My meal plan

The H is traveling this week, which lately has made me drag my feet when it comes to menu planning. Here's what I have on the docket for me and the little guy:

Monday - leftover pizza, cottage cheese, applesauce

Tuesday - leftover local beef/black bean nacho filling for the little guy (he calls it farm beef! I love it!); frittata with zucchini, red pepper, and onion for me after running (6 miles today)

Wednesday - corn on the cob, chicken apple sausage, cusa squash -- probably all grilled

Thursday - curry beef over brown rice with grape tomatoes

Friday - local beef fajitas with corn tortillas

Saturday - hmmm...

Cross-training

Part of my marathon training specifies "cross training" one day per week. I'm not a swimmer. We don't have access to a gym or tennis court, so those are out. I can't rollerblade with the little guy (can you imagine?!), BUT I've had a bike in the garage for as long as we've lived here. Time to use it!

My father-in-law picked up this trailer for us at a yard sale earlier this summer. Here are some pics from our inaugural ride.

The little guy was *exhausted* but he didn't want to go back home. He kept asking for "more, more, faster!" He had played in the pool earlier for quite a long time and that always wears him out. He slept great! :)

Originally, I had intended to use it for biking to the farmer's market, but a quick Google Maps search showed that it's nearly 8 miles round trip (I was huffing and puffing after less than 2 last night) and it's not through the greatest area. Guess we'll stick to neighborhood treks for now.

Yep, I make this look good.

My bean experiment

I'm not a gardener. That is a fact. Green thumbs have I not. However, what I *do* have is the space to grow things (just not maintain them), and family members who just won't stop giving me living (or aspiring-to-be-living) things. Thus, I had a packet of green bean seeds--bush beans--to plant this summer. I was a little slow on the uptake and didn't get them into the ground until July, but my mom (who is a master gardener, true story) says they still have plenty of time to grow.

So, here we are. There are a LOT of seeds in one little packet, did you know that? And, unlike flower seeds, you're only supposed to plant one seed per hole. (Maybe flowers are like that, too. I wouldn't know.) I didn't want to just plant a handful of the plethora, so I began a little experiment. I planted beans in four different areas of my yard. Be proud.

1. By the neighbor's fence, partial sun.

2. In a pot on the front porch, full sun unless I move it. This is the only movable one.

3. Next to my raspberry bushes (how the heck those grew, I'll never know... they were all but dead when they went into the ground!), mostly sunny. I added the dregs of my potting soil bags to this spot.

4. In the back (yes, overgrown) garden bed, mostly sunny. The little guy, with help from my mom, put some back here.

It is my intention to take pictures of each location every two weeks and see how the beans are progressing. Hopefully at the end of the summer at least one of them will have something to show for all my beyond-my-comfort-zone work.

Do you have a garden this summer? What is growing in it?

Beans, beans...

One of our favorite summer vegetables is fresh green beans. I got some at the farmer's market last week, since the ones I planted (yes, very late) aren't even growing yet. When we bought them, the little guy was munching them raw! I had a different idea in mind for dinner last night, though. We started eating beans prepared this way a few years ago when I stumbled across a recipe online.

First, sauté diced onion in olive oil. Then add the beans. If you have more beans than I did (one pound) do half at a time.

Stir around so the beans get covered in the oil; season to taste with salt and pepper. Then let 'em sit there and get all black and blistery. Tasty, right? :) The onions get sweet and caramelized, and the beans get *just* tender, but not mushy in the least.

We served these with grilled local beef burgers and cheese from our great state.

Something from nothing

The other day I needed lunch and there was "nothing to eat." Or so it would seem, to the untrained (read: non-cheapskate) eye.

I knew I had about a cup of brown rice to use, and after that I was winging it. Pulling random things out of the fridge suddenly gave me an idea...

I sauteed a clove of garlic with green onions, then added some thawed shrimp and crushed red pepper flakes.

Then I added 1/2 of a summer squash and a giant handful of Napa cabbage. When all that was wilty, I removed it from the skillet and tossed in my cup of brown rice, which I seasoned with wheat-free tamari.

When it was warm, I stirred in a whisked egg until it was cooked through, then added back the rest of my goodies, plus some Microplaned ginger.

And shrimp fried rice was born.

I was too heavy-handed with the tamari; next time I'd err on the side of not enough, and add more to taste later. The chopsticks are for decoration only--this stuff got shoveled in faster than the 'sticks could handle, so a fork was my weapon of choice. Nice mental pic, huh? What I meant was "It was very good."

How to avoid dessert

1. Purchase a deliciously ripe pineapple (or two...).

2. Slice pineapple into chunks for ease of use.

3. Realize the storage container you chose for said pineapple is too small to hold it all; therefore, you must eat some.

4. Marvel at how sweet this particular pineapple is.

5. Decide that pineapple shall be your dessert today (end of story? Oh, nay nay...).

6. Proceed to eat so much pineapple that your mouth--including under your tongue--feels burned from the acidity.

7. Forget about dessert, as you can now barely swallow. Anything.

8. Success! :p

(Oh, and now the lid fits on the container, too.)

Breakfast for dinner

Tonight the three of us went for a run after The H got home from work, so dinner needed to be something quick and easy that we could make afterwards and still get the little guy in bed at a decent time. I made a gluten-free coffeecake this afternoon, so we decided on eggs to round it out.

It ended up being a kind of fridge cleanout meal, since I got to use up the garlic scapes, golden zucchini, beet greens, and a few eggs, in addition to some cherries and a few near-wrinkly peaches that I served on the side.

The H requested poached over scrambled, so I nestled the eggs in the greens/zucchini and let them cook through a bit before putting them in the oven to set completely (make sure your skillet is oven-safe if you try this). I meant to put some goat cheese in there, but I forgot.

Breakfast for dinner = coffee, so The H made a fresh pot, and we were good to go.