the giraffe life

Usually my meal planning is fairly laid back. I look over the sale ads, pick out 2-3 meals I feel like making this week, and try to do as much of the cooking as possible on Sunday so we can ride out the work week on leftovers. But this does sometimes lead to dinner ruts or accidentally making two very similar meals super close to each other (tacos and enchiladas a few days apart).  I figured keeping track of what we're eating for longer periods would alleviate the dinner ruts and help us remember some of those recipes we just haven't made for a while.  I saw this idea on pinterest and liked it immediately, but it's taken me seemingly forever to just DO IT. I gave up on making it pretty like the original and that made all the difference.  Completely fictional menu plan to give an idea of how it will look - I don't cook nearly this much, considering there are only two of us to consume all the food. And don't mind Monkey's tail, the turkey sketch, or that I f...

When it's chilly, I crave warm, cheesy dishes. And last week was particularly cold so I made some enchiladas to satisfy my desire for warmth and cheese. They hit the spot.  1° F = -17° C Usually enchiladas are tortillas filled, rolled up, covered in sauce, and baked. But after reading Bread & Wine last summer, I make mine in layers like lasagna because it's quicker. It allows you to be creative with "fillings" too . . liked sliced potatoes.  Sidenote: I borrowed my parents' simple slicer for this job. I would definitely lose a finger doing it the old fashioned way! Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas • 16 ounce can of enchilada sauce • 1/2 cup vegetable broth • 1  can black beans  • 2 potatoes, sliced thin • 6 tortillas • 1/2 medium onion, diced • 1 - 2 cups  Monterey Jack or pepper jack  cheese, shredded  Optional (I've tried all of these and they're delicious - just don't use more than 2 of them at the same time. You...

Last garden update of 2014 - crazy!  The strawberries have completely covered the bottom edge of the left garden bed. I'm hoping that means an even better harvest next year.  Very little still growing, food wise - just the beans and my volunteer tomato. But the flowers continue to fare exceptionally well, the marigolds and zinnias in particular. (This is my first year growing marigolds from seed. I usually just buy plants, and they always do well, maybe doubling or so in size. But this bush blows my mind.)  The black eyed Susans out front are dead and shriveled, though I can't bring myself to cut them down just yet. I'll probably wait another week or two to start the cold weather prep. How's your garden? 

Another post coming to you from the farmers' market: the peanut pumpkin. They had a huge display of pumpkins and squash out this weekend. As I got closer, I realized it really does look like peanut shells on the pumpkin skin. ( eHow says it might be a cross between a squash and pumpkin plant.) Mr. G isn't a fan of pumpkin, and I don't want to eat 12 pounds of anything by myself so I didn't buy one. But it was too cool not to share :) linking up with wordless Wednesday

Usually my garden is winding down in September (the cucumbers are certainly finished). We've already had cool nights in the 50s (10-15° C) so I know the end is near. But! I have bean plants and strawberries that aren't ready to call it quits.  The strawberries I planted are some odd variety that produce fruit twice per season (I had no idea they even existed until I started to notice a lot of fruit on my plants and looked it up). They've put out a ton of runners this season so I think the harvest will be even better in 2015! And the bean plants I planted in late July are still growing. No signs of bean pods yet though. I knew I would be cutting it close by planting mid-season, so next year I will definitely plant them in the spring. Check out this volunteer tomato plant - it's growing out the side vent on the compost bin! It has 8 green tomatoes on the vine, ha! Mr. G is pumped. Oh, and while this isn't from my garden, it fits nicely here:  I bought...

