This Post Is About Food. And Pinterest.

I have never been a Pinterest junkie.  I created an account a few years ago (because everybody was all YOU SOOOO HAVE TO GET ON PINTEREST) but I never really played around on it much.  I think the only things I had pinned for the longest time were a few shelf storage ideas way back before Delano was a mobile baby, because I was trying to come up with a unique plan for childproofing our stair railing along with creating a play area.  My most favorite idea was this one:

I thought this idea.....a bookshelf up against the railing (since Lucas wanted to keep the original railing intact).....was PERFECT.  And I thought we would turn that whole section by the stairs into a play area.  But then I realized - what if I have a climber??  Then bye-bye-baby head-first over the shelf and down the stairs.  So this idea was canned......at least for anytime in the near future.  I still like it a LOT, though.

Lucas ended up building a plexiglass wall against the railing that works perfectly and doesn't hurt the original railing at all.  And it's been perfect.  And the desired play area moved over to the opposite side of the room (no chances of falling down any stairs!).

For me, for a long time, Pinterest was just one more thing for me to become obsessed with that I didn't need.  I have Facebook for that.  And email.  And Twitter.  And my online bank account access.

But then I joined Weight Watchers, and I needed recipe ideas.  The Weight Watchers website has recipe ideas out the wazoo......but it's really overwhelming.  It's like sorting through McKay's cookbook section, which is INSANE.  So I started looking up Weight Watchers recipes on Pinterest, and it was awesome, because a lot of them show the PointsPlus value right there in the description.  So I started pinning recipes that looked yummy, and I've made several of them already.

I haven't made this yet, but it looks delish!

I also haven't made this yet, but it looks quite yummy and in need of some chips and salsa and maybe a margarita.

And then I joined a CSA.  Which meant I was receiving vegetables that I had NO idea what to do with.  Like turnips.  And radishes.  And even with vegetables that were familiar (like greens and zucchini), I needed some new ideas besides simply sauteing them.  So I started hitting up Pinterest for ideas because it is SO EASY to look up recipe ideas for specific foods.  Plus the big seller is having a picture handy for everything.  It's really like buying a book because the cover catches your eye. 

These roasted radishes looked delicious via Pinterest.  I plan to make them again with WAY less salt, because I oversalted them the first time and kind of ruined them.

This picture also drew me in, and gave me a way to use my tomatoes.  And it was a really good soup!

Tonight I've been pinning a bunch of recipes for greens, because I've got a bag of kale and a bag of spinach to work with this week.  Sure, I could simply saute them or I could freeze them, but I'd like to try something new.  So I've decided to make this:

This recipe is really simple and calls for kale, but I'm going to use both kale and spinach.

Since the recipe above won't use all of the kale and spinach I have, I plan to use the rest for salad.

I plan on roasting my zephyr squash like this delicata squash recipe, even though it's not a delicata squash:

I also have a lot of tomatoes, bell pepper and yellow squash.  So I've decided to make a spaghetti sauce that uses all three.  I found a relatively simple sauce that not only calls for tomatoes, bell pepper and yellow squash, but also calls for onions and carrots, both of which I also have from CSA baskets.  WIN!

I hope it's as good as the ingredients portray.

I'm still going to have a little bit of yellow squash and zucchini left over, which I'll probably end up freezing unless anybody claims it.  I also just remembered that I have a whole head of green cabbage in my basket, which will definitely not be seeing any action this week!  So I guess I'll be freezing that, even though I already have a whole head of purple cabbage in my freezer (which is planned for a soup later on). 

Cabbage, anyone???

I should probably learn how to freeze meals instead of just freezing individual veggies.  I can freeze soups, but I'm not sure what full meals can be prepared and frozen successfully.  Like what can go together and not turn up all mushy and weird after being defrosted.  I've seen Top Chef......I've seen the frozen meal disasters.  Or maybe I just shouldn't bother.  Do I really need more meal preparation activities in my future?  Probably not.  I'm doing the best I can with what I'm given at the moment!

