Fresh & Healthy: Our Garden – Cherry Tomato, Zucchini, Summer Squash and Green Beans!
Our first pick from our garden…..a red cherry tomato!
We are super excited to seeing the fresh vegetables growing in our garden again! So far we haven’t had to water too much because we have been getting so much rain, now we need to get a little sun to help balance things out. Our first produce was ready to be picked the first day of June, one little cherry tomato! Since then we have noticed more veggies starting to pop up. We got our garden planted late this year with all the traveling, but we are hoping that it will be a fruitful year. We split the “first” produce of the year but cutting up the cherry tomato and putting it in a meal for the whole family to enjoy.
Zucchini, 2 for 1 Summer Squash, and a handful of Green Beans
We have started to slowly see the fruits of our labor in the garden this year. It seemed to take longer with us plant much later but we hope to have plenty to share with others. We have picked lettuce a few times for salads but since it is usually at dinner time when I busy prepping for the meal I have been forgetting to take a picture to share.
What are you eating out of your garden this week?
Fresh & Healthy: School Lunchbox Meals
Brina’s lunch
Last year for their birthday a friend gave the girls monogram lunch boxes. Both of the girls still pick those lunchboxes to use almost everyday. Occasionally they will change it up a little bit but they love having a lunch box with their name on it. They know it is theirs and are responsible for cleaning it out everyday after they get home from school. Every once in awhile if they start smelling I will go through and give it a more thorough cleaning. I always find a good stash of “love notes” from me in each of their bags which makes me smile and confirms that taking the time to write the sweet notes for the girls really does mean a lot to them.
- Homemade Chicken Salad Sandwich
- Fresh Green Pepper Slices
- Fresh Green Grapes or Fresh Apple Slices
- Strawberry Jello
- Vanilla Yogurt
- Chocolate Covered Cherries
- Goldfish
- Mrs. Field’s Oatmeal Cookie
- Bottle of Water
Karlie’s school lunch
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
School Lunch!
The girls are good at helping put together their lunches. They know that we get a protein, fruit, vegetable, dairy, drink and snack. Here’s what they had today:
- Peanut Butter & Homemade Strawberry Jam
- Fresh Tomatoes
- Pita Chips
- Yogurt
- Applesauce or Yogurt Raisin
- Cheesestick
- Bottled Water and Reduced Sugar Juice
- Sugar Free Cherry Jello
- Protein Bar or SoyJoy Apple Granola Bar
Lunch Box Goodies
Living Social: $20 Gift Card to Whole Foods Market for $10!
Living Social currently has a great Nationwide Deal!
$20 Gift Card to Whole Foods for $10
Details of the Gift Card:
- Purchase a $20 virtual Gift Card voucher to Whole Foods for only $10
- Whole Foods is donating 5% of all sales to Charity
- Print your virtual Gift Card or show them the email on your phone and you’ll get your $20 credit at checkout
- Gift Card vouchers can be redeemed in any Whole Foods store
- Limit 1 voucher per person.
How to get your Gift Card:
- Sign up or login into your Living Social account
- Available in Select Cities (if not showing up in your current location Go to Greenville, SC or Boston)
- Purchase the Whole Foods $20 gift voucher for $10
- Your virtual gift card voucher will be pending in your account until September 14, 2011
- The virtual gift card voucher will expire on 12/13/11
Fresh & Healthy: Downtown Farmer’s Market (Saturdays) Fresh Produce & More!
It is the beginning of produce harvest for a lot of local farmers which means the Farmer’s Market is opening. Many local communities will host Downtown Farmer’s Markets to help connect the farmers with the local people who want to purchase fresh fruits and veggies for their family.
Families in the Greenville area who are looking for some fresh in-season vegetables, fruit, local honey, gourmet foods, seafood, fresh flowers, diary products, coffee, nuts, baked goods, handmade crafts, woodworking and a wide variety of other goodies from more than 50 vendors can come to downtown Greenville on Saturday mornings starting May 7th through October 29th.
Downtown Greenville Farmer’s Market Details:- What / Where – Downtown Greenville’s Saturday Market (Main Street at McBee Avenue, Greenville, SC 29601 )
- When – Saturdays from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM ( May 7 to October 29)
- Cost – Free Admission (the only cost is for the items you purchase from the local farmers / vendors)
- For More Information / Activities – Saturday Market Live / 864-467-4494
Downtown Greenville has music and special events during the Saturday Farmer’s Market. Please go to their events section for more information on upcoming musicians, cooking demonstrations, and special events.
