17 Thursday Sep 2015
Posted in Groceries
≈ Comments Off on CSA Week #15, 2015
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We should still be in a great time of year for us, vegetable-wise. But, the weekly basket isn’t really loaded with what we’d use.
The good: swiss chard, green leaf lettuce, corn (but not enough for us), MacIntosh apples, broccoli
The ok: acorn squash, carrots (we eat a lot, but haven’t liked theirs in the past), cubanelle pepper
The waste/donate: shell beans, beets, eggplant, tuscan kale
So, ok, but not a great week. I’ll take the “good” plus the acorn squash.
15 Tuesday Sep 2015
Posted in Accomplishments
≈ Comments Off on Last Week’s Accomplishments – Fall Soccer
With last week including the first few days (albeit short hours) of preschool I was able to get a few more things done that usual.
15 Tuesday Sep 2015
Even though it was the first week of preschool, meaning very short days, I did do some grocery shopping.
First, I went to BJs. It was nearly 100 that day so I got premade desserts for my get together that evening rather than running the oven.
Then I went to the farm stand. I was hoping for local peaches, but was out of luck. Broccoli & green beans are in season, though, so I bought those along with some of their chicken salad.
The same day I went to Wegman’s. They have a display from local farms there and I was able to get local peaches (which have been good). Interestingly, I also saw green beans from the same farm as above, and the ones at Wegman’s looked terrible. I try not to the same place quite this close together, but the mini bagels proved to be quite popular so I went back primarily for more of those.
Then, Sunday I went to the farm stand again for corn on the cob (and picked up a few other things). It’s a little hard to see what’s in the bags, but under the cauliflower are two tomatoes, one pear, and two apples.
Here’s what we did (with much of that) this week.
Saturday:
take out Chinese
Sunday:
nacho chicken
corn on the cob
green & wax beans
Monday:
Kids: chicken nuggets, broccoli
Adults: tuna noodle casserole
Tuesday (I’m going out.):
take out pizza
Wednesday:
Flank steak
Roasted cauliflower
Salad
Thursday:
Kids: shrimp, carrots
Adults: homemade mac n cheese
Friday:
Kids: eggs
Adults: homemade pizza
11 Friday Sep 2015
Posted in Recipes
≈ Comments Off on Cod with Swiss Chard & Potatoes
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This is from The Boston Globe Magazine – February 17, 2008.
This is one of my go-to farmer’s market recipes. You can easily adjust the amount of fish to your needs without affecting the other ingredients. I make ours in an 8-qt stock pot because I like the extra depth. I find a saute pan to be a bit tight. Serve with a crusty bread.
2 1/2-lb skinless cod fillets
1/4 lemon
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, cut in half & thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced (optional)
1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, draining optional
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, thinly sliced (I have used red also.)
3 cups chicken broth
6 cups (1 bunch) coarsely chopped Swiss chard
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups chopped fresh basil (optional)
10 Thursday Sep 2015
Posted in Groceries
≈ Comments Off on CSA Week #14, 2015
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More bad news on this specific CSA. I went to the farm stand today to see if I could get more local peaches – and they’re gone! I know they are definitely still around and I found some later in the day, so now worries just more stops. I think that’s my biggest issue with this particular CSA – too many veggies and not enough fruits. Our family need more balance.
The good: tomatoes (regular & grape), boston lettuce, broccoli, orange cauliflower, pickle cukes (we’ll just eat them), green peppers, wax beans
The ok: baby arugula, radishes (don’t need them, but haven’t had them in a while either), zucchini
The waste/donate: eggplant, beets, basil (this is way past overkill for us)
Despite my complaints about the veggie/fruit ratio, this is a good week. I’ll take the good category, which actually gets me more than the requisite number of items!
08 Tuesday Sep 2015
Posted in Accomplishments
≈ Comments Off on Last Week’s Accomplishments – Labor Day Weekend
No messing around here:
07 Monday Sep 2015
This month was pretty normal. Baseball ended the second week so we had more typical weekday dinners. We were out a bunch for weekend BBQs, but often brought something so I don’t think that is skewing the data much.
