Fresh Produce! It's been a while since I contributed to Bountiful Baskets.

I haven't written a post about Bountiful Baskets for about 6 months. I got busy & then I got behind & then I couldn't get caught up again. In November I got busy with the holiday season & stopped getting produce from them altogether. When I was grocery shopping a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I needed to get my act together because the fruits & veggies that I get from Bountiful Baskets are so much fresher than what I find in the grocery store plus it's a great deal. So I made my contribution & last Saturday I picked up a regular basket plus an Italian Pack add-on. 

Look at all of the goodness that I got in my regular basket! The price is $15 & it's usually half fruits & half veggies. The fun part is that you don't know what is in the basket until you pick it up!

2 green leaf lettuce, 1 pound spinach, 3 broccoli, 6 yellow squash, 

1 pound brussel sprouts, eggplant, 3 pounds gold potatoes, 2 tomatoes, 

21 small apples, 8 large apples, 2 oranges, 2 grapefruit. 

And this is what came in the Italian Pack! I paid an additional $12 for these extras.

2 zucchini, eggplant, yellow onion, 6 Roma tomatoes, 

garlic clove, 6 ounces Portabella Mushroom Caps, 

fennel, rosemary, basil, parsley & oregano.

So I got all of this for only $30.50 (which includes $3.50 which is added to each order to contribute to the fuel cost for the trucks).

Bountiful Baskets is a grassroots, all-volunteer, no contract, no catch co-operative. They distribute produce baskets, organic produce baskets, Artisan bread & sandwich bread. I've gotten so many wonderful foods since I start contributing. I've tried fruits & veggies that I've never heard of before & would never have eaten if they hadn't been included in my produce basket.

The way that this co-op works is that their website opens for contributions on Mondays & closes on Tuesday night. Then you pick up your produce at your local site at the end of the week. My site has pick-ups on Saturday mornings. You only contribute when you want to, there is no contract.

I volunteer at my site almost every time I pick up my basket. Volunteers are what keeps this operation running & it's really a lot of fun.

Since finding Bountiful Baskets, we have been eating & enjoying more fresh fruits & veggies than we did before. And trying new things is something that we look forward to as well.

Go here to see if there is a site in your area & read the FAQs for a full explanation of what it's all about.

You can also check out their Facebook page for more info & great information.

Until next time....

Fresh Produce! And a new type of melon that we haven't eaten before.

I'm running really far behind with these posts. This is the produce basket that I picked up from my Bountiful Baskets site on the last Saturday in June. When I arrived to pick up my produce, I saw a melon that I had seen before so I was anxious to get it home & cut it open.

Here is what I got in my basket that day:

Cabbage, green leaf lettuce, 2 celery stalks, broccoli, 4 green bell peppers, 

5 Roma tomatoes, 9 apricots, 6 red pears, 1 pint of blueberries & a Canary melon.

I got all of this for $18.50 (which includes the $3.50 which is added to each order in Texas to contribute to the fuel costs for the trucks). We tried the Canary melon as soon as I got home. It has a very pale green flesh that is lighter than a Honeydew melon. It tastes a bit like a cantaloupe but not quite as sweet. We did like the flavor but I probably won't go out of my way to buy one because we love cantaloupe, especially the Tuscan variety.

If you want information about Bountiful Baskets, you can go here to read the New Participant Information.

Until next time....

Trying New Foods: Jicama & a Recipe

When I picked up my basket of fresh produce at my local Bountiful Baskets location a few weeks ago, I got a couple of foods that I've never tried before. One of them was Jicama. I see jicama in my grocery store all the time but I've never bought one or eaten one. The ladies that run my site said that it is easiest to just slice it, season it with salt, lemon or lime juice & chili powder, then eat it raw. I did a bit of research & found some recipes for roasting jicama so I wanted to try that too.

Since I received 2 jicama in my basket, I decided to try one of them raw & roast the other one. We sliced, seasoned & tried the raw jicama. I tried a slice before I added the seasoning & I think it tasted slightly sweet. It was really good with all of the seasonings & we ate all of it pretty quickly.

