Juicing & Salads ~ Continue!

I'm REALLY trying to stay positive but it's been hard to lately!

I'm trying to keep my mind and body busy with other things to not over analyze like I tend to when stressed.

This past weekend my mom and I put the SlowStar Juicer to the test again!  WHY?  Because it's STRAWBERRY Season!  Woot!

This juice you see here is Strawberry, Pineapple, and Kiwi Fruit!  It was very tasty!

This week I will continue with the juices, smoothies, and salads for the most part.  I can see myself doing this - or at least - aiming for the major of my meals planning around these items - throughout the summer months into the fall.

It's mostly back-to-the basics while trying to detox a bit and shed a few in the meantime.

I have had MANY salads the last week or two and I'm not getting sick of them in the slightest!

This one you see here is iceberg lettuce (which I realize has the least nutritional value of any of the lettuces but I like the CRUNCH), a few leafy greens and spring mix are in there too...you can't see them but I have carrots and cherry tomatoes in there - PLUS - nutritional yeast, hemp seeds, corn strips, topped with Vegan Ranch Dressing, and smoked paprika.

Over the weekend we stopped by a family restaurant that has the best salad bar in the county and I piled up.  They have a California French that happens to be vegan...so I usually go with that.  We also stopped at a Variety Buffet yesterday and I had salad, corn, brussels sprouts, rice, and fruit!

Spinach Pineapple Lemon Juice!

I FINALLY did it!  I FINALLY started Juicing again!  Last night I grabbed my Slowstar Juicer and everything that came with it and went over to my parents house!  I did this for several reasons!  My parents have more kitchen space not only for storage, display, and counter space while actually juicing but they also have better lighting, too!  Another reason I decided to take my juicer over to my parents house is because my father has shown interest in juicing lately and when I mentioned it to my mother she seemed semi-interested as well.  I figured it was something we could do together!  The 3 of us!  I go over to their house at least once a week anyways so why not do something good for us while we are together, eh?

I have this juice that you see here!  It's a Tribest Slowstar Juicer.  I bought it over at The Raw Food World and you can check that out HERE.

I have 3 people that I would like to THANK for their Slowstar inspiration!  Chris over at The Vegan Zombie, John Kohler, and Linda & Jay Kordich.  You can click on their names for a video from each!

Now...on to the Green Juice you see at the beginning of this post!

It's Spinach, Pineapple, Lemon!

I took a large bag of organic spinach and juice it all!  I also juiced about 4 lemons and about a half of a pineapple!

With the lemons I left the skin and peel on.  This was hardcore LEMON...lucky for me...I LOVE Lemon!  I have LOTS of others juices on tap!  I will be posting over the weekend so be sure to see what else I have juicing!

Indoor Gardening Journey

I've had some wonderful feedback about my Indoor Gardening hopes and dreams for this winter.  I've had a lot of interest in the topic with a lot of questions along the way.  So I figured I would start blogging about it now and keep you posted on the progress.  

Starting things off...with these 4 photos above.  The 2 plants on top in the green buckets are Sweet Banana Peppers.  We started them indoors and have kept them indoors this whole time.  They are doing quite well and we are seeing flowers and buds on two of the three plants.

The long thin leafy green lettuce is something that we've also done exclusively indoors.  It was one of the many Rosalita Lettuces we attempted throughout the season but this one looked way different than the other ones.  After a fashion the other ones had a stalk that budded seeds and flowers where this one has not and it's lasted much longer and the leaves are longer and thinner, too!

Next to that photo - in the blue bucket - was the best of the 3 Basil Plants that we brought inside.  It's still growing STRONG and making the production room smell wonderful.  I'm optimistic that we will be able to continue to grow the basil inside throughout the winter months.  One of the other Basil plants I gave to my husband's grandmother and the 3rd one we lost to frost about 2 weeks ago.

Then...in the red bucket is one of two Brussels Sprouts plants we brought in from outside.  They are still very small but I am not ready to give up on them yet.  Eventho we started from seed in April.

We are starting from seed a few other things we are going to try and do indoors during the winter months.  I will keep you posted on the progress there, too!

