Harvest Time & Menus

It is that time of year again......my favorite time of year.....Harvest time!  When all our hard work pays off in the kitchen and on our dining table!   We have been hard at work cooking, preserving, canning, freezing, and baking everything we grew this year.  It seems like there is a lot more than past years!  Or maybe we are just doing it better this year!  From zucchini bread to pickling cucumbers to canning salsa......and everything in between.  It has definitely been a full time job preserving everything but this winter when we are enjoying all our delicious goods...it will be worth it!  Being able to provide our boys with food grown by us and at the same time teaching them about growing our own food makes me happy!  There is a huge sense of joy that overcomes me when I watch my boys walk through the garden, pick their favorite vegetable, and eat it right off the vine.

Our dinner's have been full of harvested vegetables.......here are a few that we will add into this week.  Happy to start posting our menus again!

WEEKLY MENU:

MONDAY:  Homemade fresh tomato soup and grilled cheese & spinach

TUESDAY:  Vegetable Stir fry over rice thai noodles

WEDNESDAY:  Quinoa Stuffed Peppers and Baked Salmon with Cilantro & Lime

THURSDAY:  Garlic & Greens Whole Wheat Spaghetti and Fall Harvest Pear Salad

FRIDAY:  Homemade garden vegetable pizza and garden greens salad

SATURDAY:  Leftovers

SUNDAY:  Crock-pot Potato Leek Soup and homemade bread

What are you cooking this week?

Peacefully,
Alyson

"In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy."  -William Blake

Harvesting and Menus

It is that time of year again....harvesting time!  This is when we are drowning in tomatoes and zucchini and we struggle to keep up with the basil and parsley that grow faster than I can run!  I love every second of it!  Now starts the scramble of preserving of it all....tomato sauce, salsa, zucchini bread, pesto, dried herbs, you name it!  All of this will be canned, frozen, or dried so we can reap the benefits all year long.  I will be sharing pictures and recipes soon of everything we are making and preserving!

We heart tomatoes!  

I love watching my three year old run around helping us harvest and picking fresh veggies off the vine to eat right there.  Our 3- month old just loves to be carried around the garden or laying on a blanket soaking everything around him.  Raising our children to know how to grow their own food and eat healthy has become an important part of our family.  I am feel blessed that my parents taught me these lessons, so I can pass it on to my children.

Stay tuned to some preserving recipes and for what we will be planting for our winter crop!!!! Here is our menu for the week!!!!

MENU:

MONDAY:  Whole wheat spaghetti with fresh homemade tomato sauce and a green salad

TUESDAY:  Zucchini, Black Bean, and Rice Casserole with whole wheat tortillas (We use olive oil instead of canola.  And we use fresh tomatoes instead of canned.)

WEDNESDAY:  Homemade Tomato Basil Soup and a grilled cheese sandwich (We use fresh tomatoes instead of canned.)

THURSDAY:  Leftovers and a big green salad

FRIDAY:  Baked Dijon Salmon,  Parmesan Stuffed Tomatoes,  and Balsamic Roasted Potatoes

SATURDAY-  Dinner at a a good friends home.  We are bringing fresh baked bread, a green salad, and Apple Ice Cream with Caramel!!!!!!

SUNDAY-  Fish tacos with black beans

What are you cooking this week?

Peacefully,
Alyson

"As a child, one has that magical capacity to move among the many eras of the earth; to see the land as an animal does; to experience the sky from the perspective of a flower or a bee; to feel the earth quiver and breathe beneath us; to know a hundred different smells of mud and listen unself- consciously to the soughing of the trees." -Valerie Andrews