says "Yay!"

I lost 7 pounds in the first 2 weeks and 2 more pounds in the last 2 weeks.  At this rate, I'll reach my goal weight by September 3rd!  And I have ZERO complaints about reaching my goal weight by September 3rd!!

Of course, if I kicked myself into high gear, I could reach my goal weight BEFORE September 3rd without even having to go overboard.  With Weight Watchers, depending on your body stats and how much weight you're wanting to lose, you're assigned a "points" limit per day of how much food you should eat in order to obtain your goal.  You're also given an allowance of bonus points per week to use however you want.  You can spread those bonus points out over the week or save them up for the weekend or particular event (that's 12 glasses of wine, people!).  You can also earn points for activities (such as manual labor or working out) that you can trade in for food points.

I pretty much use Pinterest for all of my recipes, but they do have cookbooks.

My personal daily points limit is 26, with a bonus 49 points per week.

I've sure I've mentioned all of that before, but I bring it up again to explain how I could kick things into high gear if I felt I should.  I currently use ALL of my points each week....the 26 per day along with the extra 49 points allotted.  I also trade in ALL of my activity (running) points for food points.  I'm allowed to do exactly that with my points, so it's not a big deal.  And I'm still losing weight.  But if I didn't use all of my bonus points, and if I didn't trade in my activity points for extra food/beverage, I'd lose a little more per week.  And maybe if I feel like I'm hitting a rut, I'll do just that.

I just got back from picking up my weekly CSA basket (week #2!) - yay!  I totally expected for it to be basically the same basket with a few tweaks.....I was wrong!  Besides ONE item, this basket contained a whole new set of loot!  This week's basket contained mustard greens, leaf spinach, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, zucchini, cucumbers, sweet potatoes and strawberries. 

CSA Week 2!

There are a few extra things sitting there, too.  The top left bag is a bag of broccoli florets.  Their broccoli was so good last week that I bought some more to bring home.  I also joined their herd share program (YAY!) so I'll be bringing home a gallon of delicious raw cow's milk each week.  I went ahead and paid for an extra half gallon this week as well, since I have a feeling I may need to add on and extra half share (a half gallon) or even an extra full share (a second full gallon) if this family goes through it like I think they will.  The last thing I'm sure you've noticed is the desserts in the bottom left.  Remember how delicious I said that brownie was last week?  Well.....there's one of them right there.  And it looks just as it did last week - like a plain 'ole brownie with nothing special going on.  But it is DELISH.  I also bought a peach lavender tart from the booth, because.....well.....peach lavender tart.  It's not for me, it's for Lucas.  Though I'll definitely have a bite or two.  Same with the brownie for the kiddos, since they didn't get to tag along for today's market visit.  OH...I actually looked at the booth this time and found out that the desserts were made by The Farmer's Daughter.  It's located on Hixson Pike, so to all of my Hixson friends, if you didn't know about this place already, it may be somewhere to try.  They're open for breakfast, brunch and lunch everyday except Monday.

Sidenote:  I feel like when I was in college (the first time), The Farmer's Daughter was a meat and three kind of place off of 11th Street......where the servers were large and their servings were even larger.  Am I thinking of a totally different place??

I'm also pretty certain that I'm not going to be needing to do ANY shopping for vegetables outside of the Fall Creek Farms booth at the market.  They have EVERYTHING that you could get in season right now.  My CSA basket was just the tip of the iceberg.  And if there was anything in my basket that I hated, I was wecome to trade it for something else.  I was almost tempted to trade my brussel sprouts for some Swiss chard, but I didn't.  We have enough greens around here for now, so I'll find a delicious way to cook those sprouts.  :)

That doesn't look very Weight Watchers-y, but it definitely looks good!

My brother's ex-wife's ex-sister-in-law (yeah....have fun with that!) made all of us some brussel sprouts for Thanksgiving a few years back that were TO DIE FOR.  They were roasted, I just don't know exactly how.  I really wish I could get a hold of that recipe.  Do you think it would be weird to ask my ex-sister-in-law for her ex-sister-in-law's recipe?  Hmmm..........just maybe a bit weird.  Of course, we could take the time to exchange the recipe and also settle some previous "he-said-she-said" beef.  So it's really a win-win.  At least in my book. But I doubt I'll ever get my hands on that recipe, so I guess I'll just have to find a new one!

