Bountiful Baskets

My mom has been participating in a produce co-op for the last couple of years. It's called Bountiful Baskets. Each location has deliveries every other week (or every week) of fresh fruits and vegetables. Some locations even offer options for organic produce and freshly-baked breads.

Anyone who wants to participate pays $15 on the Bountiful Baskets website (plus a $1.50 handling fee, and a $3 fee for first-timers.) Families can decide whether or not to contribute before each delivery date--there is no requirement to participate at any particular frequency. The produce is delivered somewhere (such as a school parking lot), where volunteers sort it. At 7:45 a.m. on a Saturday, participants show up, put their produce in their own bags or baskets, and take it home. Easy!

I was so excited to hear that not only was Bountiful Baskets coming to my area; it was coming to a suburb near me, with a pick-up location about 10 minutes from my house! I've now participated three times, and overall I've been quite happy with the quantity, variety, and quality of produce I've gotten.

My produce on 11/19/11:


My produce on 01/28/12:


My produce on 02/25/12:


It's been fun to find recipes for some types of vegetables that I don't usually buy. I'd never before made Brussels Sprouts, but this Brussels Sprouts Gratin recipe turned me into a believer! (With cream, bacon, butter, bread crumbs and cheese, it may not be the healthiest way to eat your veggies, but boy was it fantastic!) And I don't often make cauliflower, but Chickie and I both enjoyed munching on these baked Cauliflower Poppers.

When I picked up my basket on Saturday, I got home and immediately made a delicious fruit salad with strawberries, pineapple, apples, and oranges.



Tonight I'm planning to try this yellow squash recipe.

Bountiful Baskets is really a cool way to get a bargain on fruits and vegetables--and to get some produce that you might not be in the habit of buying. The locations are limited, but you can check to see if Bountiful Baskets is available in your area by visiting their website.

JHBC...What's that?!

Several months ago, a couple of my Twitter pals were talking (well, Tweeting) about a particular book. Turned out a few of us ladies were interested in reading the book, and we ended up deciding to start a book club. We called it Jazz Hands Book Club...JHBC for short.

Other ladies gradually joined the club. We've been reading a book every month(ish) and then using an online chat site to discuss it. It's really fun! (If you're interested in joining, let me know!)

One of the members brought up the idea of sending out some little Christmas goodies to the rest of the group. Well, one thing led to another, and we ended up all deciding to send gifts to each other. Christmas was too crazy, so we targeted Valentine's Day as the "ship by" date.

It's been so fun! I'm hoping to get the last of my gifts delivered to me today. (Please, Postal Service?) And now that the other six girls have received mine, I can finally blog about them!

I decided to make crocheted gifts. (I know, shocker!) Since it's a book club, I made bookmarks. I've been wanting to learn more crochet stitch patterns, and I even have a great book with 250 different stitch patterns in it. So I used five of the bookmarks to try out new patterns. The sixth bookmark was a little different. More on that in a minute.

Here are all six bookmarks:


For Melinda's, I used the same yarn I used for a hat I made her last year, with a nice, open-weave pattern.


Toni's bookmark is a fun, wavy pattern in very dark purple.


Call Me Cate's used a more complicated stitch pattern--kinda "swirled."


I really like this pink and green one with a leaf pattern. It went to Sam.


And it's kind of hard to see, but this dark purple one uses a nice variation of the commonly-crocheted "shell stitch." It was for Kerry.


The last bookmark went to Annelie, who has a brand new blog! She is the one who ordered the fox scarf I made a few months back. (Check it out here.) Instead of trying out a new stitch pattern on her bookmark, I made it to match her scarf. I love how it turned out!


So that's it...my JHBC bookmarks! When the last of my packages arrive, I'll share pictures of what I received. The Bible says it's more blessed to give than to receive, but in this case, I gotta say...I've really enjoyed both!

Double Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Ann planned a surprise party for our friend M., whose birthday was today. She enlisted my help--we had it at my house, and I made a few things for it--including a vegan ice cream made with coconut milk and LOTS of chocolate. It utilized a dark chocolate base with semisweet chocolate chunks in it.

Ann was the only vegan at the gathering, but overall the milk-free chocolate ice cream was a bigger hit than the "regular" vanilla ice cream I'd also made! The ladies loved the rich chocolate, and I think the coconut milk adds an extra zing of flavor too.

So, here's the recipe. (I drew heavily on the "Simple Chocolate Ice Cream" recipe in the booklet that came with my Cuisinart ice cream maker.)

Oh, and I didn't plan to blog this, so I don't have any pictures. You'll have to use your imagination.

Double Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream (Vegan)
Yield: Approx. 1 1/2 quarts (Adjust recipe if your ice cream maker is a smaller capacity)

Ingredients
2/3 c Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder, sifted (or run through a blender or food processor--however you prefer to get the lumps out). You can use regular cocoa powder, but it won't be as rich of a chocolate flavor.
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/3 c packed dark brown sugar
pinch salt
Two cans of coconut milk (approx. 25-28 oz, or 750-800 mL)--You may find this in the Asian food aisle
1 tsp pure vanilla extract (I use Mexican vanilla)
4 oz. vegan chocolate (I use 4 squares Baker's semisweet baking chocolate, which is vegan)

Instructions:
1. If you plan ahead far enough, pre-refrigerate the coconut milk.
2. Whisk together the cocoa powder, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
3. Whisk in the coconut milk and vanilla until the solids are as dissolved as you can get them. Mine wasn't that smooth, but that was okay.
4. Place the mixture in the fridge for at least an hour before freezing/churning it. If you pre-refrigerated the coconut milk, this step is optional.
5. Follow your ice cream maker's instructions to churn/freeze the mixture.
6. While it's churning, cut the chocolate into chunks. Add to the ice cream during the last 3 minutes or so of churning.
6. Eat immediately (soft-serve consistency) or move to another container and freeze. You'll want to remove it from the freezer approximately 15-20 minutes before serving--it gets very hard in the freezer.

The beauty of recipes like this is that you can easily alter them to fit your taste. I noticed the other day that Thin Mints Girl Scout Cookies are vegan. So you could chop up some of those and thrown them in, in lieu of the chocolate chunks. Or maybe strawberries, or cherries, or marshmallows and peanuts...? Use your imagination, and enjoy!

And happy birthday, M.!