Green Spring Smoothie

I’m enjoying a rare Monday off and I thought it was a great time to try out a new smoothie recipe. With the warm weather, this cold fruity smoothie is a delicious start to the day. I added whey protein powder since this was my breakfast, but you could leave it out if protein powder isn’t your thing. I actually like the texture with the protein powder since it thickens the drink, I haven’t found it grainy at all. I use Tera’s Whey Organic brand, Bourbon Vanilla for this recipe.

 

Adapted from the Vitamix Recipe Booklet

Serves: 1-2

 

1/2 Cup Vanilla Coconut Milk

1 Cup Frozen Grapes

1/2 Cup Fresh Pineapple

2 Scoops Tera’s Whey Vanilla Protein Powder

1 Medium Frozen Banana

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

3 Cups Baby Spinach

 

Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Enjoy straight up or with a little granola on top.

Costco had the Vitamix blender in stock about 2 weeks ago. The last time I saw them there was nearly 3 years ago and I didn’t have the cash to pick one up back then which was a bummer. I’ve been duct taping my magic bullet together lately, waiting for it to die, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to score the super blender at a great price.

 

This recipe make one very large smoothie which I use as a meal replacement or 2 smaller smoothies which can compliment a regular meal. I built the recipe in the MyFitnessPal tool and the large smoothie has about 334 calories, 5g fat, 25g protein, 7g fiber, 53g carbs, and 40g sugar.

Rustic Wheat Protein Bread [Healthy & Homemade]

Back in November I made my first batch of Rustic Homemade Bread. I’m still quite impressed with myself. Since then, I’ve made two other loaves. One loaf was white cheddar and Jalapeño, and gifted to my parents. I don’t like Jalapeños but I’m told it was delicious. For myself, I recently made a loaf of wheat protein bread as a healthy morning alternative to store bought bread.  I wanted a version that was hearty, and had several grams of protein per slice. I used a mix of All Purpose Flour, Whole Wheat Flour, and Hemp Protein.

I topped it with some old fashioned oats.

Don’t be turned off by the fact that it’s slightly green, the color is from the hemp protein. The basic recipe is from Simply So Good, I just replaced some of the all purpose flour for some whole wheat flour and hemp protein powder. For the protein powder, I used Nutiva – Organic Hemp Protein which I originally found in a single serve packet at Sprouts. You only need 3 Tablespoons per loaf of bread, so the packet has more than enough. Be sure to check out Janet’s blog post for great step by step pictures.

 

The finished loaf is dense and chewy, excellent with almond butter or jam. To preserve the loaf, I froze 2/3 of the loaf after slicing and only kept 1/3 in the pantry at a time. Overall, I love this recipe and plan to make is regularly in the future.

 

 

Healthy Rustic Wheat Protein Bread

Servings: About 14 slices

Adapted from Simply So Good

 

2.5 Cups While Unbleached Flour (remove 3 Tablespoons of flour)

1/2 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

3 Tablespoons Nutiva – Organic Hemp Protein

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon Instant Yeast

1 1/2 Cups Water

1/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal

 

• In a large bowl combine the first 5 ingredients (both flours, hemp powder, salt, and yeast). Whisk until well mixed. 

 

• Add the water and stir gently to combine with a rubber spatula. I sometimes need to add a little more water if the dough appears too dry. The dough should be slightly sticky and will look like a messy blob.

 

• Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set to rest on the counter for 12-18 hours (I always leave it overnight). The dough will rise, mine usually doubles in size.

 

• In the morning (or after the dough has rested for at least 12 hours), preheat the oven to 450 degrees. You’ll need a oven safe pot with lid, big enough to accommodate the the bread. I use a standard stainless steel roasting pan (grill removed), with lid. A large oven safe casserole dish will also work as long as it has a lid.  Once the oven is pre-heated, place the pot, with lid, in the oven for 30 minutes to pre-heat.

 

• Once you put the pot in the oven, place the dough on a heavily floured surface. At this point add the oatmeal to the top and press lightly to help it stick. Cover with the plastic wrap and let it rest for the 30 minutes (until the pot is pre-heated).

 

• After 30 minutes, remove the pot from the oven…CAREFULLY. That sucker will be almost 500 degrees so please be VERY careful.