I already know what I'm going to do with the zucchini - I'm going to make some zero point zucchini chips to dip into some salsa (also zero points).  Though I do also love me some sauteed zucchini and zucchini fries as well!  The cucumbers and last week's tomatoes will go into a cucumber/tomato/avocado/cottage cheese salad my mom and I eat fairly often, and this week's tomatoes will be sliced as a side item or put into a side salad.  I've still got red leaf lettuce for salad greens, so I'll have to find something creative to do with the spinach (though not cream it, because that's what I did with my kale!).  And I'll have to check Pinterest for what to do with my mustard greens (besides simply sauteing them, though I do love me some sauteed greens).

Mustard greens with onion and bacon.  I like it.

Lots of people aren't greens people, and I certainly didn't use to be.  I used to turn my nose up at a simple sauteed spinach.  Or even a heavily creamed spinach (which is basically like eating a side of spinach dip).  But somewhere in the last 5-10 years, I changed my mind.  And it actually started with collard greens (that change of heart was actually closer to 20 years ago when one of my old Bi-Lo managers shared the plate of food that his wife brought in on Thanksgiving Day, since the grocery stores were typically open until 4:00 and I always worked holidays).  I didn't become a greens fan back then, but I DID discover that I loved his wife's collard greens, which made me think twice about despising ugly, cooked greens.  In recent years, I've found my love of other cooked greens.....spinach, kale, mustard, Swiss chard, etc....and I get excited to cook with them.  I love to saute them, I love to toss them into soups, and I love to find recipes where the greens are paired with things I would have never thought of.  So I am not disappointed that it is greens season!

I should also mention that almost every recipe I've pinned for my CSA basket produce has been a Weight Watchers recipe, so I don't have to feel guilty about what I cook.  The only one so far that hasn't been a Weight Watchers recipe is the Turnips Au Gratin, which calls for heavy cream and Gruyere cheese.  However, I purchased Half n' Half (instead of heavy cream) and Lowfat Swiss (instead of Gruyere) to make it with, so we'll see how it goes.  I'm 2 days behind on making it due to a storm and a power outage, but I'll be making it in the morning. 

Hopefully my dish will look a little something like this.

I'm also making Bacon Snow Peas and Butter Roasted Radishes.   Tomorrow is going to be a good day for trying new things!

The CSA Adventure Continues.

How is is that I'm having so much time to blog, you might wonder?  Well......the hubs is out of town.  Therefore, after the kids go to bed, I can do WHATEVER I WANT.  Not that I can't do what I want normally, but typically after the kids go to bed the hubs and I cuddle up together on the couch and watch one (or more) of our shows.  Now that he's gone, I spend my evenings watching trash TV (my beloved reality shows), piddling around on the internet, and blogging.  So yay for me and anyone who tags along on my blog posts!

Granted, I am also occasionally productive when I'm left to my own devices.  For example, last night I prepared some of my CSA foods for refrigerator storage.  And I did some laundry.  

Speaking of preparing CSA foods for storage......I realized yesterday that I had NO IDEA how to properly store fresh produce.  When you buy things at the store, you toss it into the crisper or put it on the counter and you're good to go.  Fresh produce right off the farm is a whole other ballgame.  First of all, as demonstrated in yesterday's debacle, there are bugs.  Fresh-off-the-farm produce is not pre-washed or pre-anything besides being pre-picked.

**Sidenote:  I just took the dogs out back to pee, where the neighbor granddaughter Chloe and her friend (who lives two doors down) are swimming in their pool.  I overheard Chloe say to her friend, "I skinny dip, too!".  They're around 9 years old.  At first I was like, WHAT, but then I remembered my days in elementary school when I would spend the night at my friend Nicole's house and we thought it was hilarious to skinny dip in her pool at night.  Ahh, memories!

I'm pretty sure that's a picture of me, Nicole, and her sister, Renee.  We were mature for our age.

ANYWAYS......back to storing produce.  I'm not an idiot.  I'm fully aware that fresh produce (especially organic produce) picked right out of the ground or off the vine THAT DAY is going to be covered in dirt and have bugs in it and whatever else.  I'm also aware that super fresh produce isn't necessarily "ready to eat" without some preparation.  I just wasn't actually prepared for the reality of it.  Yesterday produced a Wolf spider with an egg sack that looked ready to pop.  Today produced a few tiny pinhead-sized spiders, an inchworm, an inchworm cocoon, a few tiny little red and black beetle bugs and a giant caterpillar.  Most of the bug loot made it outside into my bushes, though I'm pretty sure the caterpillar was in shock after being in the fridge all night (I'm hoping that he was able to shake it off once his body temp warmed back up).  And though I didn't see any today, I've been told that broccoli almost always has worms hiding in the florets.

