Beautiful, Delicious, and Brutal

The blessings of this weekend were many. Saturday morning I arose to a gorgeous sunrise. Simply amazing to take in and so incredibly time sensitive. I caught a glimpse of the sky, ran around trying to find my camera taking apparatus, ran outside and it had already changed colors. I got this picture, went inside, put my camera away, and looked back out the window and it was completely different. God is so creative. 

I finally got some bubbly kombucha!

Breakfast delight: crusty bread, pesto, liverwurst,
farm fresh egg, & tomato!

I was having a fabulous morning drinking my bubbly kombucha, eating amazing breakfast sandwiches and doing some baking. Then I decided to make it outside to do the chores and realized that we have another issue with chickens being massacred. Except this time, it's not the whole flock all at once. This weekend both mornings I noticed just one dead chicken carcass in the pen. It appears that the deaths are happening in the early morning time, because when I get to them, the bodies are still pretty warm. This varmit is also leaving the carcass versus the massacres we've had in the past, they just take everything. I'm not sure what it is, but I'm thinking possibly a hawk? Just because the most of the carcass is still there and it's only getting one at a time. Any thoughts friends? 

Triple Dip

In my previous life where I ate whatever I wanted to and didn't really care about the way it affected my body I used to love The Triple Dip. This was a creation in college that my best friends and I used to enjoy pretty frequently while dining out with college student coupons. We would order a free appetizer of cheese dip and with it would order for salsa and ranch dressing. This became our triple dip: tortilla chip dipped into super greasy cheese sauce, salsa, and ranch dressing. I think I could have made an entire meal out of it and probably did back in those days. Although I loved my college life, the food that I put into my body was far from nourishing or beneficial. However, thankfully right after college I was introduced to the world of nutrition when I pursued my year of service as an AmeriCorps member and actually taught nutrition. 

Recently I recreated the triple dip in my very own kitchen and think that it blows the old triple dip out of the water. First of all, I've discovered these amazing sprouted tortilla chips, Simply Sprouted, at several health food stores. I've tried the black bean and the blue corn and they are both great. Next comes the homemade hummus that I had created.

Very estimated hummus measurements:

1 cup chickpeas

1 cup soaked and drained raw almonds

Fresh garlic, I think 2 cloves

1/4 cup tahini

Lemon juice, 1 T

Olive Oil, 2 T 

1/2 t. Salt

1 t. cumin

Water to thin

When I wasn't quite satisfied with just the chips and hummus I decided to add some color and zing with the pesto that I've had in my freezer/fridge since last summer. I make my pesto with roasted almonds, basil, garlic, and olive oil. Pretty basic.

Then to top it all off a nice piece of cheese goes on top. I used the last laughing cow cheese wedge that I had in my fridge. It was pretty devine if I say so myself!

Green things

My second garden, the one that I tend to approximately once a week at my parents' house, is a little crazy. Due to the fact that I leave it in my mother's hands to water during the week that is about all that gets done. It is definitely alive and doing well, but when I finally get out there to check on things it seems there is sooo much to do. Good things. 

Today I noticed the second planting of corn is as big if not bigger than the first planting. Most of my squash is a lost cause as I'm pretty sure that the squash bugs have already taken over. However, my all organic (I put nothing on them) cabbage heads are needing to be picked because the bugs are eating them alive. My tomatoes are looking good after I pruned and tied them up some more. I harvested a bunch of beets and onions and need to spend another day out there harvesting the remaining onions, turnips, and cabbage. I'm sure there are potatoes that can be dug up and I need to give some effort to the strawberry bed to prepare it for next season.

As I made my way back to town I did a quick check on my first garden. Look what I found! These are even a bit big but just since yesterday morning when I looked at them they grew a ton I feel. Actually that big one was definitely hiding.

Very first zucchini harvest!

Yesterday I made a trip to Manhattan and checked on my friends' Dave and Wendi's garden plants. I harvested some basil on their giant plants and am pretty pumped for the first pesto of the summer season hanging out in my fridge right now. Today's concoction included basil, almonds, garlic, olive oil, and salt. I plan to make pesto pizza tonight for Family Friend Date Night! It's going to be epic goodness!!!