Easley just started a Downtown Farmer’s Market a few years ago. It is smaller than the one in Downtown Greenville but for a small community it has a lot of amazing produce to offer. Each year it has grown bigger with more vendors offering their fresh produce and goods to the local community.
Downtown Easley Farmer’s Market Details:
- What / Where – Downtown Easley Farmer’s Market (205 North 1st Street, Easley, SC 29640)
- When – Saturdays from 8:00 AM – 12:00 PM (April 9th to End of Season)
- Cost – Free Admission (the only cost is for the items you purchase from the local farmers / vendors)
- For More Information / Activities – Easley Farmers Market / 864-855-7900
2011 Special Calendar of Events – Easley’s Farmers Market:
- May 7 – Smoke House & Sparky
- May 14 – Parent Magazine & Fun Kid Activities
- May 21 – SunLit Moon Entertainment
- June 11 – Parent Magazine & Fun Kid Activities
- July 2 – 2nd Annual Pie Baking Contest & July 4th Celebration.
- July 23 – Square Root Entertainment
- More activities being scheduled check back often
Photo by Natalie Maynor & Swami Stream
Fresh & Healthy: Flash Freezing Fresh Strawberries
Our family went Strawberry picking recently so we have been busy making strawberry goodies. The day we picked the strawberries we separated them out into containers for the ones we wanted to eat immediately and ones we wanted to freeze to eat later. We chose to flash freeze our strawberries whole.
How to Flash Freeze Fresh Strawberries:
- Rinse the Fresh Strawberries with cool water
- Place on wax paper in a pan
- Cut off the stems of the strawberries
- Put the strawberries on the pan evenly spaced so they are not touching each other
- Put the pan in the freezer until the strawberries are completely frozen (usually takes several hours for them to freeze completely)
- Once the strawberries are frozen put them into freezer bags (I usually put them into Quart or Gallon, 2 cups or more at a time)
When you flash freeze the strawberries they will not stick together when you take them out. You can take as many or as little strawberries as you like throughout the year. Here are some of the pictures of the process below:
Rinse the fresh strawberries! 
Line the pan with wax paper. 
Cut off the strawberry stems, place on wax paper & stick in the freezer! 
Layers of Flash Frozen Strawberries! 
Bags of Flash Frozen Strawberries - measured and dated for future meals! Family Outings: Strawberry Picking
We went Strawberry picking this past weekend and had a blast! The entire family was picking so we had our gallon done in no time. We stopped by Hunter’s Farm in Easley, South Carolina. The strawberries were $8.50 a gallon if you pick your own and bring your own container. Here are a few pictures from our adventure Strawberry Picking:
Karlie and Brina picking fresh strawberries at Hunter's Farm! 
Brina with a handful of strawberries! 
Karlie with a handful of strawberries! 
Brina showing off her strawberries! 
Karlie showing off her goodies! 
Brina enjoying her time picking up strawberries! Gallon full of fresh strawberries! 
Fresh Strawberries!!! Fresh & Healthy: Our Garden – Fresh Lettuce, Spinach, & Strawberries
Our first batch of Fresh Lettuce and Spinach from our garden! Recently we picked our first batch of fresh Lettuce and Spinach from our garden. We had grilled steak, a fresh garden salad (with the lettuce & spinach picked fresh only moments before dinner), and pasta salad for dinner this past weekend. The only other item we have picked from our garden is a handful of full size strawberries which the girls ate before I could take a picture of them. The girls (and Mommy) are very excited that we can start eating delicious veggies and fruit from this years garden. Thankful for a husband that took take of the garden while I was away. The broccoli is already forming a head and several other plants look promising so hopefully we’ll have more goodies before long!
Strainer full of several varieties of lettuce and spinach! I only picked a handful of the different varieties of lettuces and spinach from the garden and the strainer was overflowing. It was enough for 2 to 3 meals for our family. We have 4 to 5 varieties of lettuce and 1 variety of spinach. All the leaf lettuce and spinach is ready to be picked. Hope it continues to do well so we can share it with family and friends!
Freshly Picked Wild Strawberries! Brina and Karlie have discovered our yard produces Fresh Wild Strawberries. We never planted the strawberries they just grow in certain areas of our yard every year. It must have been the perfect climate for them this year because we have more then usual. The girls have been picking Wild Strawberries after school and even had the neighbor kid helping them one day. These Wild Strawberries are tiny (about the size of a pencil eraser on average) and are pretty tart. They are delicious to put on top of yogurt, ice cream or to mix in a fruit slushy. It has been fun watching the girls collect them. We’ve been enjoying them with our meals and sharing them with our neighbors!