Salad Booster Surprise!

I really didn't know what I wanted for dinner last night.  I really didn't want to think about it much.  I knew I had a few English Muffins left that I needed to eat.  And I have been addicted to this Salad Booster stuff I found over at The Raw Food World. 

I decided to add a few things to it last night and slap some Earth Balance on these 'babies' and have the green goodness soak into the English Muffins.  I have been throwing together my own flavor blends from things I have in my pantry. 

Here is one of them...

2 T Salad Booster
1/4 tea GoL's Wheatgrass
1/4 tea Wildtree Garlic & Herb

Sometimes I also like to spray a squirt of Bragg's on top.

The stand alone Living Intentions product description has this to say about this Salad Booster that I used for the base of this...

Get your hands on this cheesy addition for any meal. Filled with minerally dense and nutritious superfoods, it's amazing on popcorn! Ingredients: Organic Sprouted Pumpkni Seeds, Organic Sprouted Sunflower Seeds, Organic Sprouted Sesame Seeds, Wild White Chia Seeds, Spirulina, Organic Red Bell Pepper, Himalayan Crystal Salt, Nutritional Yeast, Chlorella, Organic Dulse, Organic Kelp, Organic Dill Weed, Organic Spices, Organic Tumeric and Organic Chilies. 

I love adding this to just about anything!  Every once and a while I like to add a little something extra to it like I did here.  I hope to share more flavoring blend recipes with you soon!  

FUN on a FRIDAY!

Well, well, well! 
It's Friday!  I'm SO over this week and ready to move on to the weekend!  I'm officially declaring today FUN on a FRIDAY - day!  To share with you a few things WHY this Friday is so FUN...here we go!  To start things off...I received another shipment from The Raw Food World today!  YAY!

As you can see I'm very excited about adding these raw food books to my growing collection!  Sometime this weekend I think I am going to have to start a new 'shelf or rack' for my Raw Food Books!  I wanted to get the 80/10/10 Book, too, but it was on back order.  I have two more on order in my next order thru them so I will let you know when I get those in!  As for other items in my last shipment you can see them on the left in this 2nd photo!  More snacks, dried foods, some Nutritional Yeast which is less expensive than I can buy it locally so I thought I would get some of that PLUS some Kale Chips - 3 different flavors...even...some freeze dried Jackfruit and Mangosteen!  YUM!  Some more nuts and such...and I got some chocolate items such as dark chocolate covered figs as well as Peppermint Mint Truffles which are AWESOME, btw!

Between this order and my next order I'm really totally restocking my pantry and shouldn't need anything for a good-long-while expect for FRESH Produce!  I am so blessed to be obtaining a lot of new-to-me foods, as well!  Down the road I might look into getting a Citrus Juicer.  I have my main juicer which is a Jack LaLanne Brand but I might upgrade or get an additional one at some point.  I want to get this Citrus Juicer as well.  My husband will start on a new diet down the road - hoping to reduce his Crohn's related issues and I know he likes orange juice but they don't want him consuming juice with a lot of pulp.

In with my shipments I have also been getting a few things to share with co-workers at work, my sister wanted some raw Cashews, and my Dad wanted some Dried Pineapple.  I thought I would try a 3 pack of these Air Therapy Sprays and keep one at work for our bathroom, too!  I love the way they all smell!  They are a convenience size, too!  In addition...I also bought some roll on pain reliever for my husband.

OH!!!!!  I'm going to a Wilson Phillips Concert tonight so I will be sure to blog more about that next week!  That's another reason today is a FUN FRIDAY!!!!!

We've also been having FUN with our Container Garden/Rooftop Garden.  The Spicy Mix and Sweet Mix Lettuces are doing awesomely!  We've had a lot of luck with both of those!  Our Sweet Basil is getting out of hand, too!  We transplanted 2 out of the 3 plants this past week. 

You can see here some of the lettuces that have flowered so I thought I would add them to the office.  They look nice, don't they!?  Even tho they are flowers from lettuce!?

But that's NOT all...I took pictures of those greens, too!  A HUGE bag full, actually!  Check this out...

