Meals for the Week

This was a fun-filled weekend and it's not over yet! Saturday we went to the Science museum to see the new exhibit about weather. Sam LOVED it, especially the little room where you're INSIDE the tornado. And where you can create your own volcano, based on the variables of goo and gas. Very fun. 

Then today I took Ted and Mae, with Alex and Adam, to Sunday school while Wendy went on a bike ride (after she had already done an early morning swim. Triathletes are NUTS I tell you.). After Sunday school she took Ted's 7 year pictures and then took him swimming with her boys. This made for a refreshingly quiet afternoon. It doesn't matter which two children are together; two children are so much quieter than three. Period. 

I went through my freezer stash (on paper this year, so I didn't have to literally fall into the freezer to see what was in there) and have this week's meals at the ready. I'm saving most of the greens (we are very greens-heavy this year) for when the meals run out and I cook rice and beans alot...then we can just pop in some greens and it'll be fantabulous! I hope to post Ted's pics soon ... she took some truly gorgeous ones as always. 

Next week is a big one. It's testing week. Ted is still unsure whether he'll test. He can do it, but he's not sure he can. It could be that he'll end up giving it a shot and seeing how it goes. His party is at TKD on Saturday, so for his sake I hope whatever happens on Friday night is ok with him. 

Here are the meals. What a wonderful lazy week.

Monday: Tofu Mizuna StirFry

Tuesday: late night at TKD, leftovers

Wednesday: leftovers (Paul 6:30 soccer game)

Thursday: Moraccan Lentil Stew

Friday: testing, out for dinner

Saturday: post bday party = leftover GFDF pizza

Sunday: Baked Asian Tofu

Monday: Acorn Squash Soup

To bake: 2 batches of zucchini bread

remaining 6 squash from CSA, puree and freeze

Raisin Bran muffins (batter in freezer from late July ... hmm..)

Besides turning on the rice cooker and remembering to defrost, this should be an easy week! And a yummy one! 

Operation Clean Out has begun

It happens every year. I stock and stock the freezers and we don't eat the bounty, because it feels safer to hoard. Well, this year I'm going to break the tradition! From now on, our dinners will come from the freezer. When the larder is bare, I can go back to cooking up some late winter stews and soups from our bean supply. Mmm mmm. How is your winter going, those of you who stock up all summer and fall? 

Much Ado About Crockpots

I've been using my crockpot almost every day for the past month. Always for breakfast (funny how oatmeal always comes out... fancier breakfasts have flopped), and often for dinner too (chili, soup etc.). So you can imagine, can't you? my incredible excitement at finding A Year of Crockpotting. It's a little sad, because she's on Day 362, but it's also pretty awesome to have 362 days of posts to drool over. She makes everything in the crockpot! French Toast, ready in the morning, awesome dips, fondues, standard meals, and even brownies! Basically, she's shown that most anything can be done in the crock. Rockin'.

Needless to say, I've been burning the midnight oil catching up on all 362 days! I hope that when the year is up, she continues to add to her blog. What a treasure for so many people! Plus, her sense of humor is fantastic. 

Tomorrow I plan to head down to the "cellar" and see what all we have down there. It's time to start planning the meals to use up all those goodies. Squash, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnip and beans...now to munch them up! Not to mention the copious greens I froze, ready to add deliciousness to our soups and such. Mmm... It's going to be a tasty winter. 

I have 2 crockpots, both from the Salvation Army. They are both "new" to me. It's a funny story. I had my own (used it all the time in Chicago) but after finding one with a removable, dishwashable crock, I donated it. Then, the cord exploded one day! So, I returned to choose another one. There weren't any with removable inserts, but for $2, I figured I could make do. Then, a few weeks later, after realizing that I was using my crockpot every day and sometimes twice a day, I picked up a smaller one (perfect oatmeal size). So, I had two and now I have two again. Both old, 80s models. Only High, Low and Off. But they work and I love them. Someday, maybe I'll get this fancy one. 

