Day 29 - Conscious, creative eating and updates on our garden

Since we didn't go grocery shopping on Sunday, just like we do every week - we now need to be creative with the food we have at home. Skipping our weekly grocery shopping will not bring us through the week, therefore we will have to run to the store at least once or twice to get some food, but essentially we are saving at least $60 for this week. We are out of bread, vegetables and fruits and some snacks. 

Last evening I had to come up with some dinner ideas. Here is what we ate:

Salmon patties, black beans, wine leaves (filled with rice) and orzo. We don't buy organic fish but everything else was organic. This was the first time for me making and eating orzo. I think I overcooked it but it was soo delicious. I think orzo is one of the best food options for children. They are tiny, it's pasta, little sticky, kids think it's rice, and the colors are fun. We only had two more salmon patties left and figured Amelie will probably enjoy a natural chicken/veggie hot dog instead. And she did. Here is a picture of Amelie eating dinner. 

I always talk about how well she is eating now (with some exceptions) but I am now providing the proof. 

 

 

 

 Yesterday evening I finally got to work on my weed-overgrown garden. The weeds are just too persistent and too happy to grow next to our veggies. Why not? We take good care of the garden and once they get settled and are not removed, they will invite all their other weed friends and hang out until they get kicked out for vegetating.

We spend about 2 hours pulling weeds. The garden looks nice and well-arranged now. Looks like we will be eating Agricola salad tonight. Currently it is a race which vegetable will be edible first. It's the vegetable countdown. I assume they will all be edible at the same time. I have used cilantro and parsley in the past weeks. It is sort of cool, you look at the recipe and realize "Oh, I need cilantro.." So, I grab the scissors, walk outside and cut some cilantro from the garden. Convenient.

 

Arugula lettuce (left) - regular lettuce (right)

Amelie understands that the garden will bring us fruits and vegetables. Yesterday evening when she hung out with us in the garden, she spotted a strawberry and got so excited: "Mommy, mommy, I found a strawberry. Can I please have it?" It made me so happy. She always offers her help in the garden and I do view this as a educational family activity.

WISDOM OF THE DAY

To harvest Arugula, pick off the outside leaves at the base of the plant. Leave the center growing point intact for the future harvesting. To use Arugula in cooking, add fresh leaves to salads, it goes great with Parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar. It can also be put on pizzas or added to soups.