Finally, Spring arrived and we have had an amazing amount of pollen fall this week. This picture was my attempt to try and sweep the pollen of the deck. Yes, all that yellow dust is pollen. I have lived in several places, and North Carolina is the only place I have seen this visible layer of pollen.
Good news, with the warmer weather, my winter vegetable garden has taken off. I picked the first lot of spinach, which we made into a salad for dinner tonight.
My first head of broccoli is nearly ready, I am thinking I can harvest it over the next day or two.
The cabbages, carrots and cauliflower are coming along. We tried a couple of the carrots but they are still quite small – the rest of these will be ready in the next 3-4 weeks.
Our meal plan this week includes some of our fresh vegetables, which saved us a little money. I did really well this week with staying away from sugar and process foods. I even got outside one lunch, at work, to exercise !!!
| DAY | BREAKFAST | DINNER | EXERCISE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saturday | Granola + Soy Yoghurt + Banana | Beef tips (from meat house) + Spinach salad | |
| Sunday | Whole wheat banana buttermilk Pancakes | Broccoli + Tomato Fettuccine (GF) | Walk 3-4 miles |
| Monday | Bircher Muesli | “Fried” Rice (Brown rice and vegetables – prepared over the weekend) | |
| Tuesday | Berry + Banana + Spirulina Smoothie | Vegetarian Burgers + Salad | 3-4 Mile Walk |
| Wednesday | Bircher Muesli | Zpizza (Pizza with whole wheat crust and organic ingredients) | 20 mins. HIT |
| Thursday | Granola + Fruit + Soy Yoghurt | Vegetable Pasta Bake (prepared over the weekend) | |
| Friday | Berry + Banana + Spirulina Smoothie | Grilled fish + salad | 20 mins. HIT |
We are usually spending ~$70 a week only, for our meals. This week we were well under…here is our shopping list:
| GROCERY LIST (NEW STOCK) | IN THE CUPBOARD/FRIDGE |
|---|---|
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NOTE: We shop majority at Trader Joe’s (TJ), Target (TT) with an occasional visit to Whole foods (WF), BJ’s , Harris Teeters (HT), Lowes Food (LF) and Fresh Market (FM).
NOTE: We do not typically use coupons mainly due to time.
NOTE: Items indicated by * are specials for the week we took advantage of.
How are your vegetable gardens going? What meals do you have planned this week? Leave a link in the comments below and I will check them out.
Factotum of Arts 
So jealous of your fresh veggies – we just got a great big snow storm (still on-going) and are expecting to have 25 cm of snow at the end of it. Winter is never-ending here.
I am so sorry. I definitely enjoyed the warm weather this week, mind you it is suppose to be raining tomorrow. Nice to hear from you…you must be busy at the moment 😉
No vegetable gardening here – snow flurries this morning followed by a mid 50-ish degree day. We’ve got another month or so before we’ll be planting anything.
The salad looks wonderful as well as your meal plan. What time’s dinner? 😉
:-)….I am just starting seed planting for summer, since my winter garden was so late. I was just lucky the cold winter didn’t kill my plants and they are now flourishing. I love having people over for dinner – anytime you are down this way.