It's almost a whole canvas bag full!

I have been doing a LOT of writing lately!  Even more than usual.  It's my busiest time of the year for commercial writing at work AND I've been going NUTS with the Raw Food World News Site, too!

I will do another post soon with some of my favorite posts and link to them for you!  I've done a few reviews as well!

So stay tuned for those!

What have you been up to!? 

What have you been writing about lately!? 

What new foods have you tried lately!?

Been to any concerts yet this summer?

What's the last fruit you ate!?

Rooftop & Container Progress

I've been wanting to post these photos for a while now but JUST got around to it today!  Sorry about that!  Thank  you for those who have been asking about our Rooftop Garden and Container Garden Projects!  Thanks for the continued encouragement, too!

In this first photo you will see 4 Brussels Sprout Plants in the orange buckets.  These 4 are doing really well. 

Next to that in the off white pail is one of the Dragons Tongue Plants.  These are doing really well too!  We've since brought another one of these plants outside but we have 3 others inside, too!  In the 2nd photo you can see what the Dragons Tongue Beans look like!  We absolutely LOVE them.  They are so unusual.  So fun!  So flavorful!

And we have a LARGE Broccoli Plant at the bottom that is MASSIVE.

We are eager to see the Broccoli Head start as well as eager to see the Brussels Sprouts start coming out of the side of the stalks.  I will surely keep you posted on that, too!

Mostly we have been gnawing on the beans - raw - to snack on throughout the day.  Some of our Little Marvel Peas are harvesting, too, and we've been snacking on them.  Most of the Little Marvels only have 1 or 2 peas in a pod.  This morning we found a few that were 'hiding' and the pod wilted but the pea inside was still fresh and tasty.

Our Basil has really taken off, too!  I had to grab some a week or two ago and it's really helped with the growth by keeping up with the plucking.

I ended up making some Walnut/Pinenut Pesto with the picked Basil.

In another week or so I will probably pick some more.

I just LOVE the aroma of the Sweet Basil and could just go out and breath in the scent and be happy!

Our Loose Leafy Greens are the WINNER so far.  With the little bit that we planted we have already harvested it about 6 times.

I harvested quite a bit yesterday and haven't used it yet so I might try and do a green smoothie with it tomorrow and/or maybe try and do a sauce or dressing with it, too!

A few select 'greens' on the spicy mix (on the left) flowered and was close to going to seed, I think.

The Spicy Mix sure is spicy so I might try and juice it, too!  Oh...the possibilities!

There are a few things that haven't going well for us - such as Onions and Carrots.  So far all of the onions we have tried haven't done anything.  We are trying one more carrot container in the meantime but so far no such luck with carrots either.

And check this out!  Our very first Pepper!  This will grow to be a Sweet Orange Pepper!  We have a few other varieties that are getting plentiful as well.  This is the most progressed one, tho! 

We've transplanted nearly everything at least once.  We were able to transplant a few things easier than some others - but - I guess - you will have that, eh!?

Most of our Contender Beans didn't make it but we were able to save TWO of them and we brought them back from the brink and they are flowering and budding right now. 

Sam can't wait for the Sunflowers to get big but I will say they are growing quickly!  And FINALLY we have a few heads of Rosalita Lettuce that we were able to bring back from the brink, too, but they still have a ways to go!

Ponytail Palms, Cats Without Tails, Simple Foods from the Container/Rooftop Gardens

I know I have been posting a lot of food lately and you know I will continue to but I also have a lot of other things to post about too!

Here's a mish mash of things that aren't really food related - for the most part - that have been going on lately!

First - this AWESOME Ponytail Palm!  A few months ago my co-worker Sam brought one in for her office and I LOVED it so much!  I would do up and check it out each time I visited her office.  Her mother found one for me last week and it's now sitting on my desk.  I'm NOT next to a window but we will see how it does.  I have regular florescent office lights.  Hers is next to a window.  Mine isn't.  So I figured every Friday afternoon I would take mine upstairs and put it next to hers for the weekend near the window!