 

• Place the the dough into the pot and cover with lid. Bake, covered, for 30 minutes. Then remove the lid, and bake an additional 15 minutes. [Tip: with floured hands, shape the dough slightly before placing in the pot. You can fold the edges under slightly, creating a rounded ball and the finished bread will stay in more of a dome shape. I ‘plopped’ the first batch into the pot and it baked into a very flat loaf.]

 

I was able to slice it into 14 pieces. Nutritional stats are pretty decent at about 103 calories slice, 0 grams of fat, 4 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fiber.  Of course that will vary depending on how many slices you get from your loaf.

 

Enjoy!

My Favorite Moment of the Week & Grocery Challenge

I can’t believe it’s Wednesday already! I hope everyone’s week is going well.

I need to catch up a bit. So my favorite moment of last week was on Sunday. We had beautiful weather and my little pup and I took a long walk down a local trail.

For both my sanity and his mini waistline, we’ve started taking longer walks during my lunch hour (as often as possible). I usually have to work through my lunch so I’m trying to sneak away when I can, and zone out during a walk. It also gives me a chance to listen to a podcast or audio book. I’m really loving Jillian Michaels free podcast on iTunes right now, lots of great health/nutrition info. This past Sunday, Bubba went for his longest walk in a long time. Since I’m writing this on Wednesday morning, I can say he actually went even further on Monday. He was like a little energizer bunny.

We saw some beautiful scenery. I had no idea there was a large horse ranch behind the trail near my house, it was gorgeous.

On to the food. Last week I totally forgot about the Super Bowl [I don’t have cable, so I obviously wasn’t going to watch it], and went grocery shopping on Saturday with the rest of the world. BIG MISTAKE. The lines were crazy.  

The Budget: $40

I Spent: $38.82 (Henry’s, Trader Joe’s)

Leftover for the Piggy Bank: $1.18

 

The Goods:

• Rotisserie Sliced Chicken
• Broccoli Florets
• Shredded Mozzarella
• Frozen Turkey Meatballs
• Fat Free Sour Cream
• Cage Free Eggs [1 Dozen]
• Chobani Plain Yogurt
• Flank Steak [1lb]
• Mushrooms
• Organic Fuji Apples
• Carrots [5lb] – dog treats
• Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

I still had spinach, kale, and romaine leftover from last week so I skipped those in this trip, and instead focused on meat/dairy which cost more overall. I won’t need most of the above next week, so I’ll replenish the veggie stash on the next trip.

 

Tentative Meal Plan:

Monday: Quick Beef Stroganoff 

Tuesday: Ricotta Broccoli Stuffed Shells & Kale Salad

Wednesday: Honey Mustard Chicken & Veggie

Thursday: Leftover Ricotta Broccoli Stuffed Shells

Friday: Feta Chicken Burger & Veggie

Saturday: Sausage Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash [?]

Sunday: Tomato Soup Leftovers

 

Reader Question:

A couple of people pointed out that I seem to cook most meals, and asked if I’m making full size recipes or adjusting for just one person. Truth is, I cook 99.9% of my meals. I don’t eat out often, maybe 2-3 times a month. I love cooking, so it’s enjoyable for me to make food at home. To answer the size question, most of the time I make the whole recipe so that I can freeze the additional servings for future ‘freezer meals’. For example, The ‘Quick Beef Stroganoff’ recipe made 4 servings. I ate one on Monday night, I have one in the fridge for lunch this week, and froze the other 2 servings for future meals. I do the same for most recipes and love having premade ‘freezer meals’ ready to go throughout the week. Right now I have Chili, Tomato Soup, and Beef Stroganoff all ready to be heated in the freezer. The Feta chicken burger recipe will make 4 patties, so I’ll eat one on Friday and freeze the rest. You get the point.

I also do this with cookie dough. I like baking cookies…I do not like having 3+ dozen cookies in the house. So I will make a half/full batch, bake a few (like 5), then freeze the rest. For basic dough, like chocolate chip, you can scoop the batter into cookie size scoops onto a plate or cookie sheet and put in the freezer to set. Once frozen, you can put the frozen cookie dough balls in a bag and bake as needed in the future.

I mean, really…can you ever have enough cookie dough in your freezer?

