One More Time for Verde

Verde was asking for more posts on how the potato condo went together.

The Idea of the condo is simple- better than a pile of tires, makes for easier harvesting of the spuds- you simply start taking the boards off one level at a time. I think the idea is no digging to get your potatoes.

Here are the instructions on my DIY Blog-Well- it is pretty simple- First I took some old 2X4's in the garage and cut them them to 3 foot lengths ( i would think you could use 2X2's as well- I just happened to have some 2X4's), then I cut some 6" wide fencing boards to 3 foot lengths-- Then I attached the fencing boards to the 2X4's using drywall screws. Then I flip the whole thing over and stapled landscape fabric for the bottom. Then I flipped it back over and put some chits (seed potatoes) in it and covered with dirt. When I start to see evidence of potato growth, I will add another 4 boards and fill with more dirt/compost mix, and so on and so on.

You can see the bottom in this pic- it is just landscape fabric- I just happened to have some- I would imagine no harm would happen if you used cardboard or some old sheets or if you like to weed cut the grass out were you put the condo.

A TIP FOR HOT WEATHER RESIDENTS:(this would include Verde)

Nomikins commented on the DIY Post

"I tried and failed at this method two years in a row. I called a potato seed company, and the person there told me to layer in a soaker hose as the layers get built up, otherwise, the "condo" may stay too dry and get too hot in the summer. Of course, your mileage may vary, based on location. Here in the South, the poor plants just get too hot."

We don't have that too hot problem or too dry here in the NW, but thanks nomikins for the input.

Another tip for all: try using hex head sheet metal screws instead of drywall screws on the boards for easier removal!

DISCLAIMER:

PLEASE NOTE: I HAVE NEVER MADE ONE OF THESE BEFORE, ONLY HEARD ABOUT FROM SHIBA GUYZ BLOG. MY FIRST ATTEMPT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE DIFFICULTIES- ROBJ98168 IS NOT NOR EVER HAS BEEN AN EXPERT IN POTATO CONDO'S- YOUR RESULTS MAY VARY!

I hope this gets Verde and anyone else on the road to happy taters!

Free tomato seeds from Campbells and CVG's giveaway

Grow your own tomato soup!

Tired of entering blog giveaways only to not win?

Well- Here is your chance to come out a winner!

As reported by Cheap Vegetable gardener and Red- Icculus, Campbell's soup is indeed giving away free tomato seeds. To Consumers and to the FFA- just go to Help Grow Your Soup.com -A great opportunity to join Melinda's Seed to Seed Growing Challenge with free seeds!

And a few hints from the Campbell tomato seeds giveaway page:"An empty Campbell's soup can is just the right size for growing seedlings. Keep the iconic label on for a decorative touch!" What a cool re-use idea!

Another tip:"Don't touch your tomato plants until you've washed your hands. Viruses can easily spread from your hands to your plants." I know this is especially true if you are a smoker. Tobacco plant viruses are extremely toxic to tomato and pepper plants and are easily spread from the hands of cigarette smokers.

Even if you elect not to get free tomato seeds, go to the page to click and help them meet their goal of giving away 22.5 million tomato seeds to community groups and the Future Farmers of America.

Speaking of Cheap Vegetable Gardener and free things- tomorrow is the deadline for his first ever giveaway- a one year subscription to GrowVeg.com so hurry up get over the garden geek's page and sign up!

I wanna go back to my little grass shack....Weekly Challenge update

Well not much got down around Casa De Los Pink flamingos this week- I did start a new project- I had an old canopy (an "e-z up) whose top has seen better days - it was torn- so I did what any good re-user would do and made a new one from reed fencing. I am gonna put this where you see the bikes in front of the rain barrel. I was pricing gazebos and pergolas- $500 to $1500! And you know I am really cheap!
So I got my creative freak on and made this "roof" for my old canopy frame. Cost was about $50 for the reed fencing and $2 for the tie-wraps to attach it.