At least someone knows what they're doing.

I still think I need a separate freezer.......

A Post NOT About CSAs or Weight Watchers (Really!)

Here's a post not dedicated to food OR my scale.  SERIOUSLY, I MEAN IT.

I'm going to talk about food just a tiny bit, though, to get it out of the way.......remember how a few hours ago in my last post I mentioned that I was going to try making Baked Squash Marinara?  Well I did, and it was YUM.  I used my little patty pan squash (I was able to get three thick slices out of it) but really you could use any squash.  It was fairly simple and tasted like little squash pizzas.  Also, I wanted to mention that I figured out that my zucchini/pumpkin baby is actually called an Eight Ball Squash.  THAT is what Dana was telling me to "stuff".  And she's right.....if you google recipes for Eight Ball squash, you'll see all different kinds or recipes for stuffing it.  I considered it, but then I remembered how many recipes I already have pending for OTHER things that need to either be cooked or frozen, so I opted to dice it up and freeze it for a later date (go figure, right?).  I divided it into two portions for freezing (it was a LOT of squash).  I'll probably end up sauteing it or tossing it into a stir fry or maybe even a soup.  I don't know.....I'll figure that out later.

One more thing......Lucas came home with two bell peppers the other day and four tomatoes today (from a coworker's garden).  So now we have 3 1/2 bell peppers (that doesn't include any that are already sliced and frozen) and 8 tomatoes.  I'm thinking that preparing a spaghetti sauce is in my future.  And then I'll likely freeze at least half of it!  ;)

Is this person in my house right now??  That reminds me.....I should freeze some of my carrots!!

Maybe I should start canning, too.  Think Lucas will build me a canning pantry?  ;)

Ok, ok....I'm done talking about food from my CSA baskets.  I mean, I could keep on going with it for sure, but I promised I'd talk about other things, so here it goes!

So I just checked my work email and I have a message with a list of new work projects!  I google mapped them all and I can only feasibly do one of them located in Evansville, Indiana (the rest are 6+ hours away), but if I get it that means I'll have another project paycheck coming in.  And this one is NOT a super rush project like the last 5 I did, so it won't be nearly as stressful.  Here's hoping that tomorrow morning I'm delivered the good news that it's mine!

Me.

Speaking of checking my work email.....one of the reasons I check it 842 times a day is because my phone has stopped alerting me of new work emails.  I've uninstalled and reinstalled the app and have checked the settings.  The app is set to alert me of new emails with every alert setting possible, but I'm definitely not getting them and haven't been since at least May.  All I can guess is that my phone is just too old for the current gmail mobile app.  I have a Samsung Galaxy S2, which is several years old (the Galaxy is now up to the S5 and the S5 "Sport").  I've needed a new phone for this sole purpose alone, because when I miss work emails I miss opportunities at work projects when other people snag them up before I even see that they exist.  But I've been procrastinating on buying a new phone because I haven't had projects coming in for that extra spending money (it's like a catch 22).  The final straw, however, was when I ordered a FitBit Charge HR and discovered that my phone is too old to sync with it.  I mentioned this in a previous post when I was about to head out to Sprint for the second time to buy a refurbished S3 (for $99, compared to the $500+ for a new S4 or S5).  The ONE they had left sold within the couple of hours before I got there.  So I came home disappointed, sucked it up and won an S4 on Ebay for $152.  Not a refurbished S4, but an "excellent condition" S4 in the original box from a single owner who is upgrading to something fancier.  So it should be arriving here in the next couple of days, and I'm thoroughly excited.  Not only will I start getting alerted of work emails again (I'd better!!), but I'll be able to sync up my FitBit and start playing with it finally!

I will NOT be doing that with it.

My Ragnar Relay team had its first meeting last week to let everybody have a chance to meet, hang out, eat dinner, drink a beer, go over Ragnar basics and ask questions.  Eight team members (including me) were able to make the first meeting, and it was awesome!  We got everybody's runner positions assigned, so now everybody knows exactly what three race legs they're training for.  We'll have our next meeting during the first week of August, so that everyone who missed out the first time will have a chance to get the run-down in person and ask questions.  Ragnar is only about 3 1/2 months away!

