January 28, 2013 - Harvest Monday: Plain Dinners and the Cutest Thing Ever

Daphne, over at Daphne's Dandelions (Harvest Monday), commented on how plain her meals are. She tries for a green and an orange with each dinner.  Well, Daphne, you are not alone.  We have been eating very plain evening meals, usually consisting of grilled chicken or fish, with something green and something orange or red, and a salad.  I looked at our dinner plates tonight, and thought "that could be served to Daphne!"

We're still eating green beans from the freezer, and butternut squash from the garage storage spot.  

The winter squash is still as fresh tasting and delicious as it was last fall, and I haven't seen any spoilage on them at all.  It looks as though we won't have any problem consuming all 100+ pounds that I grew in 2012.  I have several bags of summer squash and zucchini in the freezer.  We just don't eat those very often, and much prefer them fresh.

I still have one fall cabbage left.  The little Gonzales cabbages stored well in the refrigerator, and will be grown again in 2013 for winter meals as well as sauerkraut.  Mr. Granny, daughter Amy and granddaughter Alicia all loved the sauerkraut, which wasn't quite as sour as some they had eaten.

The best beans from the freezer have been Fortex.  They taste just as good as they did fresh.

The pickled beets are all gone, so I really need to grow and can more this year.

We've both been cutting way back on sweets, so hardly any of the jams have been eaten.  I have a feeling many jars will be given to the kids.  

We've hardly made a dent in the pickle relish, so none will be canned this year.

I ran out of canned tomatoes long ago, but still have a good supply of sauce, ketchup and sweet chili sauce.  I'd like to make more tomato juice this year, but without lemon juice.  I'm hoping by adding citric acid instead, it won't have that sour off-taste.

Now....on to something  thought was really cute.  Granddaughter Alicyn (age 4) heard the story of The Three Little Pigs yesterday, and today she recited it for the camera.  I think the girl is going to be an actress!



Alicyn recites The Three Little Pigs

I might be just a bit prejudiced, but I think that's pretty darned good for a four year old who just heard the story once!

32 comments:

  1. The 'laalalalalaa' cracked me up every time. Too cute!

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  2. LOVE. HER. Did she get her stage prowess and confidence from her Granny??

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    1. Not at all, 1st Man! I was shy and suffered from stage fright all my life. I still cannot speak standing in front of a crowd, but sit me down in a room with a few people, and you can't shut me up! I usually get excused from jury duty, just because I look like a deer in the headlights when they get me up there on the stand! I also cannot remember words to songs, poems, etc. If the song plays, I can sing along with it, but without the music, I'm blank.

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  3. Yup that could be my dinner some night. I wish my cabbage stored as well as yours did. I wanted some that could store all winter long, but it all started to go bad in early January. And the "storage" cabbage was worse than my early spring variety. I need to try another variety I think.

    And your granddaughter is so cute.

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    1. Daphne, if I could share her with you I would ;-) You could have her when she's pouting and acting like a spoiled little brat, which (luckily) isn't too often.

      You're the one who got me started on Gonzales. I've never had another cabbage that stored this long. I'll be using the last one this week.

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  4. I love Alicyn's performance and her enthusiasm. It amazes me when a little kid can do something like this. One of my 3 grandchildren is Mr. Extravert, but I've never seen make it through something that long without getting goofy about it.
    And --If you would cook for me, maybe I could lose a few pounds, too. It's needed.

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    1. Dianefaith, she doesn't have a shy bone in her body! She sings, too. She can hear a song and turn around and sing the entire thing back, with most of the words correct. I can't remember the lyrics three words in! And I'd be happy to cook for you.....move in and we'll be friends!

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  5. She is adorable! Aren't grandchildren the best!

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    1. Lana, yes they are. As long as they're being good and/or being cute. Sometimes it's nice to be able to send them home to their parents though. I don't have the patience with them that I had with my children.

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  6. My kids loved it! Very cute. I have a child that is animated like that when he talks. I also liked the claw hands when the pigs talk to the farmer and the lalalala when they build. :)

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    1. Langela, I thought the entire performance was adorable. She really got into it, didn't she?

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  7. I loved the "lalalalala's" too! LOL! She kept a great continuity of the sound affects throughout - well done Alycin!

    Our winter squash is keeping really well this year too. Which is good as I had a lot of it. I cut back on my sweets about four months ago as I always do so much better without alot of sugar in my life (not none just a lot less) and amazingly the extra weight has been just melting off.

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    1. Kitsap, my extra weight has been maybe oozing off, rather than full melt, but I'll take what I can get. If I were spending time in the garden, along with eating lighter, it would melting LOL!

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  8. So sweet! I think you have a future actor in your family!!

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    1. Agriburbia, I hope so, they make all the $$$! Well, some of them do. I have a cousin who is an actress, and she has had a few good TV/movie/commercials roles, but real success has evaded her.

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  9. A belated Happy Birthday! And many moooooore!
    I have a question about your butternut squash...any tips on storage? We enjoyed ours as well, but it is long gone and the last 2 or 3 had started to get soft spots.
    Hang in there with your diet. I started 9 days ago with Weight Watchers online. I like their point system. It is amazingly easy to stay on it...I hope to learn to eat that way indefinitely. At least I can hope! I've lost 4 1/2 pounds so far and a long way to go!
    Ray

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    1. Thank you, Ray.