Sharon's Independence Days Challenge-
Plant Something: Nothing really- restarted some new sprouts
Harvest Something: some pea sprouts
Preserve something: nope
Store something: Bought some Morningstar products on sale, and Safeway had a sale- buy $25 in frozen food get a coupon for $10 of shopping, put all in the freezer
Manage Reserves: Made a new raised bed for garden.
Cook Something New: still into the sorbet thing – made some blueberry (so far it is my favorite) Made some roast chicken thighs topped with Rotola cheese ( mozzarella and persciutto ham rolled up and sliced- very good
Prep Something: Nope
Reduce Waste: Saved the canopy frame and top from going in to the waste stream (see above), Will use the old canopy for gardening and covering my load in the pickup.
Learn a New Skill:
Work on Community Food Security: Made a donation to the food bank, bought some Via coffee (from Starbucks) for troops over seas;

MELINDA'S BUY SUSTAINABLY CHALLENGE: Bought some reed fencing for canopy project; and some tie wraps at dollar store; got two free tickets to Regal cinemas, used those to see "I Love You Man"

Melinda’s Growing Challenge- Nothing to report (tomato starts are still not dead!)

Crunchy’s Freeze Yer Balls off Challenge: Last week of this challenge- I cannot remember a winter with low temps this late into the season (It’s spring, dammit!) But have toughed it out all winter with exception for when I hold the mother of all colds. My power bills reflect the lower thermostats.

Where do you live? I DON't KNOW

UPDATE: The general consensus is this is a Hoax. I have been fooled. Before April 1st!

A friend sent me this- perhaps the dumbest person on the face of the earth. What an argument for funding education.

NEW YORK - Idaho resident Kathy Evans brought humiliation to her friends and family Tuesday when she set a new standard for stupidity with her appearance on the popular TV show, 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. ' It seems that Evans, a 32-year-old wife and mother of two, got stuck on the first question, and proceeded to make what fans of the show are dubbing 'the absolute worst use of lifelines ever.' After being introduced to the show's host Meredith Vieira, Evans assured her that she was ready to play, whereupon she was posed with an extremely easy $100 question. The question was: 'Which of the following is the largest?' A) A Peanut B) An Elephant C) The Moon D) Hey, who you calling large? Immediately Mrs. Evans was struck with an all consuming panic as she realized that this was a question to which she did not readily know the answer. 'Hmm, oh boy, that's a toughie,' said Evans, as Vieira did her level best to hide her disbelief and disgust. 'I mean, I'm sure I've heard of some of these things before, but I have no idea how large they would be.' Evans made the decision to use the first of her three lifelines, the 50/50. Answers A and D were removed, leaving her to decide which was bigger, an elephant or the moon. However, faced with an incredibly easy question, Evans still remained unsure. 'Oh! It removed the two I was leaning towards!' exclaimed Evans. 'Darn. I think I better phone a friend.' Using the second of her two lifelines on the first question, Mrs. Evans asked to be connected with her friend Betsy, who is an office assistant. 'Hi Betsy! How are you? This is Kathy! I'm on TV!' said Evans, wasting the first seven seconds of her call. 'Ok, I got an important question. Which of the following is the largest? B, an elephant, or C, the moon. 15 seconds hun.' Betsy quickly replied that the answer was C, the moon. Evans proceeded to argue with her friend for the remaining ten seconds. 'Come on Betsy, are you sure?' said Evans. 'How sure are you? Duh, that can't be it.' To everyone's astonishment, the moronic Evans declined to take her friend's advice and pick 'The Moon.' 'I just don't know if I can trust Betsy. She's not all that bright. So I think I'd like to ask the audience,' said Evans. Asked to vote on the correct answer, the audience returned 98% in favor of answer C, 'The Moon.' Having used up all her lifelines, Evans then made the dumbest choice of her life. 'Wow, seems like everybody is against what I'm thinking,' said the too-stupid-to- live Evans. 'But you know, sometimes you just got to go with your gut. So, let's see. For which is larger, an elephant or the moon, I'm going to have to go with B, an elephant. Final answer.' Evans sat before the dumbfounded audience, the only one waiting with bated breath, and was told that she was wrong, and that the answer was in fact, C, 'The Moon.'
Caution...they walk among us!

Blowing my own Horn!

Danita over at Burien Undressed wrote a real nice post about this blog. I thought it would be nice to reciprocate. And I like tooting my own horn from time to time!