The next morning I decided to go ahead & try the roasted jicama since it has a texture kind of like a potato & we love to include some type of potatoes with breakfast,  This is the super simple recipe that I used:

Ingredients:

Large jicama, diced

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Place diced jicama in a large bowl & mix with olive oil.

Mix dry ingredients together in small bowl then mix with  jicama until all pieces are covered.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil & spread jicama in a single layer.

Bake for 30 minutes.

We ate this with fried eggs, toast & jam. It has a really great taste & the next time I see jicama in my grocery store I'll go ahead & buy it because we want to have this again!

I love getting fruits & veggies that we've never tried before or just finding new ways to use the ones that we already eat. I'll be back to share more with you again soon!

Fresh Chicken from Zaycon Fresh & a Crockpot Recipe

A couple of months ago I found out about Zaycon Fresh. It is a privately owned company from Spokane, Washington that delivers fresh meat & seafood directly to consumers (that's me & you!) at wholesale prices. I immediately pulled up their website to see if they delivered anywhere near my house & I was very happy to see a delivery site that is only a few miles away!

Zaycon Fresh has sales events about once a month. For example, my location has an event in July to purchase Patio Steaks & Chicken Fritters. But then there is not another event until August when fresh ground beef will be available. All of the products are sold by the case & some of it is much more than I can use or will fit into my freezer. This is when a chest freezer comes in handy or at least a friend who is willing to split a case.

My first experience with Zaycon Fresh was last month when I purchased a case of fresh chicken. I couldn't pass it up because it was only $1.69 a pound!!! I didn't know what to expect but it was so quick & easy! I made my purchase on the website & printed my confirmation. The day of the delivery, I drove to the site & the Zaycon delivery truck was already there. The two men who were working checked my name against their records & then spread a sheet of plastic in the trunk of my car & loaded the case of chicken for me. I never even got out of the car! All I had to do was take it home, trim it & package it for freezing.

This is the 40 pound case of chicken with 

the plastic sheet from the trunk of my car.

When I took the top off of the box, the chicken was wrapped in more plastic.

The chicken was packaged in four 10-pound bags.

I moved the bags into a cooler so that the chicken would stay 

cold while I was trimming & getting it ready for my freezer.

This is a chicken breast on an 11" diameter 

plate before I cut it in half & trimmed it!

About 2 hours later, the chicken was trimmed & bagged. 

This is what 40 pounds of chicken looks like in my freezer!

When I buy chicken from the grocery store, I put 5 chicken breasts in each storage bag. Because these are so large, I only packaged 3 in each storage bag. 

Now that I've got all of this chicken in my freezer, I'm going to need some new chicken recipes. I've found a few but I also have our favorites that make the menu rotation about once a month. This is one of them & it is in my crockpot right now:

Applesauce BBQ Crockpot Chicken

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts (I only used 3 since these are big)

2/3 cup chunky applesauce

2/3 cup BBQ sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ)

2 T brown sugar

1 t chili powder

1/2 t ground pepper

Instructions:

Spray crockpot with non-stick cooking spray or use a crockpot liner.

Place chicken breasts on bottom of crockpot.

Mix remaining ingredients together & pour over chicken.

Cook 6 - 8 hours on Low setting.

I sometimes serve this chicken over rice but tonight we're having Garlic Mashed Potatoes & Roasted Brussels Sprouts.

If you have a favorite chicken recipe, please share it with me in the Comments below. I'm always looking for new ideas!

Trying New Foods: Bok Choy & an easy Recipe

When I picked up my produce from Bountiful Baskets a couple of weeks ago, one of the veggies that I received was Bok Choy. I've heard of it & I know that it's used in a lot of Asian foods, but I've never bought any or eaten any. The women who run my site told me that the easiest way to prepare it is simply to chop it up & add it to Fried Rice. But I don't cook much Asian food at home so I started looking for other ways to use it.

I didn't take a photo of the Bok Choy that I received in my basket, 

but I got 6 of them & this is what they look like. 

After looking at way too many recipes (mostly for Asian-inspired dishes), I decided that I would just try to roast it like we do so many other veggies that we love. What could be simpler than that?

So I know that you probably roast veggies too but, if anyone hasn't tried it before, this is a simple recipe:

Ingredients:

Bok Choy, trimmed & sliced in half

Olive Oil

Sea Salt

Crushed Black Pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Sprinkle some olive oil on a large baking sheet. Place the sliced bok choy in a single layer. 

