Last weekend my friend and I explored Fordhook Farm in Doylestown, PA, the former home of the Burpee family. The grounds are used to try out new seeds and products from the Burpee catalog and online shop. We saw some amazing varieties of sunflowers, tasted a new hybrid tomato, and explored the most amazing kitchen garden! It was a fun day! They host an open house only once a year, so I was glad to have the chance to explore. Here are some photos from the day.
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Clothing samples received were sent to be used or shared as I saw fit. No monetary compensation was received and any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience.
At the Spring Mom Mixer this past April, I had the chance to meet representatives from Kids Headquarters, the distributers of awesome kids clothes to different department stores. I was most familiar with the name from shopping in the kids department at my local Macy's store, which has an incredible good selection of boys clothes. Recently, I received some samples of clothes from Kids Headquarters to try out with my six year old son. We recieved some great Under Armour Alter Ego T-Shirts to try out. He has never worn that brand before and I was looking forward to seeing how he liked them.
The shirts he received were super hero designs, Batman and Superman. My husband is a big Batman fan, so for Father's Day I got him the matching UA Batman shirt, purchased at Macy's. The boys got to wear their shirts together on Father's Day and had a lot of fun!
What I like about the Under Armour (UA) Alter Ego T-Shirts is that the fabric is breathable. So while my son was sweaty after a day at the CSA farm picking berries, his shirt dried fast and wasn't sticking to him. He found the shirts comfortable. I also loved how nicely they have come out of the wash. Even the white one that was stained terribly after strawberry picking came clean in one wash.
Thanks so much Kids Headquarters for the awesome shirts, adding to our summer of fun!
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It's an exciting week this week here, as the last day of school is tomorrow and summer schedules will start! We'll still be going to the CSA every Monday for pickup, so that will affect menu planning a bit. I may end up changing the day I do menu planning to Tuesdays for the summer so that I can include our CSA produce.
Last week at the CSA I picked up a bag of garlic scapes. I've never used them before and saw another CSA member mention that she made pesto with them. After researching recipes for garlic scapes pesto, I found one (posted below in my menu plan) that I only altered slightly by replacing the pine nuts with walnuts. Garlic scapes are very strong! There will be no vampires in our home for a while! I froze most of the pesto I made in an ice cube tray so that it's in nice sized portions for later use. Another CSA member told me today that she freezes her scapes in pieces and uses them in place of garlic in recipes. I love traditional basil based pesto. This pesto was very strong in garlic flavor and I needed to use much less than I traditionally would use.
It's kale season too, apparently, because I now have two bunches of the stuff. I have to admit I'm not a huge fan of kale, yet. I am blaming it on not yet finding a recipe that makes it tasty to me. I have been searching for one to make a nice kale based salad. I've found this Strawberry Kale Salad recipe that sounds promising and this kale chopped salad with maple-almond vinaigrette. This week I also picked up some more swiss chard, that was really tasty last week! The salad greens are a mix of many different greens. Some are more peppery than others. It makes a nice green salad. The strawberries this week were amazing. My son requested that I freeze them to use later on in smoothies or popsicles. I like to add some to my salads too!
Monday: Grilled chicken, garlic scape pesto pasta salad, green salad
Tuesday: Taco Tuesday! Soft shells this week! Salads on the side
Wednesday: Coconut Chicken Salad with warm honey mustard dressing
Thursday: salmon, swiss chard, kale salad
Friday: Buffalo Turkey Burgers, salad, zucchini fries
Weekend: TBD
Check out Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas!
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With June here and CSA veggies available again, I'll be adding lots of entre salads into my menu plan. I like to use my outdoor grill in the warm weather too, so when I can, I grill chicken to use in salads. Mondays are a busy day here, so it's helpful to make a crock pot meal. This Monday I'm trying a recipe that I don't think I've made before and hoping its good so I can take the leftovers to my friends' for lunch on Tuesday!
Monday: Slow cooker Honey Garlic Chicken, brown rice, salads
Tuesday: Taco salad Tuesday!
Wednesday: grilled chicken, California quinoa salad
Thursday: BBQ chicken salad
Friday: Leftovers? Not sure yet!!
Weekend: TBD. I may try another quinoa salad recipe I found: Black Bean Quinao salad I want to have a few of these types of recipes to keep on hand all summer for quick side dishes or easy lunches.
Check out Organizing Junkie for lots of other menu plan ideas!
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This Monday was our first CSA pickup of the season! We got to pick two pints of ripe organic strawberries that were amazing. We also brought home a big head of green leaf lettuce, bok choy, swiss chard and salad radishes. I used some of the radishes in our salads Monday night and they were a great addition...not too spicy. I've found some recipes this week to incorporate our CSA veggies into our meals.
Monday: Sticky chicken in slow cooker to make buffalo chicken salad
Tuesday: Chicken fajitas, salad, black beans
Wednesday: Salmon, asparagus, and orzo salad
Thursday: Chicken with bok choy and garlic, brown rice and swiss chard.
Friday: Pizza night, salad
Weekend: TBD
I used the strawberries as a topping for angel food cake that I purchased. I sliced up about a cup and a half of strawberries, added the juice of half a lime and about half a teaspoon of sugar, to create a bit of strawberry juice. It was a great light dessert, perfect for a hot summery day!
What's on your menu this week? Check out Organizing Junkie for more ideas!
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After the insane winter we suffered through this year, spring has been the most anticipated season for me. To "celebrate" it, my mom and I purchased a family membership to Longwood Gardens so that we could visit throughout the seasons. We've already visited twice this spring and are planning to go back again with our entire family this weekend for my birthday. To say that it's beautiful is an understatement. The beds of tulips and other spring flowers were spectacular. It helped that we went on a perfectly crisp sunny spring day.