Burien Undressed is The place to go to find out about local Burien businesses, local restaraunts, and community information. It promotes highly the neighbor to neighbor attitude of the City of Burien, and exemplifies community strengths.

It is a great addition to the local blog-o-sphere. I encourage folks who live in Burien, are thinking of visiting Burien or who have nothing better to do than read about a city they will probably never visit to sneak on over there and take a peak! What about B-town Blog? well they are a great local blog as well, but they have never written a post about my blog, and I am cheesy like that!

No Meat Wednesday!

Today had some mac and cheese at Mom's and salad, for lunch at work I brought some kumqauts and Homemade soup that pretty much contained most of the fridge! It was vegetable stock with some onions, some dehydrated zucchini, some carrots and the rest of the three bean salad I had last week! It was very good, too It also had some morningstar crumbles in it left over from another meatless meal. Grandma Nygard would be proud! She was my dad's mom who would make soup out of anything out of the frigidaire, moldy or not! Tonight I am gonna make bean burritos when I get home!

Happy Birthday, Romeo!

snnnf. My little pup is getting grown up. Today is Romeo's 4th birthday. We partied all weekend. Romeo got lots of new toys- Which he loves. But I found out he doesn't much like candles. Must have gotten that from a former owner. LOL Crunchy would like this dog- he only want's beeswax candles. So far my only complaint with Romeo since I adopted him is he has wanderlust-He likes to sneak off when we are in the front yard or do the great escape from the fenced back yard- if he chooses to escape the back yard god knows when I will see him- so far he has had one good outing- the end result being a bath- which he doesn't like much either. Another dog would have gotten away with playing in the mud- but not this white dog!

Anyway happy birthday Romi-pup! I hope there's many more!!!

Spring time blooms- Weekly Challenge Update

Plum tree with buds on it- ready to rock and roll

Ahhh spring- when everyyoung mans fancy turns to lust... or in my case rust.

You can always tell when I take time off from work- I go into a tailspin at home

Sharon's Independence Days Challenge-
Plant Something: Potatoes, Sprouts, Peas, some lettuce and some runner beans; Artichoke plant, Onion Sets, Some basil,

Potato Condo- phase 1

Harvest Something: Sprouts
Preserve something: Froze some citrus fruit to use for sorbets later, made some casseroles and froze them for later
Store something: Nope
Manage Reserves: Went through and checked pickles and other canned goods; got my apple trees and some strawberry plants ordered (finally) with the gift certificate I got for Christmas
Cook Something New: Orange Sorbet
Prep Something: Fixed some shelving up for plant starts in windows; Finished the SWP’s for my tomato plants;
Reduce Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair: Made a fountain out of a lamp and some ole silver plate; made a “Junk Art” Robot to hold my recipes out of a Trader Joe’s Mint tin, some bolts, some Unistrut brackets; Mounted my Solar powered security light to a pole to make light for the dog;
Learn a New Skill: Learned how to do my will online
Work on Community Food Security: Saved some coupons to give to the gal at Sustainable Burien who uses them for the food bank.

MELINDA'S BUY SUSTAINABLY CHALLENGE: Garden buying is here- sustainable buying is out the window- Bought some lumber to make raised bed boxes, bought some compost and vermiculite to fill those boxes- but since that stuff is used to grow food-I am not counting it as buying unsustainable

Melinda’s Growing Challenge- Bought an Artichoke plant – not started from seed, but wanted to try one anyway-

Crunchy’s Freeze Yer Balls off Challenge: Not so bad now that it is warming up

No Meat Wednesday

Wow is it Wednesday already??? I am taking a few days off from work to recharge me batteries. Anyway today for lunch I had a "Chick 'N" sandwich made with Morningstar Farms Chik 'N patty and some 3 bean salad. For Dinner, not wanting just a cheese pizza, I warmed up some Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers™ Recipe Crumbles™ and put on my pizza- Yummy! I also got my potatoes in the condo - so grow dammit grow!

