As the Garden Grows..

About a month ago, my husband and I finally took on the task of building the vegetabel garden we (mostly, I) have wanted for the last few years.  The good news, is we had already done all of hte legwork to determine how much of this or that we needed and the basic costs and locations for each of the items.  The bad news was I hadn't really thought about the plants or what we might grow. 
This is kind of my way of doing things.  I want something so I work toward getting it without considering all of the steps it might take.  Sometimes this leads me down a different path then where I originally thought I would go, sometimes this means it prabably takes twice as long as it should, and sometimes it acutally works.  Since my husband's "job" was the acutal building, we had worked out those details, the rest well, I'm guessing you can fgure out is taking twice as long as it probably should.
So, after a long week away from work, I arrived home to a slightly warmer weekend in early March and the process of building began.  In parallel I was also reading articles, ordering books and looking for seeds to start the actual gardening part. 
The good news is after purchasing everything, we were able to building the garden in a weekend (somehow I thought it would take longer than that).  Here are some pictures of the progress and how much the puppies helped.

Here are pictures of us building the frame for the raised garden out of cinderblocks.

Here is what the finished frame looks like.

Hunter keeping an eye on all of the supplies for us.

 

Adding all of the components: peat moss, shale and compost

Our convenient mixer (easier than with a shovel or hoe).

The completed base for the garden.  The grid is for square foot gardening.

http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

WIth this 4' x 9' garden I will be growing 36 different types of crops.  Added to that all of the holes will have a combination of herbs and flowers to brighten the space up.  What is great about SFG is that you each square is designated for one plant so instead of growing a row of broccoli and getting 5-8 heads that mature at once, you only grow one or two in this process. 

So, as the month progressed, the seeds were ordered and planted indoors and out (we're experimenting)Hopefully at least 50% o fwhat we plant is fruiful.  This year is all about experimentation, what grows, what doesn't and my hope is to learn and do better next year.

Sun, Snow, Politics and Facebook

So, it's been awhile since I've posted. This would be a combination of nothing to say and no time to say it.  But, this weekend has caused me to start back up again.  It's been a weekend of very interesting juxtapositions.  Friday, was a beautiful day, though breezy, it was a great time for the nephews to come and fish.  Relatively warm with the promise of a real Texas spring jsut around the corner.   I've been busy working on our soon to be vegetable garden.  Will post about this soon... And this is always an exciting time for year for me.  Looking for those moments when you can truely enjoy nature and the bounty it offers.

Then came Saturday.. Blistering cold and blowing winds.  It caused a spiraling back into the winter gloomies. I mean.. I went to a lovely baby shower with a sweet friend, and then proceeded to come home, pull on the sweat pants, and laid down to sleep and hope the weekend would quickly pass.  It's March.. As I've always said I live in Dallas because it's warm and winter only lasts 3 months (Dec, Jan, & Feb).  This is March, come on!! 

Not only that, but it kept getting worse, waking up Sunday to 8" of snow.  This brings me to FB.  I'm getting tired of the super seriousness and lack of inventiveness on that site.  I make a joking comment about the Dallas weather as an example of the planet not heating up and get jumped on.. Seriously people, lighten up.

And the last of the happy topics... politics.  I'm not sure if I'm for or against the new health care bill, I'm just ready for a decision already.

Good thing it's suppose to warm up again on Tuesday.. I think my mood needs it.

