Menu Plan: 6.30- 6.6

Last week I posted our Menu Plan and mentioned that I always make one. I am hoping to get into a rhythm of posting it here so all can enjoy! Hopefully I will be organized enough to have it posted each Thursday, we'll see...

Thursday 6. 30- Left Overs Salad (Thursdays is the night that I pick up our CSA share, so I usually plan to make something quick... and something that uses up any extra veggies from the previous week's box, or David picks up burritos from Laughing Planet!)

Friday- Enjoying the company of long time girlfriends at a bridal shower for a fellow Project Gratitude contributer

Saturday- 10 year class reunion!

Sunday- David's Choice! He has the week off and always enjoys cooking when he has the free time... so  tonight I turn the kitchen over to him! I should be in for a wonderful surprise!

Monday- Grilled Verboort Sausages, Kraut & Potato Salad

Tuesday- Burgers & Grilled Fennel and Quinoa Salad

Wednesday- Ham, Broccoli and Cheese Quiche

Here We Go Again...

Only smaller this time!

my latest project

As many of you know, I love to knit... well, I love to spend my time with any hand craft really. I grew up in a household full of art, art, art and I still find that I need that creative time and I need it often! However, the school year makes for a very busy time and weeks, or yikes, months can go by and I am not able to squeeze in any drawing, knitting, painting, sewing...

So when summer was upon us and I created this list, I was sure to put knitting on it! And, the first Monday after school was out found me at this little yarn shop to pick out yarn for the baby surprise sweater (no babies here... but as you may remember, I do love an EZ pithy pattern).

This pattern is almost iconic among the knitting crowd. It is so simple and knits up to "look like an old potato chip" says Elizabeth herself! Once it is off the needles, you stitch up the sides and viola! you have a sweater for a little.

I can hear some of you saying... "But, Allison, it's color! It's orange". I know, I know... but it is one of favorite colors, I love burnt orange and when that little one does arrive someday he/she will need something to wear to all those football games in Corvallis, right?

So wish me luck on this little number :) I am hoping have it off the needles very soon so I can start on another little something for myself!

Good thing this stock afforded me such a great deal of knitting time!
More on that to come :)...

Update on my first sweater: It turned out great. I love it and wear it too often!

The Story of a Flat of Strawberries

Just over 9 pounds of Strawberries were picked Wednesday of last week. I visited this little family run farm for the last of their Hoods.

Many, many berries went into the freezer. These will become smoothies and crisps in the depth of winter.

Some went into a batch of Strawberry Rhubarb jam to put up in the larder

An egg slicer was used to slice the berries for the jam... serious time saver!

The little flipped jar in the back did not make it into the water bath... it was enjoyed over sourdough pancakes Sunday morning

And of course there were a few nights of berries and cream topped with lemon verbena... what more could a girl ask for!

I am in love...

I have a new love. It comes once a week. I pick it up at our co-op and bring it home in a 15 gallon plastic tub... Can you guess? Well, here it is! This was our CSA (community supported agriculture) Box from  this week! 

This week's delivery

David and I recently purchased a 30 week farm share from Sauvie Island Organics. Every Thursday I head to our local Co-op around 4:30, check my name off the list, do my other grocery shopping and then head home with a box full of wonderful, local, vegetables.

Beautiful spinach waiting to be turned into a warm spinach and bacon salad

Sauvie Island Organics emails me on Tuesday with a list of what will be in the box that week, along with the amount of each vegetable. Enclosed in the email, they also include a link to their blog which holds recipes that correspond to the veggies that each farm share holder will receive that week! When the email comes in on Tuesday, I always make a point of getting a cup of tea, gathering my cookbooks and laptop and setting up shop at the kitchen table to menu plan for the following week... no forgotten greens in the back of the crisper drawer for us... I want to be sure to use up all those wonderful veggies!

Beet Greens: Any green that has a tougher stem and greens that should be added later in cooking gets prepped this way. Leafy greens on the bottom and tougher stems on top to add to cooking first, separated by a little cloth.

When Thursday, our pick-up day, rolls around, I have already made my grocery shopping list as well as my menu plan. So, when I get to the co-op I can pick up any extras that I will need for the week (which usually isn't much after our meat share, CSA Box, and Azure order). I think one of my favorite parts of this schedule is that I don't need to head to the store on the weekend with everyone else... I get to stay home and relax!