Lucy is now 18 months old, and talking up a storm.  She'll repeat just about anything you say (or at least she thinks she is) and now says phrases instead of just words.  She constantly barks out "I GI-GIT!" (which means "I'll get it" or "I'll do it") for EVERYTHING.  She doesn't want you to help her with ANYTHING, even if she can't possibly do it herself because she's all of 2 feet tall.  She'll finally ask for help when she gets frustrated that she can't do it, whatever "it" is.  But otherwise, "I GI-GIT!!!".  She insists on watching Curious George ("George") while she drinks her bottle in the morning and at night, and will sometimes ask for "Bot" (Team Umizoomi) or "Doo-Doo-Doo" (Scooby Doo).  She had her 18-month checkup at the doc today.  Besides having a double ear infection that no one knew anything about, she's perfectly healthy, weighs 21 lbs 3 oz and is almost 31" tall.  And at 18 months old, she still only has 4 1/2 teeth!

Lucy also decided right at 17 months that she wanted to start using the potty, both pee AND poop.  At this point she's about 70/30 on going in her diaper vs using the potty, but she's working on it.  And she can sometimes tell you she needs to potty before she goes, so we actually make it in time.  We have pulled over the car numerous times in order to take her to a potty because she starts hollering "POTTY!!!" from the backseat.

Delano took a little longer to want to use the potty (he'll be 3 in 5 weeks).  Even when Lucy started sitting on the potty ALL the time, and even when he was giving HER marshmallows for doing so, he still wasn't into it.  Then suddenly, about 2 weeks after she started doing it, he just up and decided he wanted to start using the potty.  And I can probably count the amount of times he's peed in his diaper since then on one hand, and this INCLUDES overnights.  As for pooping on the potty, up until this evening, he made it almost 3 full days with a completely dry and poop-free diaper.  And then before that, he made it 2 full days with a clean diaper.  So we're almost there!!  I'd say he's about 95% potty-trained, all on his own time and within just a few weeks.  He's been told that if he makes it 3 full days with a dry diaper, we'll turn his bed into a big boy bed.  He's REALLY looking forward to that, so maybe these next 3 days will be it!

Besides potty training, Delano can talk to you about ANYTHING, can maintain lengthy phone conversations and remember things that you wouldn't have any idea that he would even remotely remember.  He can count to 20 (though sometimes a random number or two gets eliminated) and knows a lot of the alphabet letters (we're going to start working on the whole alphabet soon).  He insists on picking out his own clothes every day, can throw a ball pretty accurately and can toss a Frisbee like a pro.  Going to Hidden Hills Farm and riding their horses is one of his favorite things to do, along with going to the pool, going to "jump" at preschool open gym, going to playgrounds around town and going to either of his grandparents' houses to play (Lucy loves all of those things, too!).

The last photo session I had with the kids was their unicorn session back in May, which was kind of a belated 15-month photo shoot for Lucy.  Our next photo shoot is booked for the end of August in the Bluff View Art District, which will be a combo Delano's 3/Lucy's 18 months/family shoot.  Heidi Burks does all of our photo shoots, because we love her!  Her shoots are quick and easy, she's very reasonably priced and her packages include ALL of the photos she takes, so there are no hidden fees for buying the print rights.  You own them all.  She does photo shoots for us right now every 3 months!

Lucy 6 months ago!

Look at Delano's sweet baby face!!!

And let's not forget how I trashed the dress.  ;)

P.S.  For those of you who really loved the unicorn session, she's booking them again for fall!  She currently has 2 dates in September set up.  So be sure to go to her website and email her for info if you want in on those!

On another note, my book club meets up tomorrow night to discuss Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! by Fannie Flagg.  I'll be finishing up the book tonight and tomorrow (I got behind during those 3 crazy weeks of work projects) but I have really enjoyed the book and can't wait to finish it!  So if you're looking for a book to read, pick this one up.  It's a good one.

