It's been a while....

I wanted to post about Thanksgiving. I haven't had a chance. We had only one dish that wasn't from scratch. (green bean casserole) Everything else we consumed we used fresh ingredients and made ourselves. The Turkey was from a local farm, free range and our first attempt at fresh. I did well with it but cooked it at too high a temp so it wasn't as good as it could have been. Dan made fresh bread a few days before that I used for stuffing (yes we made everything). Many of our veggies came from our local and organic delivery service. All in all it was a great dinner and I look forward to making more like it. I wish I had taken pictures.

Fall veggies ROCK!

Sweet potatoes, squash, beans and more. My kids are eating them!! It's fantastic. Our Grow Alabama veggie box is definitely broadening our horizons. I've been good about trying new things. We got Turnips this week...not sure what to do with them yet but I am thinking about a veggie soup. I have tons of tomatoes, beans, yellow squash, okra and turnips sounds like soup to me :)

On another note: a local mom is hosting a get together to teach some of us how to make laundry soap. I'll ask her permission and post the recipe later this week.

MMMM Chili!

So I got something called Purple Hull Peas in my veggie delivery last week. I had not a clue what they were till I saw them. They aren't a pea but a bean. Wanting to know what to do witht hem I googled it. (gotta love google) after finding a few recipes I decided that I would use them in my chili today. I Love having a crock pot meal. So easy to do. I put it all together this morning. The Purple hull peas are many different colors so it's looking fantastic. I'll take a picture and post it later.

Okra experience

Ok so being that we are not a southern family Okra is not a food we have ever eaten much less cooked. So I went to my trusty allrecipes.com and typed in Okra and came up with a simple recipe to try out.

Very basic, 6 ingredients. Turned out ok but we decided next time it needs more spice. Not bad for our first try.
We had this with broiled flounder.

INGREDIENTS

• 10 pods okra, sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. In a small bowl, soak okra in egg for 5 to 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine cornmeal, salt, and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge okra in the cornmeal mixture, coating evenly. Carefully place okra in hot oil; stir continuously. Reduce heat to medium when okra first starts to brown, and cook until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Eggplant Disaster!

Ok so admittedly the only way I have ever had it was as Eggplant Parmesan. (Not one of my favs) Dan got one a few days back so lat night I thought Oh I can saute it and put it with pasta and sauce. YUM! NOT! I had no idea it was like a sponge. It soaked up every bit of oil and turned out not so yummy. My poor kids! So moral of the story... Grill it! Brush it with some oil and garlic and toss it on the grill.

Today is the day we get our first delivery of Grow Alabama. Here is the list for this week:

1. tomatoes
2. eggplant
3. purple hull peas (shelled)
4. mixed green beans
5. Okra
6. new potatoes
7. mixed bell peppers
8. Winter squash
9. cherry tomatoes
10. apples

Now to find some yummy recipes to make with all that. :)

Our First steps

Well other than the day to day organics and cooking at home that we have done we have officially signed up for Grow Alabama. We will get local grown produce and fresh eggs once a week. Today I will customize our first box and tomorrow we will pick it up. This is going to make us step outside our box and try new foods and recipes. I will post some of those recipes here. It's our goal to try to decrease our grocery budget but eat better. Join me on our journey.

Our children are now taking immune system boosting vitamins and probiotics. Since it's cold and flu season and we do not get flu vaccines we have started them on the following: Vitamin D 3 2000IU, Probiotics 1 Billion parts, Omega 3-6-9 1000 mg and when they seem to need an extra boost Emergen-C. We are trying to be sure the kids get plenty of rest and eat well too so they have strong systems to fight off any nasty germs that may attempt to invade.

Follow along. I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of our first veggie delivery.

Ok getting this thing off the ground...

I'm going to try to get a bit more regular with posting here. Trenton is about to be 1 and I haven't posted here in for ever. So our mission is to change our living habits. To start living locally. By this I mean buy local produce, meat, eggs, and products as much as possible. We are in the process of planting our garden. I'm so excited. We live in an excellent area for growing our own foods. I have began the switch to go completely chemical free in our cleaning products and we are down to only Toilet paper and wet wipes for the big kids for paper products in our house. I will be putting up a clothes line in the next month. I will be trying to post here once a week to update what we have done to become more eco friendly. We are no longer getting plastic bags from ANY shopping we do. We have more than enough reusable bags that we do not need the plastic ones. A few steps at a time. So come back and check out what we have done. :)