Brush with more olive oil & sprinkle with sea salt & crushed black pepper, to taste.

Roast for 12 minutes. Using tongs, turn each bok choy & return to roast for an additional 12 minutes. 

Serve immediately.

We really enjoyed the roasted bok choy & the only thing that I will probably do differently next time is to crush a couple of garlic cloves & add that to the olive oil that I brush onto the bok choy. Bok Choy has a flavor similar to cabbage & we always add garlic before we roast cabbage. So I'm looking forward to eating this again!

This is not my photo but this is what Roasted Bok Choy looks like.

I love finding ways to use the fruits & veggies that I get in my produce baskets so I'll be back to share more with you again soon!

Fresh Produce! And a couple things I haven't tried before.

Around Mid-May I picked up another basket of fresh produce from my local Bountiful Baskets site. I went early to volunteer my help unloading the truck, filling the baskets, helping people carry their produce to their cars, cleaning baskets once they were emptied & anything else that needed to be done. It's fun to volunteer & I always get a little something extra as a reward!

I only got a Conventional Basket even though I wanted some of the add-ons! I just knew that I wouldn't have time to get everything prepped for freezing or storing so I stuck with just the regular basket. And I got a couple of veggies that we've never had before!

Here's what was in my basket: 

12 red potatoes, 3 bunches green onions, 2 jicama, 3 cucumbers,

6 bok choy, 4 yellow corn, 3 sweet leaf lettuce, 5 bananas,

2 oranges, honeydew melon, Tuscan melon.

I chose another bunch of green onions as my volunteer "thank you". 

I got all of this for $18.50 (which includes the $3.50 which is added to each order in Texas to contribute to the fuel costs for the trucks). The jicama & the bok choy are new to us. I've seen them in the grocery produce sections but never bought either of them so we've never tasted them before. I'll share my recipes that I use to cook them in another post. The Tuscan melon is also a variety that we've never tasted. It looks just like a cantaloupe but tastes so different. Kind of like honey! 

If you want information about Bountiful Baskets, you can go here to read the New Participant Information.

Until next time....

Trying New Foods: Spaghetti Squash & a Recipe

One of the things that I love when I pick up my fresh produce from Bountiful Baskets are those times when I get a new fruit or veggie that we have never tried before. Back in April, my basket came with 2 spaghetti squash. Now, I've seen them in the produce section at my grocery but I've never bought one & I've never eaten one. But since I had 2 of them, I needed to figure out how to cook them.

The ladies that run my local Bountiful Baskets location are always very helpful when I ask about something new that I've never tried before. They told me that spaghetti squash are easy to cook: Just poke holes all over it & stick it in the microwave, then you cut it open & use a fork to "shred" the insides & it will look like spaghetti. Simple enough!

But I thought that there had to be a better, more flavorful way to cook this squash so I started looking through cookbooks & searching on the internet. What I ended up with is a recipe that I found scribbled on a piece of paper in the back of one of my old cookbooks for making Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash. Now that's more like it! So here is the recipe that I used:

Ingredients:

2 spaghetti squash, halved & seeded

1 Tablespoon oil

1 pound Italian sausage

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1/2 Cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 Cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 Cup shredded Italian Five Cheese Blend, divided

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Brush cut sides of squash with oil & place, cut sides down, on a baking sheet. 

Bake 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook sausage with onions & garlic in large skillet on medium heat 10 minutes or until sausage is done, stirring frequently. Stir in spaghetti sauce & simmer 10 minutes, stirring frequently. 

Remove from heat.

Combine ricotta, parmesan & 1/2 cup Italian cheese. 

Place squash halves on baking sheet. 

Fill with layers of ricotta mixture, meat sauce & remaining Italian cheese. 

Bake 10 - 20 minutes, or until heated through. Cut in half to serve.

Our house smelled so GOOD while this was cooking & we could hardly wait to try it. I served it with a big green salad & garlic toast. It was well worth the wait. We loved it!! Now I know what to make every time I get a spaghetti squash!

This is not my photo but this is almost exactly

what my Lasagna Stuffed Spaghetti Squash looked like.