On THAT note, I guess I'll wrap this up so I can get to my book!  There are lots of other going-ons I could tell you about (my brother Ben getting engaged, for one!), but that basically sums up the current stuff with us, or at least a little bit of it!

CSA Week 6

There are several things I should/could be doing right now (cleaning bathrooms and mopping, for example), but PROCRASTINATION.

Actually, I did sweep the entire upstairs and downstairs as well as vacuum the two bedrooms that have carpet.  But mopping requires vacuuming all of the wood floors right before mopping them (because ANIMAL HAIR), and since Lucas and the kids will be home in probably about 30 minutes, that's just not enough time for the floors to dry.  I always have to plan mopping right after the kids go down for naps.  I can vacuum while they're still up, but mopping is pretty much pointless unless they're going to be asleep for at least an hour.

But I AM procrastinating on cleaning the bathrooms, because it's my most despised chore.

There are also dishes to wash, but in my house, there are ALWAYS dishes to wash.

Anyway....here's my CSA loot for Week 6:

So many goodies!

My basket included a head of cabbage, onions, tomatoes, yellow "summer" squash, a cucumber, snow peas, a bell pepper, spinach and kale.  She added in the long yellow squash along the left side telling me to try "stuffing it", so I guess I'll figure that out and give it a go.  I also picked up my gallon and a half of raw cow's milk from my herd share.  Separately I purchased eggs, blackberries and strawberries, because YUM.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with all of my loot yet.....I'm still working on last week's loot!  The part of it I didn't freeze, anyway.  Last night I made homemade sloppy joes with coleslaw made out of the Napa cabbage and carrots I brought home.  I also attempted zucchini chips with my CSA zucchini but they were a fail - half of them burned and the other half were soggy.  They soggy ones were still good, just definitely not "chips".  I have a pot sticker recipe that involves snow peas I plan to make maybe tomorrow, along with a recipe for the patty pan squash I got last week, which I think I'm going to make tonight.

The yellow one is the patty pan.....that other one looks like a zucchini and a pumpkin made a baby.

Seriously, though.......I think I need to invest in a freezer, even though we already have TWO refrigerators.  With all of this freezing I'm doing to attempt to keep up with my baskets, I'm running out of room!

Here's a pic inside the foyer fridge freezer.....soup stock, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, brussel sprouts, bell pepper, chives, leeks, banana bread, who knows what else......

I have no idea where I would put a freezer.  Maybe in the dog room?  There's no space in the garage.  The foyer already has a second refrigerator in it.  I guess I could put it in the hallway "cubby" just outside of the laundry room, but then I'd have to move the cabinet currently there into the dog room.......so much stuff!

Lucas will totally veto a freezer, so I'll just have to buy it and sneak it in one day.  ;)

My parents have an upright kind of like this (though smaller without the door storage), which would be PERFECT.

Yesterday I was just talking bout signing up for a winter CSA.  But at this rate, I'll have a freezer full of veggies to last through the winter!  So maybe a winter CSA is a bad idea.

Well, I'm going to go attempt a new squash recipe - Baked Squash Marinara.  I'll let you know if it's any good!

NOW We're Up To Date!

I'm in Week 8 of Weight Watchers, and doing pretty good!  I've lost that 10 pounds needed in the first 8 weeks to get that 2/3 price refund (woohoo!), so now I've just gotta focus on the rest of it.  I'm down about 12 pounds at this point, which means I've got 10-12 more to go. 

I completely forgot to take a photo of my CSA spread last week, but here's what I brought home (besides milk): Napa cabbage (a giant one), a cantaloupe, bell peppers, broccoli, peaches, a little yellow squash that looks like a flower, a round green squash that likes like a zucchini and a pumpkin mated, a long yellow and green squash, and green leaf lettuce.  I feel like I'm leaving out one or two items, but I can't remember.  A picture would have helped, right?

I did take a pic of this Napa cabbage, though.

