Enter a contest at another blog!!

I came across THIS blog while reading my neighbor's blog this evening.  Click HERE to read her post and to get yourself entered to win an awesome monogrammed necklace!

Stay tuned for another bloggy giveaway!!!

I had so much fun giving away a piece of jewelry from my Cookie Lee jewelry business last year, that I wanted to do it again.  I have yet to go through my inventory and pick out the next perfect piece of jewelry to give away.  So stay tuned everyone if you want to enter!  For those of you who do not follow my blog, go ahead and get set up to start following it.  And if you have a blog of your own, please share it with me too!  Leave a link to it in the comments section.  More to come!!

CSA produce week 6 and a recipe

I don't have any photos this week, but here is what I remember from our box:  purple hull peas, sweet corn, tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, hot peppers, green beans, onions, 3 kinds of squash...I think that's it??  I have never had purple hull peas before, they are similar to black eyed peas.  It sure is time consuming to shell them!  Here is the recipe I am making for dinner tonight using the purple hull peas.

Purple Hull Peas & Rice Casserole

1 lb. hamburger meat
1 medium chopped onion
2 cups cooked purple hull peas (drained if using canned)
1 box (8 oz.) Zatarain’s “New Orleans Style Yellow Rice” (I did not use this, I just cooked up some brown rice)
1 can (15 oz.) cream of mushroom soup
1/2 lb. of shredded Velveeta Cheese (I don't use fake cheese, I am using cheddar)

In a medium size skillet, brown the hamburger meat and onions, then drain.  Cook yellow rice according to directions on package.  In a large bowl, add hamburger meat with onions, purple hull peas, cooked rice, mushroom soup, and 3/4 of the shredded cheese and mix.  Place in a 10” X 13” dish and bake at 350° for 20 min.  Remove and sprinkle the remainder of the shredded cheese on top and place back in the oven for 10 min. or until cheese is melted.

Wordless Wednesday

CSA produce week 5 and a yummy recipe!

This weeks box gave us: 4 varieties of squash, onions, green beans, kale, sweet corn, bell pepper, hot peppers, cucumbers, and tomatoes.  We really enjoyed eating fresh corn on the cob for dinner!  Since we had an abundance of squash, even after giving some to my neighbor Casey, I made a chocolate zucchini bread yesterday.  And it is SO delicious!  If you are a chocolate lover, you need to try this!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread:

1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini (about 1/2 pound)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (not Dutch-processed)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (I did not have this so I skipped it)

1/2 cup safflower or canola oil (I use coconut oil)

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar (I didn't have brown sugar, so I used 3/4 cup organic sugar since I wanted to add less sugar)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in the center of the oven. Grease (or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray) a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

Grate the zucchini, using a medium sized grater. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and ground allspice. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the oil, sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Fold in the grated zucchini. Add the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely.

Makes one - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

Wordless Wednesday

I thought I would participate in this one, I've seen it on others blogs.  On Wednesday's you post photos but don't put any words or descriptions on them.  I think these speak for themselves. :)

CSA produce week 4

This weeks box gave us: tomatoes, 3 varieties of squash, onions, garlic, 2 kinds of cucumbers, bell pepper, hot peppers, broccoli, carrots, and red skin potatoes.  I gave some of it to my neighbor Casey since our shared garden is not thriving.  I feel bad that they put their time, effort, and money into our garden only to have it be a bust.  It's probably the soil, but we don't have time to look into that now.  Maybe next year we can take a soil sample to the farmer's co-op and have them test it.  

So I am thankful that we decided to join the CSA this year since we probably won't be getting anything out of our garden.  And our farmer's market is in their new location now, which is only about 4 miles from our house.  So I go there to pick up my CSA box, and I can shop around for any other produce I may want or need.  Plus some of the farmer's have other things to sell too, like flowers, preserves, breads, sweet breads, homemade soaps and lip balm, etc.  I love going to the farmer's market!

CSA produce week 3

In this weeks box we received: cabbage, green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, squash, onions, garlic, bell pepper, cucumber, and two kinds of hot peppers.  Last night I made a stir fry using the cabbage, squash, broccoli, and onions.  I added chicken to it.  It was very tasty!  I make my own sauce that I use from a Rachael Ray recipe that I made one time.  It has Tamari, dry Sherry, ginger, and a bit of sugar.  I don't really measure, just kind of toss it in and stir.

Later this week I will make a shepherd's pie using more squash, and the onions.  It uses sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes.  We love this dish!  We will also do salads this week using the tomatoes and cucumber.  And we'll cook up the green beans as a side to something else.  Maybe grilled rib eye steaks.  Yum!