Grocery Challenge – Week of January 21

This week…

The Budget: $40

I Spent: $35.81 (Henry’s, Trader Joe’s, Walgreens)

Cash for the Piggy Bank: $4.19

I learned something this week…don’t go shopping at Trader Joe’s on Saturday night. Not because it’s a somewhat pathetic thing for a single girl on Saturday night…but because they were sold out of EVERYTHING! So many things I wasn’t able to get this week and had to swap out for something else. They were completely out of Broccoli and Kale so I swapped them for Snow peas and Spinach, a few other things I had to skip altogether. I was also a little disappointed in some of the produce at Henry’s. They had a bag of sweet potatoes on sale, but the potatoes in the bags were mushy and molding. So sad.

• Carrots (5lb) – Dog Treats
• Banana (4)
• Organic Apples (3lb)
• Grape Nuts (2 boxes)
• Organic Spinach
• Organic Romaine
• Snow Peas
• 1/2 dozen Cage Free organic eggs
• Spaghetti Squash
• Organic Blueberries
• Sweet Potatoes (3)
• Sliced Chicken Deli Meat
• Frozen Mac & Cheese

 

Menu Plan (not necessarily made from the items purchased this week):

Monday: Homemade Chili & Veggie

Tuesday: Mustard Salmon & Veggie

Wednesday: Spaghetti Squash Meatball Bake

Thursday: Basil Tilapia & Veggie

Friday: Homemade Tomato Soup

Saturday: Homemade Chicken Pesto Pizza

Sunday: Spaghetti Squash Meatball Bake

Grocery Challenge – Week of January 14th

It’s the first grocery challenge post of the new year!

 

With the holidays and travelling, I’ve been doing a lot of random grocery shopping lately. Random shopping means I spend way more than I mean need to on things I don’t need. So in the new year I’ll be keeping up with the grocery challenge to get myself back on track. I’m making only one change…the budget is back to $40 each week, instead of $50. Any money not spent each week will continue to go into the ‘piggy bank’.

This week…

The Budget: $40

I Spent: $31.45 (Henry’s, Trader Joe’s)

Cash for the Piggy Bank: $8.55

• Carrots (5lb) – Dog Treats
• Chobani 0% Plain Greek Yogurt – for homemade Dog Treats
• Red Bell Pepper
• Avocado
• Feta Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese
• Spinach
• Sliced Chicken Deli Meat
• Pita Bite Crackers
• Frozen Mac & Cheese
• Bouquet of Flowers

 

I suppose you’re wondering how I’m going to live on one box of frozen Mac & Cheese, spinach, and lunch meat for the week. The truth is, I’m not. In an effort to better organize my life, I recently cleaned out my fridge, freezer, and pantry. Everything was straightened, shelves were wiped down, and anything with a past expiration date was dumped. Apparently I am a food hoarder, because this exercise showed me just how much food I have in my house, and I still go out every week and buy more. So for the next few weeks, groceries will probably be lighter than usual and I eat through my stash. 

 

 

I also recently started using the Out of Milk app on my phone, and their coordinating website. This is where my inner organizational Type A nerd comes in. I used the app’s barcode scanner while I was cleaning the kitchen to scan every item I have in the pantry, freezer, and fridge. It didn’t take as long as it’s sounds, and was fun because I like scanning things. I can now tell you exactly how much flour I have in the house from a quick glance at my phone, and that I have enough chicken in my freezer to serve my entire extended family at a moments notice. Turns out that every time I went shopping over the past few months, I was buying duplicate items simply because I didn’t know that I already had more than enough at home. That’s why I have so much chicken in my freezer, and several weeks worth of soup in my pantry. The app makes it easy to create my weekly shopping list since I can drag the empty items from my pantry list over to the shopping list. With the paid upgrade to the app, I can even track coupons for my lists. My nerdy, coupon loving, shopping desires are now completely fulfilled.

 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some chicken and soup to eat…

 

*This post was not in any way sponsored by Out of Milk. They have no idea who I am and did not ask me to mention them. I simply like the product and wanted to share.

I’m Feeling Inspired – Down A Size

So first off, I have to say…WOW. Last month was one of the biggest on the blog and I posted a whopping 5 times. Which makes me wonder if you’re trying to tell me something. That, or June was just a huge month for Golf Cakes and Apple Butter. I never thought those would be the most popular posts on CMD.

I’m also doing something a little different with this week’s inspiration post (just pretend there wasn’t a month long gap since the last one). I realized I haven’t given you a proper update on the weight loss journey lately.

[I could not get the smears off the mirror, sorry]

 

My ‘fat’ jeans are in the donation box!

[Holy crap, did I just post a picture of my ass on the internet?]

