CSA

We are going to try something new is year. We have bought a share in Farmer Jim farm. Jim is a local farmer and is part of Community Supported Agriculture. Long story short we pay farmer Jim up front and for 33 weeks we get a box of farm fresh veggies of all kinds once a week! We are all so excited and can't wait. If you want more info check out Jim Produce!

I will keep you posted as to how we like it and what kind of things we are getting and making with this adventure!

Here is link to the piece the local newspaper did on Farmer Jim.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/video/?videoId=1260669879

Shopping

Josiah and I hit both Sam's club and the grocery store this morning! OK so what you are saying, I only mention it because it should, God willing, be the last BIG trip to the store before Kevin come home!!!!

You see one of the things we love to do as a family is go grocery shopping. Strange? We don't think so! We love to cook together so it only reasons to go shopping together. It will be a little strange the first time we go together again as my trips have gone from having a family of 5 going before Kevin left, to it being just Josiah and I. I can't wait for Kevin to come with Josiah and I, we have so much fun zooming up and down the rows. Yes I said zooming, I have a boy remember the cart has become a race car!

Anyway Just thought I would share the joy of my day!

House Party

Another huge shout out to House party! I was choosen again for another party! I am loving this website! Here is a link to my latest party http://houseparty.com/party/88111

It was sponsored by;

Thanks you to all the sponsors for the wonderful goodies my guest and I enjoyed!

Peaches, neighbors & life!

I am so very thankful for our neighbors, thanks to them we will never run out of peaches, well at least not for awhile! I was greeted yesterday morning with a 5 gallon bucket full of peaches. Yes, I said 5 gallon bucket, mind you this is the third time I believe, they have brought peaches to us. If you remember the first time we made two batches of jam plus froze some. The second was just a handful so we ate them fresh. This time I spent 1 1/2 peeling and slicing peaches till I was sticky up to my elbows. I know have 16 cups of sliced peaches in my freezer! :) YEAH! I really do love them! Just a lot of work for an already tired mom.

As I was peeling peaches and talking on the cell phone to a friend, my other phone rang and it was my other neighbor wondering if I wanted some melon, she had more then she could use. Sure why not the more fruit the better right?

So know I have peaches coming out my ear, almost laterally, and some fresh melon. I cut the melon up today and the kids have almost eaten it all. Thank goodness we have a couple of fruit flies around here by the names of Cassie, Kira & Josiah.

We really do love our neighbors and the house we live in. The owner of our home came by yesterday also. Not really sure why, maybe to make sure it was still standing? I sure hope he liked what he saw and will continue with our lease come Dec.

The kids in the neighborhood are also a lot of fun. They all play together pretty well for the most part. We have a little bit of jealousy now and then but for the most part things are good on that front too.

School is going good for both the kids. Kira, bless her heart wants to read so bad. Cassie and I have been working hard on having her read everyday, so I think Kira is seeing this and wants in on it too. I guess I will have to start working a little more with her on her letter sounds. Anyone have any good idea for that? Good books?

Well that is just a few thoughts from me on this Thursday evening.

Soup

Since the soup was so good, I thought I would share it all with you. I did a Google search for Zucchini Soup and then picked this one, it cam from Dianaskitchen.com

This is what I did,
Melted some butter in pot, added chopped onions; simmered until tender. Then added some flour, like 1 1/2 tbs. and cooked until lightly browned. Stir in equal amounts of Chicken broth and cream ( I used some milk & sour cream) Then add potatoes, I chopped recipe said diced, and zucchini, again recipe said diced mine was shredded. Simmer until potatoes are tender. At this point the recipe says to stir in grated cheddar cheese. I however put the soup in the blender first and purred and put back in pot and added cheese. It was a little thick so I added more chicken broth. Salt and pepper to taste. It was great and can't wait to have more, maybe even tonight :)

If you want the exact recipe just follow the link to Dianaskitchen.com

Enjoy!

Week One down!

Week one of who knows how many, more then I want to count yet at this point. Overall we have had a pretty good week. The girls are doing pretty good, the last few nights there has been more and more talk about missing and loving daddy. Prayer time has gotten longer, but it is well worth the extra minutes to listen to such soft tender hearts praying for their daddy to be safe. Both girls are a little more sensitive, cry a little bit easier but I can handle that, trust me I am always up for a good cry!

I am doing good also, I have been staying very busy which helps tons, the time just flies by. Like today I baked 5 loafs of banana bread, (4 of which are mini loaves), a batch of cookies, and I made some Zucchini soup. The soup by the way was way good. Kevin would be proud of me, I had a recipe but as my husband would say "I used it as a guide!" Cassie & Josiah also liked it!

Well it is quite in the house and I am going to go watch some TV or a movie.

Speaking of Food...

This past week we were surprised when the neighbors brought over some tomatoes and jalapeno peppers that were grown in their garden. We immediately thought of fresh salsa and the above photos were the result of about a half an hour of work chopping tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, onion, green onion, garlic and cilantro and adding the juice of one lime. I also made some tequila lime chicken that was topped with this delicious concoction, we unfortunately didn't get any pictures of that, we'll do better with the camera next time.

Friday, we had a going away BBQ for those of us deploying. I decided to get away from standard BBQ fare and get a little creative. I got a 15 pound turkey and doctored it up with bacon, garlic, butter and some beer in a can in the cavity. I also rubbed it with extra virgin olive oil and salted and peppered it.

I arranged charcoal for indirect cooking and added soaked hickory chips. I put the bird on and let it smoke for about two hours. At two hours it was 170 degrees throughout and done. It was incredibly smokey and juicy, this will probably be done in this fashion again in the future.