Some observations about this month. First, its substantially higher than recent months. Frankly, I attribute this to eating better. Fish and nice cuts of meat are more expensive than chicken nuggets, pizza, and pasta which were finding a lot of space in our diets with the hectic schedule. Second, Wegman’s has swung firmly ahead of Stop & Shop. I’m not sure if this will continue or not. There are still some items that are better to buy at Stop & Shop and it is much closer (plus I don’t have to pass the mall at Christmas). But, Stop & Shop didn’t do themselves any favors this summer. For the first time in many years there were not weekly coupons for money off/free items. Second, my specific location just made shopping difficult by replacing the easily accessible bag stands with semi-reuseable bags that on had to pay for. Since I take very few bags when I shop and use those that I do regularly, I didn’t appreciate having to take time to scrounge for bags upon arrival. The most recent two times this problem seems to have been addressed, though so maybe it was temporary.
I only made two shopping trips this week. Frankly, I’m looking forward to taking fewer people shopping so some of this is putting off the inevitable until the boys are in school.
I was at Stop & Shop mid-week.
Then, over the weekend we went to Wegman’s.
I expect to visit BJs later this week, but I’m not sure I’ll have to go to a grocery store again until next week. We’ll see.
Here’s the menu plan for this week. You’re seeing fajitas again because they got postponed from last week. In general, the schedule dictates that the kids are going to eat by themselves Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays through soccer season.
Saturday
Fajitas
Sunday:
Grilled steaks
Pan fried potatoes
Green beans
Salad
Monday:
Beef clod
Potato salad
Salad
Tuesday:
Shrimp
Green beans
Wednesday:
Nacho chicken
Corn on the cob
Salad
Thursday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade mac n cheese
Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza
04 Friday Sep 2015
Posted in Travel
≈ Comments Off on Fort Ticonderoga – 2015
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The last stop on our driving tour was Fort Ticonderoga. We left our hotel in Cooperstown, stopped for lunch, and toured the fort before driving home.
I’d never been, but it is someplace I’d wanted to go for a long time. It’s just not near anything. Frankly, it was somewhat out of the way on this trip, but close enough that we decided to detour. The weather was nice, though with the previous days rain there were lots of puddles. These were enjoyed by the younger ones so much that we had to change them (shoes included) when we got back to the car.
The views from the ramparts were gorgeous. The boys enjoyed the cannons, though not the live demonstrations. They also enjoyed the fife & drum corps, as long as we didn’t get too close. We saw demonstrations of life at the fort, specifically cobblers and carpenters. We saw the living quarters. The boys were remarkably patient as we went through the text heavy parts with the history. I could have spent more time there. Since they were running out of steam, and we still had to drive home, we did not make it to the King’s Gardens.
All in all, worth a stop, if only for the view. I’m not sure I’d go way out of my way to visit though.
03 Thursday Sep 2015
Posted in Groceries
≈ Comments Off on CSA Week #13
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This week tips the scales back. While there are some things I appreciate, most items I could live without.
But, I bought plenty of produce last week and apples and broccoli are coming into season which are always popular.
The good: tomatoes, corn, broccoli, red leaf lettuce, apples, pickle cukes (we’ll just eat them)
The ok: zucchini & summer squash, romano beans, swiss chard (not sure what to do with it two weeks in a row)
The waste/donate: eggplant, cubanelle pepper, red & white beets, basil (this is way past overkill for us)
I’ll take the “good” catagory plus the zucchini (one can always hide it in something) and romano beans (not sure we’ve ever tried these).
Separately, I happened across another CSA this week. Obviously they’re all different, but this one looked like it might have a better fruit/vegetable mix for us. I think I’ll have to investigate it further.
02 Wednesday Sep 2015
Posted in Travel
≈ Comments Off on Reflections on Katrina
Not surprisingly, there’s been a lot in the news about Hurricane Katrina surrounding the ten year anniversary. I wasn’t there. But, I have been to New Orleans twice and I definitely recall seeing the news on TV.
My first trip was roughly ten years previous and I didn’t remember it well enough to connect with what I was seeing on TV. We had done typical touristy things, spent some time at a band festival (though I don’t actually know where that took place), and gone on a river boat.
But, just a few months earlier my second trip had been spent at the Convention Center and immediate surrounding area which became somewhat of an epicenter for a while. It was a bit surreal to see places I had recently been so affected and I remember wondering about other areas I had been to, such as the mall connecting the Convention Center with our hotel.
Obviously the storm affected many people and while much work has been done there is still much to do. It is important that events like this not disappear from our collective memories. I’ve appreciated all the recent updates, especially the personal stories.
Busy in the Burbs 
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