      I kept my fresh picked squash out on the patio, in the shade, for a couple of weeks or more. Then I moved it into our unheated garage and just piled it up in a big box. Well, I did start out keeping a bit of space between each one for air circulation, but every time Mr. Granny went out to do something that needed a bit more counter space, the squash got "squashed" a bit more. They ended up being piled about three deep, but not until after it had turned quite cold. I worried about it freezing a couple of weeks ago, but the one I cooked yesterday was just fine. Before, if I noticed any rot beginning, I just went ahead and cooked and froze them.

      Oh, one other thing. I do one thing with squash and tomatoes that I want to keep. I bring them in and wash them thoroughly to clean off any soil, then I give them a rinse in water with just a bit of chlorine bleach, then let them air dry. I have done side by side tests on tomatoes, and lost none with the bleach solution, but had half or more rot without it. Not a lot of bleach, just a couple of tbsp. per sink of water.

      Way to go on WW! You men always lose so much faster than women can. We have to work harder at it. I hit plateaus every few days, where I stay the same or gain a few ounces, then I have to have a couple of days of extra exercise to get the metabolism kick started again. I try to not eat the exact same number of calories each day, but to have them average out at my target at the end of each week. I also try to incorporate all the foods I would normally eat, just practicing portion control, substituting fruits for sweets and browns for whites. I'm not finding it difficult at all. My difficulty only comes when I stop concentrating on the "healthy" and slip into the "convenience". Or the home made breads and ice cream ;-)

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  10. Oh my goodness, she is so animated and very cute. I would say she should do commercials but I don't think children actors have a very happy life. I'm sure she can act for grandma anytime.

    Tried the recipe from Skinny Taste last night and it was really good. We made buffalo chicken potato skins. It was super easy to make, and tasty. The best part was that it didn't feel like diet food. Yumm!

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    1. Peggi, I'd hate to see her do any acting at such a young age, except for showing off to Granny and my blog! She's a real extrovert though, and nothing she does surprises me.

      I'm trying to figure out what to do with the big batch of quinoa I cooked up this week! So far, just mixing it into my vegetarian chili is pretty good. I think today I'll use the last of it in a black bean/corn salad. There are lot's of quinoa salad recipes to be found, but none with ingredients I have readily on hand.

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  11. Great little story teller! Cute! Nancy

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  12. I eat quinoa for breakfast. I add raisins, almonds, cinnamon and a tiny bit of brown sugar. It is really good. I also add it to chicken soup with a little bit of spinach also. Yumm.

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    1. That's one way I ate it, with cinnamon and a little bit of milk, but it just wasn't as satisfying and filling as my usual old fashioned oatmeal with walnuts, flax seed meal and dried cranberries. I make up two weeks worth of packets (sandwich bags) of 1/4 cup oats, and a tbsp. each of the other stuff. All I have to do is dump a packet in a bowl and add 1/2 cup water, then zap it in the microwave for 2 minutes. Pour on 1/4 cup of milk, and I have an instant breakfast! I reuse the sandwich bags over and over, so they aren't going into the landfill.

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  13. Good idea. I think I will try that.

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    1. Peggi, I just made up a week's worth of oatmeal packets this morning (you could also add your brown sugar to the packets). I buy oats, cranberries and flax seed in the bulk food section at the grocery store, and grind just enough flax seed to last a week. I refrigerate any leftover meal and sprinkle it over salads or add it into my smoothies.

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  14. I still have 4 fresh plum tomatoes from last fall that have JUST recently gone from green to red. [I know! I am just as amazed as you are!] & that's about it!
    That and a tiny bag of frozen peas and a special 'Valentines Day' baggie of frozen asparagus.

    You, dear lady, are a far better food saver (& gardener) than I will ever be.

    Happy Valentines day. soon.

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    1. Barbee, my tomatoes didn't last long at all. I didn't have very many to begin with! I have, in the past, been eating garden tomatoes in December, but I don't think I ever made it to January. I have a huge bag of peas in the freezer....thanks to Costco, not my garden :-)

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  15. Looks like a very healthy plate! Still lots in the pantry here. But now I've got a taste for beets! My eldest turns 21 today. Watching the video put me into the way-back machine.... Thanks!

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    1. David, I have always liked beets, but have never developed a taste for the greens. I wish I had a better storage area for them (and the cabbages), as I can only keep a few in the refrigerator. Happy birthday to your eldest! My youngest turned 39 yesterday.

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  16. First of all, a belated Happy Birthday to you. That birthday photo in the mirror was too, too much, but FUNNY. Second, that is a very healthy looking green and orange dinner. No wonder you're losing weight. Congratulations. I have lost ZERO pounds, despite my best intentions. And third, WOW look at your harvest total for 2012, over a thousand pounds. Amazing. With 100 lbs of winter squash. You put me to shame. Maybe I'll be a better gardener in 2013. Maybe I'll lose weight. Maybe pigs will fly. LOL.

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    1. LOL, Lou Murray! I must admit, the gardening is easier than the weight losing. I'm not minding the simple dinners at all, though. A lot less work for the cook.

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