Last Days of July, Beginning of August

This week we are flush with fresh fruits and veggies. The boys and I picked up our CSA share and then hit up the farmer's market for more local wares. Clark calls them all farmer farmers and is excited to go see them. This time Logan pleaded for some goat's milk soap with a picture of a goat on it so that is what I purchased for him!

CSA share

Farmer's Market

This led to a menu full of new recipes

Sunday:
Breakfast: Cinnamon rolls
Lunch: McDonald's
Dinner: 10 Minute White Beans Parmesan Spinach Soup from Cafe Delites.  I used a carrot, the rest of the tomatoes and the kale from my CSA share on this recipe. If I make this again I would adapt it to the crockpot so the flavors have time to meld together.

Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Cacciatore, a nectarine and some cheese and pita crackers
Dinner:Crock Pot Flank Steak, steamed rice and corn on the cob. Let me start by saying I have a rice cooking issue. Mine never turns out right which is why I have a rice steamer. Even with the steamer my brown rice never comes out right. I never know how long to cook it and it is always chewy....that is until I tried this miracle tip from Pinch My Salt! Tonight the brown rice was amazing, it was fluffy and non chewy.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: PB&J, chips and a peach
Dinner: Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole by Jo Cooks. As always this dish was tasty. I do cut this recipe in half so we do not end up with a ton of leftovers.  I was able to use up the leftover rice and fajita chicken I had on hand. I was going to use some leftover corn on the cob for this but as soon as Clark saw it he grabbed it and ate it. I ended up having to steam some corn quickly to use in the recipe.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Leftover Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole, cheese and pita crackers, and a peach. 
Dinner: Potstickers and CopyCat Panda Express Chow Mein both from Damn Delicious. To be honest my potstickers ended up being Wantons. Both Phillip and I agree that when we make the chow mein again I will leave out the ginger. It was really overpowering in this dish and I would not miss it.  ( I did cut the potsticker recipe in half and still made an entire packet of wontons)

Thursday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch:pizza out with former coworker
Dinner: I mixed up the list and made waffles with bacon and eggs

Friday:
Breakfast: Bagel
Lunch: Sandwich 
Dinner: Sonic because of emergency with grandma and sleepy boys

Saturday: 
Breakfast: biscuits
Lunch: Grazing
Dinner: Spaghetti

Backyard Work

I have been working steadily in the backyard a little at a time. I usually have about an hour each evening to work on projects so this photo line up actually happened over several nights! I did manage to get the boy's play area done, the area around my bird feeders complete and mulched around my compost bins. I have started on the side yard with clean up and washing off the cinder blocks so I can reuse them. I am hoping with the boy's help tonight to get them painted.

 

 

I found a small container for the tic-tac-toe markers

Material I have on hand to make a path in the side yard.

Books July 7th through July 25th

In print I finished Everything Everything and moved on to Lists of Note which I did not enjoy as much as Letters of Note. I am a list maker so I thought I would enjoy the book more than I did. Once I finished it I moved on to Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie and Other Famous Cryptids which I had started a couple of years ago and not finished. I am determined to get through it this time.


I did manage to complete several audio books including In The Great Green Room which I liked, You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life which I hated, Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit which I liked, Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus which I found fascinating, Real Murders by Charlaine Harris which I am on the fence about, The Hour of Land: A Topography of America's National Parks by Terry Tempest Williams which I loved and this morning I started The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple.

4th Week of July

Vacation ended and we are trying to adjust to our regular schedule!

Sunday:
Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch: McDonalds
Dinner: Pulled Pork from A Mind Full Mom served with Creamed Corn from Good Dinner Mom using some leftover corn on the cob and green beans.

Monday:
Breakfast: Bacon and leftover Cinnamon Rolls
Lunch: McDonalds
Dinner:  Jolene's Cheese Potato and Smoked Sausage Casserole from food.com using leftover smoked sausage and the end of the potatoes and velveeta I had on hand.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Flautas with a friend
Dinner:Bacon Fried Rice from Buns in My Oven. Of course I altered the recipe a bit. I used butter rather than bacon grease as my bacon was leftover. My rice was also leftover. I used the last fresh carrots I had from the CSA share, frozen peas, some mushrooms left from another dinner, and leftover corn I cut off the cob. I also used Teriyaki sauce and left out the siracha. It was still yummy!