-6

Yup. That's the temperature today. Ole looks sad, but we are not going out in this. After safely maneuvering Ted to school (only 10 minutes late! Not bad.), I returned home to warm up the house. I started the laundry and turned on the oven. 3 hours later and we have Curried Pumpkin Soup for dinner with roasted pumpkin seeds to sprinkle on top, Caramelized Apples and Turnips (a side dish for days to come, since I love it and Paul doesn't), a 2nd baked sugar pie pumpkin in the freezer and some hot chai in my cup (homemade soymilk and local Bhakti chai). A delicious and warm way to spend this day. I have 3 pairs of socks on and my feet are cold after sitting down for 5 minutes. Yikes. Folding laundry is up next, then heading back to Horizons to volunteer in Ted's classroom. No recess today - I bet the kids are WIRED! Stay warm, everyone! 

we are ready!

I read a post this morning (I can't remember where it was...so I apologize to the original author!) that echoed my sentiments exactly, on the whole "putting up for winter" thing. I am ready! I've got my local beans, squash, potatoes, carrots, turnips, apples, jams, applesauce and frozen greens. So, when do I start eating? It seems too early. Yet, I remember last June, we were still finishing up meals in the deep freeze before restocking! So, when do we start? It almost seems a shame. It took a lot of work (and with 3 more Keeper pickups, the work continues!) to store this food and it's very comforting to see the shape we're in. But, when do we eat?

I took some pics of Mae at gymnastics today. She insists on wearing her tutu even though she didn't like ballet. Cutie. She held this position for a LONG time. She's so strong. I'd update moeltini but I'm too tired. Busy day today and tomorrow is even crazier. Lots of doctor appointments tomorrow. And rehearsal in Denver at night. *yawn*

getting organized

All the hours I've spent after putting the kids to bed early these last few days has helped me get organized! I'm signed up for 3 5K races which will (force) help me stick with running when it gets cold and miserable. I'm looking forward to them! World Running Day is Nov.9, the Panicking Poultry is Nov.16, and the Colder Bolder is Dec.2.

I've also discovered Google Calendar. Since doing the 2 week menu planning, I decided I needed a system to automatically repeat for me, rather than me rewrite all the dates etc. Google Calendar lets you set events to repeat weekly, or twice a month, etc. So now I've entered all our meals, all our activities, as well as special occasions like conferences and doctor's appointments, to Google, which will then email and text me reminders. (Yes, I am secretly trying to determine if an iPhone would really be worth the cost. Since up-to-the-minute emails are part of what attracts me to it, I'm hoping reminders will help me in the same way. (And no, I can't get email on my phone, although I could with my old phone. But since I don't pay for this one, you won't hear me complaining. Too much. ahem.)

Our Keeper Share, which starts up next week (5 pickups total and they are always GIGANTIC. We had frozen soups all the way into June this year!) will include a Fruit Share and a Coffee Share! Woot! I was so excited to get this email this morning:

Keeper Fruit is a go! It's a beautiful offering including cider, storage apples, fruit butters and jams. The coffee share comes in one pound bags per each pick up - this provides for one mighty tasty cup of java.

I just yesterday opened our last jar of Rocky Mountain Farm jam (gooseberry I believe) and made a mental note to take a trip out there to stock up again, and now I don't have to! Paul will be thrilled to have a steady supply of coffee; I don't drink it anymore so it's not on my radar to purchase...he has made do with some pretty lame pre-ground stuff that we found lying around lately. I hope the Keeper Share will be as generous with dried beans, dried corn and tea leaves as last year. Yum!

Well, in the spirit of all this preparedness (and since I can't go on a run because Paul's not home yet...ahem...), I'm off to prep dinner, a delicious Crock Pot Veggie Chili for which I actually remembered to pre-soak the beans! Have a productive and happy week, all!