I also bought some extra broccoli, a really pretty head of cauliflower and a handful of brussel sprouts to freeze, which I did Thursday night.  Tonight we're going to eat up the last of the Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings (8 WW points) in the fridge, maybe paired with some fresh broccoli and some sauteed squash, and tomorrow I plan to make Sloppy Joes (3 WW points) paired with some cole slaw (1 WW point) and zucchini chips (0 WW points).  I've also got a recipe for the snow peas in my fridge that I might make this week:

Looks good, right?  It was in one of my mom's "Eat This Not That" books.

Since the 4th of July weekend was a little indulgent, I plan to really stick to Weight Watcher recipes and snack ideas this week.  Though I didn't gain any weight over the weekend (which I was SHOCKED about), I also didn't lose any.  So I'd like to spend this next week LOSING weight.

This weekend I've got the Burn Your Half Off happening, which is a FREE half marathon here in Chattanooga.  Then next weekend I'll be heading off to the middle of nowhere in North Carolina to run The Scream half marathon.  I'm super excited about that one!

I also bought myself a Fitbit Charge HR this past week!

She's so pretty and professional-looking.

That's the good news.....the bad news is that my phone is too old to sync with it!!  So go figure that I need a new phone, which I may indeed end up purchasing TODAY.  I tried to buy a phone last week but they were out of the one I wanted.  Then we went out of town for the weekend, so I knew I would have to wait until at least today.  As of about 2 hours ago, the store had ONE in stock.  So my mom is on her way to watch my sleeping kids so that I can go attempt to buy this phone!  I really hope it's still there when I get there!  If it is, I'll finally be able to sync my Fitbit to my phone tonight.

"Why not use the dongle for now?", you Fitbit owners may ask.  Well, because my dongle doesn't work.  I ended up with a defective dongle (heehee).  I emailed Fitbit and they're sending me a new one.  And I emailed Amazon (which is where I bought it) and they're refunding me $25.  Talk about customer service!

I realize that my blogs used to be all about family life and not much about food or weight loss, and that now I post a bajillion pictures of food and recipes and talk rarely about the going-ons in the family.  It's not that my life priorities have changed or that I love my husband or children any less than I used to......I just think my blog priorities have changed.  People who are friends with me on Facebook see pics of the kids and me and the hubs ALL the time.  I don't sit and talk food and recipes and weight loss on Facebook hardly at all, if any.  But I do talk about those darn kids A LOT.  So here is where I get to talk shop about food and Weight Watchers and half marathons and to-do lists and whatever else! 

Maybe here in the near future I'll post a few family life-oriented blogs, and let you readers have a break from Weight Watchers points and CSA baskets.  Especially since Delano turns 3 (THREE!!!) next month, and Lucy is more than halfway to 2 (TWO!!! WASN'T SHE JUST BORN YESTERDAY???).  I could write a novel about potty training alone, especially since both of my kids decided to start potty training at the same time.  I could tell you about the things Lucas has gotten done on the house, as well as tell you what our next house projects are.  I could tell you about our last vacation, as well as the next one coming up here in about 2 months.  Just lots of stuff I could potentially tell you about!

My two cuties!

But for now I'm sticking with food and points.  :)

I Need A Weight Watchers Week "Re-Do".

NOTE:  This post is from Wednesday, June 24th.....as in almost 2 weeks ago!  I had planned on adding to it and wrapping it up, but I was just too busy and it was taking too long, so here it is:

Wednesday

Tomorrow will be the end of week 6 on Weight Watchers and the start of week 7.  This week was a step backwards (no weight lost, probably a little gained) so it's been disappointing, but I know exactly why and how it happened:

1.  Last Monday (the 15th) I accepted 4 new environmental projects, all of which were due this past Tuesday (the 23rd).  Fyi, that's a ridiculous time frame for four projects.  The typical turnaround time for one project is 2-3 weeks.  They were also all in Columbia, South Carolina, so I spent last Tuesday and Wednesday on the road.  So every spare minute I've had in the last week has been dedicated to those 4 projects.  And I've been up every night until 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning working on them, even after coming home from two bartending shifts I had over the weekend.  Therefore, I haven't run AT ALL in a week and a half.  All of this lack of sleep and sitting on my butt certainly hasn't worked any wonders on my weight loss.  This past week was all about the money.