 

YES. I. DID.

 

Thing have been going great on the weight loss journey, I’m down 28 lbs and a full jean size. I’m also starting week 7 of the C25K and have gone from struggling through a 90 second jog to finishing 20 minutes straight. Now instead of reaching for food when I get stressed at work, I find myself looking forward to my workout. Who thought that would happen? I still have a long way to go, but I’m smiling again.

In all honesty, I hate these types of posts, because I don’t like tooting my own horn. But I’m trying to learn that sometimes it perfectly healthy and justified to pat yourself on the back and share the good news. Especially justified since this blog is supposed to be all about my journey to changing my destiny, right? Well, I see progress.

So here’s to sharing the great news all over the internet!

…especially since my dog just doesn’t get it when I dance around the bedroom in my now smaller jeans.

CSA Box #7 & Weekend Wrap Up

Where is this month going? I can’t believe June is almost over and I’ve barely had a chance to get any blog posts up. When not working, this month has really been dedicated to getting all those ‘homeowner’/adult chores out of the way, and I wouldn’t want to bore you with them anyway. I’ll spare you the numerous screens I repaired this weekend or the outlet covers I’ve swapped out. Oh, and not to mention all those little springy things behind the doors (my technical jargon for a door stop), yeah…I’ve been busy changing those out too. Turns out the previous owners were a little tough on their doors and busted most of the bumpers, and the ones that aren’t broken are missing altogether. For some reason they never ranked high enough on the ‘To Do’ list until now.

 

Not to worry, I’ve been making progress on a few other very important things too. I finally organized all my nail polish. ::sigh:: That’s actually not a joke, I built boxes to organize my nail polish which I’ll show you in another post. I also did some gardening and the Spare Bedroom moulding has finally been primed and painted. I hope to have the headboard up this week. Then I can move to the very fun task of ceiling fan shopping (why are they all SO ugly?).

So at the moment, I’m covered in paint (and hives, although that is unrelated to the paint) and I’m getting ready to put my shoes on for a run, so I’ll leave you with a few pictures from the weekend.

 

My local Farmer’s Market

The cute little Old Town that I visit every 2 weeks to pick up my CSA box.

 

Speaking of CSA…lots of green this week.

I think it’s time to turn some zucchini into Dark Chocolate Zucchini Bread…Yum!

…and some delicious berries

Baxter and I both dig into the CSA box like it’s Christmas morning. I go straight for the strawberries and he likes to split his time between sniffing the box itself and begging for carrots.

He’s just too cute.

 

I don’t want to give too much away right now, but the Spare Bedroom is making some serious progress. The brown wall color is going to change and new bedding/window coverings are in the works, but I LOVE it so far. That’s huge, since I’ve painted this room 4 times so far. Finally a design success for this room.

I also thought I’d give you a little update on the garden since a few of the plants are doing really well.

I’ve been eating tomatoes out of my own backyard this week, they are amazing. Sweet & delicious, and that’s coming from someone that doesn’t like tomatoes. I have an Early Grey 50 plant in harvest right now, and a Brandywine Pink that’s flowering.

This plant stumps everyone that visits. They always want to know what I’m growing in the trash can.

It’s Potatoes!!

I never did a how to on the potatoes since I didn’t expect them to survive. However, they have done incredibly well in the trash can (although I haven’t harvested yet, so we’ll see what they produce). They still have a month or two until they’re ready.

That’s it for the edibles right now, although I do have some herbs growing and I’m planting onions and zucchini next weekend. I also have some thriving succulents outside right now. This is my favorite.

 

Hope everyone has had a great weekend!

CSA Box #6

I’m BACK!

 

Although, my return is not nearly as exciting when you realize that I didn’t actually go anywhere. I did spend some time dreaming about a cabana on a tropical beach, but reality is that life became so busy that I just needed to step away for a bit. It wasn’t a planned thing, I kept meaning to draft a post each evening, but it just didn’t happen.

So let’s catch up a bit…

My favorite little beagles stopped by for a visit.

I love this picture because my little lab looks so mischievous as he was sneaking up on Shelby. Luckily they all got along very well, no alpha dog fights this time.

One weekend I spent a ton of time (with some family help) on homeowner chores, like changing air filters, changing water filters, tinkering with the Air Conditioner (which is broken), ripping out the grass in the backyard and laying new sod, sweet talking my parents to come over first thing on a Sunday to take me to Costco so I could buy a new car battery, and building a temporary workbench for the garage. 

