Ending July on a Good Note

After our yard work extravaganza, I picked the first batch of tomatillos. The plants are still covered with fruit and will be ready for another picking soon. What to do with tomatillos?  Make salsa verde!

I started by grilling the tomatillos, peppers (I had a mix of poblano, serrano, jalapeno and anaheim) and onions.

After they were all a little charred and softened, they were ready for use. Don't worry I did scrape off a bit of the extra char - sorry peppers!

Everything went into the food processor with lime juice, cilantro and a few spices.

This batch made enough for a big jar to use now, a tub to give away and a packet to put in the freezer for later. This is my first attempt to freeze it, so fingers crossed it does well. I will probably use the frozen for cooking so I am not concerned about the texture.

Yesterday I had to go to our main office in the county administration building. Since it is right next to the courthouse and Wednesday is a busy court day, I parked a couple blocks away and walked down main street. On the way back to my car, I ducked into a couple shops. I feel in love with a shop that sells decor and toys for children. Seriously, I think I loved 90% of the merchandise. I wanted to treat myself to this embroidered pillow, but $165!

This may be the cutest little narwhal I have every seen. I wonder if there is anyway he will show up in my Christmas stocking (hopefully my husband is reading!)

So many precious books. I would have loved to pull up one of their cozy chairs and stay all afternoon.

Do you need a baby to have a mobile? Surely not.

This guy was made with different papers and a bit of paint. I wonder if I could create something as cute. It would be perfect in my craft room...or living room?

I stopped at a little meat market that has been in business since 1947. It still has that old-time look inside - down to the manual pencil sharpener just like the one that hung in my grandparents basement stairway. I actually mentioned it to the guy and he said that is were his grandparents kept theirs too.  I found an interesting article in our local paper. I had heard of meat lockers but really didn't know what they were. This excerpt explains:

In all those decades, much has stayed the same. The original locker keys and giant old-fashioned wooden desk remain in the small office. They still use a rotary phone to communicate from the front counter to the back rooms. And the lockers themselves are still there, going back to a time when most homes did not have freezers. So how do you store a whole cow or pig without most of it rotting before you can eat it? You rented a locker, just like Jeff Merkel’s family. He remembers going to Edwardsville Frozen Foods every week with his mother and helping her retrieve a week’s worth of meat from their rented freezer locker. Those lockers are still available, even with the advent of freezer compartments or chest freezers in basements. A quarter cow renders about 200 pounds of meat, which would take quite a large freezer at home. Instead, some 80 or 90 families still rent a locker for $70 a year to store large quantities of meat.

Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article143602814.html#storylink=cpy

 
I chose a couple of kabobs for dinner- one pork and one chicken. Both were good, but honestly I can make them at home for a fraction of the price, right? I enjoyed my grilled romaine again and corn is always a grilling staple in our house.

While I was grilling dinner I tossed a couple chicken thighs on the grill for a future meal. I seasoned the chicken thighs with cayenne pepper and garlic-ginger paste. What is going to happen with this plate of goodness?  Stay tuned...

I love poking around new places. I suppose you could call it a bit of mental health care to go with my physical health focus.

I didn't get started until the middle of the month, but July has still been a good month for me. Since my "new year's day" I have tracked my food - not perfectly, but pretty well. I have definitely been more mindful of what I am eating - both quantity and quality.  I am trying to not get hyper-focused on how much I lose or don't lose each week. I think I might do monthly reports. That being said, I lost 8.4 pounds in July :)

That brings us to August. My plan is to keep doing what I am doing and add in some walking. I might even try hopping in the pool again. I wonder if they remember me at the gym.

What are your August plans?

Squirrel Mania!

One of those mornings that just doesn't seem to go according to plan.  We had originally planned to go on a long walk with a friend.  She has lost about 33 pounds in the last 4 months - doing great!!  We figured we would walk about 5-6 miles along the levee. But we had a last minute change of plans because she had to take a relative to the airport. We will get our walk rescheduled soon :)

New plan.  My husband and I decided to take the bikes to the river road and try to ride 12 miles - the biking distance in the triathlon he is going to do in August.  Then we planned to walk/run a bit after the bike ride. We got our bikes loaded and water packed. We stopped at a gas station to get a touch more air in  his bike tires. I am in the car waiting while he is airing up the tires.  All of the sudden I hear a super loud pop. Yep, blew out the tire with too much air...OOOPS!!

New plan. My husband did his regular 5 mile run in the neighborhood. I wasn't feeling a walk in the neighborhood. I just like to do something different on the weekends when we have a little more time. I have enjoyed riding along while my husband runs and decided to do that. I hopped on my bike. I alternated riding with him and riding ahead. At one point I decided to ride around the loop and see how long it took me to catch back up with him...a little over two laps (2 miles).  He is a speedy guy.  Speaking of speedy he ran his best mile time this morning. 9:03 on his 5th mile!!!  I can't believe he had that much gas left in the tank!!

We must have been out during prime squirrel time because I have NEVER seen so many squirrels. For every squirrel I saw there were at least 3-4 together. My mean husband calls them the Rats of Suburbia.  Come to think of it I don't remember seeing any out at my in-laws farm. Might be the birds of prey that keep the population down. I am not sure if this person intended to feed the doves or the squirrels. The doves flew away pretty fast when I rode past, but the piggy squirrels kept on munching.

After riding my bike for just over 6 miles I still had it in my head to try a walk afterwards to mimic the triathlon. My husband still had a lap to run so I figured I had time for a partial lap walk. I got off the bike and my legs were a bit jello-like. I took probably 3/10 of a mile for them to feel remotely normal. I felt like I was taking baby strides - I just couldn't step out like normal.

Made my first Salsa Verde today. I've made several batches of Salsa Verde Chicken from Skinnytaste.com but never tried making my own salsa verde. We grew tomatillos in the garden this year - they are the main ingredient of salsa verde. The fruit grows inside these little papery husks. I had to google when to pick them - when the fruit mostly fills the husk and before the husks dry and split open. I think I picked about two pounds today and have lots more on the plants.

In the picture below I have removed their husks.  I was super excited that I had all the ingredients straight from my very own garden (except garlic) - tomatillos, onion, jalapenos, cilantro. Technically, you were supposed to use a poblano and a serrano for the peppers, but we have jalapeno and they aren't super hot so I substituted. Why make a trip to the store when you can eat fresh??

The tomatillos and peppers went under the broiler for about 8-9 minutes - turning once. The idea was to get a bit of char on them.  They don't look too impressive here though.

Into the food processor with the onion, garlic, cilantro, a dash of salt and sugar, and a few tablespoons of water.

And here it is.  You can see the flecks of the char that gave it a bit of a roasted flavor. I also added a dash of lime juice.

For dinner I marinated some pork steak with the salsa verde. I grilled the pork steak on a nice hot grill to give it a good sear and the salsa verde kind a caramelized on the meat. I served the pork steak in corn tortillas with some more salsa verde and the corn/black bean salad I had left over from the 4th of July. It was yummy.  If you want the salsa verde recipe you can find it here at Better Homes and Gardens.  It is actually a video but the video script is under the video feed.

Does anyone have any recommendations of GoToFoods that have helped them on their weight loss journey? I am always looking for new ideas. My husband jokes (maybe he is serious) that I make something delicious then he never sees it again because I want to make new things.