Bountiful Baskets

Finally... a great deal on produce! Don't get me wrong, I love Costco for my fruits & veggies when the farmer's market is on hiatus, but... $15 buys a box of grapes and a tub of spinach. That's all. Not a lot of variety for those few dollars...

Introducing, Bountiful Baskets. For a $15 contribution to this co-op, you get a lovely basket of fruits & veggies. Here, it's every other week, but seeing as we have three locations already, perhaps they'll be enough interest to move to weekly!

Today's basket included: Jerusalem artichokes, strawberries, spinach, carrots, squash, cabbage, cantaloupe, bananas, sweet potatoes, mangoes, apples, and little bitty pears!

I'll be honest: before this morning, I'd never heard of Jerusalem artichokes (also called 'sunchokes'). A quick google search shows me that they are similar to parsnips and can be used in place of potatoes.

The goal for us it to use all of these groceries... the ones we love as well as the "unheard" of variety!

For $6.50 (my half of the 20 lbs. citrus box), this is what we found inside! Pummeloes, oranges, minneolas, lemons & limes. I think this will prove very popular here!

Cael was most entertained with the citrus. A full 1/2 hour was spent playing with his "lunch"!

$10 for 5 loaves of tasty bread! We also ordered tortillas and, man, are they dense! I'll bet those go over well with my boys!

Farmer's Market Finds

Turns out the trick is getting there before the 8:30 bell. Fewer peoples, more selection, and no one in line for the balloon animals! Besides crepes, cookies, and a helicopter balloon creation, this is what we brought home this week:

• bean sprouts
• pears
• green onions
• red & white onions
• various peppers (for Jason's salsa)
• cucumbers (note the "double cucumber" for the kiddos!)
• tomatoes (both regular & grape)
• choke cherry jelly (never picked our own berries & this is SO much easier!)
• egg plant (don't know what to do with that)
• a balloon duck for good measure...

A stop for corn from the Optimists completed this shopping trip. Well, that and hundreds of dollars at Costco & Albertsons... but at least this filled the crisper....

Menu Plan Monday

Well, it worked! I just needed some accountability and posting my menu did the trick! It also got us company for dinner one night! (Thanks Carol. The tortillas and dessert were awesome!)

This week, I'm continuing to clean out the pantry/ deep freeze.



Sunday- Crockpot beef roast/ potatoes

Monday- leftovers

Tuesday- Homemade mac & cheese/ ham steak/ watermelon


Wednesday- Cajun chicken strips/ cornbread casserole/ green beans


Thursday- Sloppy Joes/ cut veggies/ chips


Friday- Spaghetti & meatballs/ french bread/ green salad


Saturday- Grilled hamburgers/ pasta salad/ corn on the cob (if I can find any...)



If you would like more ideas & inspiration, visit this week's Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie.

We did not make it to the Farmer's Market this weekend thanks to a torrential downpour and stunning early morning display of lightning and thunder. So, we're using up the few leftover veggies from last week and supplementing with frozen. It's just as well. I desperately need to clean out the refrigerator so fewer obstacles are a good thing!

Branching out...

Artichokes. I'm 37 years old and I have never eaten an artichoke. Truthfully, I've never had the slightest desire to... Rhys, however, is rather intrigued by anything with spikes (vegetable or not)! It seems our local Costco carries this odd culinary treat. Couple Rhys' curiosity with my rule of never denying a request for any veggie or fruit (particularly anything new to us) and we brought home four of these things...

I am not adventurous but I am on a mission to feed my family well. Alas, buying the artichoke is not enough. Apparently, one has to actually cook & consume them to reap any health benefits. (Sort of like the treadmill... one has to actually get on it AND turn it on AND run... Grrrrr!)

So, dinner with friends on Saturday became the occasion of choice to debut these green pokey globes . Jason did a little internet research and discovered that they can be microwaved in lieu of steamed (our steamer basket is too shallow). He did that and then grilled them for a bit. Served alongside melted butter, we dared one another to try them. Four adults and six kids trying to figure out how to eat those 2 artichokes. We liked them once we figured out what part is actually edible... but as Jason says, "Anything that hard to eat doesn't really want to be food."

Verdict? We have two more to cook. We will cook & eat those. Nonetheless, I'm guessing, short of a specific request, artichokes probably won't make my grocery list.

However, the rest of dinner was worthy of a repeat. We made Bangkok Chicken Satay (chicken skewers with peanut sauce), fresh cauliflower & broccoli (from the farmer's market) and wild rice (made in the awesome new rice cooker~ our old rice cooker wouldn't adjust for brown/wild rice).

I took no photos so you'll just have to take my word for it... Delicious!!!