I’ve also rekindled my love affair with peonies which have been in abundant supply at both Trader Joes and Fresh & Easy.

I’ve also been focusing A LOT on my eating and running which has been going REALLY well. I’m down 21 lbs as of Monday and I’m loving the food I’ve been eating lately. I’ve also signed up for a few races, but I’ll share more about that in a separate post.

Delicious yogurt and berries which only looks cool because of Instagram magic.

This leads me nicely into my CSA haul from this past weekend, including another gorgeous bouquet which they crafted on the spot at the Farmer’s Market.

Goodies:

• lettuce
• spinach
• cucumbers
• string beans
• summer squash
• kale
• basil
• blackberries
• oranges
• avocados
• strawberries

Fresh Blackberries!!

As I do with all my CSA boxes, I took a little time to wash, chop, and ‘save’ all the lettuce, berries, and basil. You can read more about how I extend the life of my veggies for the specifics. It’s the coolest trick, and a total money saver since I can’t go through all that lettuce in one week.

I also ‘vacu-save’ berries and yogurt into personal sized jars. I agree it looks a little OCD in my fridge, but it really doesn’t take much time. It makes meals during the week so easy. I just grab a yogurt and a berry jar, toss them together and I have a healthy breakfast/snack. The lettuce will last nearly 2 weeks this way and I can use just what I need on a daily basis. I have plans to turn some basil into fresh pesto as well as try my hands at Kale Chips this week.

Around the house, I’ve started on the foyer, the wall is painted and I’m working on painting the bookcases. I’ve also made progress on Spare Bedroom. As a reminder, the room looked like this…

The blinds are now down, window and wall moulding has been installed.

By the way…Frog tape sucks!

I put this stuff up and within 20 minutes it had peeled completely off the wall and fell to the floor. Such a waste. 

I still need to finish caulking the top of the window, then it’s time for paint! I can’t wait, I finally have a vision for this room and I’m excited to see it how it turns out.

Oh, and I recently celebrated the 2 year anniversary of moving into my first home. I plan on drafting up a recap of everything I’ve done to the house in those 2 years in the coming week.

CSA Box #5

Guess who’s back?

Yep, I have the little beagles again this weekend! So far, all the pups have done very well together, no alpha male fights like last time. Before they were dropped off yesterday morning I took a quick trip to the Farmer’s Market to pick up my CSA box. The weather was absolutely gorgeous yesterday, cool and breezy, I loved every second of it.

Turns out showing up at the farmer’s market when they first open is the way to go. I didn’t have any trouble with parking like I usually do, and was able to get in and out since I had to get back home quickly. I even had time to swap out a few items from the box. Usually I just take whatever comes in the selection, and enjoy trying new things; however, this week I had already planned out my meals and the cabbage and beets just didn’t fit into any of the meals. I knew I wouldn’t eat them so I swapped them for some tomatoes and some more spinach.

The goodies:

• Lettuce
• Spinach (x2)
• Carrots
• Kale
• Broccolini
• Oranges
• Avocados
• Tomatoes
• Basil
• Strawberries (they forgot to include them in the box)

I also picked up a bouquet of flowers, but I’m an idiot and killed them in one day. I set them in a vase right as I got home just to free up my hands, but then forgot to go back and remove the plastic and add water. Doh!

Oh well.

A few people have asked if I am still doing the $40 grocery challenge…yes and no.

I am still keeping a budget, but I have raised it for the time being as I have changed my eating lately. I recently read The Skinny Rules by Bob Harper, and it is a great example of what I would like my life long eating lifestyle to be like. He lays it out so well, that it gave me the nudge I needed to get back on track. Not to mention I’ve dropped 10 lbs in the small period of time that I’ve been following the rules so far. Sure, it’s mostly water weight…but who cares. It’s 10 pounds! So while I shift over to a better eating plan, I find that I’m only buying meat, dairy, grains, or fruit/veggies. If you are a couponer, you know it is incredibly hard to find coupons for these types of things. I’ve been trying to find the happy medium of shopping sales and bulk at Costco to keep the costs low. Once I figure out a good balance, I’ll share more. To give you an example of what my shopping list looks like these days, here’s what I bought this week. All of the below cost $62 and I shopped at Albertsons, Trader Joe’s, and Henrys to take advantage of as many sales as possible.

