Kids ~VS~ Veggies…

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! We had a very nice weekend. School starts today. This is bittersweet. While I am glad to have a little time to myself to chill out, shop or clean…I will miss them. A lot. Since I’ve got kiddo on the brain, I have a kid-centric post for you today.

Do you have picky people to feed? Do you struggle to get your family to eat veggies? I do.

When my son was 5 or 6 he was so averse to eating any green vegetable he would gag, choke, and flail. He told me all green things were evil.

Fun times at dinner.

Ah. Fun times.

He’s 13 now, and while he usually no longer flails he still is not fond of many veggies. A recent gagging episode with rainbow chard reminded me of the not so good old days.

Despite the picture below, Veggies are NOT evil.

Well, except for Brussel-Sprouts. They are pure evil. Little green balls of evil.

Here are a few things I have done to get my kids to try new veggies…….

• Try to get the kids involved in the veggie choices. I have found that kids are more likely to eat something if they helped pick it out.
• Have the kids help in the cooking process. Just like allowing them to help pick the veggies, allowing them to help in the cooking process will sometimes make them more willing to eat the veggies.
• Introduce the veggies in an unexpected way. The first time my kids tried black-eyed peas was in Texas Caviar. They still are not super fond of eating black-eyed peas unless they are in Texas Caviar, but they will give it a try now. They frequently ask for Texas Caviar and will gobble it up any time I make it.
• Offer a few options, ask them to try a little of each. We have found that they are more open-minded about trying new things when there is a veggie they like on the table too.

A few things that you probably NEVER want to do…….

• Never force your child to eat an entire serving of a veggie that they do not like. It’s frustrating for you both and I have found that they are less open about new veggies if you force one on them.
• Never use a veggie as a punishment threat. Okay, this sounds funny, but I did this.

Picture this, I’m at the grocery store with two wild-things. They are running amuck. I (in the past) have been guilty of picking up a can of beets and telling them if they do not behave the beets are coming home with us. To be a main dinner feature. Yep, I did that. More than once. *sigh* So, it’s no surprise that it has been hard to get my kids to eat beets. You know, because I made them seem like a punishment.

So, don’t make veggies a punishment. Learn from my mistakes. Ha!

How do you get your kids to eat veggies?

Garden Gab, week 21….a cool down, a loss and a nursery rhyme

Mary Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row,
And pretty maids all in a row.

That’s how the nursery rhyme goes, however I was disturbed when I looked up the meaning of the rhyme. It’s about Queen Mary, torture and executions.

While torture would accurately describe the weather here in Texas the last month or so, it does not really describe gardening at all does it?

Or maybe it does.

No, No, No…..I love gardening. I love the beautiful green plants. I love planting a seed and watching it grow into a beautiful plant. I love knowing I am growing things that help to feed my family and friends.

Bugs and heat be damned, I love gardening.

Anyhoo.

My garden is doing well……..

The okra is blooming and blooming. I’ve got tons of little okra-ettes.

The new bean plants are doing very well, green and blooming and lovely.

My mint is surviving the heat.

The carrots are still growing.

I lost my green pepper plant to the extreme heat, but the Hot peppers are doing well.

Strawberrytopia is still expanding. I think the strawberries would be happy to take over the entire raised garden! They don’t produce many strawberries, but they sure do spread quickly.

The squash seedlings are still surviving the heat. I failed to take a picture of them though.

Speaking of heat, it got cooler Thursday. The wind blew. It felt nicer outside.

It smelled like rain.

Best. Smell. Ever.

It did not rain, but it was noticeably cooler. The 102+ degree heat we’ve been experiencing is brutal, so any coolness is exciting to me.

How is your garden growing?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be back on Monday!

Freezer cooking on a small scale…

When I say freezer cooking…you say? Eek! No way! You’re a crazy lady! Okay, maybe not, but I’m sure you’re not giddy. Freezer cooking to some sounds like a whole day, 30 meal affair. It does not have to be…..

Don’t be scared, it’s not so bad. Freezer cooking does not have to take up your whole Saturday.

Fresh is best, but life happens……

If you know me, you know that I’m a stock up kind of girl. Ive got food for more than a month….if need be. My cupboards are full to overflowing, my pantries are stocked and my freezers are pretty full. Mostly due to thrifty coupon shopping, canning, and freezer cooking.

Need a dinner or two because you’re sick or recovering from surgery? I’m your girl. Dinner party on short notice, no biggie. I’m your girl.

Recession, depression, food shortage situation, Zombie apocalypse (as long as I’m not on the menu) I’m your girl.

Piggy flu...starts with you! No licking pigs!

I have tween/teens to take care of, and we really like to eat. The teen REALLY likes to eat, it’s shocking, but that’s for another post.

Traditional full month freezer cooking won’t work for me. I don’t have the space, and the idea of spending an entire day cooking makes my eye twitch.

I do like the idea of having a few items pre-cooked and ready to toss into dishes or into the microwave. So, I’d like to introduce you to a mini freezer cooking day.

I try to keep a few pounds of pre-cooked and frozen meat in my freezer. With it I can make a quick dinner on a busy night.

