I noticed my freezer is getting full so this week will be using up some things I have in there that are taking up lots of space – mainly sliced yams, bananas, and lots of cauliflower.  I won’t be doing my monthly shopping until next week so whatever I’m using is what we have on hand – usually breakfasts are supplemented with fruit and milk, but I’m almost out of milk and low on fresh fruit (though I have plenty of frozen and home canned).  Lunches and dinners are supplemented with salads or cooked vegetables, and I’m going to be making a conscious effort to include greens from our garden.

Sunday – breakfast – homemade whole wheat bread, peanut butter and mulberry jam (homemade), grapefruit; lunch – broccoli cauliflower quiche, potato pudding, coleslaw; dinner – Greek lemon egg drop soup

Monday – b – sweet potato rounds with almond sauce; l – cheesy cauliflower soup; d – oat walnut burgers

Tuesday – quinoa porridge (I’m trying a new recipe but the link is for the old one); l – (picnic) carrot millet cake bars, vegetable sticks; d – vegetable pizza with whole wheat crust

Wednesday – b – buckwheat granola; l – baked potatoes, eggs; d – black bean quinoa burgers

Thursday – b – banana pancakes (grain free); l – main dish salad; d – vegetarian meatloaf

Friday – b – cashew butter muffins (grain free); l – leftovers

Snack – banana nut pudding (banana, nut butter, yogurt – blended and refrigerated)

At the end of last week I realized that I haven’t been harvesting the greens in my garden enough.  It’s a funny thing – I’ve been subconsciously avoiding picking our vegetables because I didn’t want to use them up!  But we have so many wonderful greens growing and soon the weather will be warm, so I really need to use them before I plant the summer vegetables!  I’ve been enjoying sauteeing onions, chives, and garlic with spinach, turnip greens, beet greens, and kale from the garden, then having it together with my eggs for breakfast (I eat slightly differently than the menu plan I post for my family). And this is also the season to harvest wild greens, like dandelion and plantain – they are much less bitter when the weather is still cold, and I see them sprouting everywhere.

I also have lettuce and chard growing abundantly, so I’ll be using those more this week as well.  The strawberry plants in the garden are starting to ripen and the kids have enjoyed picking and eating the freshly picked berries.

You may assume that I have loads of yard space when I mention gardening, but I really don’t.  I live in the city on a small lot, and while I’ve converted a lot of the yard to garden space (about 1/2 the available space – the other half I left for the kids play area), but I also try to maximize the planting space.  In the past I used to think that someone with a small yard had no chance of harvesting enough vegetables to be significant or to make it worth the effort, but I was really wrong on this.  I’ve done this by building raised beds and using the square foot gardening method, using vertical planting as much as possible (takes less ground space), and by improving the soil so it’s more productive (ie lots of composting of kitchen scraps!).

I planted some tomato and cucumber seeds last week, which were given to me by a lovely guest who had some left over after doing her planting, and hopefully they’ll be ready to be transplanted by the beginning of June.   My lasagna garden bed has begun sprouting some volunteer plants (when I compost, I basically just bury the veggie scraps in a hole and cover it), so I now have some potato plants, a cabbage, and a few squash plants that have popped up.  I’ll probably move them to a different location since they aren’t exactly where I want them to be, but it’s so fun to see things growing without me having done anything!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Avivah