It's been a few weeks now since Charlie's surgery.  I wanted to wait to post about it until I was sure he was ok.  He had to have his tail amputated.  He has been doing remarkably well without this tail.  They left a bit of a 'nub'.  It's still healing but doing good.  When they took his tail off they noticed he had very small warts all over his tail that were NOT visible until after they shaved his tail to remove it.  They said to look for other unhealing wounds that may pop up.  They aren't overly concerned at this time that there is much else wrong.  However, IF he does have other unhealing wounds that form they said it may be cancerous. 

So of course when I saw this about 2 weeks after his surgery I was concerned!  After we took the cone off of him he had this small - yet clean - hole on his arm.  The first day it bled but I'm sure that was because he was licking it.  Ever since then it's been dry, clean, and unchanged - yet open. 

FINALLY yesterday morning I noticed this wound was closing!!!  I think we are on the upswing! 

As you can see on the other arm - that's the arm they shaved to put the IV in.  NOT the arm with the wound.  BUT...as long as it continues to heal - we are happy!

Okay...Okay...I know I said I wouldn't talk about food...but I can't help it!  Simple Foods left from last week!  Yes...I've now gotten 4 salads from our containers at work!  YAY!  I used some leftover dressings I made to top it and it was a nice simple lunch. 

I will have a post very soon with the progress of our Container Garden and Rooftop Garden Attempts!  We've also been doing updates on MyFolia.com which you can follow via my sidebar but I will be posting that more soon too!

RAW WEEK - Wednesday!

Check this bad boy salad out from yesterday!

This Salad was a bit of a Mish Mash of things and it turned out pretty tasty!

The Lettuce you see here is Petite Oak.  I used a whole head of it for this LARGE Salad.  I read up on this lettuce and noticed that it averages over a gram of protein per serving.

I also added 2 good sized carrots, 1/4 of a pickle, and about 10 raw Almonds.  This was my Dinner in addition to leftover Chia Seed Crackers and Raw Vegan Cheese Dip.

I made another dressing last night for this LARGE Salad.  I think I will call it Tomato Tahini but it's much more than that.  Here's what's in this Raw Vegan Salad Dressing...

4 Roma Tomatoes
1/3 C Tahini
2 T Braggs Liquid Aminos
2 Lemon Juice
2 Mini Sweet Red Bell Peppers
Cayenne to taste

And once I mixed in the Salad Dressing this is what it looked like!

It was YUMMY!  I'm looking forward to a different Salad and Salad Dressing tonight, too!

This morning I didn't make a Green Smoothie and I must say I missed it!

Last night I didn't get enough sleep due to major Thunderstorms in our area.  The thunder was cracking from 12:30am to after 9am.  I probably only got about a half hour of sleep.  Considering that - I'm actually not feeling too bad today!

Today I have consumed 4 Mandarin Oranges, 1 Pink Alice Apple, and over a cup of small kale leaves from our container garden.  I massaged the Kale Leaves in (fresh squeezed) Tomato Juice and Spices.  It was just what I was hungry for!

I found a Pink Alice Apple at one of my local stores the other day and tried it today for the first!  I must say I am a fan!  It sort of smells like WINE when you first cut it...very pleasant.  Here's a little bit more info about this kind of apple!

• Description: This new and distinct apple variety possesses several unique and desirable characteristics such as having a distinct pink stripe over a creamy-yellow background, which distinguishes it from other known varieties. The background color deepens to an orange-yellow after harvest. Lady Alice possesses a distinctive taste and its dense flesh is sweet with a hint of tartness. The shape of the Lady Alice is round and somewhat broad with a shallow, slightly open calyx.
• Parentage: The Lady Alice apple was discovered as a chance seedling in Washington State and is therefore a *Washington Original*.
• Availability: Available February through May or while supplies last.
• Usage: It is slow to brown after cutting which makes it excellent for eating fresh, cutting into salads or served on fruit trays. Additionally, the dense flesh holds its texture when baking. Lady Alice is an excellent all-purpose apple.

What I Ate Wednesday Participant

RAW WEEK - Tuesday!

Hello Lovelies!

