Eating from the Garden

I have a pretty green thumb, I can grow most anything really....I'm not bragging I promise.  I don't know why I can.  One of the results of this is lots of garden goodies to eat.  One thing I'm not so great at is using all the things that come from my garden efficiently.  I'm working on it.

Right now in our garden we have green beans coming in fast, also swiss chard, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, a few green bell peppers, cranberry red potatoes, squash, and watermelons.  Its heavenly, until I have it stacked everywhere in my kitchen trying to decide what to make of it all.  Anything less than perfect is easy to figure out what to do with- chickens!  This year was a small garden so I really need to get my act together because I'm planning a very large couple of gardens next year so I can do more canning.

So a couple of lovely dishes we eat pretty regularly in the summer are simple ones.  Like the blend of pasta sprinkle (Penzeys), cherry tomatoes, pasta and olive oil with grated Parmesan cheese.  Or the crockpot of green beans, potatoes, onions, broth and smoked sausage. I'm sure these dishes have names but I don't know them.  Maybe someone will eventually tell me.  Most recipes I use aren't really mine but the result of doing a google search for whatever veggie I have on hand in abundance.  Recently it was chard- my search gave me this: Swiss Chard with Garbanzo beans and fresh tomatoes.  It was delicious and I think I'll try to post some links when we find a good recipe. 

In other news, I'm going back to my fertility doctor next month to start getting serious about treating this PCOS.  Pardon my lack of enthusiasm.  I think I've come to the conclusion that I really would like to have another baby and also the PCOS seems to be taking some affects on my health.  I've gained weight and I'm tired a lot, my periods are on time but out of order (going by "signs" of ovulation- I'm not ovulating) and I'm having muscle spasms daily and nightly.  So, I guess I'm all out of whack.  My recent bloodwork showed my cholesterol is on the high side, although none of my numbers are really scary my doctor would like me to go on a low fat/low cholesterol diet.  I have a feeling though that if I treat the PCOS that my cholesterol numbers will fall into line on their own.  I've read the book "Nourishing Traditions", which if you've read it you know that they put a lot of emphasis on good fats and it runs completely against everything my doctor will tell me.  Now, just because I've read NT doesn't mean I'm sold on the ideas, nor do I think its an excuse to eat a lot of fat (which I think is an easy interpretation to make).  I also don't regularly soak my grains or any of that nonsense- I understand the concept but I think the so called "anti-nutrients" do some good things too, like chelating heavy metals from  your body.   

Anyhow, I suppose my PCOS diet will probably keep me away from eating most sweets and breads and put me closer to eating a Primal/Atkins style diet.  I do plan to continue drinking our goat milk no matter what they say and I'm not giving up my eggs either.  Both are incredibly bio-available protein sources and for us they are our most plentiful source of protein along with chicken and turkey.  I think its going to be hard to resist breads especially since my son and husband love my home baked bread and I make beautiful breads.  Getting rid of sugar will be hard too, I have a terrible sweet tooth.  I think as long as I can keep fruit in my diet (unsweetened of course) I'll survive it but if they take away fruit, I might just break down and cry.