MacDougle...McDougel... MacDougell... Whatever

Rob's McDougalled Sorbet

I sometimes get inspired. I won a copy of the New McDougall Cookbook, Over at Chile's McDougalling blog. Of course Chile thinks its funny I have a hard time spelling McDougall. Not my fault- When I was in school, I had a friend by the last name of MacDougle. I would always misspell his name- so I concentrated and concentrated on spelling his name. Now they want me to spell Mcdougall. Anyway I made Banana Ice Cream last week from the cookbook. This week I am straying from the recipe- I made an Orange Sorbet using an orange instead of a Banana. Very good and refreshing, I am thinking of trying lemons, limes, berries. Anyway here is my or rather Dr. McDougall's Recipe:

Rob's McDougalled Orange Sorbet

1 large orange or 2 small ones (I think next time I will use blood oranges)

1/4 to 1/3 cup of Soy milk (if you are not into soy milk, you can use cow's milk)

1 Tblsp. Blue Agave nectar (Not in the original Banana Ice Cream recipe)

Peel, section and freeze the orange(s) at least 12 hours before using. Place orange sections in Blender or food processor. Turn on processor, add milk. Process for about 1 minute. Serve in bowls.

MY-Kea Lanterns

Ikea's Solig lanterns

This is a Recycled post from my DIY blog- I thought I would share it since I am recycling/re-using #5PP in making these Lanterns! Technically I would suppose you could call it an Ikea Hack, but since nothing from Ikea was used in making them- I call it a MY-Kea Hack!

I was in Ikea yesterday- they had their summer stuff out- I walked by some neat little battery powered lanterns- The Solig Lantern , which looked like my mom's old tupperware tumblers with a light in them. Well when I got home from work, I got my creative freak on. I made two versions- 1 in the lantern holders I previously got from Ikea as-is, 1 without. For the lantern I used a Crystal Light container. These are a problem for me- I cant drink regular OJ in the morning (due to the diabetes) and I love OJ so I have to drink this powdered "Tang" rip-off unless I juice my own. But what to do with the packaging? It is #5 Poly Propylene, the only place I know that recycles it is Whole Foods of which there is not one near me, nor is there a Whole Foods in the state of Washington that is involved with the Gimme 5 program or i can send them in to Recycline- Both part of their Gimme 5 program-I looked at the tubes of #5PP and thought those look just like the solig lanterns. So I took a battery powered tea light put one in, put the lid back on and POW- a Solig lantern! I love the muted look the tea light gives. For the ones with no fancy lantern holder I will take some hefty wire (probably an old coat hanger) and make a hanger for them- just drill through the top, add a loop made from a hanger and done! Note the one in the holder loses it's #5PP Lid- I will take that and make a fridge magnet photo frame. I get a neat lantern for the porch, get a re-use on the #5PP Containers and didn't have to buy a thing- I have the tea lights (available at Michael's Crafts and JoAnn's- I got a pack of 28 at costco with 56 extra batteries for like $8)I Certainly have the wire hangers (one of my favorate things to make tools and such out of)! So the way I look at it I got my "Solig Lanterns" for nothing !
"My-Kea's" Lanterns

NEW CHALLENGE

La Crunchy Chicken is starting a Sustainable Food Budget Challenge. There is a limit to how much you can spend on food (mine is $283- I figured that out by taking the amount for two people and dividing it by three, and adding 1/3 of the amount to buying for one- since I dont always make dinner for two) Anyway sounds like a good challenge for the times-The rules are fairly loose, but the goal is to buy sustainably grown food: 1. If not LOCALLY PRODUCED, then Organic. (I always ask in the supermarket- the Produce manager runs when he sees me walk in) 2. If not ORGANIC, then Family farm. 3. If not FAMILY FARM, then Local business. 4. If not a LOCAL BUSINESS, (luckily I have a green grocer in the neighborhood) then Terroir: purchase foods famous for the region they are grown in. 5. Hit the farmers market before the supermarket. (not so easy in this neck of the woods- The closest farmer's market is the world famous Pike Place Market in Seattle- Burien's doesn't open until May:( Anyway I am game.
And, For you home improvement junkies, If you are willing to "Git 'er Done" - Abbie is promoting Jena's Git'er Done Challenge over at Becker Farm's Blog- I am shying away from that one for the simple fact I got too much to do on the house as it is- I don't need that kinda pressure! That and anything that encourages comparison to me and Larry The Cable Guy will be sorely met. Besides... I am not cutting the sleeves out of all my shirts!