Dark Days Challenge Completed...this year

Well, March 31 has come and gone. The Dark Days Challenge is officially over, and fittingly, since the Farmer's Market starts up this Saturday. This was a really tough challenge ... mostly because it required advance planning, not my strong suit. But, I persevered. Throughout the Fall season, I put away meals as quickly as I prepared them. We feasted all winter on soups, stews and slow cooker meals from the deep freeze. My goal is to get through the remaining 11 (eleven!!) meals still left in the freezer before May, when the produce really starts rolling in. Our CSA will start up soon, and I've increased to a full share this year. I learned the hard way that putting up greens is just as essential as freezing those luscious berries. As my boys pined for strawberries, I missed my local kale, swiss chard and spinach. This year, thanks to the Dark Days Challenge, I will do more to keep us in berries and greens all winter. This was such a wonderful challenge. And life changing too.

Our meals for the past two weeks have included Spaghetti with Homemade Pesto, Baked Potatoes with Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy, Sloppy Lentil Stew, Lentil Buttercup Soup, Aloo Gobi and Slow Cooker Vindaloo. Mmm. This week we're finishing up the Pumpkin Black Bean Soup, Carrot Soup and Chickpea Turnip Stew. I figure 3 freezer meals a week are good. Really, these late winter meals have been easier than any other season, because they're ready to go!

Pumpkin Saag

Don't skip the pumpkin! This was not very good and I can't blame Isa, so I think it was my lack of pumpkin. Heh. Pumpkin Saag from Veganomicon required 2 pumpkins. I only had one (freezer) so I subbed in a buttercup squash for the other. The result was not sweet enough and too squash-y. Still good, but not great. I'll try again with canned pumpkin (I'm officially out of pumpkin! I made it to mid-February! still lots of other squash left though..mmm) because it smelled like pumpkin pie while cooking. This was an all-local meal (CSA pumpkin, buttercup, onion and garlic). Locally brewed Fat Tire beer rounded out the meal! Our other local meal this week was my favorite Roasted Kabocha Squash Soup. This time I was even lazier (if that's possible for such an easy recipe) and just used water rather than veggie broth. Big mistake...the flavor was too onion-y and just not flavorful enough. Plus without the freshly toasted squash seeds, it was even duller than usual. Some (local) goat cheese helped perk it up. Next time, veggie broth all the way! This local meal used CSA kabocha, garlic, onion and local goat cheese.

We had a deliciously lazy Saturday. Sam is sick so we indulged him with plenty of Pokemon movies, Vitamin Water and Popsicles. He seems about 90% tonight. He has a truly amazing immune system. He is hardly ever sick and when he does finally fall victim to something, he is usually over it in 48 hours. We all got good naps (Ted played by himself, a talent he has always had for which I am constantly grateful!) and plenty of book reading and computer gaming. Lazy day. Tomorrow should be more of the same. Ahhh...

A Local Smorgasbord

Today was another cold one and all the kids were at school. So after Ole and I had our lovely hike I got cooking. Because I knew Paul was going to be out tonight, I decided to just do up a bunch of my favorite sides. I used all local onions, garlic, turnips, squash and apples. First up, the Beet Salad from the ashram. I had to buy beets because mine are GONE!!!! but they were Colorado-grown. Then my new favorite, Apple Glazed Turnips. I tried another ashram recipe for a Butternut Squash spread but I really didn't like it. Too garlicy and too raw (sharp?) for me. That was a bummer. I also drank copious amounts of the delicious CSA Holy Basil Tea. YUM! The boys and I made (not local) brownies for dessert. It was such a yummy meal. All I have left are 4 squash, potatoes and onions. I think I am going to reserve Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends for cooking and begin breaking out our freezer meals on Mon/Tue/Thu. I don't like to touch them ... they are my security blankets. But I think those meals will get us through February and March with at least 3 local meals a week and then... Then! The Farmer's Market and the CSA will start up again!
And a cute pic of Sam at preschool, just because. He is so funny. And so serious about his play. I absolutely LOVE these pics the school sends us. It's so nice to have a little glimpse into his day.