When I realized yesterday that I really had no idea what to do with fresh produce purchased straight from the farm, I started Googling.  I found out how to store turnips (pop off the greenery - which is edible if you choose to save it, do NOT wash them, store them loosely in a plastic bag) and how to store radishes (pop off the greenery, scrub them clean, store them in a bag or jar between layers of paper towels).  And that's exactly what I did.

I posted this in yesterday's blog, but here it is again for the visual.

Today I learned how to prepare and store my kale, green leaf lettuce, broccoli, mint, snow peas and green onions.

I decided to freeze the green onions.  Lucas and I have been freezing green onions for years....it just turns out we were missing a step in our freezing process.  We've always washed them, chopped them, and tossed them in a container to freeze.  Today I learned to wash them, chop them, dry them between paper towels, freeze them flat on a tray for about 15 minutes, and THEN put them in a container.  The paper towels remove excess moisture and spreading them out on a tray first keeps them from freezing together.  Makes sense, so that's what I did.

Since my mint was already starting to wilt and die (I didn't pop it into the fridge early enough yesterday to keep this from happening), I decided to dry it.  I learned how to tie it together and hang it in a paper bag in a dark, dry space for a week or two.  I forgot to take a picture of it, but just imagine a paper bag currently twist-tied to Lucas's weight bench in the basement, and you're caught up.  ;)  I have NO idea what to do with dried mint (I'll Google that later), but apparently people dry it so that's what I did.

Here's a generic picture of some mint drying, minus the paper bags.

As for my snow peas, I learned to rinse them in a colander, let them air dry on a drying rack, and store them in a paper (not plastic) bag.  So that's what I did.

I almost wrote "snap peas" on the bag.

When it came to my kale and green leaf lettuce, the ultimate storage goal was the same, though the steps were a little different.  I read a few articles/blogs about storing kale.  Most said to wash it right away, but one guy was so adamant that you should NOT wash kale ahead of time (even saying that "most sources will tell you to wash it, but they're wrong") that I believed him and went with his method.  So with the kale I rolled out some paper towels, laid out a layer of unwashed kale, tightly rolled the towels up and then stored them in an air-tight bag with as much of the air removed as possible.  In two rolls all of my kale was done.  The web guy was also super adamant that kale should not be stored next to certain produce due to its high sensitivity and the fact that certain other produce placed next to it will cause it to go bad.  In fact, here's a link to this guy's blog so you can see why I went with his advice.  He really seemed to know his kale.

Green leaf lettuce is also stored in rolled paper towels in plastic bags, but you DO wash it beforehand.  I learned to fill up a clean kitchen sink halfway with cold water (with some ice cubes tossed in to make sure the water stays nice and cold), cut off the base of the lettuce so that the leaves fall freely into the sink, dunk them and swish them around a bit to remove the dirt and debris, and then let the leaves soak for 15-30 minutes.  Roll out some paper towels, shake the excess water off of the leaves and line up a single layer of leaves on the towels.  Roll them up and put them in an air-tight plastic bag with as much of the air removed as possible.

Kale on the right, two bags of leaf lettuce on the left.  Two rolls of kale, four rolls of leaf lettuce.

Though I did learn how to store broccoli, I cooked it tonight so storing it wasn't needed.  What I DID do was soak the broccoli in a bowl of water with a few teaspoons of vinegar in it to kill off any worms (I hate killing innocent little creatures but apparently you can't really pick them out for a chance at freedom), rinsed it with cold water and then let it air dry before I cooked it.  If I hadn't cooked it tonight, I would have soaked it, rinsed it, let it dry, and then put it in a cup of water (like a flower) in the fridge.  Another option was to wrap it in damp paper towels before putting it in the fridge.  The big thing was to NOT store it in a plastic bag.  The snow pea recommendations were the same way....do NOT store them in a plastic bag.  And even though the kale and lettuce are stored in plastic bags, I was NOT supposed to do this if the paper towels were not there. 

So I cooked the broccoli tonight (no dead bugs turned up in the water, fyi), and it was DELICIOUS.  Though I only tossed in some salt for boiling/steaming, the broccoli tasted as if it had been seasoned.  It was so good!!!  Lucy ate FOUR mini-servings of it.  And I have a bunch left over for another meal or two.  YUM.

Cooked broccoli in the fridge for next time!

The last thing that I got yesterday that wasn't technically included in my CSA was a half-gallon of fresh, raw cow's milk.  I intended to pay for it, but the farm owners were just so sweet that since I'm a CSA member, they gave me a half gallon to try free of charge.  Well, let's just say that my 2.5-year-old son thinks it's DELICIOUS.

I picked up that half-gallon jar yesterday at 5:30.  That's how much is left.  Delano drank ALL of it.