Mantles and MacDougle- Weekly Challenge update

The "faux mantle" I made mom out of old pine boards
Well this was a very strange week. First the weather was odd. Snow in this area is rare- but snow in mid-march? Even Rarer. It snowed this morning- I woke up to huge snowflakes. And snow on the ground. I made Banana "Ice Cream" last night, a recipe from Chile's McDougle Cookbook I won in a giveaway on the McDougling with Chile blog. I included instructions on how to make in this weeks Challenge Update, made a "faux" mantle for my mom using some old pine boards in the garage. Pretty busy week now that I think about it!
Sharon's Independence Days Challenge-
Plant Something: Finished the potato “condo”. Didn’t plant potatoes yet but they now have a home!Harvest Something: Some sprout mixture
Preserve something: Nothing of note
Store something: Nothing of note
Manage Reserves: Started on the pantry/laundry room- Start at the bottom, making a better spot for Sammy's kitty potty, one with some privacy and hidden form the world- the only trouble is out of site, out of mind- Will need to be more diligent about cleaning
Cook Something New: After receiving the McDougle cookbook in Chile’s giveaway- opted to make some Banana Ice Cream- very easy: two frozen bananas(peel before freezing), 1/3 cup of soymilk (I cheated and used nonfat milk)place in the food processer – surprised it made a nice ice cream.
Prep Something: Finished the potato condo
Reduce Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair: made a hanging light fixture from an old squirrel cage fan, used old 2X4’s in making the potato condo.Made my mom a mantle from some old pine boards I had on hand.
Learn a New Skill: Made my rebar bender- now bending rebar- very therapeutic.
Work on Community Food Security: Nothing I can think of

MELINDA'S BUY SUSTAINABLY CHALLENGE: Did not buy anything this week except for groceries. No art supplies, nothing. OOOPS bought stuff to make rebar bender- ½” flange, ½” 90 degree fitting, Some bolts and nuts.

Crunchy’s Freeze Yer Balls off Challenge: It *&^%$# snowed again this morning. My Balls are still freezing. *&^%$ Weathermen.

Bookworm Review- Fresh Food From Small Spaces

This here is my book report for The Blogging Bookworm:
Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting by R.J. Rupenthal

I won this book on a giveaway at the Crunchy Chicken blog.
A first glance my thoughts were “Jeeze- another end of the world scare book”. I was soooo wrong. This is just a delightful easy to read book that shows how everyone- Apartment dwellers with no outside space to folks who have room for gardens can grow food. This book rekindled my love of sprouting! In particular interest to me, was the section on making your own SWP (Self Watering Planters) Very similar to making an earth tainer, except he shows how to make one with using only one roughneck style container instead of two. One of those moments you slap your head and shout "why didn't I think of that? Another thought he has that I can whole heartedly agree with is if you have no outside space you can grow sprouts. He writes a very good section on sprouting, very concise and very easy to read. Let’s face it- sprouting is hardly an interesting topic, except to people like me who haven’t let go of their hippie ways. I usually yawn my way through garden books, but for some reason I could not put this one down- Mr. Rupenthal makes you want to get out and start growing! And he has a writing style that keeps your interest.

This is not a garden book with pretty pictures of unattainable garden ideas- this is a no nonsense book on using your space to grow things!


All in all- this book is very good to read, an easy read, and it makes you want to get out and grow something! I give it two green thumbs up! I was very glad to win this on Crunchy’s blog, but am afraid I will have to order another copy as I promised to Gift this one on!

Potato Condo For Lease- Ready to move In- No Meat wednesday

Potato Condo ready for occupancy

Okay- the potato condo is done and ready for it's new tenants!It measures 3' X 3' and the sides will grow with the potatoes. Note the remnants of *&^%$# snow on the ground.
BLOGGER UPDATE-I cannot take credit for the potato condo idea- it was originally the brain child of the shiba guyz a couple of really serious urban gardeners, Local Blogging celebrities, and two of the nicest guys you could meet- and they have a couple of great little shiba dogs as well!