It's day 2 of my RAW WEEK!  After posting yesterday I went home and made this CRAZY HUGE Salad!  But not before a mini outing!  I had to swing by and drop off a cat carrier that I borrowed from my parents neighbor and then I went to Aldi's.  Early yesterday morning when I went to a nearby Grocery Store most of their daily produce was WAY TOO Expensive.  Average Every Day NON-Organic Cauliflower was $3.99 a head, their tomatoes were $3.49 per pound and most of them HUGE so I bet they were well over a pound a piece, even their grapefruit was $1.29 each...their avocados were over $2 each, etc.  So I really wanted to stock up and got a bunch of stuff at Aldi's and only spent $22.  I wish I would have taken a photo of my haul before putting everything in their places in my kitchen/frig/pantry.

While at Aldi's I found a super huge awesome hard plastic bowl for $4 - I went home, washed it, and threw this salad in it!

This Salad Contains the following...Romaine Hearts, Cherry Tomatoes, Mini Cucumbers, Orange Sweet Bell Peppers, and Hemp Seeds.  I think it worked out to be between 4 and 6 cups of greens.  I made a dressing last night as you can see in this 2nd photo but silly me I forgot to jot down everything in it...so...here's a guess...I know there was at least 1 C of Mango along with about 2 T Tahini.  I think I added some Lemon Juice and Garlic Sea Salt.

This 3rd photo is a pic of the Salad Dressing I made prior to pouring on the salad.  OH!  Yes...I think I also put about 2 T Dijon in there, too!

I really enjoyed this dressing but think next time I would use less Mango and more Dijon for the extra ZING!

Later in the evening - last night - I had the munchies.  I decided to cut up 2 more Mini Cucumbers and treat them like Raw "Chips".  I made a Raw Vegan Cheese Dip to go along with it. 

In this Raw Vegan Cheese Dip and/or sauce here is what I used...

1 C Pine Nuts
1 C Cashews
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Mini Sweet Red Bell Peppers
2 T Lemon Juice
1/2 C Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast

I get Raw Cashews and Pine Nuts at my local herb store in bulk.  Mostly when I buy in bulk the prices are better.  When it comes to nuts - especially raw nuts - that isn't usually the case. 

I realize Nutritional Yeast isn't necessarily raw but I do know a lot of Raw Foodists that consume it.

Next up...I made some Raw Vegan Chia Crackers or Chips last night.  They kind of remind me of Blue Corn Chips/Tortillas.

For the crackers/chips I did about 1 C of Chia into 2 C Water for about an hour.  I stirred in about 1 T Garlic Powder - maybe a little less - for the whole batch - and then spread it out on a Dehydrator Sheet and flipped every 2 hours or so until crisp.

I was pretty impressed with myself, actually.  I ended up doing quite a bit last night around the house as well as food prep.

Now...I only had one of these this morning as a Taste Test and I really liked them.  I'm probably going to have them with dinner or as a snack tonight.  And LOOK - I used that Raw Vegan Cheese as a dip since there was SO MUCH in the batch that I made.  I also noticed it thickened up pretty nice over night in the frig.

This will last me a few days.

I felt like I literally ate all day long yesterday.  But I think I did a good job of getting a variety of foods. 

As for today...I started my day with another smoothie which you can see in the following photos. 

For this smoothie I used 2 C Strawberries, 4 Handfuls of Spinach, 2 inch chunk of frozen banana. 

It's not the most beautiful color but it tasted good!

I've been putting my Vitamix to the test as well as my Excalibur!  This REALLY excites me!

Yesterday I was up from about 4am until about 11-ish last night. 

Not Bad. 

Best part?  No afternoon energy crash! 

I, did, however, sleep in longer this morning - but - not as long as I usually do - so that's good!

I've also been able to use more of my cute Mason Jar Glasses with the handles and more consistently.

So far - TODAY - I had the smoothie listed above along with 3 Apples and 1 Nectarine.

