Farmers Market- 8/16

Yesterday morning, I got up super early so I could get my errands done and then go to my parents for my dad to change my oil and filter on my car.  I'm so lucky that my dad takes care of my vehicles for me. 

I'm glad he enjoys doing it for my siblings and I.  :)

I got to my favorite farmers market at 8:30amish.  I had $50 in cash and a list.  I wasn't planning on spending the full $50.  Whatever I didn't spend I would use on groceries.  

Here's my list:

I got everything on the list!  I spent $34.75 leaving me with $15.25.  I don't think I've spent that much at the market before.  But I got a lot of yummy stuff.  When I got to my car, I put everything in my farmers market box so I could see everything I got spread out.  :)

Look at all the beautiful colors!!  :)

On Thursday, this past week my friend at work hooked me up with  some farm fresh corn on the cob, squash and one zucchini.  YAY for free produce!!  :)

I cooked the odd man out ear of corn in my zucchini taco boats.  I froze the other 2 cobs whole to make later.  For the zucchini and squash I used my veggetti.  I love it!!  If you don't have one...you need it.  Well that's if you eat a lot of veggies like I do.  It's the best 'as seen on tv' product yet.  At least for me.  You can buy yours from the official site or from bed bath and beyond.  I used a coupon and got 1 for $10.98.

I have some ideas to make a lean turkey spaghetti sauce and cooking up these 'noodles' and having spaghetti.  PASTA FREE!!  :)  I also think I might saute some of the 'noodles' and serve with some chicken and pesto sauce.  Besides squash and zucchini, you can use the veggetti for cucumbers, carrots, and potatoes.  :)  The possibilities are endless.  I love it!!  :)

Maple-Roasted Butternut Squash and Carrots

At the farm stand the other day I picked up two small butternut squash.  I have never ever made anything with it or even tasted butternut squash.  I came across this recipe for maple-roasted butternut squash and carrots.  The directions were easy and it sounded yummy.  I didn't know what type of protein to serve with it but then I decided I would make some andouille sausage to go with.  It was tasty!!!

Preheat oven to 425 degrees

You will need:

-One large or 2 small butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cut into cubes)

-carrots (I used a small organic bunch....peeled and sliced)

-olive oil

-sugar free maple syrup

-nutmeg

-cinnamon (optional)

-ginger (optional)

-sprinkle of brown sugar (optional)

-bacon bits (optional)

To make:

In a bowl, mix together everything until it's all coated.  Add mixture to a pam sprayed and foiled lined baking sheet.  Spread everything out so it's evenly on the pan.  Roast for 30 to 40 minutes.  Make sure to turn half way.  Your house will smell wonderfully while this is cooking.  I heated up some andouille sausage and sliced it up and served with my butternut squash and carrots.  It was really good.  A little sweet and a little spicy from the sausage.  OMG yum!  :)  I would say you could even serve this at breakfast if you wanted to.

If you're like me and never tried butternut squash or ever made it.....then read this.  It's step by step instructions so you know exactly how to peel, cut and slice your butternut squash.

Some other butternut dishes I want to try:

Roasted Butternut Squash with Green Apples and Candied Walnuts

Butternut Squash Enchilada's

Butternut Squash Mac n cheese

Butternut Squash Lasagna

Butternut Sriracha Fries

Zucchini Taco Boats

I came across this blog on Pinterest on zucchini taco boats, so it inspired me to make my own for dinner last night.  Here's the result.......sooooo yummy!  I didn't even miss the taco shells.

I used my own homemade taco seasoning for the lean turkey meat.  I'm almost out.  Gotta make more.

I decided to add some black beans to my zucchini taco boats.  I drained and rinsed them.

To make:

First you need to prep your zucchinis.  Wash them real good.  Then cut of the ends and cut them in half lengthwise.  Depending on the size of the zucchini's it's one zucchini per person.  I had 2 large zucchini's.

Once cut, put them on a foil lined baking sheet.  I did add a little pam spray to the foil so nothing that spilled out would stick to the foil.  As you can see my cutting wasn't perfect on the bigger zuke.  OOPS!  That's okay though, it will still get eaten.

Scoop out some of the middle of the zucchini boats and put into a bowl.  Set aside.  I'll tell you what to do with this soon.  Nothing goes to waste!  :)

Here's the scooped zucchini ready to be filled with whatever you want.

I added some fresh corn on the cob, and black beans to the bottom and then I added taco meat.

After that, I added some fresh pico de gallo on top and sprinkled some cheese.  I put them in the oven at 350 degrees and baked them for about 20-30 minutes or until the zucchinis are tender.

