Busy in the kitchen & trying new things on a Sunday

It's been a super busy & productive day, & I'm exhausted! :-) We got up this morning, & after breakfast, decided to harvest the rest of the ripe produce. We typically do this 1x/month to avoid the fruit rotting and falling off the trees.

What we picked today:

And, here's what I made. I juiced over 100 lemons & oranges. With a hand cranked juicer. I'm considering that my strength workout for the day. ;-) Check out this epic lemon!

The avocados will go on the counter to ripen, along with the six others. Fun fact about avocados - they don't ripen on the tree. I kept waiting for them to ripen, feeling them on the tree for about a month. Finally, I did some research online. You need to wait for the avocado to grow to a large size (my Haas are giants!) & then pick. Ripen in a brown paper bag with a banana. It typically takes at least a week, sometimes up to 10 days to ripen. We'll be making guacamole for the next few weeks!

And, post-harvesting, here's our mandarin tree. Love this fruit. How gorgeous are they, all cut up & ready for juicing? (We juice rather than eat raw, as the kids struggle with the seeds. The adults eat them raw. ;-))

After the fruit was juiced, I whipped up these amazing hamburger buns (thanks, Carla, for the recommendation!). We had them with grilled burgers tonight & they were absolutely fantastic. I used some of the leftovers for school lunches (groan, back to lunch packing with school starting again tomorrow).

I also made homemade pizza dough. I was planning to make pizza tonight, but after the buns turned out so well, I decided to switch up the menu & take advantage of the gorgeous day. I ran to the store to grab ground beef, & Nick & I discovered a huge sale on pasta - $.25/package. Pasta is probably our number one staple in our house, so we picked up 10 packages. I hope to go back this week for more. In other news, we found this GIANT bag of spring mix salad for $1.49 at the local produce stand (note the highlighter for size reference).

We also took the kids to the elementary school, to roam around on their scooters, & I ran laps. Three miles, so not a huge run, but very enjoyable in the sunshine.

I also tried my hand at homemade hummus (again, yum! I need to tweak the recipe a bit, but it was great!) Served with cucumber, broccoli, & a few pita chips.

And, on to the chit chat! Thanks, as always, to Carla for providing the inspiration!

• Reading: A book on my Kindle - "To Dye For", I think? 
• Listening to: The boys, playing Kinect Bowling.
• Watching: Ditto above.
• Cooking/Baking: I made so much - hamburger buns, hummus, pizza dough, & juiced 200 citrus fruit. . .
• Happy you accomplished this week: Happy I survived my first week back, even if it was just two days.
• Looking forward to next week: Getting back into a routine. I'm hoping to spin a few times, and do some yoga. Also, I have a girls evening planned on Wednesday!
• Thankful for today: I'm thankful for a happy, healthy family, & the energy to work in the kitchen & enjoy my life.
• Bonus Question (do you like any winter sports): Absolutely! We love skiing. I got a late start (I was 25 when I learned), so I'm very average, but love it just the same.

And, in "living in the moment" news, I was off on a leisurely walk in the sunshine on Friday, when I started getting "urgent" text & calls from work. I was responding on my phone, when I looked up & almost tripped over a deer! It was only about five feet from me, & I hadn't even seen it. Let that be my lesson for being distracted by work in the midst of such gorgeous scenery.

Happy Sunday! What did you do today?