The True Death for True Blood?

I admit it I am a True Blood addict. It all started several years ago when I got Season One on DVD. I asked Dave if he would like to watch it with me and it was all over for us.

When Dave moved into his new house, the FOIS guy gave him free HBO for three months. After the three months, Dave decided to keep the subscription (that is how they get you). So now we can watch True Blood on TV rather than on DVD.

Season five started on June 10th. And as true and loyal fans, Dave and I turned in at 9:00 sharp. Then at 9:59 I thought to myself, “Eh, I’m not impressed.”. The next day I told myself, “Self, you have enough summer shows on your plate. You should give the true death to True Blood and call it a day”.

But then on June 17th at 9:00 sharp my butt was seated on the couch next to Bella and Dave waiting for True Blood to start.

What happened? I told myself not to watch and that if I was not interested in the plots and general story lines I should just stop. But I didn’t and I don’t believe I can. Why?

It is called cult TV. Yup, True Blood is a cult TV show and I am but a minion in its world. Doomed to follow it wherever it takes me.

The premiere was watched by 5.2 million viewers and last sunday's episode got 4.4. million viewers. That is down slightly from last year but pretty darn good for a premium channel.

So the True Death for True Blood...not likely. It will live on just like a vampire (for now).

Week 5

Sorry for the delay in this post. I would like to post the weekly share inventory list during the weekend. I will try harder in the future.

I was early this week, and Brett was there waiting for me. I returned last week's crate grabbed this week's crate and was on my way.

What we got this week:
1 bouquet of persimmon lilies
12 eggs
1 loaf of sourdough wheat bread
1 lb of honey
1 lb freshly ground Zeke's coffee
1/2 lb sage sausage
1 large bunch of collard greens
1 head of escarole
1 pint of snow peas
2 pints of strawberries
1 bag of spinach
3 small yellow onions
3 shallots
1 elephant garlic bulb
5 tomatoes
8 radishes
1 bunch of scallions

Menu for this week:
Spinach Grilled Cheese with White Bean Escarole Soup (Spinach, Escarole, carrot, onion, garlic and sausage)
Collard Green Risotto with tomato soup and a small salad (collards, tomato, onion, and garlic)
Fish (not sure what kind yet) Lemon-Butter Snow Peas, Rice and salad (garlic, scallions, snow peas, lettuce and spinach)
California Steakhouse Burger with sweet potatoes and radish salad (onion, and radish)
Kale and Spinach Pesto with salad (garlic scapes, kale, spinach, lettuce, carrots, and scallions)

and maybe Kale Tacos (kale...hopefully all of it)

I normal make/cook 4-5 meals a week. Only 4-5 because...I don't want to cook everyday. But at the rate in which we are getting our fresh and pesticide free produce I might have to make/cook dinner everyday. To help use the produce and not make/cook everyday, I decided I need to pick a day and make/cook some meals in advance.

So on Sunday I made the tomato soup and the pesto. Hopefully that will help.

Wish me luck this week, I am shooting for an "A" for my Weekly Roundup!

Week 4 Round Up

This week went okay. I was a little behind but I think I caught up some. To make it easier to understand  what is in overflowing in my fridge, I am going to list what is leftover by week:

Left Over from Week 3:
A small amount of kale
some of the scallions
2 of the carrots

Leftover from Week 4:
12 eggs
3 slices of Rosemary bread
handful of spinach
1 head of romaine
the kale
1 bunch of scallions
1 shallots
1 tomato
4 carrots

I know that sounds like a lot. But as a optimist I think of it like....more to use for this week.

Here is what we used all of:
radishes
snow peas
strawberries

What we ate this week:

Quiche with salad (eggs, spinach, scallions, red lettuce, carrots)
Stuffed Peppers with scalloped potatoes (tomatoes and scallions)
Mac & Cheese with Roasted Veggies (spinach, radishes and carrots)
Fishsticks with pasta and salad (red lettuce, spinach, carrots and scallions)
Tilapia with rice, salad and baked sweet potatoes (red lettuce, spinach, carrots and scallions)

We made Strawberry & Cream Biscuits with the strawberries. I had big dreams for these biscuits but they were "Eh". But still worth trying.

So because by fridge is so packed we can hardly fit anything my grade this week would be....

C

Really with all this leftover food I should give myself a D. But Dave and I ate really well this week and it was yummy so I can't give myself a D.

Wish me luck for this week

Red Lilies

The pic really doesn't do the color justice. They were really a blood red. And this pic shows the imperfections but they were "Wow".

Food Rating System

I’ve had a hard time developing this system. People like different flavors and varying degrees of cookedness. Some people like seafood and some don’t. Some eat meat, some don’t. Some people like garlic, some don’t.

So how do I make a Food Rating System which will accurately represent the quality of the meal?

