Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Foodie Pen Pals: Inauguration

Today is Foodie Pen Pal Reveal Day!!!

The Lean Green Bean

This month marked my first in the Foodie Pen Pals.  Upon finding The Lean Green Bean about two months ago, I've been visiting daily to catch inspiring exercises and creative recipes.  It's a new love.  One of the programs she runs is Foodie Pen Pals where you are paired with another foodie to share local, ethnic, homemade or simply awesome food items.

Given that I'm always game to try new foods, I signed up for this program the first day I heard about it.  I was so excited to come up with a box, but also to see what my partner could come up with for me!  Shortly after the matches were revealed, Mac over at Wealth is Health emailed me to get my information and I eagerly awaited my first package.

As it turns out I didn't have long to wait.  Arriving home after mailing off my pen pal's package, there was a box waiting on my door step.  Here in MD over the past month our temperatures have been nuclear, so I immediately whisked it inside and hoped for the best.  I think I waited all of 15 seconds to open the box.  I debated waiting.  The anticipation was too great.  Here's what I found:


My initial fears were confirmed.  The contents were HOT!  Thankfully, the only thing heat sensitive was the Yogurt Almonds and 30 minutes in the fridge righted that situation.  Even melty they were delicious.  My other goodies in consumptions order Chike Iced Coffee, Larabar Uber Cherry Cobbler, Good N Natural Chocolate and Beanut Butter Bars and the June 2012 issue of Everyday Food.


I like the Chike Iced Coffee.  It has spurred a new Iced Coffee obsession.  The coffee habit hadn't firmly taken hold.  I can no longer claim such a thing.  I sampled the protein bars over the course of the following week.  They fueled by 5:30am workouts quite effectively.


The only thing that remains of the box is the Everyday Food issue and a few Yogurt Almonds.  Those I've been savoring for WEEKS now.  Mac told me they were a favorite and I complete understand why!

Mac, Thank you so much!  This was a great first package  I look forward to an introduction to even more new things int he coming months.  To check out other Foodie Pen Pal packages, check out the reveal post over at The Lean Green Been.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

CSA 2012

Five weeks ago we entered Maryland's CSA season.  Our farm this year is One Straw Farm out in White Hall, MD.  Until this week, I haven't managed to capture a single photo of our share.  Reason?  I was so overwhelmed with greens that I couldn't think.  Must less photograph.  If' you've joined a CSA in Maryland, possibly anywhere, the first month consists of:
  • lettuce (romaine, red leaf, green leaf, mizuno, arugula, spinach)
  • radishes (pink, purple, white)
  • kale (regular and italian)
  • chard (swiss and rainbow)
  • other greens (beet, turnip, collard)
  • cabbage
There were a few other items in there, but the sheer volume of fiberous leafy vegetables needing to be used up in my house was staggering!!!  All good but so very very much.  By week 3 I was using more than I was tossing.  Week 4 I found that I was able to use up all the items (except one head of cabbage which is being saved for golumpkis) before Week 5 veggies walked in the door.  Armed with greens recipes, this is what I found:

Glorious!
 Starting in the top left we have:
  • potates
  • red cabbage
  • beets (I think - they are sort of pink for beets)
  • lettuce (I don't know the variety - when you break the leaves off they bleed milky white - very strange)
  • scallions (I would call them green onions, but they are red)
  • garlic
  • yellow squash
  • peas
  • purple cauliflower
I'm excited.  There are lots of options this week.   The lettuce, peas, cauliflower and squash need to be used first.  They seem to head south quickly.  The bet green also go on that list and I like to eat them when they are as pretty as these ones.  Everything else will hold for a bit, but I don't think it is going to need to.

Except for the cabbage.  I never know quite what to do with all this cabbage.  Maybe I'll try making sauerkraut.  I've never had purple sauerkraut.  It could be fun!

Wordless Wednesdays


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

A Quilt for Inchie

A month ago I read a post over at KdBuggie Boutique on how to make a simple baby quilt.  Since then I've been obsessed with making Inchie a quilt.  As my second born she misses so many of my firsts.  She got the second baby blanket.  Most of her clothes, even the home-made ones, are hand-me-downs.  Her nursery was decorated for her sister first.  I determined that I wanted this little girl to have a first.  Turns out I'm going to attempt to give her my first quilt.

Look at this face!
I started out wanting to duplicate the design in the blog post.  But then I started looking at quilt designs and a fell in love with all the colors and options out there.  Before long I had a pin board full of ideas.

Much contemplation lead me to decide on a charm pack quilt.  In order to give Inchie my first quilt, I have to start and complete my first quilt.  I like the idea of having the materials already coordinated and cut for me.  Using a charm pack takes care of that.

Looking at a lot of charm packs, I found one that simply screamed Inchie to me.  The Twirl line by Me & My Sister Designs jumped out at me over and over.  I kept pinning and nothing spoke to me like the flowers in the pack.  Perfectly happy and crisp.

Last week, I finally determined the time had come to place my order.  I wasn't going to find anything I liked better.  I decided on with little orange flowers for the backing and orange dots for the binding.  Today they came in the mail.  I could barely wait to get Inchie to bed before pulling open my package.  What I found inside made me so happy.  I promised myself I would not start officially start this project until August, but looking at those colors...  How am I going to be able to restrain myself??!?!?!?

Just right.