Whah happahned?

Wow, it's been a while. Saturday during TKD, the light was coming in through the blinds funny and I developed a (rare now) really severe migraine. I spent the day huddling under the covers in my darkened bedroom and actually kicked it by evening, allowing me to take Ted to Ninja Night/have dinner with Wendy. Yum, Indian. Sunday I still didn't feel 100% so we lay low and didn't do much. Monday Ole and I hiked and lots of cleaning and laundry finally got done! We had bookclub last night and talked about The History of Love. What a great book. I'm re-reading it to catch all the little details I missed.
Tonight for our local dinner we had the scrumptious Spinach Kabocha Squash Soup, with CSA kabocha, onion and garlic (the spinach wasn't CSA but it was from Colorado.) I LOVE this soup. I also love that it can be done in the crock pot. Just put the previously cooked squash in with the whole garlic cloves and chopped onion, add 4 cups of veggie broth and put on low til ready. A few minutes before serving, squash it all with a potato masher and add 2 cups of spinach. Stir to wilt spinach and serve. So delicious.

Victory!

This is my beet basket. My carrot basket looks identical. My turnip one is not far behind ... I give it a day or two to catch up. We are having a Beet salad tonight from the ashram's cookbook that I KNOW is excellent and that will be the end of the beets. I will miss them, but will wait for the leafy-topped versions in the spring. Mmmm ... beets.

The success of turnip/beet/carrot consumption has been a relief. I HATE letting food spoil, although we do compost which helps but STILL! What a waste! This year was my first at the whole root cellar business and I learned quite a lot! We should have been having these food discoveries sometime back in November! Now I know. We've been keeping up with the potatoes easily with mashers. Potatoes are so forgiving. No fancy ice-water baths for them. They taste delicious even when they've sprouted. We still have a ways to go on the potato basket (which is about 3 times larger than this basket), but they're doing nicely enough as is.

Tonight's local dinner was planned for yesterday but we just had leftovers instead. I'm looking forward to this meal. I love carrot soup (CSA carrots, onion, garlic, potatoes). The beet salad (CSA beets, red onion, garlic) and mashed turnips (CSA turnips, potatoes, homemade soy milk) should be perfect accompaniments a la Shoshoni.

I had an extra cup of CSA Indian Woman beans left over from a recent meal and remembered Dreena's Roasted Chickpeas were a bit hit. These are just as good, if a bit crispier, which I like. (Have I mentioned recently how much I love that little flower on my camera? I take pictures of all the food I prepare now, just for fun.) I've also been drinking the CSA Holy Basil tea by the mug-ful! It is really delicious. I'm glad, because we have a significant amount left, even after the holiday gift giving. Mmm ... cold weather and tea just go together so well, it almost makes the plunging temps worth it! Almost.

Turnips for lunch!

I'll admit it. I hadn't touched the turnips. I have a recipe I'm going to try that is a type of mashed potatoes with turnips. Not too inspiring. However! One of the blogs I love, Straight From the Farm, had a recipe a few days back for Caramelized Apples and Turnips. Intriguing. Anything with caramelized in it is bound to catch my eye. With 10+ pounds of turnips wilting in the basement, the least I could do was try! They are FANTASTIC. The apples mush into a sort of applesauce at the bottom of the pan. The maple syrup lends a sweetness to the otherwise bitter turnips, yet the dish isn't overly sweet. The turnips stay crisp and yet not crunchy. It is also easy and takes all of 5 minutes. YUM. Since I ate the entire bowl for lunch today, I think we've found a real winner. YUM!

