Saturdays in the Garden - They Are Not Quite Round but They Are Delicious

OUTSIDE

I thought it might be useful to me to record what's still green on November 8th after at least one night below freezing. 

Lemon Balm

Tarragon

Angelica

Swiss Chard

Hardy little devils.  I'll see if they survive the upcoming wintry mix we're supposed to get Monday.

LIFE

As I mentioned last week I have started putting some emphasis on eating better for my own health and just generally to be a more responsible citizen.  One adventure in the kitchen this week in pursuit of real food was making my own whole wheat tortillas.  (Recipe from 100 days of Real Food)  It was one of the more labor intensive recipes but it really wasn't too bad and it was kind of fun trying to get the tortillas somewhat round.  I wasn't very successful as you can see but it was still fun:0).  They also smelled (and tasted) amazing.

I also made chicken stock after slow-cooking a whole chicken. Both things were surprisingly easy.

So I am definitely enjoying this adventure with real food and bringing more from scratch cooking into my life.  The meal plans you can get from 100 days of real food are really well planned out and so far I have really enjoyed all the recipes.  The meal plans also work to educate so you can see how to fit things together and be efficient with your food.  For example each dinner usually has easily frozen leftovers or can be lunch the next day in a slightly altered form.

There are some things that I am not liking about it.  I have not yet been able to adequately adapt the meal plans from 4 people to one. I am used to and fine with eating leftovers several meals in a row but if I stretch it out and eat something longer then is allotted on the meal plan it ends up messing everything else up.  Even if I half a recipe it ends up either lasting longer than allowed or I end up eating larger portions than I should.  I think this week I will use some of her recipes and see if I can't create my own weekly meal plan.  Yikes!

In other life news, you may have heard that we had some elections here in the U.S.  The outcome in Iowa was downright depressing and I'll let you make of that what you will.  For my job, I actually travel to D.C. once a year and meet with Iowa's congressional delegation to educate and discuss sustainable and dedicated funding for wildlife and natural resources.  Let's just say I am really not looking forward to the trip next year though I normally enjoy it.

Enough of that.  On to....

BOOKS AND BLOGGING

I am still a little in reading limbo but did have the immense pleasure of reading the first in the Song of the Lioness series, Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce.  It was SO full of awesome goodness I wanted to bake it into a pie and eat it.  I also started Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James as I thought some snarky Regency romance might be just the ticket but sadly after a strong start, it has started to annoy.  I also continue to make my way through The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford which has started to feel a little like a biography of a 1930's version of Paris Hilton.  Lord, I've got the book grumps. Grump, Grump, Grump. Thank goodness for Alanna!

You won't believe what was on the blog this week it was so exciting!  Sorry, just trying out some massive hyperbole to make up for the grumps.  Ahem... here is what went up this last week:

SUNDAY: Sundays through the Stargate: The Beginning I've been rewatching Stargate SG1, one of my all time favorite Sci-Fi shows and am putting up some insanely dorky thoughts about it for my own edification.  This first post lays out what I think is so great about the show and it is not just Richard Dean Anderson's twinkling dark brown eyes, I swear (though it is partially that).
TUESDAY:  Top Ten Tuesday:  Top 8(ish) Books I Want to Reread
THURSDAY: REVIEW: Dust and Shadow by Lyndsay Faye. This book features a showdown between Sherlock Holmes and Jack the Ripper.  A match made in Heaven?

Next week on the blog:
SUNDAY: Sundays through the Stargate: Stargate SG1 Season 1
TUESDAY: The Top Ten Tuesday topic for Nov. 11 is the Top Ten Characters you wish would get their own book.  So this will be a love fest for all those secondary characters who deserve more attention.
THURSDAY:  A review of Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed.  I am not participating in Non-fiction November hosted by Sophisticated Dorkiness (and a couple of other blogs) but I thought I'd honor it by featuring some reviews this month of a couple of recent non-fiction reads.

Well that's about enough of that.  How's your November going so far?  Any books or TV shows that are really sucking you in at the moment? Anybody got some seriously wicked meal planning skills that they'd like to share?