When I have another new-to-us food that we're trying, I'll be back to share it with you!

Our day trip at a local Farmers' Market.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to spend the day in one of our favorite towns in our area. We live in the Dallas - Fort Worth Metroplex so there are a lot of fun places close by. We love spending time in Grapevine, just about 15 minutes from where we live. The Historic Downtown area has a "small town" Main Street feel with lots of cool shops, restaurants & things to see & do.

We go to Grapevine several times each year for festivals, car shows, shopping & happy hour with friends, but this is our first trip to check out their Farmers' Market & Craft Market. These markets were closed for Winter & just re-opened in April so I wanted to go see what all they have to offer.

It turned out that the Craft Market was bigger than the Farmers' Market. I was disappointed with that because we're used to the big Farmers' Market in Dallas that has so many different vendors with lots of choices for fruits & veggies, both from farmers & from local produce dealers.

We did get to sample a lot of good food as we walked through the market. We sampled cookies, barbecue sauce, goat cheese, jerky, seasoned & flavored nuts, all kinds of salsas & dips, a few flavors of jams & jellies, and of course all of the different produce that was offered. All of the vendors were very friendly & helpful so we really had a great time. Of course I couldn't resist buying a few things!

I got Sunflower Lotion made with goats milk from Dream Girl's Dairy & Goat Farm (you can see their cute little goats in the photo at the top). My husband bought Green Olive Salsa, Hot Chow Chow & Jalapeno Olive Relish from the guys at Tommy Tamales. The only produce that I bought were 3 big beefsteak tomatoes that were the size of my hand! I used them to make Stuffed Tomatoes & they were sooooo goooood! I also got some Chocolate Almond Toffee from the Texas Sheet Cake Baking Company. We made it home with the toffee but it didn't last but one day! Hubby also got some Salt & Cracked Black Pepper Beef Jerky from the South Texas Beef Jerky company.

After we spent the morning shopping at the markets & browsing at a couple of the local shops, we stopped off at Esparza's Mexican Restaurant for brunch.  While we waited for a table outside, we hung out inside at the bar & sampled some of the beef jerky as well as some of the Green Olive Salsa with some chips that the bartender served. We each enjoyed a Lakefire Rye Pale Ale from the local Grapevine Craft Brewery. When we were seated outside on the patio we ordered Bacon & Egg Breakfast Tacos & Mexican potatoes along with another beer. The food was very good & the beer was cold. We sat & talked for quite a while after we finished eating because we were so comfortable & the patio was nicely shaded.

After brunch, we walked up & down a few more streets window-shopping & just enjoying the beautiful day. We always love spending time in Grapevine & I'm sure we'll go back before too long.

#DayTrip

Fresh produce! Fresh bread! My Bountiful Baskets goodness.

The last time I picked up produce from Bountiful Baskets was on the Saturday before Easter. I brought home so much that day that this is the first time that I've gone back! It's also the time of year that the local Farmers Markets are open again (some stay open all year, but some only open from May through October) so I want to visit them for even more good stuff!

Bountiful Baskets always offers so many tempting choices each week, but this time I limited myself to the regular basket plus one add-on item.

This is my regular basket: 4 Artisan Romaine lettuce, 2 spaghetti squash, 2 broccoli crowns, 5 sweet corn, 3 orange bell peppers, a cucumber, 8 potatoes, 2 yellow onions, a mango, 6 bananas, 5 Braeburn apples & a honeydew melon. 

This basket was veggie heavy. They usually try to make it 50/50. But I'm not complaining!

This is my Assorted Bread Pack (add-on item): 4 loaves of English Muffin Bread & 2 French baguettes. These have no artificial preservatives so most of it will go straight to the freezer. 

I got all of this for $28.50 (which includes the $3.50 which is added to each order in Texas to contribute to the fuel costs for the trucks). The spaghetti squash are new to us. I've seen them in the grocery produce sections but never bought one so we've never tasted it before. And the cute little Artisan Romaine lettuce which I was told are great to use for wrap sandwiches because they are the perfect size. 

If you want information about Bountiful Baskets, you can go here to read the New Participant Information.

I'll go back for more produce from Bountiful Baskets in mid-May. We have plans to visit one of the local Farmers Markets in our area next Saturday. I can't wait to see what we find there!

