Challenge Marathon

This past Sunday, I decided to cook and preserve food.  I washed and sliced and cooked and washed dishes and washed and sliced and cooked and sealed and froze and washed dishes from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.  Here is what I prepared for the challenge:
Roasted Vegetable Soup

Zucchini Soup (It tastes better than it looks).

Herb Stuffed Zucchini

Zucchini Bread

Peaches

Carrots

Green Beans with Garlic and Tomatoes

The Face of the Mutant Carrots

I came upon an interesting find while working in the garden today.  I was delighted with my discovery and very amused.  Do you remember the mutant carrot post?  Just in case you don't here is the text:

"The mutant carrots are back at it.  These two are Carrocchio and the Fairy Dancing queen.  Carrocchio is on the left side of the picture.  He is saying "I don't really think they are going to roast us!"  The Fairy Dancing Queen is on the right - She is saying (to Carrocchio) "Don't you lie to me!"  "Your nose is getting bigger and bigger!"

I guess the lack of food is having an effect on me.  And - those silly fairies keep creeping into the blog.  Well-Sharon and I roasted them.  The fairy was right - he was lying!"

Well today, while I was planting the challenge garden, I was digging around the old carrot patch and guess what I found - It could be the real face of the mutant carrot or, it could be the carrot mascot.  He kind of looks like a miniature Mr. Potato Head.

Today, I planted celery, parsley, broccoli, spaghetti squash, zucchini squash, butternut squash plants and seeds for sunflowers, turnips, beets, leeks and radishes.  The weatherman warned of the danger of frost so I covered some of the squash plants with sheets.  I hope he was wrong.

GIFTS . . .

This weekend, Sharon and I were "gifted" with carrots and sweet potatoes.  We split the carrots and Sharon is using the sweet potatoes.

Today, I blanched my half of the carrots and froze them.  I have eight 12 oz bags.  Pictured below are the carrots before blanching.  Pretty nice!!!!

Day 5 - Did I mention the carrot?

Well - we made it to day 5. I don't think I mentioned the bonus carrot.  While at the grocery store on Wednesday, shopping for a birthday treat for a friend in a nursing home, I looked over the produce section and spotted bulk carrots.  So, I carefully picked out a small carrot to be certain I didn't go over the 31 cents I had remaining in my budget.  The carrot rang up at 16 cents WOOO HOOOO!!!  Carrot in my salad today.

Yesterday's menu changed a little as I worked in the garden for most of the late afternoon and evening.  For lunch, I ate tuna mac casserole and a baked potato.  Supper was two scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast.  I drank lots of mint tea, both iced and hot as I made a futile attempt at ridding the herb garden of the roving take-over mint.  (I also have mint in a large pot in my garden.)  I didn't have my salad yesterday so that means more lettuce and tomatoes for today's salad.
For breakfast this morning, I ate the last banana and the rest of the oats.  Along with the carrot, I have the supplemental dandelion greens, about 10 cherry tomatoes cut into thirds, the small head of purple and green lettuce and the remaining ranch dressing, I have a pretty nice salad for lunch.  I'll also be taking one of my two remaining eggs (hard-boiled) and the rest of the tuna mac casserole in addition to the salad.  Supper will consist of some combination of my remaining stores which are two potatoes, two pieces of bread, one egg, margarine and 4 pieces of cheese.  That's it!  Almost at the finish line.  I'll be posting my final thoughts on the challenge.

Garden Finds

Last weekend, prior to our big snowstorm, I walked up to the community garden to see if there was anything left. I got a nice bunch of thyme, carrots (which I used in soup), lettuce, radishes, chives and most importantly my team mascot, a wild carrot.