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To celebrate Earth Day, we attended a butterfly release at a new Pollinator Garden at our local Whole Foods Market. My son got to "unwrap" the sleeping Painted Lady Butterfly and release her into the garden. There was plenty of fruit out for the new baby butterflies to enjoy their first meal. "Our" butterfly immediately flew over to a piece of mango and began to chow down on the nectar. The Market is working in conjunction with a local nursery to build the Pollinator Garden to encourage bees, butterflies and birds to flock there in a safe atmosphere. There were free popsicles too, which delighted my little guy!
At home we planted some seeds in egg cartons to get started for replanting in our garden in mid May after the danger of frost. We'll hopefully have some sunflowers, basil, poppies, strawberries and coleus growing. I have many more seed packets to plant, but they will have to be sowed directly into the ground in May.
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Apparently I've lost my knack for being able to plan a weekly menu. Not sure why.
I have an abundance of produce this week, including lots of apples. We stopped by Tabora Orchards on Saturday and picked out some great apple varieties. I plan to make applesauce for this week. I also have an Acorn squash that I can't decide what to do with...any more than put it out as a decoration. I've never been a big squash fan. I found two recipes that sound interesting, Apple-stuffed Acorn squash and classic baked acorn squash that I may try to make as a side dish.
Since it's apple season here, and I haven't the foggiest idea how to store apples for the long term, I figure out what to make with apples, more than just sauce and pie. I did find a few savory dishes that include apples that I may try. This sandwich, Apple, ham and cheddar melts with a side of Warm Napa Cabbage and Apple Salad (with bacon and blue cheese) sounds good. I have napa cabbage from our CSA that needs a use, so I think this might work, although I'm not sure about adding the bacon and cheese to it.
It feels like soup weather to me here, so I've been scouring Pinterest for soup recipes. I made chicken enchilada soup last night and it was great for a chilly day. This week I'm contemplating making White Bean Chicken Chili or some version of Pasta Fagioli.
Our CSA pick up included fresh spinach for the first time this season. I love spinach! I am thinking of trying to make this tomato and spinach frittata this week for lunch. I have never made one before for some reason....oh wait, that's because no one here eats eggs but me. My son picked out teeney tiny potatoes at the CSA today....I am not sure what to make with them yet. He asked if I could cut them open, cook them, and let him eat out the insides and give the outside skins to his dad to eat. Ha! I may roast them with some olive oil and rosemary next Sunday.
So here goes this week's potential dinner menu:
Monday: spicy buffalo chicken sausages with green salads and CSA veggies
Tuesday: Pumpkin and Spinach baked ziti (with CSA Spinach) and a green salad
Wednesday: Apple, ham and cheddar melts with napa cabbage and apple salad
Thursday: Pasta Fagioli in the slow cooker (Soccer night!) with bread and a green salad
Friday: Homemade pizza and salads
Weekend: TBD
I need to get back into this menu planning groove. Fall has been overwhelming with activities!
I'm linking up to Organizing Junkie's menu plan Monday!
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Blogging has taken a back seat to the end of summer activities along with the getting ready for Kindergarten planning. But, not having a menu plan is becoming a problem, so here is this week's...
Our CSA shares over the past few weeks have been FILLED with tomatoes! Lots and lots of tomatoes. This week alone we brought home ten pounds of them, mostly roma or paste variety. I've been making soup and freezing it, along with freezing skinned and seeded tomatoes to use over the winter. This week I am planning to make tomato sauce and salsa.
This week week we also got to bring home a watermelon! I'm really excited about it and hope it's sweet and good. I haven't had a lot of good watermelons this summer for some reason.
Menu plan:
Monday: pasta with homemade fresh tomato sauce, salad, watermelon.
Tuesday: salsa chicken (slow cooker), fresh tomato salsa and chips, brown rice, toppings (shredded lettuce, cheese)
Wednesday: Chicken Ceasar Pasta salad
Thursday: Buffalo chicken lettuce wraps (slow cooker), fruit salad
Friday: homemade pizza night with fresh sauce, salad
Saturday: TBD
Sunday: BBQ with chicken kabobs, yummy summer salad, watermelon.
What's on your menu plan this week?
Check out more plans on Organizing Junkie!
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I continue to base my menu planning on our CSA pick up each Monday. I'm writing this early, though, since I never found time to do one last week after the pick up. I'll alter the menu plan for the week as needed. Last week I did use up some zucchini for baked fries with grilled burgers, I made a batch of fresh tomato soup, some tomato bruchetta (or tomato salad) and I mixed up a batch of bread and butter pickles that are curing in the fridge right now. The basil became pesto and the lettuce made for great salads.
My son loves mini-meatloaf muffins, which I've been making every few weeks for him. They are really easy to make and bake fast, since they are small in muffin tins instead of a loaf shape. This week I'm going to try a buffalo chicken meatloaf recipe, but in the muffin tins, so it will bake faster. I'll also leave his portion non-buffalo'd, since he isn't a fan of Frank's hot sauce yet!
Monday: Creamy Orzo with Chicken Sausage, salad, watermelon
Tuesday: Chicken Sandwiches, summer salad
Wednesday: Zesty Buffalo Chicken Meatloaf (muffin version) and salad +/or CSA veggies.
Thursday: out---we are headed to the Phillies game!
Friday: Peas and Ham macaroni salad
Weekend: BBQ with the family!
I found inspiration for this week's menu plan from reading Julie's monthly meal plan for August. She is so organized to have a whole month planned!
I'm linking up to Organizing Junkie's menu plan Monday post!
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