Keeping an eye out for food!

Maybe it's just because I've never noticed, or maybe it's because I've never really lived anywhere for an extended period of time. However lately, every time I look out my back door I realize there is something new growing. What took over as ground cover last week has disappeared without a trace and been replaced with something completely different to fit the time of year and growing season for that particular plant. What keeps blowing my mind is how many of these "weeds" are edible combined with an abnormally cold spring, lettuce and winter crops are still thriving and it's almost May! Can we say modified forged salad?! However we did witness our fastest snap pea season I've ever seen. I'm excited about growing and with this being our first year in this lovely little house we bought I am excited to see what will surprise me in the coming months! I invite you to look around, see what's growing and possibly what you can eat!

Late spring stir fry with "cheesy" rice

I have been overly delighted by the recent selection at the farmers market. We had a colder than average spring here in NC and I have been craving anything besides leafy greens. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love salad but after six months I need some variety! I kind of went insane this week by the sight of broccoli, squash, zucchini, snap peas, onions, carrots, celery and potatoes. So tonight when I brain stormed for dinner I knew I had to work in something that incorporated most of my bounty, not to mention all the fresh herbs going off in my garden right now. Here's what I came up with......
First off l started the rice 1 cup is usually sufficient for the three of us and I like to make a little extra for J's lunch the next day.
1 C organic brown rice
2 C organic low sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons of brewers yeast (reserve for later)

1lb boneless organic chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 onion chopped
1 shallot diced small
A few cloves of garlic and all the veggies mentioned above ( or whatever you have on hand!) Chopped to bite sized pieces.
As far as herbs I used a handful of combined rosemary, oregano and basil.

While the rice is cooking chop warm up a large skillet and add enough fat of your choice ( I used coconut oil) it won't taste like coconut I swear! Lovingly throw in the chicken and chop the veg. I like to chop the veg that take longer to cook first then add as I go. Once all the veggies are in stir fry for 15-20 minutes adding the garlic and herbs close to the end. Once everything is cooked add a splash  of balsamic vinegar. Yumalicious!
As for the rice once it's cooked to perfection toss in the brewers yeast for a healthy cheesy tasting twist.
Happy Spring!

I