Until next time....

Fresh produce! What I got from Bountiful Baskets last weekend!

It's been a few weeks since I contributed for a produce basket from Bountiful Baskets, my local produce co-op where I've been contributing & volunteering since last April. When I first discovered this treasure trove of wonderful produce, I was contributing for a basket almost every week. But now I've slowed down to about once every 3 weeks, unless I see something that I just can't resist!

The way that this co-op works is that their website opens for contributions on Mondays & closes on Tuesday night. Then you pick up your produce at your local site at the end of the week. My site has pick-ups on Saturday mornings. You only contribute when you want to, there is no contract.

So here is what I picked up last Saturday morning!

This is my regular basket: Romaine lettuce, cauliflower, bell pepper, 16 mini-Heirloom tomatoes, 4 purple onions, 3 yellow squash, 2 beets w/greens, 2 celery, 9 apples, 3 mangoes, 4 oranges & a cantaloupe. The regular basket is usually 1/2 fruits & 1/2 veggies, but you won't know what is in the basket until you arrive for pick-up. I love surprises!

Easter Hostess Pack (add-on item): Pineapple, asparagus, 5 pounds of potatoes, celery, 4 carrots, yellow onion, garlic, 2 bunches radishes, 15 mini-Heirloom tomatoes, fresh Rosemary.

Tropical Pack (add-on item): Pineapple, coconut, plantain, starfruit, 4 oranges, 2 mangoes, 2 vanilla beans, fresh mint.














I got all of this for only $42.75 (which includes $3.50 which is added to each order to contribute to the fuel cost for the trucks). And I'm excited about getting to try a few new things. We tasted a Starfruit for the first time. And we are going to open the coconut for the milk & then have freshly grated coconut for yummy desserts. I am also making my own Vanilla Extract for the first time!

Since finding Bountiful Baskets, we have been eating & enjoying more fresh fruits & veggies than we did before. And trying new things is something that we look forward to as well.

Go here to see if there is a site in your area & read the FAQs for a full explanation of what it's all about.

You can also check out their Facebook page for more info & great information.

Until next time....

Have you ever contributed to Bountiful Baskets??

Last April I discovered a wonderful source of fresh fruits & veggies just a few miles from my house. It's called Bountiful Baskets & it's a grassroots, all-volunteer, no contract, no catch co-operative. They distribute produce baskets, organic produce baskets, Artisan bread & sandwich bread.

I've gotten so many wonderful foods since I start contributing. I've tried fruits & veggies that I've never heard of before & would never have eaten if they hadn't been included in my produce basket.

I volunteer at my site almost every time I pick up my basket. Volunteers are what keeps this operation running & it's really a lot of fun.

Take a look at what I got the last time I contributed for a basket (there's no contract, so you only participate when you want to):

This is what I got in my regular basket: Romaine lettuce, cabbage, 3 cucumbers, 9 Anaheim peppers, 20 mini peppers, 2 avocados, 2 mangoes, grape tomatoes (2 cartons), blueberries, 9 bananas, 4 Granny Smith apples, 7 Bosc pears. The price is $15 & it's usually half fruits & half veggies. The fun part is that you don't know what is in the basket until you pick it up!

And this is what I got in my add-on basket: cabbage, 2 leeks, 8 oz mushrooms, 2 carrots, 2 yellow onions, 6 potatoes, 4 oranges, Italian parsley, thyme. This was the St. Paddy's Day special. I paid an additional $10.50 for these extras.










I'm so excited to go volunteer & pick up my basket plus extras this Saturday since March 14th was the last time I participated. This time I'm getting the regular basket plus an extra Tropical Basket plus an Easter Hostess Basket. I've got a general idea of what will be included in the add-on baskets but the regular basket is always a nice surprise.

Some sites are available every week & some operate only every other week. But they all have the same produce available to choose from. It's an awesome opportunity to have access to produce that is better & cheaper than what you will find at your local grocery.

Go here to see if there is a site in your area & if this is something that you might be of interest & read the FAQs for a full explanation of what it's all about.

You can also check out their Facebook page for more info & great information.

I'll be back next week to show you what I get on Saturday!