Not a Food Blog

OK, this is not a food blog.  It's never going to be one.  I love cooking and am told I'm pretty good at it but when I cook I have to be efficient.  I have two teenage boys and a husband with very full schedules, so I have to make sure that I can get food on the table sooner rather than later.  That means I don't have a lot of time for photo taking and staging and making things look pretty.  Let's face it, I'm also not the best photographer either.  I get lucky sometimes, but more often than not, my photos are mediocre at best.  And I'm okay with that.  I learned a long time ago that we all can't be good at everything.

Yes, this is my pantry...loving my mason jars!

That being said, in my quest for getting back to simple (and getting back to me), one of the places I have to do a little revamping is in my kitchen. I thought I'd share our progress so far. It started this past weekend when we had sausage and lentils over brown rice.  All the ingredients were purchased at our local co-op.  We aren't members, but I'm seriously thinking about it.  The only downside is that they are getting ready to move the store, which will make it about a 1/2 hour away.  We have a farmers market pretty close, but I'm really wanting to make sure that there aren't a lot of chemicals (translates to pesticides and hormones) which I can't guarantee at either of our farmers markets....anyway, I digress.  Car guy was not thrilled with the idea of lentils because he had them once (really?!?!) and didn't care for them.   I told him that he hadn't had mine....he said it was pretty tasty :)

Yum!

Last night was another simple, healthy meal.  We are southerners and as such, we love all things fried....which is absolutely terrible but so yummy.  Also, I'm in a house of males, so giving up meat is not an option. This just means I have to rethink how a cook.  I decided to inflict cruel and unusual punishment on said males and made a salad to go with dinner. (No the salad didn't have bananas in it. Those are for The Boys to help prevent leg cramps when wrestling.)  I have to start with baby steps so we had romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions and a little cheese.  

We also had roasted potatoes and baked chicken.  I lightly breaded the chicken by rinsing it and rolling it in bread crumbs.  It gives the illusion of frying. The potatoes were drizzled with a little olive oil and sprinkled with some spices.  This was great because they could cook in the oven at the same time while I made the salad.

Ta Da!  There it is.  Simple, healthy and delicious.  I hope I can keep it up.

We are going to have a garden this spring.  It's the first one we've ever had so any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, particularly since I have a tar black thumb when it comes to plants.  I have a tendency to kill them.  One thing I was told was to plant basil in between your tomato plants to keep the rodents out.  Who'd a thunk it? So all you prolific gardeners out there, tell me what you know. We live in the south, so I'll probably have to water my garden on a regular, if not daily, basis.  I know that tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers do really well - as do a lot of herbs. But other than that, I don't know. What about lettuce, potatoes, carrots, etc.  I could go on and on.  I don't expect this first garden to be a smashing success, but I am hoping to have a little something to show for my efforts. 

Finally, last Friday night was Senior Night at the wrestling match.  This is when all seniors are recognized for their contribution to the team.  Number One Son was a four year starter and regional qualifier.  I was so very proud of him.  At the ceremony, each senior presents his mother with some flowers and a kiss on the check.  I don't have any pictures to show because I don't allow pictures to be taken when I'm trying real hard not to blubber like an idiot, so I'll just show you the flowers.  There was some baby's breath as well, but I have little kitties that like to eat it, so it "hit the can" when we go home. 

I would love to hear your thoughts/ideas for my garden.  As I said, I so totally do NOT know what I'm doing, so any help would be appreciated :)  Also, don't get used to this daily posting thing.  You caught me on a good day :)  Hope yours is good as well.