Here's a finished zucchini taco boat.  How delicious does it look?  I am going to be making these again.  So yummy and so easy!  It's even easier if you cook the meat and prep the veggies ahead of time so you can just assemble it all the day you make them.

Now you can put the scooped zucchini in the fridge and use it for something else later.  Or do what I did and put the extra taco stuff in the skillet and cook it up and serve it on the side.

I added the rest of the pico de gallo, black beans, taco meat, scooped zucchini, corn and some pepper and salt to the pan and let it heat up together.  Once done add some cheese on top.

Enjoy!  :)

Don't want zucchini tacos?  How about zucchini pizza?

3 Homemade Chocolate Cupcakes

I made my own birthday cupcake the other night.  I didn't want to make a dozen cupcakes and have them in my house so I found a recipe that made 3 cupcakes.  The original blog says you can make the cupcakes in the microwave.  I didn't, I decided to bake them in the oven.

Here's what my cupcake looked like after I frosted it and added some sprinkles.  How cute eh?

I added a candle, lit it and my husband sang happy birthday to me.  :)

Yummy!  It was moist and delicious.

You will need:

2 tbs unsalted butter (soft)

1 egg

1 tbs oil

1 tbs unsweetened almond milk

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp homemade vanilla extract

pinch of salt

2 tbs unsweetened cocoa

2 tbs flour

1/8 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup chocolate chips

To make:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the butter, egg, oil, milk, and sugar, vanilla extract until combined.  Set aside.  In another bowl, mix salt, cocoa, flour, baking powder together with a fork.  Slowly beat the dry mix into the wet mix.  Once mixed add in the chocolate chips.  In a cupcake pan, spray 3 cups with non-stick spray.  Pour batter evenly into the 3 cups.  Bake on 350 degrees for about 12 to 15 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.  Cool cupcakes on cooling rack.  While cupcakes are cooling you can make your icing.  I did make the icing from the blog.  I followed recipe exactly and it came out really runny.  I'm not sure what happened.  I didn't like it at all.  I dumped it out and decided to use some store bought frosting I had in the pantry.

Birthday 2014

I came home last night from work with beautiful roses waiting for me from my husband.  :)

I made myself a cupcake.  I found a recipe that just makes 3 cupcakes.  (I'll post recipe in the next post).

Here's my little birthday cupcake.  I lit the candle and Nate sang happy birthday to me.  :)

I also ordered my GREENHOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited!!  I can't wait to get it and build it and start using it.  :)

This is the greenhouse I got.

Tonight, I wasn't making dinner so I suggested to Nate that we have a little Chinese buffet.  We haven't had Chinese in a while so we decided to splurge.  :)

It was a good birthday.

Garden Update: Week 25 (LATE)

Late post on my garden update.  This past week was week 25.

I did some cleaning up.  I took off the potted plants that are done.  I put them over in the dumping area to be cleaned out.  (in background, top left)

Here's what my deck looks like right now.

Early in the week I picked some toms, a watermelon and an eggplant.

Look at that pretty purple color.

I also ended up picking 2 chili peppers and a pea pod.

I picked my 3 carnival squash.  How cute are they?  The one on the left is the biggest one.  There's a small hole in the back of it.  I'm guessing from a worm?  The other 2 are perfect.  I'm keeping them around for fall decoration.  They are too tiny to eat.

This guy would have just been perfect if there wasn't a hole.

I picked my spaghetti squash.  The shape is weird.  It's not like the usual spaghetti squash.  And it's small.  I figured I'd pick it now since it seems ripe before a worm attacks it.

I picked some other toms earlier in the week and they had splits.  Every single one.  :(

My watermelons weren't getting any bigger.  I knocked on one and it was hollow.  I went ahead and cut one open to see if it was ripe.

As soon as I sliced it open I could smell the sweet watermelon.

A nice red flesh.  MMMM

I tasted a slice and it tasted so good.

The next day I picked the other 3 watermelons and cut them open and sliced them for later.

On Sunday morning I picked 2 more pea pods.

I also picked a yellow tomato.

I have some more cucumbers coming in.

Sunflower

Another sunflower coming in.

A multicolored rotted zucchini.

Peppers....I believe this guy is turning purple.  :)

Sweet bells coming in.

A new eggplant blossom.

I picked the dead sunflowers and took the seeds out.  I put the seeds on the rail for the birds.  The seeds were gone by that afternoon.

I got some more corn on the cob last week.  MMMMMM  I actually froze the corn I had so I could use it later.  Read about it here.

I also got 2 garlic bulbs from a friend who has a garden.  She has so much garlic coming in she doesn't know what to do with it all.  :)