Weekly Meal Planner Using Produce from my Abundant Harvest Organics Box

Summer has brought many yummy treasures in our Abundant Harvest Organics produce boxes! The boxes keep getting heavier every week as they are loaded down with fresh sweet corn, juicy stone fruits, delicious melons, and ripe tomatoes.

Ma must have really loved summer!

We don't eat much corn in our house since it is really just a starchy grain but when it comes in the box we do indulge. As you can see from the smile on little Jad's face he is a fan!

More corn is on its way this week along with the other usual summer goodies. I also ordered some irresistible extras this week.

So what is coming in the box this week?

I Lost a Dear Friend to Cancer

Angel Eddie

The past several months have been very emotional for me as I stood by and watched my friend die. He finally passed on June 12th but it has taken me this long to make here to write about this experience.

During the months he was sick I sacrificed everything I could to be there with him. When he finally did pass several weeks ago I had a lot of catching up to do at work and at home. Hence the reason the blog has gone silent for quite some time. I know I posted other reasons for the silence and while they were true the main force behind all the silence was me spending every second I could spare with my dear friend Eddie. I wasn't ready to talk about that yet though, talking about it would have made it too real and I could not handle that at the time.

Weekly Meal Planner Using Produce from my Abundant Harvest Organics Box

This lovely pie was made with last week's apriums. It tasted even better than is looks! It was a simple homemade grain-free nut crust filled with fresh cut apriums and sprinkled with palm sugar (more info on this at the bottom of the post). It is actually the first pie I have ever made from scratch! I am happy it was a success!

The Little House books describe many different home cooked pies, sweet and savory. The Little House Cookbook lists all of these in the index under pie: apple, blackbird, chicken, cream, custard, dried apple and raisin, green pumpkin, huckleberry, lemon, mince, pigeon, poor man's, pumpkin, and vinegar.

My favorite story of pie was Ma's green pumpkin pie from the book, The Long Winter. Pa took a bite and he thought it was apple pie and he wanted to know where in the world Ma got apples! I love this story about Ma, she was so creative with what she had on hand. Who says you can't make "apple" pie with green pumpkins? Ma did it and we can too. Get creative in your kitchen! Look at recipes as an invitation and then use what you have on hand to make something delicious.

On to what came in the box this week:

100% "Real"-ly Good Chicken Nuggets!

These nuggets are so moist and tasty you will think you are at a upscale cafe with gourmet nuggets on the menu when you sit down to a plate of these bad boys!

More good news: these nuggets are grain and dairy free and best of all they are easy to make!

Ma never made chicken nuggets but she did make lot of nugget like foods: cornmeal fried cornmeal mush, johnny cakes, and corn dodgers.(pages 21-23 of The Little House Cookbook).

She was also said to have sat down to a plate of Codfish balls which definitely qualify in the nugget department. (pages 31-31 of The Little House Cookbook). This recipe could actually work with fish too but I have not tried that yet. Please let me know how it goes if you do.

My kids have always loved chicken nuggets, heck I have always loved chicken nuggets too! When we went gluten free in our house chicken nuggets were definitely off the menu.

Little Pots of Gold (Veggie Meatballs)

What is at the end of this rainbow of veggies? Delicious little meatballs! Ma would have never been able to make these little pots of gold but thanks to my amazing food processor I can!

This recipe was inspired by the recipe Garden Fresh Meatballs from Sarah of  Everyday Paleo.

Here is the rainbow of veggies I include in my version. There is a lot of green for extra luck and good health!

Roasted Red Peppers

Orange Carrots

Yellow Yams

Yellow/Green Artichoke Hearts

Green Zucchinis

Dark Green Kale

Deep Purple Cabbage

Time Saving/Parenting Tip: Consider Limiting Your Options

The first thing I am going to have to admit in this post is the fact that I am not very good at following the advice I am about to give. That is actually one of the reasons I wanted to write this post though. I need to remind myself that limiting my options is always a choice and sometimes it is a very good choice to make!

So what am I talking about here? I am talking about how life is so complicated these days. Many families have

What Would Ma Do? She Would Put Family First!

Thanksgiving at YMCA Family Camp in Julian, CA

Some of you may be wondering why this blog has gone silent for a few weeks. I am here tonight to answer just that question!

First I am going to pose a question about "Ma". When things got crazy in Ma's life what do you think she did? When I say crazy I mean
Pa is out of town, the crops need extra love, the hens are having trouble laying, one of the horses has a hurt foot, the weather is extreme outside etc. That kind of thing. I am thinking Ma would focus on just getting through the major MUST HAPPEN tasks each day. During times like these she probably did not get much time to work on any of her special sewing projects.

Or if we are talking about Laura in the context of "Ma", any of her writing projects would go on hold during busy times. Laura did a lot of writing for in journals and for magazines before she ever wrote the Little House books. Writing was one of her loves. But I can bet that writing had to take a back burner sometimes when things got extra "crazy" in her life.

In my case extra "crazy" involves things like