And he's not wrong....it is.  That is some delicious milk.  It's hard to explain why it's so good, but it just is.  Maybe it's because the cream separates from the milk so you have to shake it each time you use it.....makes it so down-to-earth and nitty-gritty.  So after I wrap up this blog post I'll be sending an email to Fall Creek Farms requesting to become a part of their herd share program!  All of this just makes me wish I had become a part of a CSA and herd share program YEARS ago.  It's not cheap, and I get that.  It's also not ideal for people who can't be at a specific location to pick up their basket once a week every week.  And it's not ideal for those who aren't real keen on their veggies, or exploring new recipes with new veggies, or with cooking in general.  But for those who are, it's worth it.  I've already learned SO much just after my first basket, and I've got 6 months of baskets to go!

Since I'll be swinging by the market every week for my CSA basket, I plan on getting into the habit of buying other local items on a weekly basis, such as eggs and meat.  I already buy organic from the supermarket (usually), but buying local just makes it all the better.  And I'm all about supporting local farmers.

Bring it on!

It's CSA Time!

Sidenote (Can you have a sidenote before you've even started a conversation?):  Redwood Creek wine....at least the Rich Red Blend.....is pretty yummy. And it's CHEAP.  We're talking poor college kid cheap.

Continuing on.....I picked up my first-ever CSA basket today!

My goodies in all of their glory.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, which means you buy into a farmer's program to receive "stock" on a weekly or bi-weekly basis during the growing season, typically June through November.  Most programs offer a half basket or full basket option, and you'll receive a designated amount of goodies based on what's in season at that time.  I did a little research for farms offering up CSAs in my area, and I went with Fall Creek Farms.  Fall Creek Farms is located in Spencer, Tennessee, about 10 minutes from Fall Creek Falls State Park.  They offer up full basket and 2/3 basket options, which are available for pickup at the Main Street Farmers Market on Wednesday afternoons.  I've wanted to participate in a CSA for years, but just now got around to doing it this year.  I opted for the 2/3 basket, since I'm not sure yet how much of a basket I can actually make it through before stuff starts to go bad.

My first basket contained fresh mint, radishes, turnips, kale, green leaf lettuce, green onions, tomatoes, snow peas and broccoli.  The half-gallon container of milk was an added bonus.....Fall Creek Farms also offers cow and goat herd shares for milk, and I was pretty sure I wanted to participate in a cow herd share but wanted to try the milk out first.  I asked to buy a half gallon, but they wouldn't take my money!  So I came home with it as a bonus.  Of course, my kids wanted to try the milk before we had even left the parking lot, so we opened it up and took a few swigs.  IT'S DELICIOUS.  So I will definitely be buying into a herd share or two to pick up weekly with my basket!

I Googled how to store turnips and radishes, so those have been properly tended to and are in my fridge awaiting their chance to be eaten.  I'm not really all that excited about eating them, since I'm pretty sure I don't like turnips or radishes, but I am totally willing to give a good recipe a chance (the farm said they'd be emailing out a few recipes for the turnips, plus I'll Google a few recipes as well).  The rest of the basket has been shoved into the fridge as-is (minus the tomatoes) and I'll figure out how to properly store it all in the morning.

Turnips and radishes set to go!

What you DON'T see in those photos is what also made the trek from the farm to my house today:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

A giant Wolf spider with her GIANT EGG SACK (the white ball under her belly) decided to crawl across my stove as I was sorting through the mint leaves.  I about peed myself.  Luckily, she wasn't moving very fast nor did she seem to try to be going anywhere anyway, so I was able to catch her and chuck her and her babies out into the woods before they could make my house their new home.  My first thought was, what if she had gotten away???  The kiddos and I would definitely NOT be staying in my house until she was found.  But then I thought.....what if I had never seen her to begin with??  What if she had hidden and then had her babies in my kitchen????

OMG.

But she's gone now, safe and sound in her new woodsy environment, and I picked through everything else (ready to jump out of my skin at any moment) and didn't find any other hitchhikers, so I think we're okay.  I may be a little jumpy while I sleep tonight, but we're okay.

I'm excited to figure out what I'm going to cook this coming week, and excited to be picking up a new basket next week!  I already know that next week's basket will have strawberries in it.  :)

P.S.  I've already forgotten who I bought it from, but the first tent to the right when you walk into the Main Street Market sells baked goods, like scones and cookies and such.  I bought the kids a brownie to share while we were at the market.  The brownie didn't look like much at first glance, but it was SO MOIST that it practically dripped chocolate when you bit into it.  So I highly recommend the brownies from this booth!

It was moist like this.  SO GOOD.