Today was a funny day. I went to mom's for lunch and she forgot this was my meatless day- she had chicken in a gravy, roasted vegetables and mashed potatoes- I just had roast vegetables and mashed potatoes- for lunch at work I brought along a couple of burritos made with refried beans- Vegan friendly refried beans (no lard), cheese and tortillas. I have to say I am getting more admiration for vegans- you have to think about refried beans, are they made with lard? Is the cheese soy or milk based? Quite a thought. Since I have started meatless wednesday, I have to admit to the fact I haven't eaten meat alot of other meals.I have not bought or prepared any meat products all last week- and surprise- don't miss them! I do however eat cheese and eggs, so maybe I am more vegetarian friendly than vegan friendly.

Making The Tools- A rebar Bender

Bending a shepard's hook out of rebar

I was getting a brain-wave today. I want an easy way to bend rebar- so I set forth and googled- I found this site on building cardboard domes, he explains how to construct a cheap bender out of beam pieces and spikes. I wanted something a bit more... concrete, to pun around. So I made mine out of a half inch floor flange, four 1/4 20 thread, 1-1/2" blots, eight nuts, 4 flat washers and 4 lock washers. On the backside of the flange I inserted a 1/2 inch 90 degree elbow (so my vice could hold on to the flange). Guess what? The damn thing works! I made a Shepards hook on it. Hint- you should keep a couple of pieces of pipe to help you manipulate the rebar- I used 3/4 inch and 1/2 inch steel pipe, 16" and 24" inches long, respecfully. Then I insert the rebar into my tool and bend away! Not perfect but it works! More info and pics here

Mexi Pizzas and Me- Weekly Challenge Update

This week I got into more meatless meals- And an old favorate- Mexi Pizza's - they are a form of Tostado- very simple to make- Some refried Beans, a layer of Cheese, topped with salsa on a fried tortilla! On Thursday I made them with a layer of the "meat" left over from the Sloppy Jose's (Morningstar Farms "Crumbles" TVP was the meat!)


Sharon's Independence Days Challenge-
Plant Something: Planted shallots, got tomato plants started as well as my pumpkins and summer squash
Harvest Something: Some sprout mixture
Preserve something: Nothing of note
Store something: Some brown rice in a big bag that was on sale into mason jars and vacuumed packed
Manage Reserves: Drew up some ideas on making the laundry/pantry more efficient- better outlay
Cook Something New: Just the Sloppy Jose’s- never made them with TVP before; experimented with making “Mexican Pizza”, a type of tostado; never made meatless before now
Prep Something: Finishing up on the potato condo- ran out of screws and staples on Sunday evening all the stores are closed; making up some SWP’s (Self watering Planters);
Reduce Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair: made another bird bath from lamp parts I had on hand as a gift; No gift wrapping in three gifts I gave this week; used some old lumber in making my potato planter;
Learn a New Skill: Studying up on bending rebar, got instruction on making a bender, figured out how to make a rebar bender- need to get parts and make it
Work on Community Food Security: Went to a sustainable Burien meeting, one of the local churches would like to donate some it's land for P-Patches, Great possibility- very exciting

MELINDA'S BUY SUSTAINABLY CHALLENGE: Did not buy anything this week except for some neoprene rubber washers for bird bath I made for my cousin; Just groceries and a big bag of Brown Rice that was on sale

Crunchy’s Freeze Yer Balls off Challenge: Balls still frozen- doesn’t know it a'int supposed to snow Thermostats still set to 55 when gone or sleeping 65 when home (It is snowing while I am typing this- trace amount but still

Birdbaths, Planting and Retirement parties

I planted my tomato seeds today- I don't have a fancy computerized grow box like my friend the garden geek aka Cheap Vegetable Gardener- just a shelf on one of my southern exposure windows. If all goes well I will have 16 tomato plants. And yes my starter pots are toilet paper tubes. Also I went to a retirement party for my cousins Dwight and Monte- Dwight has 31 years at the Boeing company, Monte I think has 33 years. And it was my cousin Margo's birthday, so I gave her this birdbath:
This one is made from lamp parts and a ceiling light fixture shade. And a butterfly decoration.
Nothing says loving like some junk from the garage!