Scallions: washed, cut in half and roots removed for  easy grabbing

Once home, I unload everything and take a good look at all the lovely-ness :) Then I snap back into reality and realize that I need to get all these vegetables prepped! I always wash, trim and chop the produce right away so that it is easier to use up during the week. At this time I feel like quite the prep cook, and I love it! 

Chopped Parsley: about two tablespoons added to each slot, topped with water and placed in the freezer, once frozen, they will be removed and placed in a freezer container to be added to soups and grain salads later in the winter

All the salad greens get torn, washed and stored in a gallon glass jar (I place a cloth on top, right under the lid, to help with the humidity throughout the week... the greens stay fresh all week!). Any root vegetables like radishes, turnips or beets, get their greens removed and saved for another dish, and the roots themselves go into another large square glass container that I always keep in our crisper drawer. Everything else gets prepped for whatever I am going to use it for that week... all this work up front sure pays off later in the week! I usually spend about an hour and half from start to finish prepping the box.

Everything in it's place and ready for a week of cookery!

Also, while I am chopping and spinning in the salad spinner, I always have my food processor out and on the counter. Into this goes all the extra scappy bits that would otherwise go in the compost. Once my prepping is completed, I give these less desirable bits a whirl in the processor, dump them into a large tupperware and top it with a scoop of cracked corn. I have now made chicken treats for the whole week! Each morning the girls get a hand full of chopped greens and corn added to their run. They scratch around keeping themselves busy being all chicken-ey all day... all the while turning their run so I don't have too!

Ready to be whirred into chicken treats!

Our CSA subscription has been a blast so far. We love having the fresh produce throughout the week and thoroughly enjoy supporting local farmers making a living off the land. I always feel like I am opening a gift box each week... lucky me! Here's to many more weeks of wonderful eats to come! 

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

Our first Azure order... with a little kitty in the back!

Menu Plan: 6.23- 6.29

For a couple of years now I have been a menu planner. I enjoy the time spent thinking up ways to nourish my little family and love the extra chance to spend 45 minutes to an hour perusing my cookbooks (I truly am my mother's daughter... my cookbook collection is becoming quite embarrassing!). I usually only plan for dinner during the week, as I like to have leftovers for lunch and I send the same with David in his lunch that he takes to work. However, on the weekends I will sometimes plan breakfast, lunch and dinner if it is to be a weekend spent around the homestead.

I have a little journal that I keep and into it goes all my lists, recipe notes and other goodies (maybe a post needs to be dedicated to this little journal?) Anyway... Each week after I get my email for our CSA box (more on that soon!), I sit down and make a menu plan. We pick up our CSA box on Thursdays, so my menu plan is always from Thursday to the following Wednesday, kinda silly I know, but it helps me to plan according to our weekly delivery so that nothing goes to waste :)

This week's page... filled to the brim with all sorts of good little notes

What kind of things does one eat at the Cozy Little Cottage you ask? Well, here is our latest list:

Thursday 6.23: Tuna Salad on greens with homemade herbed toast
                         strawberries and whipped cream for an after dinner treat

Friday: date night at home- Grilled Pork Chops & Artichokes

Saturday: Lunch- Platter of salami, cheese, hard boiled eggs, homemade bread and dilly beans
                Dinner- Korean Short Ribs (from The Grassfed Gourmet Fires it Up!) with grilled arugula

Sunday: Lunch- Left Overs
              Dinner- Roasted Beet & Spinach Salad w/ Goat Cheese and Stuffed Potatoes

Monday: Broccoli Salad with Turnips (you know the salad... with raisins and sunflower seeds)

Tuesday: Warm Spinach Salad w/ Bacon

Wednesday: Pizza w/ l.o. Bacon, Beet Greens and Blue Cheese

... So there you have it. A week of eating a la Cozy Little Cottage... Perhaps this little menu plan will make a weekly appearance?

Bon Appetit!

First Canning Adventure of the Summer...