For Lunch I had some GREENS from the Container Garden...a mix of both the Sweet AND the Spicy Mesclun Mixes...so up to 8 different lettuces altho I think there is only about 5 in what I picked today.  On top of the Greens I threw in about a tablespoon or two of Hemp Seeds and about 1 C of Grapefruit.  For the "dressing" I just used Apple Cider Vinegar to taste.  I also had about 1/4 of a Watermelon on the side.  I'm looking forward to Dinner tonight!

Mesclun "Spicy Mix" Salad (From Our Garden) with Salsa!

It's EASY being GREEN!  Check it out!  The very first edible from our Container Garden - soon to be - our Rooftop Garden!  This is my lunch today!

Spicy Greens Salad with Salsa!

Isn't it gorgeous!  And there's MORE where that came from!  Yup!  Our lettuces are doing well so far! 

This is a Mesclun Spicy Mix of Greens/Lettuces and are of the loose lettuce varieties!  Which varieties?  Well, let me tell  you!  It's a mix of different Arugula, Endive, Mustard, Mizuna, and Tatsoi.  I think there was supposed to be some Red Loose Leaf in there, too, but I didn't see any!

I have been eating a LOT of salads lately - even more than I usually do.  But this is the first one that we grew ourselves at work!  I hope to do another one tomorrow, but it will be the Sweet Mix of the Mesclun growth from our containers.

We hope to start hardening off some of our items after this week because it is going to get cooler again.  I can't WAIT until we have them outside full-time!  YAY!

Gardening Journey ~ Container/Rooftop Progress

I've had a couple of comments and emails asking to post some progress photos of the containers we are starting INSIDE to then take outside for our Rooftop Garden.  Well, ask...and yee shall receive...

First up...

GREENS!  Here's a look at our lettuces, leafy greens, even some Kale (the one smack-dab in the middle).  ALL of the greenery has sprouted.  Some more advanced than others but that is expected because of the maturity lengths being different.  We are FOR SURE going to have to thin out and space the one on the left...that's the Rosalita Lettuce.  Those grow into 'heads'.  The others are more loose and leafy.  The Kale is already getting their 'second leaves/sprouts' so that's pretty neat.

Some of the other seeds are sprouting, too!  Here's a look at the Broccoli!  There are 2 sprouts here - one is stronger than the other, tho!

We have the Broccoli in a 1 and a half gallon bucket.  Some of you already read on previous posts that we are reusing CD Jewel Case Holders for the lettuces that are pictured above.

We have another bucket like this one - but it's red - that contains the carrots we are trying to grow from seed, too!

I was beginning to wonder if we got 'duds' on the carrots until we came in yesterday and saw these wonderful sprouts!  Aren't they awesome!

I can't wait to see what they all do next!  I think that is part of my problem...PATIENCE.  I need more Patience!

Now here are our Brussel Sprouts!  We started them from seed but in 'starter sections' and they are doing REALLY well!  We will have to transplant them very soon!  So far 17 out of 18 have sprouted nicely.  I was hoping for at least half of them to survive but look at these babies GROW!  And most of them have 2 to 3 sprouts per section!  Sam and I figured we have 34 of them right  now.  Karen and I were the only ones who knew that Brussel Sprout PLANTS have a large self-supportive stalk and each plant produces MANY Brussel Sprouts!  So even if HALF of these continue to grow we are going to have a TON of Brussel Sprouts!  YAY!  Could you imagine...34 Brussel Sprout "Trees" on a roof?  that makes me giggle!  I hope it works, tho!  Did you know that each plant/tree can grow up to 2 and a half feet tall!?  that's FANTASTIC!

First Sprouts For 4 Lettuces Appeared!

I told you about how we started our indoor planting last Saturday the 15th.  Well, yesterday on the 20th we noticed these!

SPROUTING of 4 different kinds of GREENS!

YAY!

This first photo is a shot of the Spicy Mix Lettuce.  Mesclun.  It says it should start sprouting 7 to 10 days in with Maturity at 28 days!  This was day 5!  The most interesting part...we had not even watered them yet!  The reason we waited was because of the flow of people in the office this week.  But we watered them right after I took these photos!    Oddly, the Sweet Mix of Mesclun says maturity in 30 days and we have yet to see any sprouts for that one.  I took these photos yesterday and they have doubled in size since!  It's so great!  It's like we have little babies!