• Chobani Plain Yogurt (32oz) – I split this myself into smaller containers for everyday eating
• Ground Turkey
• Chicken Breasts (6)
• Whip Cream
• Eggs (1 dozen)
• Pita Bite Crackers
• Brussel Sprouts
• Snow Peas
• Mushrooms
• Green Beans
• Bananas (4)
• Cilantro Dressing
• Apples (8)
• Blueberries (4 pkgs)
• Strawberries (4 pkgs)
• Parsley (1 bunch)
• Sweet Potatoes (2)
• Clif Bars (5)

I’ve also been using the FoodSaver to extend the life of things outside of the CSA veggies. For example, as a household of one, I only eat a few pieces of bread a week, so I pull out what I need and Save/Freeze the rest. Now a loaf of bread will last me a month instead of having to buy a new loaf each week. I do the same with hard cheeses (cheddar/parm) which I buy from Costco.

Have you read The Skinny Rules? What did you think?

 

Shared with: In Her Chucks

How To Extend the Life in your CSA Veggies

This chopped lettuce is 2 weeks old! No brown edges, green crunchy leaves…it’s a miracle!

2 months ago I signed up with a CSA (I pimp my CSA goodies enough that you probably know this). I get a Regular sized box every two weeks, but I quickly found that the fruits/veggies would go bad within a week. This was disappointing because I didn’t want to purchase a weekly box, but I was throwing food out every week since it would go bad before I could finish it all.

The easy answer would be for me to get the small sized box every two weeks, but doesn’t have all the stuff I was really interested in and again, it’s only 1 week of food. Before I succumbed to buying a smaller box (or cancelling all together ::GASP::) I decided to try out a technique I found on Pinterest.

This post by Salad In A Jar showed me how to can lettuce which I thought was genius, but I was still hesitant that it would really last the full two weeks. I was also a little apprehensive since I had never canned or ‘saved’ food before.

Tools:

• Wide Mouth Mason Jars (I got mine at Target for about $11)
• Wide-Mouth Jar Sealer $ 10
• Handheld Vacuum Sealing System $18

All the items are completely reusable and rechargeable which I love. The Handheld Vacuum Sealing system also woks great with the Ziploc Bags which I also found at Target.

The process I followed is simple.

Step 1:

First I wash the lettuce in a water/white vinegar mix to remove any dirt and bugs. I found a snail in ahead of lettuce once so I never skip this step nowadays. I dry the lettuce using a small salad spinner and lay it out on a terry cloth to get rid of the excess moisture. Then I chop the lettuce and fill the jars, leaving some room at the top. For the purposes of this step by step, I resealed some chopped up cabbage since I didn’t have any extra fresh lettuce on hand for this post.

Step 2:

Place the seal lid onto the jar and then add the wide mouth jar sealer.  Place the handheld vacuum onto the top of the sealer, over the hole, and activate for 10-12 seconds (according to the instructions that came with the product).

Step 3:

Remove the vacuum and jar sealer, add the canning rim and place in the fridge.

*Disclaimer – I’m sharing with you a process that worked for me. I’m not an expert in canning or ‘vacu-saving’ so please be sure to follow the instructions included with any products you purchase. Please use your best judgment when consuming a product that has been ‘saved’. Mine did last 2 weeks, but I cannot guarantee that everyone will experience that same result.

 

Now through the magic of television the internet I can show you lettuce that has been sealed for a full two weeks. Both the lettuce in the jar and the bowl is two weeks old. If I didn’t know that it was jarred lettuce, I would never had known the difference. While there were a few slimy pieces, it was only 2-3 and easy to pick out. The rest were crisp and fresh.

As you can see from a picture above, I did also successfully jar Kale and Cabbage with similar results. I’ve also used this method to save fresh green beans and snap peas that came in the CSA box as well. I ate those within a week so I don’t know how they would have fared at the 2 week mark. 

Like I said above, the handheld vacuum also works with the special Ziploc bags, which means I’ve been basically vacuum saving everything in my house lately…new fun gadget and all…

As 1 person, I can’t eat a whole loaf of bread before it goes bad. I also have been purchasing block cheese from Costco, then vacu-saving and freezing the excess to use in future weeks.

 

I have one other trick up my sleeve that is fairly inexpensive and can be useful for the fruit and herbs that come in the CSA Box, but that will have to be for another post.

 

What do you do to keep your CSA bounty lasting longer?