Food Food Food Glorious food

Some days I have a hard time moving from one blog to the other. I get emotional and I hate emotions I would rather they sometimes would take a very long vacation and bug someone else.

This week I have been pretty lazy. I didn’t make it to the temple, because graveyard shift doesn’t make it really easy to make it to a session when the week from Wednesday until Saturday your unavailable and dare I say ornery and tired.

We did however try out our new card table and gaming room thanks to Marshalls mom and dad. I also played cards that night before that so Marshall was hoping I got my fill of cards, which I did now I just need someone to want to play ticket to ride :-)

Marshall played in a city basketball league. They made it to the final championship. If they won the first game they won the championship tournament if they lost the other team had to win twice to win the championship. They lost the first game but they did win the second game. But Marshall was pretty tired by the end because the games were back to back. They laughed after the game at how small the word "champions" was on the shirt they won.

My fun info for the week is that I, with 2 ladies from my ward are going to open a bountiful baskets site here in Spanish fork. I have spoken with one of the schools nearby and am waiting on approval from them so I can go ahead and get us up and running in mid April. If not and we have to find a new site it will be mid may instead. I am excited to be doing something. I have been wanting to do some sort of activity that makes me feel good about my life. Everything seems to be on hold and I am tired of holding I wasn’t to get moving. So what better way than volunteering in my community, since nursery doesn’t count as something productive its just free babysitting. So that will be exciting I will let you know when it is a for sure thing I am crossing my fingers I get a call tomorrow.

I also signed Libby up for preschool. Because her birthday falls in September she gets to hang out with mom for another year. Do we are opting for a music preschool this year and then off to Aunt Andy’s learning preschool. She is so excited to be going to go she starts in September and I know with her love of music she will fall in love with her class and teacher.

So on to better things like FOOD!!!



not my picture and not this weeks produce



Some one suggested I blog about my bountiful baskets (BB) and how I use for the 3 of us an entire basket in 1 week. How to incorporate it into my freezer meal menus as well.

Let me start with my BB produce. This last week I received: apples, cutie oranges, bananas, mangos, pineapple, grapefruit, tomatoes, romaine lettuce, asparagus, zucchini type squash, carrots, yams. First I come home and put away things that are already ready to eat such as I put the apples and oranges in the drawer; the lettuce gets bagged and is ready for salads at anytime. I then take all the food that need to be cut to be used and cut it up. I put them in easy to access places like Tupperware towards the front of the fridge (i.e. pineapples, mangos) I also freeze any fruits that are not going to be eaten to be used in smoothies. Who doesn’t want a healthy snack for their kids? I then decide what veggies are acceptable to be frozen; Items that I can use in stir fry, casseroles, and freezer meals. I try to make my prep time for other meals quicker by having frozen food items available if we don’t have fresh. I leave alone the items that need to be used, because we use them quickly or because they aren’t good frozen or cant be frozen (i.e. yams, asparagus, banana-can also be frozen-grapefruit). Now some weeks I use every last item in my baskets either freezer worthy or we eat it quickly. If I however get items I am not so fond of such as grapefruits I give them to less fortunate like my family who will usually eat the things I don’t like. Thanks everyone for making me feel like I have donated to a good cause. Teehee I don’t want to waste so I try to take things to family gatherings that I know I won’t use quick enough or items I get regularly. For example the last 5 weeks we have received asparagus in our baskets (sometimes I get 2) well I can eat asparagus but Marshall is not a fan, and Libby will eat it every other time I make it. So I take it with me on Sundays to share my abundance with those that will eat.

I try not to plan my menu until after I have picked up my BB because I never know what I am going to get. So using this week’s basket I will tell you what my menu was.

Sunday- Potato soup. I used the extra baked potatoes my mom gave me added my frozen broccoli and cauliflower from last weeks baskets. It holds up well in the fridge for several days I still need to try the freezer to see how it does.

Monday- sweet and sour chicken (a freezer meal recipe) and stir fried veggies with rice. I had carrots, zucchini, and asparagus and from last weeks I had broccoli that I froze. I julienned the veggies and stir fried them I saved money because I didn’t have to by a bag of stir fry veggies to make my dish.

Tuesday-breakfast- Marshall Libby and I all have a fruit smoothie. Strawberries (frozen), banana, mangos and fuse add flavor and liquid( i use whatever juice is avaliable. This makes a very delicious drink that on my part does not need to have sugar added to make it taste better.

Wednesday- Spaghetti (a freezer meal) I took and added some zucchini to the sauce to add a bit more to it. And a salad on the side, using carrots, lettuce, and cheese.

Thursday- BBQ Beef sandwiches (a freezer meal) served with sweet potato fries. You cut them into wedges, olive oil and salt them bake at 350 for 15 min (these are great on the grille to). What a yummy dinner.

I have taken apples for this week and turned them into apple pie mixes that are great for a quick on the go pie. You can make your own crust or have a premade one like I do for those days that you forget you need a dessert.

I can take and use my fruits for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack and add a healthy side. We try to make the most out of what we have. I have a small budget (because I made it, not Marshall, he would like the entire blame to go to me) I want to make the most of what I get every week in my BB. SO I plan my meals around what I already have. I try to make my basket go for more than just that week I freeze or can the items I know I can use later. It keeps the budget where I want it and my family eats much healthier and we are constantly trying new foods. Who knew I would love pineapple, or mangos, or asparagus, I still don’t like grapefruits.

So to those wondering how I use my entire basket. I make every last item go as long as it can. That’s how you save money. And make good food.

A little FYI: I have been adding all my blog worthy recipes to my recipes page I have mentioned a few above that others have made for me. I am working on getting those recipes so I can share. I only put the BEST meals on my blog as Marshalls says to keep my cooking reputation. I am looking at helping Haley find organic and easy to digest meals so will post about what we find in the future so keep an eye out for that.

PPS: Private adoption agencies charge ridicules amounts of money to adopt. I can’t decide if the wait of possibly 2 months to get a baby is worth $30,500. What do you think?