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Banana Bread (I baked it and forgot I had put it up which is why I had cereal yesterday)
Lunch:Ramen noodles, a peach and some chips
Dinner: Hot Dogs

Thursday:
Breakfast: Banana bread
Lunch: Ramen noodles, a nectarine and some chips
Dinner: Soft Tacos using the leftover pulled pork, some fajita chicken, and most of the lettuce I had remaining.

Friday:
Breaskfast: Cereal
Lunch: PB&J sandwhich, chips and fruit
Dinner: Homemade Naan pizzas

Saturday:
Breakfast: Donuts
Lunch: Chick-fil-a
Dinner: Chicken Cacciatore from Cafe Delites which was yummy!  I was able to use a carrot and some tomatoes from that morning's CSA pick up. I also used up some mushrooms and an onion from a previous CSA pick up. This recipe also used up some leftover tomato paste from another recipe.

3rd Week of July

Saturday morning I picked up our CSA share. I was a little surprised at the size of it....was prepared for a little more but will ride this out to see how it goes. After picking up the CSA the boys and I went to the farmer's market and picked up some tomatoes.

The menu may change on the fly this week as my mom is coming in town for a visit.

Sunday:
Breakfast: Biscuits
Lunch: Treated by friend for birthday
Dinner: Cheesy Chicken Broccoli pasta

Monday:
Breakfast: Donuts
Lunch: Treated to chicken by friend
Dinner: on the road getting my mom from the airport.

Tuesday:
Dinner:::Pizza

Wednesday:
Dinner: Italian Chicken and Vegetables Sheet Pan Dinner from Yellow Bliss Road. I used Carrots, Asparagus and Potatoes as the veggies.

Thursday:
Dinner: Cotton Patch

Friday:
Dinner: Mexican restaurant

Saturday:
Dinner:  Sausage, Steamed Rice and Corn on the Cob

Finishing the Hop Scotch Area

I finished the hop scotch area , added a tic-tac-toe board and then made a track with tunnels for the boy's hot wheels. Tonight I need to clean up the remaining area and finish mulching.

Backyard Hop Scoth Play Area

The front yard is currently in maintenance mode so I am working on the backyard with most of that being the boy's play area.

I am ALMOST finished with this project. I got through number 7 set last night so I am hoping that I can finish setting them tonight and get the mulch down.

2nd Week of July

This week we have Clark's birthday to celebrate! I am also super excited as I will be picking up the first CSA basket on Saturday.

Sunday:
Breakfast: cinnamon toast
Lunch: Rosa's to celebrate a friend and Clark's birthdays
Dinner: Creamy Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Gnocchi from the Jo Cooks blog with garlic toast

Monday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Salad, pb&j sandwich, and watermelon
Dinner: Clark requested chicken and corn on the cob

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Met friend at Wendy's for lunch
Dinner: Friend treated Chick-Fil-A for Clark's birthday

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch:Ramen noodles and Watermelon
Dinner: Korean BBQ Short Ribs from the My Korean Kitchen blog with steamed rice.  Review of this one is complex. I will not buy the ribs from Winco anymore. I have given them many chances but they just can not seem to cut them even. Some were really fat, some paper thin and some nothing but bones. That truly affected how the marinate tasted. Phillip was not a fan of the marinate as it was slightly sweet . I will likely never make these again.

Thursday: 
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Pizza with friends
Dinner:  Hamburgers with Dr Pepper Baked Beans from Sugar and Soul Co blog.  These beans were just bad, there is nothing I can say that will redeem them. The sauce actually seemed to form a hard coating of the beans that made them harder than dried beans. Phillip was also not crazy about the taste of the sauce.

Friday: 
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Greek with friends
Dinner: One Pan Garlic Herb Chicken and Asparagus from the Creme de la Crumb. After 2 failed new recipes this week I am happy to report this one was a resounding success. Phillip asked about the seasoning and said that it was really good. Clark asked for a second helping. I enjoyed the meal but also how insanely easy this was to pull off!

Saturday:
Breakfast: Biscuit
Lunch: Sandwich
Dinner: Omelet

 

More on the front yard

Yard projects are on going this year. I am honestly hoping that once September gets here and we seed some native grass that we are done with all the big projects and will just be in maintenance mode.

I had some help putting in another curb side bed in the front as well as planting along our front walk since no grass will grow there.