Blueberry and Raspberry Picking 2015

Last weekend, I got up super early on a Saturday.  Like 6am early.  haha  I had a ton of stuff I wanted to get done.  I got up, got dressed, grabbed my garden hat and left.

First stop:

Ole Country Store and Bakery.  I picked up several items.  I wished I'd taken a picture of everything but I did not.  (next time, I promise)

They have so many sprinkles.  These caught my eye.  They are cow shapes.  What???  How cool is that?  These might be on my list next time, if I can think of what to make with them.  Chick-fil-a should totally buy these and sprinkle on some ice dream cups or brownies.  haha  I totally would.

Nate wanted horseradish sauce.  He picked up a bottle the first time we discovered this place.  I found them and saw they were only $1.49 each.  I grabbed one for a friend, his dad and then I grabbed 4 for Nate.  I saw there was 2 left, and not knowing when we'd be able to make it out again, I grabbed them.  Why not?  Hopefully, they had plenty in the back in case someone else wanted some.

I also picked up a few Amish made handpies, swiss cheese, trail bologna, maple cream chocolates, sugar free gummi bears, and sugar free vanilla wafers.

Next stop:

Millers Farms

They had blueberries and raspberries ready for pick you own.  YAY!!!  I went here last month and picked strawberries.  I also went here last year and picked blueberries and raspberries.

I got here a little after 8am.  My plan, was to beat the crowds and beat the heat.  Which I did.  :)

When I got there I was the only one in the blueberry patch for a while until I was about done picking.

Some berries were ripe and some were not.  I just picked whatever blue ones I found.

My little basket started filling up.

I even had some bees visit my basket.  I also found a really pretty, bright blue flower.  :)

Here's my blueberries that I picked all by myself.

I walked back towards the shed to get my berries weighed and I saw a cross on this little building.  I feel someone is watching over me.  :)

I grabbed a new basket and headed to the raspberries.

The raspberries are easy to pick.  The ripe ones are vibrant in color, soft and will slide right off stem with ease.  If you have to tug hard then they are not ready so just leave them be.

Here's black raspberries.  These are really good.

Ripe black raspberry with unripe berries.

I got my raspberries and had them weighed.

I got about the same amount of berries in each basket.  The worker thought that was amazing.  haha  I just stopped when I felt I had enough.  Funny that it was almost the same weight for both though.

Here's both of my baskets.  It took roughly 1 hour to pick all of these.

Next Stop:

Farmers Market (More on that in the next post)

Then:

Grocery store

I saw these gardening bags for a reduced price.  I bought the tomatoes and peppers bags.  I plan to use these later this year or next.

I also got these veggie brushes.  I think it was $3 for the pack of 2.  I used to have a brush that looked like a potato.  Ever since I moved to my house from my townhouse, I have never been able to find it.  Not sure what happened to it.  These brushes are perfect b/c I can use them to scrub my veggies.  :)  Plus, if one walks away like my potato brush did many years ago then I have another.  haha

After all that I mailed a package at UPS, and then went home.  WHEW!

Toddler Lunches

When I was meal prepping, I made my husband shuck the peas for me.  I had enough to do and I didn't have time to pick peas out of  the shell.  haha  He did a great job.  :)

Anyways, I always try to bring my lunch to work.  Sometimes, I get creative like with the Zucchini ball pizza slices.  Other times, I just want options.  Like my own little smorgasborg.  I like to call them toddler lunches.  :)

Here's some of my lunches so you can get some examples of what you can make for a toddler lunch.

This day, I had a hard boiled egg, reduced fat mozzarella string cheese, turkey pepperoni slices, fresh blueberries, grape toms and cucumber slices.

Hard boiled egg, peas, cucumber slices, grape toms, reduced fat mozzarella string cheese blueberries, and strawberries.

 2 Hard boiled eggs, grape toms, cucumber slices, blueberries, reduced fat extra sharp cheddar cheese, and wheat thins.

Hard boiled egg, cucumber slices, strawberries, farm fresh sweet cherries, fresh blueberries (that I picked), and some farm fresh toms.

