New Year...Fresh Start

I've been a very poor blogger the last couple years.  I want to correct that in 2016 and get back to at least a weekly update.  This should be easier to do because I've made the tough decision to end my short career as a real estate agent.  It just wasn't the fit that I hoped it might be.  I'm not sure what my next adventure will be, but I'm working on finding that next window of opportunity.

This year...I'm hoping to blog more about...

Cooking (these are treats from the holidays)

Gardening

 Crafting

 as well as a few of my adventures with my grandkids

More to come.  Happy 2016 everyone.

Busy Day

No surprise...I've been a terrible blogger, but I'm not letting that stop me from posting something out of the blue.

I had a most productive day last week and here is what I accomplished.

I roasted all the spaghetti squash that I harvested from my garden.

And then I scraped out all the flesh and put it in bags and into the freezer.  I also used a helping to make that nights dinner.

Next up was to process 10 peaches that I had purchased the week before into 7 jars of peach jam.  (It actually was more like 8 jars as one of the jars was bigger.)

And finally...process all the basil I had into pesto, which I placed in muffin tin to freeze.  Later, I bagged and labeled each pesto muffin into it's on freezer bag.

These are perfect for tossing into any pasta sauce or soup.  I just used one to top flatbread pizza.

End of a perfect day.

Two Peas in a Pod

These two are my first peas pods of the season.

So happy.

Black Bean Soup

Made this soup last night and it got thumbs up all around as it was delicious. Best part was it was quick, easy and I had all the necessary ingredients.

Here's how I made it:

Ingredients

10 slices of bacon, diced
1 medium onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes, crushed (or diced if you like chunky tomatoes)
3 cans (15 oz size) black beans, rinsed
1 TBL chili powder (or a little less if you have someone sensitive to heat)
2 TBL ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish with lime juice, cilantro or parsley, diced green onion and sour cream if you like.

Cook the bacon in a large heavy pot.  Cook over medium heat until the start browning.  Stir in onion and cook until translucent (5 minutes or so).  Add garlic and cook for about 30 seconds to 1 minute.  Just until you start to smell it.  Season with S&P.

Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire and chili powder.  Give a good stir.  Add the beans.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes.  Done.

We had this with a salad with fresh lettuce and greens from my garden.  Great dinner.

My Real Garden 2014

After years and years of just doing container gardening, this year I have a real garden.  And just any little old garden plot.  I've got this:

It's about 20 x 40 and the fencing is 6 feet high.  And when my sweety told me he was going to install a gate, I envisioned chicken wire tacked to a strip of wood that I would roll back when I needed to get in, but no…this is what he made:

A real freakin' gate.  Brilliant.

Here's what I'm growing:

Corn

Tomatoes.  Some of the plants that I bought too early, before the garden was ready got a little pot bound and still seem to be struggling.

Peas (in the foreground) and cabbage and habeneros (in the background).

Mixed greens

Peppers, beets and the carrots are just sprouting.

Cucumbers and butternut squash

Enough blogging…got to go out and finish weeding.  Happy growing.

The Front Porch

One of the real perks of the new house is an enormous wrap around front porch.  It will take me a while to get it just the way I want it, but I am making progress.

So, here are some photos I like to call "Getting the front porch ready":

The last photo shows the newly installed wood screen door.  Still needs hardware and the trim painted, but I just love it.  It's sounds like summer when it closes, although I figure one day with the grandkids here and I'll be ready to scream.  But I still think it's perfect.

Happy Summer!

Final Garden to Table for the Season

I haven't had the chance to take part in Wendy's Garden to Table Challenges this year, but I did finally get a chance to use my little harvest.

I made a version of Caprese salad with my cherry tomatoes and basil.  Added some mozzarella, olive oil and S&P and voila!  Very yummy side dish.

Adios summer.  It was fun while it lasted.

End of Summer

With my container garden quickly fading, I was surprised to see this when I looked out this morning.  One little strawberry.

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I haven't had any strawberries for at least a month or so.  Hi little guy.  

Ode to the Tomato

O' the lovely tomato.

Thank you for making me think I am a gardener.  Thank you for granting me a couple beefsteak tomatoes from a container garden.

You are so simple and pure and you give summer it's distinctive taste.

And thank you so much for transforming the ordinary turkey sandwich into a taste explosion.

I am so sad to see my final tomatoes slowly ripening as it means the end of deliciousness right outside my door.  I will miss you my friend.

Using My Tomatoes

I had about 25 Early Girl tomatoes sitting on my counter. There's no way I can make enough BLTs or burgers to use them up quickly.  So I decided to make a pasta sauce using tomatoes, basil and parsley...all from my garden.

I blanched the tomatoes to remove the skin.  I then diced them up and sautéed them in olive oil with onions and garlic. After they had soften, I added dried oregano, fresh basil, parsley and seasoned with salt, pepper and a little sugar (I always add sugar to my red sauce to cut the bite of the tomatoes).  I then let it simmer on the stove for a while with a few parmesan rinds.  This is a neat little trick I learned somewhere.  Probably on Food Network since I watch it so much.  Save your parmesan rinds and then just toss them into any red sauce.  Gives it a nice cheesy flavor and leaves nothing to waste.

Finally, I poured the sauce into a jar and popped it in the fridge as I won't be using it for a few days.

This is a beautiful thing.

And thanks to PW for the tutorial on how to do a skim shot.  It's where you shoot at the same level to include background information.  It makes for a much more interesting photo.

July Garden Update

Despite the overwhelming heat we've had recently (which fortunately broke on Sunday), my container garden is growing into a small forest of deep green.  I was able to harvest (and eat) the first of the grape tomatoes yesterday with more on the way.

The garden started here:

It now looks like this:

I have my first strawberry peeping out.  Now I just have to keep Joey away from it.  Turns out the dog loves strawberries and tomatoes. (Turns out he loves anything that I drop while cooking...except garlic and onion.  He sniffs and walks away from those two.)

And here's my first yellow pear tomato getting ready to be picked.

And an early girl, just about right.

And this is my summer project.  I've had this table for years and it's slowly turned pinkish from years in the sun.  This year it needed to be sanded, cleaned and re-painted before I was going to let it out on the deck.  It's taken a few weeks, but I finally got it done.  I then went up to Pottery Barn and found the perfect umbrella (on sale...yeah).  I'm so happy with how it turned out. And along with my deck rugs from Lowe's, I now feel like I have another room on my tiny little house.

Off to make something with leftover pork tenderloin.  Maybe I'll do that hash again.

How Does Your Garden Grow

My potted garden is officially done.  It was actually done a week or so ago, but I finally got around to taking some photos.  It's fun to take some before and after photos so you can clearly see how well everything grows.

Here are my tomatoes:

I planted four types this year.  I have a yellow pear, grape, Early Girl and Beefsteak.  (You can also see a bit of the outdoor rug I now have on my deck.  I just love it.)

Lettuces:

Strawberries:

I actually planted two different types of strawberries.  Can't remember the names of them.  This one did have a medium size berry growing, but it somehow disappeared.  Found a certain dog climbing up the pot the other day.  I'm going to have to move these higher, cause clearly Joey likes strawberries.  (Heck, he likes anything.)

Orange Pepper:

And finally my herbs:

Thyme, rosemary, Italian parsley and the new player this year...dill (which I've already used in a dill dip, which my son consumed very throughly.)

And of course...my basil.  Made pesto chicken last week and I'm thinking about a pesto pizza next (Krissy's suggestion).

Look who wants to help me water!

Happy Gardening.