Pickled Asparagus

I say "first of the summer", however, these two bunches of asparagus found me on the night before the last day of school! On my way home from the 2nd to last day of school I found myself feeling the urgent need to get summer started right now. Lucky for me there is a little stand on my way home and the sign reading Asparagus jumped out at me!

I know, I know, the night before the last day of school? My friend Brittany and I call this a Pam moment (named after a fellow teacher who stayed up all night long painting her dining room the night before the first day of school!) We often have these moments, where life just can't wait and you need to get that project done right now... Some of you may remember that I painted all of the woodwork in my house two days before my wedding. Or there was the time that I put up and entire tree's worth of apple sauce and leather the night we returned from a two week vacation... Some may call this relieving your stress onto something else, however, I prefer to call it seizing the moment!... and sometimes using up nervous energy, ahem.

So back to the asparagus. Once home I quickly set to sterilizing my jars, washing the two bunches of asparagus and mixing up my pickling liquid. In years past I have always tried to put up multiple recipes at a time, whether that be pickles, jam or fruit butters... well I always end up in a tizzy because the timing is off and I don't have 14 hands you know! So, this canning season my goal is to put up one recipe at a time... oh, it all seems so relaxing that way :)

Notice, the jar in the back with the white lid... that one went straight to the fridge to cure and be the lucky tester of the batch, I did not process that jar

It all whipped up very quickly and there I was standing all casual in a clean kitchen with 6 jars of pickled asparagus to show when The Mr. came home from work! An evening well spent if I do say so myself!

For this round, I followed the recipe for Pickled Asparagus in The Joy of Pickling by Linda Ziedrich. This was my first recipe of hers, but she is thought to be quite the bee's knees amongst fellow canners and picklers, so I am sure I will have nothing but wonderful words to share about this asparagus once it's three week rest is up... oh I can't wait!

If you are looking for a pickling books, I would highly recommend this one! She has a recipe for every single thing you never even thought you would want to pickle! Just flipping through the pages leads my mind to wandering and dreaming about a larder full of jar upon jar of delicious pickles!

*** So sorry for the fuzzy pictures... good thing I have all summer to work on that little blip!***

Summer Time...

My "Happy Last Day of School" Flowers from The Mr.

The flowers were accompanied by two of my favorite magazines to keep me busy while doing my first couple of days of heavy sitting!

and the livings easy! My, oh my, how times does fly! I look and life is all pumpkins and happy Halloween and the next thing I know, gardens are being planted and school is out! The cozy little cottage has been one busy place these last eight months... with all sorts of fun projects, but oh how I am looking forward to the quieter routine of summer. I am hoping to again get into the routine of visiting this little corner of the internet on a more regular basis.

Every year when summer comes knocking on the door, I am always so excited and grateful that I get to slow down during this season and take some, much needed, time off. Each June I plan out all the things that will make up my days while playing house at home. I always make a list of cleaning to-do's, things I want to can or put up and summer fun activities that I don't want to miss (we already have concerts and picnics planed here and here!) This year I have even gone so far as to create a daily schedule! With the many activities I always want to fit into each and every day... there just never seems to be enough time! So this year, while outlandishly silly and organized as it may be, I am going to try to stick to a daily and weekly schedule.

My daily schedule will hold all the activities that need to be done on a daily basis... including fun things like at least an hour and a half of knitting (lots of great projects lined up), time in the garden, time set aside to blog and even time scheduled into the day to read! This list will also include my daily meal preparations, what ever they may be. I am a girl who likes to do many-a-activity (my wanna be close girlfriend Harriet Fasenfest calls it householding... I met her earlier this month!) Well, with so many interests, one could easily flit about all day, ahem... never have I done that! Well, at least this summer I will be checking things off the Must Do list!

The weekly schedule is filled with tasks that are done but once a week. Laundry is on this list, baking bread (using my new grain grinder!), picking fruits and veggies, preserving, cleaning... with the goal being to get all these tasks completed before the weekend so The Mr. and I can have a nice relaxing weekend at home or away with no worries of chores!

...Whew! Listing everything out like that really makes it sound like this will be much more of a working summer and not so restful... but oh, householding is my play... I absolutely adore being busy in my little house. It also doesn't help that I am an early riser :)

So here is to a summer full playing house!