Strawberry Fields Forever

Today was destined to be great, as I started my morning with breakfast in a jar… 😉

There’s definitely a plus side to living with a family who enjoys peanut butter as much as I do.  There are constantly empty jars, just begging to be used in this way…;)

In the mix:

• 3/4 c. oats (it didn’t even all fit in here…I ate the remains, directly from the pot… 😀 )
• 1 banana
• 1 c. milk + 1/2 c. water
• lots of cinnamon, a dash or two (or three) of nutmeg
• small handful of raisins
• small handful of walnuts

There’s something incredibly satisfying about scraping the sides and bottom of a peanut butter jar. 😀

The weather has been so strange lately.  This morning I woke up to the sounds of rain splattering on the roof.  It made for a perfectly cozy way to enjoy my bowl jar of oats.  But it didn’t give much hope for what I was hoping to do today: strawberry picking. 

But a half hour later, the sun came out. 

Since my parents and I each had the day off today, we decided to face the indecisive weather and hope for the best, with fingers crossed.  Not before I packed us each some fruit and yogurts, along with this stuff.

I don’t know, I’m having a hard time deciding which flavor I like the best out of these granolas.  My best advice is try each one. haha…Although if I absolutely had to pick one flavor as a favorite, I’d go with the Raisin Nut.  This bittersweet-ness makes the top of the list too though, with the dark, rich flavors of chocolate.  It made for the perfect morning snack… 😀

When we arrived at the strawberry patch the sun was fully out!  Time to get to work and start pickin’!!!

Red hands = proof that I put in some serious strawbery picking effort. haha…

By the end of our morning, two flats had been filled which meant we now had 24 lbs of strawberries to take home…woah…!!  My Mom worried that this is probably too many for us to handle…I happily disagree.  Consuming a ton of strawberries is a task that I’m happy to take on… 😉  I’m already envisioning strawberrie smoothies, strawberrie oat cakes, strawberrie oatmeal, etc…the list is endless.  I can’t wait to be creative!

On the ride home, we stopped at this cute little farm stand…

There were loads of fresh and affordable flowers and produce items.  I grabbed two $1 heads of lettuce, a $1 humungous head of cabbage, a couple tomatoes, and some pea pods.  This is the best part of summer, right here.  Don’t you just love farm stands with fresh produce??? 😀

The little takeout menu on the side caught dad’s eye.  Especially the sauerkraut hotdog which is what he decided to buy…

I’m not a hotdog person at all…I think it’s something about the texture that immediately turns me off.  But that sauerkraut did look interesting.  I’ve never tried it before, and decided to sample a bite-full of the cabbage only (carefully avoiding the pink-hued meat…haha.)  Oh my word…who would have guessed sauerkraut tastes so good?  I’m determined to make my own batch of the stuff at some point in the near future…YUM!!

We all sat at the picnic table while dad munched on the dog, and I pulled out a pear.  It was 2’oclock by this point and I knew lunch wouldn’t be coming until 3’ish…eeks!  Lunch is getting later every day, which I’m not liking too much.  At least breakfast was later this morning and I had some well-spread out snacks to hold me over.  But tomorrow I’m determined to have a “normal” lunch hour! 😉

For lunch, I decided I wanted to try these guys out…a while back, the Food Should Taste Good company had sent me some free coupons to sample their products.  I had tried the Jalapeno chips at dad’s request, but this bag of  Sweet Potato chips/crackers was completely my choice.

The verdict?

Oh. My. Goodness.

I’m not normally a fan of most tortilla chips, but these were so tasty.  They were thicker then a tortilla, and really were a mix between a tortilla chip and a cracker.  The flavor reminded me of those extra crispy peices of slightly blackened sweet potatoe fries on the cookie sheet, after being baked in the oven.  I considered dipping them in ketchup. haha…;)  The back of the bag says they would be great with fruit jams, apple butter, cinnamon, etc.  Next time I’m trying them with cinnamon, but for this time, I was happy to eat them just as is.  YUM!!!

I had a serving of them along with a very delicious, very huge salad. 😀

In the mix:

• mix of green lettuce, red lettuce, and beet leaves
• cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots
• red onions
• 3 olives
• cheese stick
• strawberries galore 😀
• 1/4 avocado
• 1 tsp olive oil plus a drizzling of balsamic vinegar

I loved eating through this flavor filled salad. 😀

On to the annual tradition of making homemade jam…

First you mash…

Then you cook…

Then you pour…

Then you spread wax on top…or, you can give them a water bath to properly seal them.  Different people have different methods, but my memere has always done it this way, so it’s just sort of tradition. 😀

For dinner, I wanted something quick ‘n’ easy, so I made some meatless burritos.  Then I topped it with tomatoes, mesculin greens, guacamole, and cilantro.  It makes for a very simple (and cheap!) but nutritious meal. 😀  I had this burrito x2, before heading out for a 4-mile walk with mom.  The weather was picture perfect by this point, and the sun was just starting to set…I think the evening is the most peaceful time of day. 😀

For dessert later on, I had my new favorite sweet concoction…Edy’s vanilla slow churned icecream with cinnamon and raisins.  It’s like a cinnamon raisin cookie…mmmm…

Tomorrow I have to get up early, so I’m heading off to bed right after this.  I hope you’re all having a good day back into the work week…the 4th of July is right around the corner! 😀

Exercise: 4-mile walk with mom 😀