Get some more ideas on healthy lunches here.

Zucchini Ball Mini Pizza Slices

For lunches at work sometimes, I like to be creative.  I had 2 nice size zucchini balls I got from the farmers market.  I thought I'd slice them up and make little pizzas with them.

Here's the farm fresh zucchini balls.

You will need:

zucchini balls (Sliced)

pizza sauce

shredded cheese (I used reduced fat)

pepperoni (I used turkey...16 slices is one serving)

Put your zucchini slices on a plate.  Add sauce, cheese and pepperoni.

Then microwave.  I cooked for 30 seconds.  The microwave at work is crazy hot.

They turned out great.  Everyone commented "It smells like pizza". haha  :)

It tasted like pizza too.  Without the crust and using the zucchini as the base it makes it a little healthier.  :)

You could add your own toppings to this this.  Make it your own and put what you like on it.  :)

2015 Garden Update- #22

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged about my garden.  Sometimes, life gets busy and that's okay.

I got this cute little 'garden' sign from JoAnn Fabrics.  It was for $2.  I have it handing in my greenhouse.

I harvested some veggies.  :)

Green Beans

Some toms.....here's before I picked.

And then a few days they were ready. One split for whatever reason.  But it was still might tasty.

My yellow tomatoes I got as little baby plants from a seed swap finally has tomatoes.

It's way too warm for the peas I have in my greenhouse so those will be thrown out.  They aren't growing at all.

I do have some marigolds growing.  They are in greenhouse too.

My sunflowers that I have growing in my greenhouse are growing up so fast.

As I walked in one morning, I couldn't believe what I saw.

Look how good they are growing?

I did buy a sunflowers pot at Lowes.  I couldn't resist.  They were sooooo pretty.

So cute.  :)

I also bought a few sunflowers for my kitchen.

I have several bell peppers growing.  I love me some bell peppers.

Some squash.

2015 Birthday dinner for Crystal

When thinking about birthday plans for my friend Crystal, my BFF, Kristen and I talked about different places to maybe go to.  I stumbled upon Kenmore Inn and mentioned it to Kristen.  She thought it looked great. We both had never been to the Kenmore Inn and we thought it might be a nice new place for our group of girlfriends to take Crystal to for birthday dinner.

Kristen made reservations for dinner.

The place is awesome.

Here's the menu.

We ordered a cheese plate for the table that had a few different cheeses, poppy seed crackers, and some prosciutto.

For my dinner, I felt like having a burger and that's exactly what I got.

Kenmore Burger:

Grilled and topped with crisp lettuce, Fried green tomatoes, Smoked Bacon jam, with duck fat frites and your choice of cheese.  The waiter suggested cheddar to go with the sweet bacon jam.

The burger was very tasty and the fries were delicious.

Our plan after dinner was to go to Crumb & Get It and get a birthday cupcake.  But by the time we were going to leave the restaurant, the little bakery was closing.  :(

We decided to go to Sweet Frog instead for some low fat froyo.  :)

Here's my special treat.  I was good all week so I could splurge a little.

Produce Stand 6/6

My BFF and I stopped at the Farm Stand last weekend and got some farm fresh produce.

Here's my tote bag filled with stuff.

I got:

-3 large white potatoes

-3 large bell peppers

-sugar snap peas

-green beans

-3 small zucchini

-3 small squash

-2 round zucchini balls

-3 cucumbers

My total was $10.60.  I'd say that's pretty good.  I got a ton of healthy stuff.

New Things Monday

Last week, I featured Chocolate Chunk Hazelnut Biscotti Granola.

Today, I want to share with you what I think of the Archer Farms:  Pecan Sticky Bun Granola.

(Picture taken from google images)

Again, another granola that tastes amazing.

NOTE:  I do not get paid by anyone to talk about products on my 'New Things Monday' posts.  This is just my opinion on something new I tried.  :)