Easy Spaghetti night. Place a pot of hot salted water (for the pasta) on the stove and begin to boil it. Put a pot with pasta sauce on the stove at a medium heat, cover with lid. Take 1 lb. of pre-cooked frozen ground turkey or beef out of the freezer. Microwave on the defrost setting for about 3 min. (just long enough to make the frozen meat easy to break apart). Add pasta to boiling water. Place pre-cooked meat into the pasta sauce, sir and replace the lid, stir every few min. Once the pasta is done (mine usually takes about 8-9 min to cook), drain rinse and return to the hot-pot. At this point your meaty spaghetti sauce should be hot and bubbly. I pour the sauce over the noodles and mix it in. This meal takes me about 15(ish) min. to prepare.

Easy Crock Pot Chili.Take 1 or 2 pounds of frozen pre-cooked meat out of the freezer. Defrost long enough to be able to break the meat apart (3-4 min for me). Place meat into slow cooker. Add chili seasoning (what ever brand you prefer, or make your own *3 teaspoons chili powder, 1 teaspoon of paprika, some garlic salt and 2 teaspoon cumin should do the trick*, add canned tomatoes (undrained), frozen, dried or fresh diced onions (1 cup, less or more if you prefer) add canned Red or Pinto beans (if you want), add 1 8 oz. can of tomato sauce and 1 8 oz. can of water (or follow your chili seasoning package’s instructions.) Set on low for 8 hours and you’ll come home to hot, yummy chili.

Set aside a few hours during your week and make a few different items that you can freeze for later use. It’s a great comfort to know that if you’re sick or running late, you don’t have to rely on a take out meal. If you have a few pre-cooked frozen items on hand you can eat (healthy) homemade quick fix meals you won’t be crying over on the treadmill the next day. Goodbye Big Mac, hello homemade turkey chili.

Ground Beef, Ground Turkey both freeze well to make a quick and easy chili night, taco night or spaghetti night. Muffins freeze well, place them in single serve freezer bags and just remove them the night before you want to eat them, easy quick breakfast. I have a great Banana bread recipe and Pumpkin bread recipe on my blog. Both would work to make muffins or breads.

Making chicken stock or veggie stock? Make more than you need and freeze the rest in 2 cup or 4 cup portions.

Making beans? Make two or three times the amount that you need and freeze the rest.

Make cream of mushroom soup and freeze it for later use.

Ready? Set? Cook and Freeze!

Garden Gab Week 20…Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot!

The weather here is HOT, that’s not a shocker or a secret.

Today is the 35th day in a row that the temperature is expected to hit 100 deg F or higher.  Today is expected to be 107 deg F.   In fact my entire 7 day outlook is 100 deg F or higher.  Meh.

The heat is a melt-y kind of heat, it’s not easy to be outside for very long.

My sister-in-love and her sons baked cookies and melted crayons in their car.  Fun right? They used the windshield to magnify the sun.  They also tried frying an egg on the sidewalk.

The yards are really suffering.  Most of the yards in my neighborhood are partly crispy and dying , we  just can not keep them watered well enough to help them survive.   The ground is cracking, my fence posts are wobbly (which is quite distressing), my yard is green only in stripes.  I am focusing my watering efforts around my home’s foundation, my driveway, and of course my garden areas.

It’s crazy.

My neighbor’s driveway cracked in half!  I kid you not!

Picture proof!

Oh noes! Cracked driveway...not cool.

Isn’t that shocking?  I can tell you,  it’s been a topic on much conversation in my neighborhood.  Many people have begun to water not only their foundations, but now…also their driveways.  I was already watering my driveway (whew!), but I have stepped it up.

Shocking!

You know what else is a shocker, the funky bell peppers have turned lovely shades of yellow and red.

Guess what folks, they’re hot!

Like supa-dupa spicy hot,  like oh heck “where’s my drink?!” hot.  Hot. 

My neighbors, family and friends who like hot peppers are in luck this summer…I’m going to be spreading these hot beauties around.  I canned the first batch and gave them to my neighbor over the weekend.

Hello hot stuff....

The okra is still loving the heat.  Here are a few pictures of the okra flowers, they’re so pretty.

     

My royal purple beans are starting to bloom…YAY!

         

My late season squash seedlings are doing very well.  They are surviving the heat much better than I expected.

    

Strawberrytopia is still in expansion mode, the heat is really not halting their progress.

The mint is still holding it’s own.

I forgot to take a picture of the carrots, but they are still doing well.  They’re still small, but they’re hanging on.

How is your garden doing?

See you Monday!

Garden Gab week 19 ~ Food for my family

I’ve been negative lately about the heat. I need to work on that. Gardening makes me happy. It provides food for my family and friends. It relieves stress, and it’s my “thing”.

I’m 19 weeks in to gardening this season. 19 weeks seems like a lot, but in gardening it’s very little time.

My carrots are still growing, but they are carrot-ey and taste pretty darn good. They’re just not very big yet.

My okra is growing so well. Really, really well. I clipped these pieces of okra on Thursday.

I gifted it to my sweet neighbor Becky.