Mr. G and I love going out to eat. It's a little break from cooking and cleaning, and we enjoy the chance to talk. (Meals at restaurants last longer than meals at home, so I feel like we talk more.) But since we don't have unlimited funds, we usually skip dessert.  So imagine our surprise when we broke tradition to order a scoop of ice cream and this came to our table . .  I think the official name was French vanilla ice cream with peanut butter swirl. The official taste was YUM. When did desserts get so big?! linking up for wordless Wednesday

Lots of changes in the garden over the past month. The biggest thing is that we built a trellis! It's occupying the space that was originally potato plants (all harvested now). I ordered bamboo and lashing cord online and we followed these directions without too much trouble. We didn't manage to get all the pieces straight, but the beans we planted won't know the difference ;) I think the most exciting part about the garden this time of year is that so many things are ready all at once. Here's a sample basket from a couple weeks ago: I've also discovered that pulling up carrots would be a great activity for anyone feeling stressed or angry. What can be better than ripping up plants and getting yummy carrots as part of the bargain? The flowers have really taken off too (some are nearly as tall as I am), and along with the ripening cherry tomatoes, they are making this side of the garden especially colorful. We've seen a lot more bees and butterfl...

I've mentioned before that new foods scare me sometimes . But I took the plunge on another one last week because my hubby was interested in trying it - black eyed peas. We used them in this tasty jambalaya-esque dish and now we both can add another food to our like lists.  Mr. G isn't a fan of anything spicy, but both vegan sausage and chili powder would be good additions, so they're listed as optional ingredients. Vegan Jambalaya Ingredients •  1 tablespoon oil (I used grape seed oil) •  1 medium onion, chopped •  1 chopped pepper/capsicum (I used bell pepper, feel free to also add hot pepper) •  1/2 teaspoon thyme •  2 cloves minced garlic •  3/4 cup basmati rice  •  2 1/2 cups vegetable broth •  2-3 tablespoons tomato paste  •  15 ounce can black eyed peas, rinsed •  1-2 zucchini optional:   •  1/2 cup vegan sausage, crumbled (I like Mexican Chipotle by Field Roast)  •  1/2...

In my neighborhood, we have community open space , which is basically a fancy way of saying green spaces with no houses on them that everyone is welcome to use. While walking near one such "open space" last week, I saw something that looked like a blackberry.  I stepped closer.  It was a blackberry. Growing all by itself in the wild! (I mean, as wild as it can be inside a residential area.) I texted a photo to my dad to be sure it wasn't something poisonous, and when he confirmed  that it was indeed a blackberry, I ate the ripe one that had caught my eye. Yum! I went to visit again yesterday and realized that all the surrounding plants are blackberry bushes too. So exciting! Now all future walks must be planned to pass the blackberry patch and enjoy a little snack.  I can't resist those warm, fresh berries. :) Any edibles growing near you? Would you eat food you found?

To celebrate my dad's birthday, we took him to a live  America's Test Kitchen  event. It was a behind the scenes look at the TV and radio program by the same name. My dad has enjoyed the show for years (Mr. G and I don't watch it, so we were clueless). We learned that the test kitchen's mission is to help everyone cook great food at home, and they try to help people accomplish this by testing kitchen equipment, comparing food products, and perfecting recipes.  The TV and radio show's host, Christopher Kimball, was also our host. He was excellent! So funny and a great storyteller. He highlighted different parts of the show for us (a relief for this newbie) and they did some live demonstrations of the show's typical parts.  One such part was a recipe experiment. The match up was between burgers made with store-bought ground beef and those made with freshly ground meat that is immediately cooked. They found the freshly ground meat was superior in ease of cook...

Just when you thought I was finally done with California posts :) This is my last one! I just couldn't resist writing about some of the things that were so different from my everyday life on the East Coast. Weather. We stayed close to the coast for our entire trip so we woke up to fog every morning. It burned off by about 10 or 11am, followed by clear blue skies for the afternoon, but I didn't like it. I'm a morning person, and being greeted by overcast skies when I woke up was a bummer. But I guess that's the trade off for having pleasant temperatures year round. :) Driving/traffic.  Traffic where I live is minimal because it's a rural area (the population just broke 2,000 in 2010). But we've experienced big city traffic in our travels. California traffic was different. We weren't in any dense city traffic, more like lots of stop-and-go highway driving. The carpool lane was new to us and thankfully saved us many times. Also surprising was the f...