Now...this 2nd photo is the progress of the Grand Rapids Lettuce.

Again, this photo was taken yesterday and it's looks so much better today!  I figured I would wait until next week before posting more progress photos, tho!

A stock photo from the company/description I used in my last post on which lettuces we were going to start here.

Incase you missed my longer explanation of what we planted them in...you can find that here.

This next photo is of the first sprouts of Kale!  I'm VERY excited about this one as I use a lot of Kale and would use even more if I had it readily available!  This has progressed nicely since yesterday, too!  I haven't posted about the Kale "hopes" yet so this in the first time.

Kale, also known as borecole, is one of the healthiest vegetables on the planet. A leafy green, kale is available in curly, ornamental, or dinosaur varieties. It belongs to the Brassica family that includes cruciferous vegetables such as cabbage, collards, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts.

And here's the 4th "Green" that we have seen activity on already!  This is the ROCK STAR so far!  This is Rosalita Lettuce.

According to Burpee Seeds Website...Rosalita is Medium-sized, heat resistant heads are deep red with a blanched heart. Sow in average soil in full sun in early spring for first crop, in late summer for fall crop. Sow thinly in rows 12" apart and cover with 1/4" of fine soil. Firm lightly and keep evenly moist. Seedlings emerge in 7-10 days.

I'm a bit nervous as we "sprinkled" them around the container and didn't space them out in rows of 12-inches apart.  Depending on how this progresses we might be transplanting it.  I'm very impressed and excited with our Rosalita so far!  She's in "first place" if it were a sprout race!

The First of the Lettuces

I grabbed a few seed packets of some lettuces last night while I was out and about.  Here's a look at some of them we are going to try!  We do hope to get more, tho!

Grand Rapids Lettuce Seeds -  A long standing favorite, Grand Rapids produces medium-large plants that have wavy, frilled, deeply cut, light green leaves.  Nice uniformity.  Perfect for cold-frames, greenhouse growing or in the garden of course.  Crisp, tend and tasty.  Resistant to heat and tipburn resistant.

Mesclun - Sweet Salad Mix - Sweet lettuces and tangy, tender greens are pre-mixed in just the right proportions.  The French approach to salad greens ("mesclun" means "mixture"). Sweet lettuces and tangy, tender greens are pre-mixed in just the right proportions as you pick them from your garden. This classic mesclun is a feast for the eyes and a gourmet treat. It includes arugula, chervil, endive, mache, four lettuces (Oak Leaf, Prizeleaf, Red Salad Bowl, Green Ice), radicchio and upland cress. Grows best in cool weather and full sun to partial shade.   We also got a Mesclun - Spicy Mix - as well!

 Full Heart Batavian Endive (Escarole) — Large thick dark green leaves, ten to twelve inch diameter, compact heads, that are easy blanching.  Broad leaf endive varieties, or escarole, tend to be less bitter than the curly leaf endive varieties.  It can be eaten like other greens either fresh as part of a green salad, or sauteed or chopped and added into soups and stews.

 

Medium-sized, heat resistant heads are deep red with a blanched heart. Sow in average soil in full sun in early spring for first crop, in late summer for fall crop. Sow thinly in rows 12" apart and cover with 1/4" of fine soil. Firm lightly and keep evenly moist. Seedlings emerge in 7-10 days.

I also picked up some White Lisbon Bunching Onions, Bright Lights Swiss Chard, Carnival Hybrid Mix Sweet Peppers, Little Finger Carrots.

I was sitting here waiting for 2 of my co-workers to get here so we can start planning and I figured I would do a quick blog post about my findings last night!

The Impossible, Kitchen Book Shelf, Work Food Hull, Vegan Mac & Cheese with Savory Spinach, and Deep Thoughts...

I don't know if I have just been overly grateful lately - more grateful than usual - or if its that I have been a little more emotional lately - regardless I have been THANKFUL and have been realizing more and more - perhaps I have just been listening better or more often to the people and the things happening around me...not sure....but it's been one of those weeks!  A week where I have been doing a lot of thinking!  GOOD thinking and perhaps even mediation.  More positives than negatives or at least trying to not give the negatives as much attention as I have in the past.