I got a cute little onion from my garden! It’s not really little, but it sure is cute. I added it to the fresh salsa I made on Thursday.

Here are my garden pictures.

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I won’t have any posts over the weekend. I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of great food and wonderful fun. See you Monday.

Please leave me a comment and let me know how your garden is doing this week.

Garden Gab, Week 18

Cool weather and rain…where for art thou?

It’s been crazy hot here, it’s been 100 deg F or higher for a while now. It’s been years since it’s been this hot for this long. I believe the last time we had a heat wave like this it was during the late 1990′s.  It feels like Hades, or at least Hades adjacent.

If you live somewhere that’s cool and pleasant….don’t tell me. I’ll be tempted to stick my tongue out at you, the way a child does. Of course, that tongue would probably instantly burn.   I’m fair skinned. I do not belong in Hades.

My ground is parched, it’s almost impossible to keep the yard watered enough that is does not crack.

My nerves are frayed, it’s hard to grow veggies in this kind of heat.

All the bean plants, except the two new types (the Royal purples and the purple hulls) are gone.

Yep, gone.

Purple Hull

Royal purple beans

The okra freaking loves, LOVES the heat. It’s super happy.

OKRA

Okra

The carrots and mint are doing just fine. The mint is flowering. Lovely!

Da Mint

Da flower

carrots

The peppers are doing great.

Bell peppers

Funky Bell Peppers

The strawberries, oh the strawberries. The strawberries are trying very hard to take over the raised garden. I believe they would like to re-name it Strawberritopia. I’ve seen the petition.

Strawberritopia is in expansion mode

Here’s a peek at what my handsome, handy hubby has been up to in the backyard.

New garden expansion

Hunky, handy hubby!

another view of the hubbs and the garden

Patio

How is your garden doing this week?

Garden Gab: Week 14

How is your garden growing this week?

My sweet across the alley neighbor watered my garden for me while my family was on vacation.Thanks Becky!

We arrived home to find lovely okra growing, more roving strawberry vines and happy little green peppers. I planted more beans once we got home from vacation. They are already popping their lovely little heads out of the dirt. Beans are so awesome, they sprout so quickly.

Remember the Garden Gab week 13 post, I posted a picture of my husband digging a hole? The holes were for a sun shade for our pool. I included pictures of the finished sun shade. Yep, I’ve got a handy husband. Thanks Honey!!!

I’ve still got a few bugs munching things, but the heat seems to be keeping them at a minimum (yay!)

Here’s my garden pictures…

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Garden gab Week 10

Here’s a peek at my garden this week. Notice the baby zucchini. Yay! My Okra is still being munched. All the other plants are still growing happily. I expect more veggie production any day now. My tomatoes are still green, they better start getting red soon or I’ll be tempted to use them to make sweet green pickled tomatoes (a recipe in one of my new canning books)

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How is your garden doing this week?

Two new cookbooks and a canning House Party™

I’m super excited, the two canning books I ordered got here today! Yay! I have done a bit of canning in past years, mostly bell peppers and jalapeno. I can not wait to dig into these books and broaden my canning knowledge.

Canning for a new generation has recipes like ” Fried okra with black-eyed pea relish” <~~a recipe not a canning recipe and "Toffee-topped vanilla peaches"

and

Put ‘em up! has recipes like “pickled beets with cumin and cloves” and “cantaloupe pickles”

My new books!

Don’t be at all surprised when you see canning recipes posted.

Another cool thing that I was just notified about is that I was selected as a host for a Ball canning party. If you’re not familiar with House Party

“A House Party^™ is thousands of parties across the country, hosted by people like you. Each event is sponsored by a leading brand and focuses on something cool that the sponsor wants its best fans to experience firsthand and share with their friends.”

In a nut shell, House Party=free items and discount coupons to allow you and your friends to try a product. Fun, free or low-cost and friends…saaweett.

House Party Party Jamie’s Discover You Can House Party™.

If you’re local to me (Dallas area) and want to join us, please let me know.

Garden Gab, Week 8. Munched, blooming and baby veggies.

Little green tomatoes

Things are growing and flowering, and being munched in my garden. Well, and falling. Can’t forget the falling.  Note to self: Plant the tomato plants in the ground. Seriously. Do it soon.  They keep getting blown over and damaged when they fall.  Each plant is half of what it use to be now.

Can you see the bugs in the flower. Yeah, they're evil. EVIL.

The evil bugs are happy, with full bellies and vigorous reproductive habits.  TMI?  Sorry, but bunnies have nothing on these bugs.

the cantaloupe plant, still doing well.

the zucchini

Poor, munched okra

I am going to have to go to the organic gardening store and see what I can safely use to try to deter the munching of my okra.

baby zucchini

got lettuce?

The zucchini is large and in charge.

Not your average green bell pepper

Ha! I got the two (there were three and one did not make it through the wind storm) pepper plants at a local FFA sale, but they are obviously not the same breed of pepper.  The one above looks a bit like a jalapeno, but it’s not hot. The one below looks like a bell pepper.  Weird.

green pepper

baby squash

How is your garden this week?