My New Favorite Thing- Lunch-Bots

That Fake Plastic Fish woman introduced me and the rest of the world to a great find! LunchBots- a stainless steel alternative to plastic in your lunch bag. I ordered them and I love them- The lunchbot uno is the perfect size to pack a sandwich or burrito in. The Lynchbots Duo is great for taking some salad and/or chips or a little dessert in. And after going through Crunchy's Food waste reduction challenge and taking more leftovers in my lunch these are great. Stainless steel tins and powdered coated tops make these the best thing for taking lunch in. I highly reccomend them. And I know Beth does too- she is giving away her Lunchbots Duo . So i would head over there and sign up if I were you. Also, she has a coupon code for free shipping! (Code is FREESHIP09 -No secrets here!)And as you can see in the pics above I was able to get two sloppy Jose's in my lunchbot uno!

Paging JAM- where are you?

I know you read other blogs as I see you comment on them! I am trying to get ahold of you as you are the winner of the "The Wonders Of Sprouting" give-away. Please contact me at robj98168@yahoo.com with your snail mail info so I can get your mailing info and get your booklet to you!

Meatless Wednesday- Sloppy Jose's and Soy Corn Dogs

For dinner, I made Sloppy Jose's- A sloppy joe with taco seasoning, again using Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers™ Recipe Crumbles™ and tomorrow I will make mexican pizza with the leftovers - simply fry the tortilla's, spread refried beans on the tortilla, add a layer of taco meat, some lettuce, top with salsa. I make my own refried beans- I simply use some pinto beans boiled down and mash them. No lard or nothing, except I do add about of tablespoon of Canola oil.
Sloppy Jose's
1 Pkg. Of Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers™ Recipe Crumbles™
1 pkg. of Taco Seasoning
Catsup
Shredded Cheese if desired
Prepare crumbles in 1 tbsp of oil, and prepare with taco seasoning as directed, add about 1/4 cup of catsup, cook until done. Place over Hamburger buns or bread, top with cheese

for lunch at work I had Trader Joe's Corn Dogs- They are soy based hot dogs on a stick with corn meal coating- Very good- I never can tell the difference.

Older But Wiser- The Weak-ly Challenge Update:

Well another year older, another year wiser? Got some nice stuff for my birthday, Not too much packaging (In fact two of my presents none at all!) So maybe folks are listening to me bitch as I get older. And next year I get to join AARP so I can be a card carrying bitcher!
AWAY WE GO:

Sharon's Independence Days Challenge- Week 36
Plant Something:Some sprouts; planted some peas for pea sprouts
Harvest Something: Salad Mixture sprouts, Lentil Bean Sprouts,
Store something: Some beans and seeds for sprouting
Cook Something New: Nothing new- except did use some of the apple pulp in my juicer in my morning oatmeal
Prep Something: Got to working on some new raised bed planters, and some SWP's (Self Watering Planters)
Reduce Waste: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair: Saved another lamp from becoming trash and turned it into a birdbath for my cousin for her birthday! Repaired the rain barrel again! Made some Luminaria from tin cans
Learn a New Skill: I learned how to use the new juicer I got for my birthday
Work on Community Food Security: Nope

MELINDA'S BUY SUSTAINABLY CHALLENGE: Did very little shopping. It was my birthday so I didn't have to; I bought some rubber washers to make another lamp birdbath, this time for a cousin who is turing 60! Other than that, and some art supplies and of course groceries- nothing new!

Crunchy’s Food Waste Challenge: The last posting for this one as crunchy has wrapped it up!I ended up composting two slices of moldy bread thatI wass going to save for bread pudding- ooops. I got a Juicer for my birthday- so now, not only can I have fresh apple juice (Yea!) I can figure out what to do with the pulp left behind- this morning I mixed apple pulp with my oat meal! And I Found out the dog likes orange pulp!!!Someone (Romeo) Chewed the corner off of a box of Vegetable Stock I bought for soup- It went out into the drain along with the contents of of the soup box which where in my reusable shopping bag.

Bad puppy :(

Crunchy's Freeze Your Buns Challenge: I cannot wait for warmer weather- I hate sitting around at night freezing. but still at 55/65!