Garden Harvest: Purple Green Beans

Green beans are not my favorite vegetable. At the dinner table when I was little, I would trade my green beans for my brother's fish. Of course, when my parents weren't looking. I disliked green beans and he loathed the haddock that my mother prepared.

Fast forward some 30 years and I have acquired a taste for green beans. They still aren't my favorite green vegetable, but I tolerate them much better now. Mostly because I want to set a healthy example for my kids. So far they aren't trading their food yet and have no problem eating green beans.

I have two little girls who love the color purple. I thought this would be fun to plant in the garden. The beans are a pretty shade of dark purple, but change to green when cooked. At that point the kids are no longer impressed.

I decided to blanch and freeze these beans. We received a big bag of beans last week from our CSA that still needed to be eaten. These garden beans needed to be harvested and they are now in my freezer for later use.

This is the most that I have harvested so far. The garden has lots of green tomatoes, a few peppers starting to take off, tons of carrots that should be done soon, 3 melons growing rapidly and a zucchini plant that is going to take over my whole neighborhood.

How is your garden growing? What have you harvested so far? Let us know in the comments.

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This post is linked to:

• Tuesday's Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Summer Grilling Recipe Exchange and Delusions of Campsite Grandeur

Last week, I had the brilliant idea that for today's grilling post I would write about our campsite grilling menu from this past weekend's camping trip. The idea came to me as I was planning the food for our camping trip to an actual camp ground. We have camped in our tent before at my grandmother's cottage, but never at an actual campground. This trip needed to be planned out, so that it would go smoothly and we didn't forget anything.

The menu was set and it was going to be easy, but everything was going to be done on the grill.

The van was packed and even though we were only going to be gone for 2 nights it looked like we were leaving for a month.

We arrived at the campsite and set up our tents as quickly as possible. Because we ate a late lunch, we just made some sandwiches for dinner, so that we could get to the nearby amusement park. When the park closed, we headed back to the site and my husband made a fire. We snacked on s'mores and went to bed.

At 6:30 am, my husband and I woke up to rain beating down on our tent. Not just any rain, but pouring rain. And it continued to rain for the next 12 hours. I can hear some of you ask, 'did you listen to the weather report?". Yes, we did and the words 'chance of rain' do not indicate to me 12 hours of rain. We were only 40 minutes from home and our hometown got barely a rain drop.

Needless to say it was a loooong day. And our plans to spend the day at the amusement park were obviously squashed. And I was not about to stand at a grill in the pouring rain. I was in no mood to cook...and take pictures.

We will go camping again. The girls didn't complain one bit...just mommy. But by the end of the weekend, I adjusted my attitude and we had a delightful weekend together as a family. I will be writing a post about the whole weekend later in the week.

I do not have a grilling recipe today, but I would love to read your favorite grilling recipes. If you are a camper, I would especially love to read about your favorite campsite grilling recipes either in the link-up or in the comments. What do you eat when you go camping?

Please share your favorite grilling recipes with us. Thanks for participating and I look forward to reading your recipes.

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6 Ways to Conserve Water and Save Money This Summer

In the past, summer time could do some damage to our water bill. The biggest increase in our water consumption comes from watering our garden. We rely on the food that we grow to help lower our food bill, but I don’t want to save money on my groceries only to increase the money spent on our water bill.

As the summer is heating up, the kids love to cool off in the sprinkler. I can hardly say no, when sweat is rolling down their sweet faces and it is too much fun watching them laugh and play in the yard. By the end of the day they are filthy so there is surely a bath at bedtime. During the rest of the year, I can usually get by with bathing them about twice a week.

I am always looking for ways to conserve water and save money on our bill year round, but even more so in the summer.

1. This is my fourth spring/summer with my rain barrel. Our county’s conservation district promoted these rain barrels years ago for $25. There is now a 2 year wait list and the cost has increased to $55. I got mine just in time. A few years ago, you didn’t see rain barrels much, but many stores now carry them. Store-bought rain barrels can set you back between $100-$200. It could take some time until it pays for itself from the water saved. But, if you are a do-it-yourselfer, this could be a great project to try. In the past 2 years, I rarely had to rely on the water hose, but we haven’t had rain in a few weeks, and my barrel has now dried up. This is the first time this has happened to me. Although when it does rain, it fills up very quickly and I sometimes wish I had room for a second barrel.