I guess I should have been doing more of this.

I accepted another project that's due 2 days after I travel, but it's not nearly as far away and it's only one project.  Plus I'll be able to get a laid back head start on it.

2.  I've been lazy with my tracking.  In the 5 weeks previous, I logged just about every piece of food that went into my mouth.  I accounted for it ALL.  This past week.....not so much.  I've been logging every day, just very loosely.  And I swear I haven't been eating crappy.  While I was on the road I picked out what I was going to eat through the Weight Watchers app while sitting in the parking lot of the restaurant before going inside.  I've eaten salads and fruit and veggies galore.  But I've also snacked here and there and had a beer or two every evening while parked in front of my laptop.  Not that snacks or beer are a bad thing.  The serving of homemade dessert I had after dinner Sunday night wasn't even a bad thing.  But since I wasn't logging everything, I wasn't keep track of exactly how many points I was working with.  So I'm sure I abused my points this past week without even realizing it.

You know you're thinking it!

3.  I spread my bonus points out over the week instead of using them as a splurge over the weekend, and apparently my body didn't care much for that.  Yeah, I know.....I was doing a poor job at logging points anyway.  But apparently even though I'm allowed 49 extra points each week no matter when or how or what, my body prefers leaving those points for splurges, preferably wine splurges, and not for just tacking on extra food each day because I can.  Well.......POINT TAKEN, BODY.  I will spend those points on wine splurges!  I don't mind that a bit.

I talked to my coach today (she's not working tomorrow, which is my weigh-in day and when I would normally chat with her), and she's wasn't concerned.  Neither was I, but having the extra pep talk was what I really needed to hear.  Have I bragged enough about Weight Watchers coaching??  I'm sure I have.  It is REALLY the way to go if you don't plan on going to meetings in person.  It just really helps with morale during the whole process.  So anyway.......on to next week!!  Let's lose 2 lbs!!  Okay, okay......1 lb!!

Thursday

Just kidding......I never ended up blogging anything on Thursday.  Except that bold, underlined, italics title.

Saturday Night:

Here's my CSA box from this week:

This week's box contained snow peas, spinach, Kohlrobi, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, cauliflower, tomatoes and a giant leek.  I bought the red potatoes to go with some pot roast I had planned.

I stored everything "properly" in the fridge (for now) except for the Kohlrobi and the leek.  The Kohlrobi is still waiting to be stored or frozen (it's in the fridge, but just sitting in its bag, which is no bueno) and I already froze the leek.  I watched a YouTube video regarding the leek, because I wasn't sure how much of the green part to keep.  I ended up freezing the green (the leaves) for future soup stock purposes, and divided the main part into two bags (about 2 cups each) to freeze for later.  Oh, and I got to use my vacuum sealer for the first time!

Leek leaves pre-sealed (the sealer and I made that bag!)

Sealed and ready for the freezer!

Chopped leek awaiting to be vacuum-sealed.

Sealed and ready to freeze!

I'll probably freeze the spinach, and maybe the Kohlrobi, too.  Only because I still have mustard greens in the fridge waiting to be cooked, so I don't really need two types of greens for dinner this week.  I had planned on shopping around for seasonal veggies to freeze while at the market this past Wednesday, but it was REALLY windy with a bad storm looming on the horizon when I got to the market, so I basically grabbed my milk and my box and ran (I had both kids with me.....NO FUN to be stuck out in the rain with two kids).  So this week when I go, as long as the weather's nice, I plan to do a little more shopping.

PS.  I actually did not have Kohlrabi in my basket.  Once I googled Kohlrabi, I realized it's a root vegetable.  So I think I maybe just had a type of collard greens!  Regardless, I froze them.  :)

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!