I'm continuing to make mini-goals for myself thru out the day(s) and week(s) and have had some success with them lately.  I've been learning and trying to enrich myself as well.  I think this has something to do with it all.

Yesterday I attended a 'meeting' of minds in our community and I think that something or some THINGS might come out of it!  The topic was "Farm To Table" among other sub topics.  There were only 5 of us but it went VERY well and we all had different backgrounds which made it even better!  We all have various things we can contribute and if things progress like I hope they will I will be explaining more of that down the road as they happen!

Some things we have already here in our area in addition to some things we want to revamp or volunteer for include: The Ag-Mobile, Farmers Markets, CSA's, Farm-to-Table and Farm-To-Schools, Urban Farming, Community Gardens, Community Food Security, WIC and Seniors Farmers Market Vouchers and getting the word out about them, Our Area Ag Programs that already exist, Master Gardeners, Food Hubs, Composting, and Co-Ops!

Last night I took a few pictures on my iPhone around my kitchen and this was one of them.  It's a pocket in my kitchen where I have a few of my cookbooks.

Do any of them look familiar to any of you?  Which ones do you have or which ones do you enjoy?  I have more but this was just one section, really, plus, I think I might be moving them and rearranging them soon!

I will try veganizing more of the recipes soon!  Many of you know I am a cookbook rebel and have a heck of a time following a recipe!  :)

Here is a mishmash of what I brought to work today!  In the Green Blender Bottle I brought some Boku Organics Super Foods in Water today.  Let's just say I prefer them in juices!  I will be posting more Juice and Smoothies with Boku Organics Products in them very soon!  My husband and I had a chat last night about our future fruit purchases.  I'm REALLY going to TRY and stomach Bananas.  Bananas and I do NOT have a friendly past BUT I really WANT to start liking them because of their benefits!  I just have to quit being such a BABY and start eating them, eh!? :)

In the Red Plastic Carrier is the Tangy Avocado Dressing I made the other night.  I was running out of reusable storage items for transport so I found that little portable soup container that sealed nicely and I put the dressing in that!  I bought some leafy greens yesterday from a small locally owned grocery store we have here.  They usually buy regional items when they can and it's a great way for me to avoid Walmart.  I also have some organic Cherry Tomatoes I need to finish in there as well as some multi-colored mini sweet peppers from last week that I bought at Wegmans.

You might be wondering what is in the foil?  Well, I'm going to re-use the foil for as long as I can -  but inside are two vegan English Muffins with a very small amount of Earth Balance, as well as some Nutritional Yeast Sprinkle, and a squirt of Bragg's Liquid Amino's that I had for Breakfast.  I was so VERY excited when I found these English Muffins at Aldi last weekend and they contained NO dairy!  Woot!  Hubby was excited for me, too!  YAY!

In other food news last night I had a great attempt at Vegan Mac & Cheese!  YAY!  Here is what I did for this "cheese" sauce that made a HUGE batch, I might add!

3 C Soy Milk
1/2 C Nutritional Yeast
1/3 C Flour (Bob's Red Mills)
2 T Tomato Paste
1 T Minced Garlic
1 T Lemon Juice
Squirt of Agave (Wholesome Sweeteners)

I put these ingredients in my Ninja and it worked AWESOMELY.  I think gently heated on the stove top for about 5 or 6 minutes along with some Earth Balance to thicken but have it NOT stick.

I poured some over the noodles I made and it was very good!  Creamy and a sweeter-cheese-E like flavor.  Later I went back and tried an experiment of adding about a teaspoon or more of Wildtree's Savory Spinach to it and I cooked it all down for just a minute or two.  I'll tell you!  That last addition made a glorious difference!  Just that little bit of GREENS in there!  YUM!  I originally wanted to add peas but didn't have any!  This was tasty - if I do say so myself!

I'll be back later today - but in the meantime - I will leave you with this thought...

Feedback ALWAYS Welcome!  I hope you all have a splendid day!