Yum!  I made this the other day with the veggies from our Community Supported Agriculture program.   Even the kids liked it!

3 oz. Cream Cheese

2 T. Finely Minced Radishes

1 T. Minced Green Onion

1 T. MInced Fresh Parsley

1 t. Lemon Juice

Dash of Garlic Salt

Dash of Paprika

Blend together and serve with crackers or chips. 

I am in a big search…  At a little fruit stand when we were in vacataion in Indiana last year… I bought this mix.  It is from Herbs For Healthful Living, and is called “Ice Box Dill Pickles”  Essentially it is a mix to make dill pickles.  This is the BEST mix I have ever tasted and now I can’t find anymore… I have looked everywhere online.  Does anyone frequent a shop that might sell this?  If so I would be very grateful if you would let me know and I will send you money to purchase some for me (along with shipping).  Please?  Pretty Please? You can e-mail me at christine at dinewithoutwhine dot com.  Thanks! 

Christine

Have you heard of CSA? If not, don’t feel bad.. I hadn’t until this week either.  One of our awesome members of Menu Planning Central  posted about her involvement in one and I was intrigued to find out more.  It stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Basically you buy a “share” of a farm in the fall/winter, and then in the spring/summer each week you pick-up (or in some cases have delivered) a box of fresh produce. In most of the groups you have the added advantage that the fruits & veggies are organic. So what is the point? Well first off the goods are FRESH generally picked within a day of receiving it. (Opposed to the grocery store where sometimes things have been in transit and/or on the shelf for up to two weeks before you purchase them!) Next, like I said, a lot of it is organic and at a much lower price than organics at the grocery store. Finally, you are supporting a community farm. Here is a website: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/ where you can check to see if you have a CSA farm in your area. I thought it was a long shot for me since I live in such a small communty, but I found one within 20 minutes, so you just never know until you look! A lot of them will be sold-out at this time of year, but you just never know. Mine said it was sold-out on the website, but I sent in an e-mail just in case and they have agreed to “squeeze” me in! I am so excited to get started next week - we’ll see how it goes! I am a bit nervous about ending up with a bunch of vegetables I have never heard of, but they do provide storage tips and recipes each week, so hopefully that will help me out. Should be an adventure with lots of good organic produce! Let me know if you are already a member of one or if you find one in your area!

Christine

I found a new site today I wanted to share - www.fromthefarm.com  This looks like a great concept!  They offer fresh foods delivered directly from the farmer - organics are also available.  Their prices aren’t the best deal around, but aren’t terrible considering shipping is free. 

 Here is a few paragraphs taken from their “about us” page.

“For generations we have witnessed farmers in our community work and risk their livelihoods while struggling to survive. Fuel prices go up. So does water, utilities and wages. However, the price a farmer gets for his product at market has stayed constant for the past two decades!

Most of us, no matter what generation you are, come from a farm, and if you didn’t, your grandparents surely did. In today’s hectic world our choices for fresh food are slim – we have the local grocery store, but have no idea where it came from and as a trade off for the convenience of buying local, we end up compromising on taste.

Fromthefarm.com brings you back to the farm. With its technology, our state of the art website allows you to communicate and trade with farmers once again while purchasing the freshest and best tasting produce anywhere! It’s like being at the world’s largest farmers’ market – but conveniently online and it’s delivered right to your door! And best of all, you know exactly where your food comes from.

FromTheFarm.com is dedicated to making sure the farmer receives a fair profit for their product and that you, the consumer, receive the freshest, tastiest food right to your door at the best price. “

 Check them out and let me know what you think!

I think today might be the last day, but I just had to share… 

If you have a Jewel-Osco / Albetsons near you, don’t miss the sale this week! They have General Mills Cereal, different granola bars, Pop Secret microwave popcorn, and Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks for $1 each when you buy in quantities of 10 - mix and match.

We made the hour drive to our Jewel yesterday and picked up sale items along with some basic needs. In front of the cereal in the little blinkie machine there were coupons for $.75 off two boxes of cereal so that made our cereal $.67 a box! We ended up with 106 items for $115! Our total savings $198! Yea! What a good trip! Give it a try and let us know how much you save!