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Jan 17, 2012

Words of Wisdom

Not our veggies
One of the things we are trying to do in the new year is eat a little healthier. My biggest problem with that (besides the Twinkies and chocolate bars) is the fact that healthy food just costs more. So we looked around and we discovered this rather amazing service called Bountiful Baskets. (No, I'm not plugging this group, I promise!)

I first heard about them from Grandma. She harassed me for a year to try them and I didn't get around to it until a couple of weeks before she passed away. She was always a bargain hunter and this is definitely a bargain. A basket costs $15 and you have to order it on Mondays. Then you pick it up on Saturday.

When we ordered the basket in the summer we decided that our garden was producing the same kinds of things so we really needed to wait until it was snowy and cold and the garden was dead. To make a long story short, we got our first basket a couple of weeks ago. Half fruits and half veggies, we got things like bananas, clementines, apples, grapes, lettuce, and cucumbers. The kids loved having fresh stuff around to snack on and we didn't waste anything. So this week I signed up for TWO baskets.

Dad's Veggie medley!
When my sweetie got back from the pickup time, he just shook his head. "I don't know what we're going to do with some of this stuff!" he complained. We still got bananas and clementines, but also kiwi, watermelon, and pineapple. (The kids were so excited about the watermelon, they ate both of them for lunch yesterday.) The veggies though, were crazy!

There was the obligatory bunch of lettuce, plus cauliflower, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. And because we had two baskets, we had TWO bags of them! My sweetie scoured the internet, trying to find some sort of recipe the kids might eat. The first bag was turned into a sauteed bunch with little mushrooms cooked in pork grease. Most of the kids tried one and spit them out.

So tonight he cooked the other bag into a medley of vegetables including parsnips, potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and the dreaded sprouts. (Yeah, suddenly the veggies weren't so cheap anymore.) I was folding laundry as the kids were setting the table and my sweetie was finishing things up.  Scout poked her head around the corner.

"Mom?" she asked rather timidly. I kept folding. "Yeah." Her little voice quivered. "Can I say the prayer?" I looked up from the shirt I was turning right side out. "Sure," I responded. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "That food looks so darn yucky!" I guess she was thinking that a prayer might fix everything.

And just so you know...she was totally wrong (or maybe her prayer DID help!). The veggies were delicious! Guess we'll get another basket or two this weekend. Don't know what I'll do with rutabaga though...
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11 comments:

  1. mCatJanuary 17, 2012 at 8:17 AM

    I have several friends who do the Bountiful Baskets. With just two of us at home, it's not worth it, but I know other's LOVE it

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2012 at 9:18 AM

    We grill our brussels sprouts with olive oil and salt. Those are always the first veggies to disappear off the dinner table!!

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  3. yeewittlethingsJanuary 17, 2012 at 10:11 AM

    That's such a neat idea of getting those baskets. I wish my kids liked veggies more :( The only veggie my son will somewhat eat is corn! It's always a battle in this house for him to eat vegetables lol.

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  4. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2012 at 12:50 PM

    I think you just have to see the costs of an unhealthy diet on your health more than money wise sometimes...I hate seeing all the cheap "junk" food in supermarkets! Thankfully, we have a lot of fruit and vegetable offers too now, as people were complaining.

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  5. maryanne @ mama smilesJanuary 17, 2012 at 1:27 PM

    I love that photo of Scout. And those baskets sound fantastic!

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  6. AnonymousJanuary 17, 2012 at 7:38 PM

    two words for the rutabaga (sometimes called a turnip)

    turnip puff

    http://www.food.com/recipe/turnip-puff-13473

    now it might be because we are scottish but love the sprouts

    "barely" tolerable brussel sprouts

    http://www.bestofbridge.com/2009/10/08/tolerable-brussel-sprouts/

    and slowly roasted root veggies (toss with olive oil and salt) are amazing

    carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, sweet potato, brussels sprouts and peeled cloves of garlic. thrown in a regular potato if you have to stretch it

    cube everything about the same size
    line the roasting pan with foil
    toss with oil, salt, pepper - rosemary if you have it
    300 to 350 until you remember them

    throw a salad dressing marinaded chicken breast on top and DONE for sunday dinner

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  7. BossyJanuary 17, 2012 at 7:41 PM

    Gamer is calling you bad words. He loves brussels sprouts. He is mad he wasn't invited over.

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  8. SaimiJanuary 17, 2012 at 8:43 PM

    ooooh grilling brussels sprouts sounds amazing! Hey Anonymous what a fantastic idea!!

    I'm so spoiled living where fresh fruit and veggies are so abundant, it has made me quite the snob. I can't even buy fruit in the stores unless I know they have been locally grown and even at that, in the summer I go straight to the fruit stands to get my produce.

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  9. Grumpy Grateful MomJanuary 17, 2012 at 9:11 PM

    That's so cute she wanted to say a prayer! We did something similar in the summer, but never the winter. I'll try it out!

    Luckily I have a juicer so I can gulp down all the "yucky" food...maybe. :)

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  10. ShanaMJanuary 18, 2012 at 6:53 AM

    What a great idea!!

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  11. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2012 at 2:17 PM

    rutabaga is awesome fresh, peeled, and snacked on raw!

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