2. Use water collected from dehumidifier to water your garden and flower pots. In the summer, our basement gets very damp and musty, so we run a dehumidifier. It fills up quickly on sweltering days. Since it has been so dry here, that water will come in handy when watering my plants.


3. When waiting for the hot water to heat up from the faucet, trap it in a jug or bucket and use it to water your garden and flower containers.

4. Use the water from steaming vegetables and corn on the cob to water your garden.

5. Choose drought tolerant plants for your landscape. This is something we considered when we designed our front lawn landscape. A quick google search will help you find a list of these plants for your garden zone or ask the staff at your local garden nursery.

6. Water your garden in the early morning or evening to avoid evaporation from the mid-day sun.

We are heading into a sweltering week. My rain barrel is dried up, so I will be relying on #2 - #6 to get me by until the next good rain.

How do you conserve water during the summer?

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This post is linked to:

• Works for Me Wednesday at We are that Family
• Making Dollars out of Change at Madame Deals
• Thrift Thursday at The Coupon Teacher
• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom

Grilled Garlic Lemon Shrimp

This past winter, probably sometime around the Superbowl, I sent my husband to the grocery store to get some bread.

He came home with two 2 lb bags of frozen shrimp, "they were buy one get one free", he says.

"What are you going to do with them?", I asked.

"Put them in the freezer", he replied as he walked away.

By July, I still had one bag left in the freezer, so I decided to grill the shrimp. I had never grilled shrimp before, but it was very easy and we really enjoyed this dish.

Grilled Garlic Lemon Shrimp

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• zest from one lemon
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 2 lbs shrimp, thawed, de-veined and peeled
• bamboo skewers

1. Soak bamboo skewers for 15 - 20 minutes

2. Mix together the first 6 ingredients and stir into the shrimp. Marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

3. Stick the shrimp onto the skewers. Discard any remaining marinade.

4. Preheat the grill to about 400 - 450 degrees.

5. Place the shrimp skewers on the grill and cover. Grill 2 minutes. Flip and grill another 2 minutes or until opaque.

I served this with some homemade coleslaw and fresh fruit.

Enjoy!

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This dish is linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale
• $5 Dinners
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as MOM.
  

Kale Chips...Yes, You Read That Right!

We love potato chips. No, let me re-phrase that. WE LOVE POTATO CHIPS! There, that somewhat emotes our love for potato chips. But our problem is that we can't stop at one chip or two chips, or 20 chips. We have to eat the whole bag or we are not happy.

So how does kale, that leafy green, enter into this picture? We received a bunch of kale through our CSA last week. I have yet to plant it myself since we get it through our CSA, but I might do so next year.

I just wasn't in the mood for soup or a casserole, which is what I normally do with kale in the fall, winter or spring. But soup in the summer time just doesn't interest me.


I have read about kale chips on many different blogs, but never gave it a try. Everyone raved about kale chips. " They taste just like potato chips" chirped the food blog world.

So I gave it a go.

Kale Chips

• one bunch kale
• olive oil
• salt
• Parmesan - optional
• or any other spice or herb that floats your boat

1. Remove the thick stems and center ribs.

2. Rinse the remaining leaves and dry well. A salad spinner comes in handy if you have one.

3. Cut or rip the leaves into small pieces.

4. Coat with olive oil, and sprinkle salt, Parmesan or your favorite herb.

5. Lay flat on a rimmed baking sheet.


6. Cook at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or until your desired crispiness.

7. Remove from oven. Wait until cool enough for you to eat. Eat your first kale chip.

8. You might hear yourself saying, "OMGoodness, I can't believe how much this sounds and crunches like potato chips."

9. Dare yourself to eat just one.

10. Enjoy! These are tasty and they do taste like kale, but sound a lot like potato chips. I will definitely make again and dry some different spice combinations. Be adventurous!

Thanks for reading FamilyBalanceSheet. If you would like to receive FREE updates of FBS through your RSS Feed, please click here to sign up. Or Subscribe by Email. Are you on Twitter? Click here to receive updates via Twitter.

This post in linked to:

• $5 Dinners ~ Grow. Eat. Save.
• Meat Free Monday at Happier than A Pig in Mud
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly The Kitchen Kop
• Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays at Blessed with Grace
• Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum