Kimmie in Real Life! (week 7)

“Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, 

but the realization of how much you already have.” 

–Unknown

This week was all about

VEGETABLES!! 

Other than some grilled salmon, tuna/radish sandwiches and some chicken in our Chow Mein the rest of our meals didn't have meat, but were FULL of veggies! 
Can you say yummy!!

Friday (7-7)
I knew that Saturday was going to be hectic as I had to work from 8-12 and we wanted to make some good headway getting projects done out in our yard and so I made up a batch of Minestrone Soup on Friday afternoon and put it in the fridge for us to pull out and eat during the weekend.
This Minestrone Soup served with Toasted Artisan Bread truly tastes like something you would get in a restaurant.  
It’s such a great recipe to make when you have random spinach and cabbage that you need to use up. Very nourishing and healthy!

I Love taking whole wheat flour 
and wheat germ and making pancakes with them!
I purchase wheat germ in BULK and then I freeze it (double bagged) in the freezer to keep it fresh and then have a pint sized jar in my fridge that I use as well.

We are in love with TOASTED Artisan Bread! 
It is the perfect accompaniment for soup or salad. 

Never underestimate how YUMMY leftover pancakes taste when made into a sandwich for lunch! I had to hide the leftover pancakes so the kids wouldn’t snitch them so I could make sandwiches for Monday’s lunch.  Kids were VERY happy with this lunch!

How does your garden grow? 
It seems like just yesterday our seeds just started to sprout and then we blinked and they are SO big and needing to be picked!  If you want to feel like a successful gardener just plant radishes. This is my first year I planted them and they ALL GREW!  
We are swimming in radishes.
(definitely going to follow the directions to sow them every 2 weeks next time we plant).
I hated to waste the gorgeous green tops of the radishes and so did some inquiring online and found out YES indeed that they were edible and turned them into the most delicious soup!  Everyone wanted seconds and there wasn’t any leftovers!   
Can't wait to grow more radishes to make more of this soup!

Also loved cutting Mesclun greens, Spinach and Swiss Chard 
 from our garden along with green onions and radishes and enjoyed the YUMMIEST dinner of Salad, grilled salmon and Toasted Artisan Bread.

The first red/purple smoothie we have had in a long time! 
WOW, this is so yummy, I wish I could open up a smoothie shop and sell it...it would definitely be a top seller! Yummy!!

Frozen zucchini from last year was pulled out and made into delicious Zucchini Bread.  
Ethan informed me this week while he was eating the last slice that this was his very favorite thing and so I made up another batch just for him. He was thrilled!

Honey Cookies!  
I always have happy kids and hubby when these are made up sitting on our cake stand to enjoy!  I usually make up dough and chill and then I have dough to make for 2-3 days worth of cookies.  
These were a childhood favorite of mine that I used to enjoy at my Grandma Shuman’s house and now they are a favorite of my kids and Tracy as well!
Great cookies that are soft and not sweet for little kids.

Chow Mein...
so healthy, so easy and SO good! 

I'm finally out of tortillas (Tracy had tortillas leftover from some of his campouts and we have been using those for quesadillas).  However, they are all gone.   
We have SO much spinach, radishes and green onions from our garden that I wanted to put them to use in a fun way. I made 1/2 batch of tortillas on Wednesday night (6 tortillas total) and then Thursday morning I spread them with cream cheese, sprinkled on green onions, thinly sliced radishes and cucumbers and then spinach leaves, rolled them up and sliced them into thirds and we enjoyed a delicious lunch/snack.

ALSO, kids loved these so much they were sad we didn’t have anymore to eat,
so they begged for me to make another FULL batch so Jade could take some on his hike with his youth group on Friday and also so we could have a container in the fridge to grab a quick snack.
SO fun to have things that you made yourself and that you didn’t have to rely on a store.  
 Tortillas homemade with your own two hands are absolutely delicious, no matter how you fix them!

Jade was going on a hike with his youth group and I asked him what he wanted me to make for food….Tortilla wraps, FRUIT and Nut Cookies, apple halves with peanut butter to spread in the middle of them and Pecan, Almond and Cashew Nut Mix.

I had purchased a large bag of limes for $3.00 and noticed after a few days of sitting in the heat, that they were drying up. I cut them all up into slices, put some waxed paper on cookie sheet and froze them.   
After frozen, I pulled them out and put them in a  Zip-loc bag and I have been pulling out a lime slice each time we make a smoothie, OR, if I am making a Lime Drink, I pull out three and add to the mix and this has been awesome!

