Anyway, this week we are sharing a little tip to save your aging produce. Inspired by Heather over on Leading the Weigh, I haven’t wasted a bag of spinach in months! She’s a genius!!

Some of my Spinach Recipe where you could easily use the saved frozen spinach…

• Simply Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
• Fennel and Spinach Soup
• Spinach Calzones
  
• Spinach Ricotta Roll
• Stupendous Stromboli
• Wonton Pizza Bites
• Healthy Breakfast Hash
• Simple Spaghetti Squash
• Mini Shrimp Rolls
• Mini Spinach Egg Muffins
• Mom’s Stuffing

Of course, Ryan is as cute as ever. :~)

Last year the toddler and I started the tradition of making brownie bites for halloween. Take your favorite brownie mix (I use VitaBrownie Mix) make according to package, bake in mini muffin cups topped with festive sprinkles.

Simple but fun! :~)

If you are interested in trying the VitaBrownie Mix use the code RonisWeigh when you order online for 10% off!

So in honor of the produce pick, I present our Prickly Pear adventure. Stick around to the end, we salvage it and make an AWESOME smoothie!

If you have any prickly pear advice please, feel free to share! If you are looking for more prickly pear info these sites do a much better job of explaining how to use the fruit. :~)

• How to Cut and Prepare Prickly Pears
• How to Eat a Prickly Pear Fruit
• Tuna Wrangling (aka Processing Prickly Pear Fruit)

We’ll be picking more up soon! I REALLY want to make another smoothie without the seeds! It was YUMMY!

Hi Roni,

Love your blog and GreenLiteBites. This is my 1st question to you ever but there are likely to be more!

I’d like to cook brown rice more often but it just takes too long when I only want to do a quick dinner. Do you ever cook up a big batch and freeze it? If you do what are your tips? If you don’t do you think it would work out ok?

Thanks so much for your time.
Crazylady :)

Ohhh Crazylady, you are going to make me admit something, aren’t you? I rarely cook brown rice from “scratch”. That’s right, you heard me. You said it, it takes too gosh darn LONG!

That being said I keep brown rice in stock for soups, gumbos, stews and crock pot meals but for everyday side dish type applications I’ve grown quite dependent on these little 90 second gems. There are a lot of brown rice instant alternatives nowadays so I scour the grocery store aisle for some fun “brown” side dishes.

As for your freezing question, I’ve never done it but searching the web I uncovered many people who do. There’s even a Yahoo question about it. :~)

Hope that helps and thanks for the idea! Maybe I’ll get a little less dependent on my instants and start making my own frozen instants! Mush cheaper!!

Hope that helps!
-Roni

Honestly, I made another one (which was just as good!) but none of the photos were ready for prime time. So I’m going to stick with just the video in hopes you take the idea and run with it! :~)

Links mentioned…

• The Water Pot Trick
• Tortilla Options
• Provolone Pita Pizza

You’ll have to excuse my appearance, I ran earlier and have been doing errand after errand. I literally didn’t have time for a shower!

The two seasonings I use all the time and show in the video…

• Kernel Seasons White Cheddar
• Jolly Time Instant Buttery Seasoning, 6-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 24)

Here’s the story… When I moved into my house about 6 years ago I decided I would TRY to grow a few plants in containers on the deck. I, by no means, have a green thumb. Actually the opposite is true. In the past I think I’ve killed every houseplant I ever attempted to grow.

I didn’t care, I really wanted to take my hand at some home grown vegetables. I just thought it would be really neat to grow some of my own fresh food.

So I invested in 5 large plastic pots for the deck and a few bags of soil. I bought some seedlings from a local farm stand and I was shocked the first year when I plucked tomatoes and zucchini from my own deck garden.

Over the next few years I continued to container garden. Not really knowing what I was doing I’d experimented each year with different vegetables and different techniques. Sometimes I’d buy seedlings sometimes seeds. I learned that large plants in containers need a lot of water and you can nurse a dry plant back to health. I also learned that with a little attention and care it really wasn’t that hard.

This year I decided to take the leap and carve out a corner of my yard for a mini garden. It was a lot of work but I tilled the soil by hand, fenced it off with a little border and planted all different seedlings to see what would actually grow in my Maryland clay.

To my surprise everything grew and grew fast! Before I knew it the plants were so big I couldn’t get into the garden anymore. My melons vined outside of the garden and under the deck. My tomato plants grew so large I couldn’t tie them to the stakes anymore and my Zucchini plants literally took over the garden with their enormous leaves.

