Hello, hello! How's your day going?
I never got to post yesterday because I was cleaning and organizing my kitchen. After we came back from our vacation, we brought back quite a bit of leftover food. Our fridge was really stuffed with food. And it's awesome, I'm not complaining! But the downside of it is that I didn't exactly know what we had. And it lead to more food waste than I wanted. Like this yummy bread:
Also this leftover salad:
Unfortunately, it's not all. I also threw away a handful of blueberries that got lost in the produce bin, a bad apple and a cucumber (not my fault. It was already bad when I bought it but it wasn't visible until I cut it). And after cleaning both of our freezers I found a couple of packages of very old and freezer-burned sausage links and a bag of nasty mixed veggies. Yikes! That's the most food waste I've had in months.
On a good note, now everything is clean and organized, and I'm ready for the week. This month will be even tighter for us budget-wise (more on this tomorrow), so we are definitely eating what we have. Our little garden will really help with that too. Almost every day I pick something. This was yesterday's haul (I didn't pick over the weekend, so it's technically for 3-4 days):
We still get plenty of zucchinis . We shared quite a bit with our friends and neighbors already. But our tomatoes are a bit slow this year. Oh well, it's still nice to have all this delicious, organic produce straight from our back yard.
And here's what's on our menu this week (subject to change, as usual):
Mon.- stuffed turkey peppers
Tues.- Salisbury steak, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli
Wed.- rice, beef and vegetable stir-fry
Thurs.- crepes with jam (kids' request)
Fr.-zucchini mini-quiches, cut up veggies
Sat.- zucchini pasta
Sun.- tuna sandwiches, salad
And what are you eating this week?
Your fresh veggies look yummy!
ReplyDeleteAre tomatoes are going slow this year too.
A good recipe for zucchini casserole is slice the zucchini and layer them in a baking dish. Then cover with ground beef and cover all of it with spaghetti sauce. Bake about an hour, when almost done top with shredded mozzarella cheese for about the last 10 minutes. It is very good, we love it and it is super easy.
Rhonda
It sounds delicious, Rhonda! I will definitely give it a try!
Deleteyes to fresh produce :) hope that really helps in stretching the budget
ReplyDeleteI hope so too! Praying that our garden will keep staying bountiful this year.
DeleteThe green beans look great. Looks like you've had no problems with bugs or rust. Hope that keeps up.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, not this year! But, unfortunately, only four of plants sprouted, so I don't get much. But they taste pretty good!
DeleteNice zucchinis! My brother got sick of tomatoes QUICK. But zuchinis? Not so much. I guess their ability to freeze well made them a good choice. I hate when bread goes bad...
ReplyDeleteMe too :( Especially such a good bread as this. But I guess, that's why it went bad so quickly - because it didn't have a load of preservatives in it!
DeleteHi Lena~ I have been cleaning out my little chest freezer and getting it ready for fall...farm market veggies etc. Surprising what you find left in your freezer:) I have always wanted a garden, but have never had the right place for one. Your garden seems to be growing great! Lynn @ Turnips 2 Tangerines
ReplyDeleteI know! MY sausage links were from 2010 :)
DeleteOh my gosh, I am so jealous of your zucchinis!! We had an abundance of cucumbers, but I really wanted more zucchini.
ReplyDeleteI haven't been paying attention and I've had so much food waste lately. Part of it is because we are all on diets and no one wants to eat the calories. I need to make less.
I'm going to try that zucchini pasta! Sounds delicious!
Make bigger salads for everybody, lol :) I actually don't cook enough lately. I'm yet to get used to the fact that Hubby is home all day right now.
DeleteThe snails got to our green beans, so they are struggling, but we have tons of zucchini and for some odd reason, I grow bell peppers better in planters than my garden, so now peppers yet. But I'm pretty happy with my garden.
ReplyDeleteOh, those snails...I had issues with them and my spinach thus year but beans seem to be doing OK so far.
DeleteEvery year I hear people saying that zucchinis grow so fast. I think we should give them a try. :)
ReplyDeleteThey do grow very fast, and mine are always abundant. But they do take up a lot of space :)
DeleteI love eating out of our garden. I have picked 8-10 cucumbers a day. Peppers, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini and tomatoes. Yum!
ReplyDeleteYum! I wish I got that many cucumbers every day. I LOVE cucumbers!
DeleteI tend to have more food waste when the fridge is overcrowded too (like now). Your veggies look great. I look at the zucchinis in the store and then in the garden and can't believe the difference. So glad I got to have fresh ones this year.
ReplyDelete