Mixed together
frozen blueberries, pineapple, yogurt, and Stevia and froze them into fruit pops!!
Delicious and such a wonderful, healthy way to cool off in the summer heat!

No matter what combination of fruit and veggies we blended up, each smoothie was SO yummy and very much enjoyed!

My sister-in-law sent me such a thoughtful gift in the mail...a book full of different Artisan Bread recipes...I found a yummy recipe for Spinach Calzones in the book and made it up for my family as we are swimming in spinach from our garden.   It was delicious, but it would have been better with more filling...  So, I need to tweak the recipe until it is exactly perfect how we like and then I will post that.

We butchered up some chickens this weekend as we bought a dozen pullets in the spring to replace some of our older hens, but one of them ended up being a rooster and it has been
driving me crazy hearing it CROWING each morning... 
we also have some hens that have gotten broody and if we aren't out there gathering eggs after they have laid them, they eat them.  The joys of chickens!

SO, we spent all Saturday morning butchering them.
Excited to make some yummy soup from the carcasses.

July 10th - 16th
Sunday
Whole Wheat pancakes with fresh strawberries and Cherries
Zucchini Bread
Minestrone Soup with toasted Artisan Bread
Lime Drink

Monday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy) Minestrone, Artisan Bread, Cherries, Zucchini Bread
(kids) Pancake Sandwiches, Smoothie
Cherries, Zucchini Bread
Minestrone, Toasted Artisan Bread, Lime Drink

Tuesday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy)Zucchini Bread, Cherries, Grapes, String Cheese
(kids and me) Smoothie, Quesadillas, Cherries
(kids)Frozen Fruit Pops
Grilled Salmon, Green Salad (all from our garden), Toasted Artisan Bread, Lime Drink
(Tracy and I) Chocolate Covered Bananas
Ranch Popcorn
(made honey cookie dough and chilled)

Wednesday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy) Tuna Sandwich on Multi-Grain bread, radishes, grapes
(kids and I) Tuna Sandwiches with sliced radishes, Smoothie (blueberries, grapes, pineapple, cherries, lime, water, ice and honey)
Fruit Pops
Radish Top Soup, sliced radishes, Toasted Artisan Bread, Lime Drink
Honey Cookies
(made a batch homemade tortillas)

Thursday
Steel Cut Oats
(Tracy)Homemade tortillas spread with cream cheese, green onions, radishes, spinach leaves and cucumbers and rolled up, grapes, strawberries from our garden and Honey Cookies
(kids and I)Same homemade tortillas roll-ups as Tracy, but we had a smoothie to go with ours instead of fresh fruit 
Honey Cookies
Chow Mein over Brown Rice, Lime Drink 
Chocolate Covered Bananas
(made more tortillas)

Friday
Steel Cut Oats
Tortillas spread with cream cheese, green onions, radishes, cucumbers and spinach all rolled up, grapes, apples, Fruit and Nut Cookies
(Jade also took string cheese, peanut butter and Nut Mix)
Kids leftover Radish Top Soup and toast
Tracy and I shared an Orchard Oasis Jamba Juice

Saturday
Green Smoothie, Fruit and Nut Cookies
Green Smoothie, Spinach and Cheese Calzone made out of Artisan Bread
LOTS of Otter Pops to cool off in the summer heat
Chocolate covered bananas

Links to recipes used this week:
Whole Wheat Pancakes
Vegetarian Minestrone
Zucchini Bread
Refreshing Lime Drink
Honey Cookies
Fruit and Nut Cookies
Ranch Popcorn
Radish Top Soup
Artisan Bread
Chow Mein
Tortillas

What a blessing it is to have a garden 

 and even though we didn't get our garden planted until the last weekend of June, it is growing and we are enjoying it!
I heard a segment on NPR last week and it really saddened me as they were talking about the famine in South Africa and how it is just not humanly possible to bring in food relief  for the millions of people that are starving to death.  

One village that they visited the people shared a whole chicken between 30 people and they had a few cans of water to share between them as well. 

WOW!  

It makes me have such a deep appreciation for each and every 

 morsel of food we have to eat and each and every glassful of clean water we have to drink and cook with!   

Even though most of our meals are not lavish at all, they are nourishing and comforting and give us the energy we need to be active and remain healthy!

Life is SO wonderful and 

I truly am blessed beyond measure!