I’m sure if I knew what I was doing I’d have a more fruitful (and better looking) garden but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. Look at the fruits of my labor from just today!

Even if this is all I get out of this year (which it’s not I’ve been plucking zucchini and cherry tomatoes for weeks) it was well worth it and here’s why….

1. Planting and showing the toddler that you can grow a garden has been priceless. His little face lights up with excitement every time he discovers a new fruit to pick.
2. Growing our own veggies also gives me more of a chance to teach him how important a good diet is. He routinely pops cherry tomatoes and green beans in while picking, he’s wiling to take bites out of zucchinis and he even HAD to try to a hot pepper after I continually warning that it would be hot! For him eating fresh whole foods is second nature and I’m reinforcing that!
3. Organic is such a buzzword lately but really, growing your produce is the ultimate organic, healthy option out there. Nothing is more fresh and nutritious then something you plucked from your own plants.
4. It keeps me busy. There have been many a Sunday where I just want to veg in front of the TV, then I remember I have a garden! I end up out there (with the toddler) picking weeds and watering. It’s a great outlet that really gives you a reason to get off your butt!
5. I’ve gained the confidence to continue to garden and I know that even though my garden isn’t perfect it doesn’t matter. I’ll still get something. Even if it’s only a tomato or two. Who cares! It’s fun and productive! :~)

So I hope me showing you my disaster of garden inspires those of you who are afraid to take the leap of growing your own vegetables to give it a try. For all the green thumb readers out there, I’m open ears to any gardening advice you’d like to give!

Anyway, I made tacos the other night and measured out my own spices to give you some ideas. This combination can be used on anything, ground beef, chicken, I even used it in a double batch of Southwestern Turkey Burgers that I made today. For my tacos, I used 8 oz lean ground beef and the following spices.

• 1 ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried cilantro
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• Ground red pepper flakes to taste
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Now, if you are the type of person who buys those packets instead of keeping spices on hand, I encourage you to try this. It may be intimidating at first but most of the spices you see pictured were 99 cents each. That’s a heck of a lot of taco seasoning. Plus you can use the spices for other things as well! And don’t believe what all the “top chefs” tell you about replacing your spices every 3 months. Some of you may think I’m crazy but I’ve had some of my spices for years. They still “work” and add a lot of flavor to your dishes.

Anyone want to add anything to our taco seasoning? Any other spices you add?

Just a tip… When buying a pineapple it should feel heavy for it’s size. That’s how you know you have a sweet one! (I should have said that on the video)

Of course, in addition to the meat storing, I babble on about a few other things as well. ;~P

Posts mentioned in the video…

• Storing Breast Milk
• Meat Storage – Frozen Flat
• 100% Whole Grain Pancakes
• Quick Quinoa & Turkey Taco Stew
• Southwestern Turkey Burgers

Major Points

• Plain Site Produce: I keep all produce in plain site. I don’t use any special storage containers, just the bags they came in. If it’s fruit like melons I’ll clean, cut them and store in regular tupperware. I try to buy things I know we will eat in a week and then just replace everything next weekend. You’ll notice broccoli, bags of baby spinach, baby carrots, peppers, berries, containers of melon from last weekend, and cauliflower. I don’t normally buy cauliflower but I saw a recipe I want to try this week.
• Drawer Storage: In the drawers, I store deli stuff, all my bread products (tortillas, whole wheat English muffins, polenta, etc.) and I reserve the bottom drawer for defrosting meats. This way I don’t have to worry about the leaking over anything else.
• Lot’s of Condiments: You can’t see the door, but that’s all condiments, ketchup, lots of mustards, peanut butter, almond butter, low sugar jellies, parmesan cheese, salsa, a jar of jalapeños, BBQ sauce, hot sauce, sugar free sweet pickles, etc. I can’t live without my condiments!
• Easy Meat Storage: In the freezer you should be able to see my 90% ground lean beef stored flat on the top shelf. I also buy the bags of chicken breast tenderloins, chicken legs, and fish fillets so I can pull them out in individual pieces. Other meats in there are pork, ground turkey, turkey sausage, stew beef and turkey breast tenderloins. I buy everything when it’s on sale and stock up.
• Frozen Fruits & Veggies: Even though I buy fresh I always have at least a bag of frozen strawberries, broccoli and peas in the freezer. They are lifesavers in a pinch!

I hope that helps! Maybe next week, I’ll do my pantry! ;~P

Any tip YOU want to share?