7.28.2010

It's Wednesday

Mid week and I have yet to get things in order with a food schedule, meals, produce.


It's one of those weeks...

7.22.2010

My Garden Is Growing

I should say "my" loosely.... my husband has done the bulk of the work. But our garden is GROWING!!

Here's the run down of what we have:

- Watermelon
(is that watermelon not the cutest thing?)

- Cucumber

- Zucchini
- Yellow squash

- Bell peppers

- Jalapeno peppers

- Big boy tomatoes

- Roma tomatoes

- Baby tomatoes


I love watching everything grow! It took so long for everything to start coming up but once it did it has just taken off and is growing at rapid rates!


I love the way the cucumbers and watermelon look as they spread out.

But they are getting pretty intertwined- hope everything turns out ok.

7.20.2010

A Day of Trying

My friend and college roommate, Rachel, is in town and we are having a fun couple of days! Rachel has certain foods that she likes to eat and certain foods that she likes to avoid. Rachel's says she has "a limited diet consisting of bread, cheese, and peanut butter." She doesn't eat many fruits or vegetables but in the last several years has began trying new foods.

Here are her newer tastes she's acquired:
- scrambled eggs
- caesar salad
- chickpeas
- apples


This morning Rachel went to the local farm with me to get produce. She sweetly agreed to try a few new things, so today she tried sweet white corn and watermelon!


She has never had any melon texture before and was hesitant at first but enjoyed the sweet watermelon juices.



The corn-- I told Rachel if she was ever going to like corn this was THE corn she would like. This is the best corn I have ever had in my entire life. The best, Jerry. The best!




Her reaction: She was surprised by the sweet taste of the corn. I think she liked it though. It gets 1 thumb up from her.



Ya for Rach letting me blog about her :)

Love ya Rach!

7.15.2010

Yes for Breakfast

My favorite meal on vacation was this amazing breakfast! I did eat too much but look at all of that fruit!!

We had a breakfast buffet with eggs for my morning protein and fresh pineapple, bananas, grapefruit, oranges, and pears! Yummm...

Oh... and that is bacon :) Come on, it was vacation!

7.13.2010

and back again...

So after my last post I headed out of town again. We jumped in the car and headed to Tennessee. It was a great week of fun with family and sweet memories and celebrations of Mamaw's life. In memory of June Lady we had a wonderful ceremony in Kingsport, Tennessee, where she lived 85 years of her life.


When we got back into town it had been 2 weeks since we'd been at home. No fresh foods, not really any good food, not much to work with. Not to mention a lack of fruits and vegetables on the trips. I was in NEED of some fresh fruits and vegetables. So we pulled in the driveway, and I jumped out of the car and into the other one and headed towards our local farm. I loaded up!


Apples, plums, peaches, baby tomatoes, real big tomatoes, blueberries, and sweet white corn.

*The apples, peaches, blueberries, tomatoes, baby tomatoes, and sweet white corn are all locally grown!


Also... watermelon!! A BIG one!


Welcome home to me! :)

7.05.2010

back from vacation

What an amazing week I had on family vacation! We had a wonderful time seeing new places, doing fun things, and just spending time together.
Niagara Falls, Canada


Unfortunately, while my family was up here visiting me and my husband they lost their sweet dog, Max. He got very sick suddenly and just didn't make it. We got him when I was 12. We will all miss him very much! And on an even sadder note, my Mamaw (grandmother) passed away before my parents got home. Please keep my family in your prayers as we mourn, remember, and miss her dearly! She was a sweet, sweet lady.

Me, Mamaw, Tommy celebrating Mamaw's 87th birthday!


My sweet Mamaw


My mom and Mamaw


Me and my sister with Max


My husband, brother, me, sister, and Mamaw with the dogs including Max.


I will really miss her and love her so much!


healthy eating AND allergy safe on vacation?

Is it possible to eat healthy AND be safe from food allergies on vacation?

Based on my last week and a half of vacation.... no. Of course, I would never say never- I do think it is possible but it's hard.

While eating healthy can be a challenge on vacation it gets even more challenging when it comes to being on the lookout for food allergens.


Example: My 1st meal on vacation. We arrive in New York City, drop our stuff off at the hotel, and stop in at one of the restaurants in the hotel for lunch. I ordered a caesar salad with grilled chicken on top. Not necessarily a healthy choice, but the only menu item with grilled chicken. I got the salad and noticed the croutons and chicken had a light green color to them. Right off the bat I think PESTO! While pesto may be all good it is not for me because I am allergic to pine nuts, so I asked my server what was on the croutons and chicken. She said it was a garlic mixture. I was still skeptical, so when she came back several minutes later I asked again but this time I specifically asked if it was pesto. She said she would check with the chef. When she came back several minutes later she said it was pesto but the chef said they do not use nuts. I could have eaten it based on that, but I didn't. Because I have had people tell me before there were no nuts in a dish only for me to have a reaction since they didn't consider pine nuts as nuts. Anyway, I didn't eat it. I'd rather not go through that mistake again.


This was my immediate reminder to be careful! Very careful!

-- I stuck to my personal policy of no desserts at restaurants -- no matter how badly I wanted New York Cheesecake!

-- I asked servers questions.

-- I read the menu and looked for potential problems.

-- And I learned that next vacation I need to bring my own chocolate with me!!!


There was still plenty of delicious food that I could eat!


Some fresh and amazing New York Pizza!



A great grilled cheese and fries and surprisingly delicious iceberg wedge salad here. This is also where everyone else found their favorite NY Cheesecake!

And in Canada there was plenty of Tim Hortons. It was everywhere, and I am now a fan.


Needless to say why I was craving some fruits and vegetables when I got home...