Last month's issue of Ladies Home Journal featured an article about a woman who decided to cook breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks from scratch for a week as an experiment. For example, she made pasta, bread, and sauce by hand for spaghetti night. There were some days she spent 5-6 hours in the kitchen! By the end of the week, she noted that she had enjoyed the experience for the most part (especially since she shared some great moments with her kids in the kitchen) but it wasn't sustainable forever.  It got me thinking about how much processed or pre-made food I normally eat. Unless I was forced to, I doubt I could cook homemade 100% of the time. It's not that I seek out Froot Loops and frozen dinners for every meal, but I get busy and have cravings just like everyone else.  So here's my processed/pre-made food tally for Friday: Breakfast : milk and cereal Same old, same old. I eat this for breakfast every day. On extra hungry days, I'll add a banan...

Before I had a blog, I would think about taking pictures of the garden but never actually do it. Last summer I finally followed through (I think because then I could share the photos with you guys) and I am so happy about it. I'm one of those weird people who is thrilled by plants growing and pictures prove it much more impressively than my descriptions. So without any further yammering, here's the garden: And May and June, for comparison's sake: That big bare patch of ground is where the compost bin used to sit. We moved it so we could stir it top to bottom, and there was quite a lot of usable soil at the bottom. An added bonus is that now Mr. G can make one pass through the beds (and onward) with the lawn mower. Amber mentioned magic beans in her garden last month (they turn from purple to green when cooked!) and was kind enough to send me some seeds. :) I'm hoping to plant them in the empty space left behind when I uproot my potato plants.  Everythi...

After Legoland, we drove up the coast to San Clemente. The view from our hotel was the best.  The next day we took surfing lessons (a first for both of us). It was awesome! Our instructor had us practice on the beach for a while to start (Mr. G picked it up right away, but it was super tough for me) and then move out into the ocean. (Sidenote:  I LOVED wearing a wetsuit. It was so nice to be warm in the water and not have to worry about a big wave taking off part of my bikini!) Mr. G heading out for a wave: We both stood up on several waves and even rode in together on a couple. (And I was worried beforehand that I wouldn't even be able to stand up!) What surprised me the most was how physically demanding surfing is! We were exhausted after our 2 hour lesson and spent the rest of the day relaxing and recuperating. I was sore the next day too, haha.  Thankfully we were still able to walk around town to enjoy all the exotic (to us) plants in everyone's gardens...

I bought two tank tops at Target five years ago and wear them constantly. Alone in the summer, and under sweaters or hoodies in the winter. They're still holding up, but had lost most of their color and elasticity by last summer, so I relegated them to wear during gardening, yoga, and hanging around the house. When I saw Target had tank tops on sale last week, that was the push I needed to buy a few new ones. Rather than drive to Target and then the grocery store, we decided to just bring a cooler and do our food shopping at Target too. Once we started wandering the food aisles (we rarely shop there and were pretty lost) we saw a bunch of items that advertised "Made in Australia."  It seems Target is featuring Australian flavors. (Or maybe this is typical and it's just that I visit too infrequently to notice?) Chocolate plus licorice is a strange combination to me, but the Aussie pie reminds of what we'd call a pot pie in the US. Both were yummy :) Would ...

It's hard to believe that my garden bed looked like this a couple months ago . . But now it's looking pretty good.  We decided to build another bed this year in hopes of growing more plants in general, but also adding some perennials like strawberries. I'm so grateful to Mr. G for building it for me! He bought three 8 foot long boards (2.4 meters), cut one in half, and screwed them together like a giant frame. It's a good size for me because I still have easy access to the middle. He finished right after Easter, so I planted the strawberries and potatoes then, and got around to all the seeds this past weekend since we have officially passed our last frost date! :) (I'm taking pictures from the opposite angle this year so the compost bin won't get in the way.) And somewhat related to gardening, we gave Mr. G's mom a flower pot full of annuals for Mother's Day. Hopefully she enjoys them! Are you planting a garden this year?