Mae had another good day at preschool today. No crying and apparently even spoke a few words! She was very happy to see Eve and Nathalie and played with them all day (they weren't there on Monday). She hadn't touched her lunch, which sounds more normal to me! After picking up Ted, we took her to the doctor to check out the cough she's had for 3+ weeks now. Turns out she has a (rather severe, been there awhile) double ear infection. Her lungs are clear and her throat isn't overly red, so the cough is a mystery, perhaps the start of a viral thing that led to the ear infection. She's on Amoxycillin (the only antibiotic we know of that she isn't allergic to) and we have a recheck in 2 weeks. Apparently Ted was thrilled to be back in school; his teacher told me he was SO HAPPY all day long. I'm so glad! When I picked Sam up, he was dressed up like a king with a red cape and king's crown on. He is suddenly into dress up (at school) and takes it very seriously. hee.

Tonight we had the leftover (fabulous) Lentil Buttercup Soup, with homemade samosas and Paratha from our local Indian grocery. Mmmm...

Repeat...

... of one of our favorite local meals. Pumpkin Black Bean Soup with CSA pumpkin, Hopi beans, garlic and onion. Served alongside my challah, which Paul and I managed to eat in its entirety with no help from the kids. Heh. I roasted my sadly slumped CSA pumpkin today and was able to use about 80% of its flesh, so even if a squash looks like it's going the way of the compost, some if not most can still be salvaged. This soup is fabulous; I give the credit to the local beans and pumpkin. Mmmm...

I baked a batch of Dreena's SuperCharge Me! Cookies (EDBV) and they were OK but not amazing. They tasted like an oatmeal raisin cookie with chocolate chips. They are crazy healthy and don't taste weird, so that's good. But my kids wouldn't touch them. *sigh*

Swimming!

Today was another swimming day with Josh and family. As usual, everyone had a blast. Sam actually stayed in the water for an extra hour with Josh, getting tossed and flipped around like mad. He loves the water! A lifeguard asked me about the Infant Aquatics program and commented that he has never seen a child in the IAS wetsuit who didn't act just like Mae was acting today - happy and confident in the water. True!

After nap today, all three kids had haircuts. Mae's is cut very short - it's been since August that she's had anything but a bang trim. I'll get a pic soon - she looks sooo cute!

Tonight we had Roasted Acorn Squash soup (CSA acorn squash, onion & garlic). We were out of soymilk so I subbed in lite coconut milk that we happened to have on hand. YUM! I'll do this every time from now on. We had toasted CSA buttercup squash seeds on top. (I roasted both acorn and buttercup today and toasted the wrong seeds! Oh well... they are both delicious.) What a yummy meal.

The Root Cellar ....

... is wilting.

Something must be done, and SOON, or there will be a lot of wilted, moldy produce in my basement! One easy plan to is get roasting! Squash roasts easily in 30-60 minutes, so I plan to roast away for the next few days. Once the squash are roasted, it can be frozen til I'm ready to prepare something. The turnips and beets must be dealt with on their own asap. Thursday and Friday will involve the Ethiopian stew, sauteed beets and root salad, to be sure. I love the Punk Rock Gravy, so I think a side of mashers will be on the menu with most meals from now on. Mmm. I also thought it might be easy enough to substitute mashers for rice with some of the more stewy soups. I'll post any "cellar meals" accordingly, in case any of you have a similar case of the wilties!

Any chickpeas will be subbed out for my CSA Indian Woman Beans and black beans for my CSA Hopi or Cherokee Trail of Tears/Wax combo.

The Roots
Potatoes: Mashed Potatoes w/ Punk Rock Gravy (CSA Indian Woman beans)
Carrots: Molly Katzen's Carrot Soup
Beets: Root Salad and Sauteed Beets (from the Yoga Kitchen cookbook)
Turnips: Ethiopian Turnip Stew
Onions: (easy to use up ... in every single dish)

The Squash
2 Acorn: Roasted Acorn Squash Soup
4 Kabocha: Kabocha Spinach Soup
4 Buttercup: Lentil Buttercup Soup
1 Pumpkin: Pumpkin Black Beans Soup (CSA black beans)
1 Blue Ballet: Hubbard Squash Pie w/ Gingersnap Pie Crust
3 Spaghetti: store the spaghetti strands for later spaghetti & no-meatballs!