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So, last week I get an email from a publishing person from the Weston A Price organization. I'm a big fan and believer in a lot of what they promote so it's always exciting when I hear from someone asking me if I want to be a part of their publication.
However, here is my issue. I was asked if I shipped my products so that I could then be included in the 2012 Shopping Guide.
Ok - don't they promote buying and eating local? Why would I ship meat? I know people do it - but still.
Maybe I a little of an idealist in this respect. I get calls on occasion asking if I ship - and I always refuse. This is not the direction small farmers are trying to go (at least from what I read and from what I understand).
I still will support the foundation - but it does make me think a little.
Friday, September 23, 2011
It was a sad but needed moment this morning before 8am - we loaded one of our dairy cows for the auction. 6 years, this is the first animal to go to auction vs the butcher.
As much as we love our cows, this is something that needed to be done. First, she did produce a wonderful little bull calf (who will soon be veal) - but she never produced enough milk and was actually a pain to use the milking machine with! She would make a great hand-milking cow, but then one day she decided she just wasn't going to give any more milk.
It's sad when they walk right up onto the trailer without a problem and just look at you. It's a hard thing - but to be honest, I think my kids are thrilled (they couldn't stand her), and I'm not THAT heart-broken.
The funds will be used to find another dairy cow or to pay a feed bill along the way.
So goodbye 'Tilda!!
I was just going to post pictures of lunches up on Facebook - however, it occurred to me this morning the different size lunches I make for each kid and people might not always relate - especially with seeing the bento boxes vs the ziploc divided containers.
First up is Alexis's lunch. This is a standard 2-tiered bento box. Bottom level are grapes, chocolate wafers, celery w/peanut butter & her daily vitamin gummies. The top level is Jambalaya I made this morning with smoked beef sausage. It's from a box which is fine - and it works.
Next I put all three together. The middle one is Jake's lunch - and since he plays football tonight, I give him a little bit more. I can actually add more of the rice to Alexis's bento box as well - and I adjust the serving size per kid.
Back to planning meals and I'll share whats going on this week!
Dinners for the week are:
Sunday - Lasagna & Salad
Monday - Stuffed Chicken
Tuesday - Tailgate Wraps (Spicy Chicken wraps) - we have a football game to attend
Wednesday - Vegetable Casserole
Thursday - Turkey Burgers
Friday - Chicken Salad Pitas
Saturday - Joe's Choice
Every night would have a side salad and/or fruit :)
The new thing I just finished is planning my bento box lunches for the kids for the week. Since Monday is a holiday, I'm not planning anything for then - plus I expect we will have some of the lasagna leftover so they can eat that. If they were going to school, I would have included the lasagna in their boxes!
Tuesday - Meatballs, rice w/season-salt, zucchini fritters (Joe's request for me to try to make), grapes, & a dessert jelly (like jello - but really small package)
Wednesday - Cold Soba noodles (these are japanese buckwheat noodles) w/dipping sauce, crab meat & cabbage salad, cherry tomatoes, kiwi, hard boiled egg
Thursday - Chicken Wrap, apple wedges (I might get creative and try to make apple "bunnies"), broccoli & salad -- on this one, I might add the salad to the wrap and instead add carrots on the side
Friday - Chicken Kijiyaki (from the Just Bento book), Rice, pickled cucumbers & cabbage (this is just shredded cabbage and sliced cucumbers massaged with salt the DAY OF the lunch!), sliced peaches
Everyone is getting each of these lunches this week. To save on time, Monday I am cooking some of the chicken thighs I have (Thursday lunch & Friday dinner), cooking the soba noodles, and baking meatballs. Monday night I will also put a pot of rice on to be ready in the morning - I'll make extra to freeze or even make some fun shapes with the rice! I also make vegetable sushi rolls for myself, nothing fancy - usually just some sliced vegetables in the rice.
I can't wait for some of my "fun stuff" to show up from http://www.allthingsforsale.com! I have cute food picks coming in, some bite size rice molds, and things to make lunch more interesting.
My daughter told me today that her friends are now always checking to see what she has for lunch every day - they all wish that their parents took the time to make them lunch. These are teenagers WANTING their parents ;)
Anyone have any other lunch ideas to share?
A lot of people have been asking me what I am serving the kids for lunch - especially with 5 kids I am packing for - then I have added Joe into the mix (mainly because he didn't think I could pack a full lunch in one of those boxes)
Today:
2 kids got: leftover chicken thighs (cut off the bone), rice crackers, lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, cherry tomatoes, jelly dessert
2 kids got: ham/cheese roll up, rice crackers, jelly dessert - then 1 got lettuce, cucumbers, carrots (the other one is taking medicine which affects the appetite so doesn't get a full box)
1 kid got: peanut better & honey, salad with cucumbers & carrots, rice crackers & the jelly dessert
Joe got - chicken thigh, salad, goldfish, pineapple
Next week I am hoping to get a little more creative. I plan on making stuff this weekend which I can add in - such as meatballs, soba noodles (these are like ramen noodles but better - they are 100% buckwheat), and whatever else I can come up with depending on what is at the market this week. I saw some super easy recipes to add in (such as pickled cucumbers & cabbage - where you just and salt and massage it, let it sit, drain it out and that's it!)
It takes me an hour to get all the lunches done - once I have a plan. Just Bento has a bento box planner I plan on using this week. It's a free download (http://justbento.com/weekly-meal-planner-with-bento-lunch) and I think it will work for me. I have been doing well with my weekly meal planner for dinners and this will help me for lunches.
For things like salad - I grabbed those big boxes from Costco of the spring mix and 1 of baby spinach. That way I see it and I have no excuse not to give them each some salad. If you "mush" the salad in the box - it does spring back up by lunch time!
I also plan on making some wraps ahead of time. Yes, I want to sleep an extra 15 minutes!!
Yesterday I spent at least an hour wandering around the Global Food Market in Ashburn. I got lost, couldn't find things - yet had a lot of fun! I did eventually find the things I was looking for (all except 1). I checked everything though because a lot of items have MSG added - and I was working on avoiding that if I could. I was able to find the rice seasonings I wanted (MSG free), a soup base for a dipping sauce, even some things I didn't plan - such as these meat filled dough creations where you steam them... they sounded good!
The hardest thing right now is making sure I take care of everyone - everyone is different. I have a couple of kids who aren't eating a ton right now, 1 that is STARVING, 1 who would probably rather eat the school lunches, and 1 who is just excited to have the cute box :) Funny thing is that I pack them all up nice and neat, then they all come out and start going through them to see what they got!
I'll continue this some and hopefully will take some pictures if I remember to bring my phone/camera out that early in the morning.