I decided that you can’t. Everyone will have different opinions. There is no way around it. I know there will be a huge differences between people options. But that might make it more actuate.

So here it is:

1=Yuck…you can’t pay me to eat another bite

2=Eww…this is yucky but I could eat more if this was the last food on earth

3=Blah…this taste like unflavored cream of wheat.

4=Okay…tastes like elementary cafeteria food

5=Good…I could eat this again.

6=Yum… Seconds please.

7=WOW…this is fantastic. This is the best ever!!

Hopefully I will be able to post my and Dave’s rating for each meal in my Weekly Round Up.

If you have any ideas, let me know.

The Wondrous and Magnificent Kale

On the back of Brett’s (our CSA delivery driver) truck is a bumper sticker. It says “Eat More Kale”. When I first saw it, I thought to myself, “Oh that’s cute”. The second time I thought, “That is an inventive way to promote eating local”. And now I think “Wow they are serious; I need to eat kale everyday to eat all that they are giving me.”

We have gotten kale every week from out CSA. And it is not a little bag. For three weeks it was the majority of our share. And this last week, it was obviously smaller in comparison to previous weeks but not a small amount.

What is kale anyway?

Kale is a leafy green. It is considered to be a common and an old form of cabbage. It will grow in the form of leaf rather than a head like traditional cabbage. It’s growing season is from the early winter to the end of spring. It is a hardy vegetable grown in a sandy soil.

Is it good for me?

Kale is not a prominent member of the produce section at Giant Foods. It is not a superstar people think about when dreaming of spring produce. But Kale is one of the most nutritious and healthiest veggies around. It is high 20 vitamins and minerals. Just one cup of Kale provides 1327% of your daily value of Vitamin K (which is key nutrient for helping regulate our body's inflammatory process) 354% DV of Vitamin A (which aids in immune function, vision, reproduction, and cellular communication), 88% DV of Vitamin C (we all know how important Vitamin C is) and 27% DV of Manganese (which aids with bone structure, functioning of thyroid, sex hormones, regulating blood sugar level, and metabolism of fats and carbohydrates.).

Kale is a cruciferous veggie. Cruciferous veggies have anti-cancer nutrients in the form of glucosinolates. And Kale’s anti-cancerous properties have been linked to its high content and its broad spectrum of carotenoids and flavonoids.

Kale also has high levels of omega-3s which is important for its anti-inflammatory benefits. Kale aids our Cardiovascular System by lowering cholesterol. Kale will bind with acids in our digestive system and flush them out. To replace the acids our body will use our cholesterol to make new digestive acids.

All that from a leaf? How do I eat it?

If you are like me, you have had kale before but only when a recipe called for it. You didn’t go to the grocery store and say “Oh wow, the kale looks especially good today. I think I’ll take some home.”. So with all this kale I had to find ways to make it and make sure they were diversity and yummy.

Here is what we had made so far:

1. Kale Chips—yummo

2. Lemony and Garlicky Kale Pasta

3. Kale, Red Pepper and Feta Paninis

4. Spinach and Kale Turnovers

5. Regular salad with kale leaves

6. Stuffed Peppers

Since it is summer, I have been trying to avoid making soup. Kale is a big player in soup but “they” say kale loses some of it powerful nutrition when boiled.

I personally LOVE the kale chips. They are very delicate so I haven’t been able to take them to work.

Kale does appear to be a great when paired with pasta.

I guess it is a good thing Dave and I have been eating kale several times a week. What will we do when kale stops coming in our CSA share?

Week 4

Dave joined me this week on our share pickup. Which just like last week, went smoothly. We were home by 9:30.

We didn't get anything super special this week.

Here is what we got:
1 small bouquet of red lilies
12 eggs
1 loaf of rosemary bread
1 bag of spinach
1 head of romaine
1 smaller bunch of kale
6 monster sized radishes
1 pint of sow peas
1 large and 1 small pint of very ripe strawberries
1 bunch scallions
1 bunch of shallots
3 vine ripe tomatoes
6 carrots

We now have 2 heads of lettuce and 2 dozen eggs. So this week I will have Cobb Salad for lunch. But here is what we have are having for dinner this week:

Quiche (eggs, spinach, shallots and scallions) with salad (lettuce or kale, radishes, snow peas and carrots)
Stuffed Peppers (tomatoes, scallions, bread and shallots) and scalloped potatoes
Mac and Cheese with roasted veggies (radish and carrots)
Fish sticks (store bought but the fancy kind) with pasta and salad (lettuce or kale, radishes, snow peas and carrots)
Tilapia with mashed sweet potato and salad (lettuce or kale, radishes, snow peas and carrots)

We're trying incorporate more fish into our diet. But I do not like to cook it. So we are starting slowly by buying store bought for now.

I have written the Food Rating System Post. I just making some final changes and then it will be posted.