Green Tomatoes

So I've been busy.. thus the reason for no recent posts.  A good friend of mine with a garden I long for, dropped off 15 lbs of green tomoatoes on the Friday before I was to have a dinner party.  Of course, I had told her, "Any extra produce you grow, bring to me and I will can it."  Did I understand the request?  Obviously not.  In addition to those lovely green tomatoes she also provided about 1 lb or so of bell peppers.  So what was I to do? After the dinner party was done (will talk about it another time), I got to canning.  We went out Sunday afternoon for my afterparty lunch (fast food) and to run errands.  As part of this we bought quart sized jars and some jalapenos... the only two things I was missing to make this canning party complete.
With that.. it began.  I "dill pickeled" 6 quarts of green tomatoes.  Of course, as usual I forgot all about my Joy of Cooking as a resources for such things.  So after searching the internet for an hour looking for the "right" recipes (read: my husband doesn't want cinnamon or cloves in his pickled vegetables), I finally remembered the good old Joy, and she provided us a base dill pickling recipe. 
What's most interesting to me about canned green tomatoes is not the flavor or the time to do it, but how they look in the jar.  I think they are quite beautiful.  For me, that is part of any of it... what the final product looks like...the beautiful colors, a bit of fruit or vegtable and sugar or vinegar can make.

After the world of dill pickled tomatoes I moved on to jalapeno jelly and the use of those green bells.  Now in hindsight I should have done all of this in the opposite order.  Finishing the evenng close to bedtime with jalapeno jelly lingering in the air does not make for good dreams.

Thanksgiving Dinner

It's interestng to me that no matter where I have Thanksgiving dinner, it ends up being the same food.  You read in food magazines or online about unique ways to make stuffing (oyster stuffing, creole stuffing) or potatoes (horseradish cheddar mashed potatoes or whatever), but in the end everyone always ends up back at the basics....
Roasted, Smoked or Fried Turkey, no extra seasonings or herbs please.. 
Mashed Potatoes, just butter and milk
Turkey Gravy, started from a gravy mix
Stuffing (Cornbread or Traditional)
and a couple of vegetables...
I think the only place where creativity might play out is in those vegetables.  For years, that was where our family tried to add some interest or excitement to Thanksgiving, but inevidably you find a vegetable or two some likes and that's what they want every year.  What a crazy thing it would be to NOT make turkey one year?  I don't think I've ever been to a Thanksgiving dinner without turkey.  Of course, I know with my family, it was less about the dinner and more about the leftovers, thus the reason for the basics.  You could spicy them up later in a sandwich or soup or whatever, but if you started off with creole stuffing, you were eating creole for days to come. 
So this year for Thanksgiving, we went to my in-laws house and had the ususal fare: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, salad and blueberry muffins.  Blueberry muffins??? Yes, that's right. 
Growing up, blueberry muffins were a breakfast treat my mom made on a rare occasion.  Ususally they were made from flour, sugar, baking soda, and real blueberries.. not a mix.  Because of this they were really great hot and fresh, but the next day they were more like hockey pucks.  But they were ALWAYS a breakfast food. 
When I first met the man that was to be my husband we spent a holiday together with his family (I don't remember if it was Easter or Thanksgiving or what) and they asked what I liked to eat.  Now, for those that know me, this is not a good question to ask.  I 'm a very picky eater who also happens to not eat meat so I can make people who are cooking very nervous. 
My husband (boyfriend at the time) told his family I didn't eat meat... So, not knowing much about me they made about 20 side dishes to ensure I had "something to eat."  One of these was blueberry muffins (box kind).  My thought.. they didn't know what I liked so they cooked everything in the kitchen.  But, as the years passed and I continued to show up for holiday events, I realized this was a dinner staple.  I've nevered asked why blueberry? but I think it's really interesting...

Pomegrante Trials..

On Sunday, I decided to tackle the pomegranates that had been yelling at me in the frig for the last week. I mean what do you do with 4 pomegranates? First off, it took forever to separate all of the seeds and then go through and make sure the less then ideal ones were trashed. I ended up with like 6 cups of seeds. I like pomegranates, but not that much. And of course, any recipe i found used like 1/4 c or a sprinkle. How an i suppose to effective with that? It will take more time then these little seeds have to use them all up. So I thought... cranberries were good in cookies, what about pomegranate seeds?
My first idea was a test... Small batch of cocoa flavored dough with semi-sweet chocolate chip and a replacement of pine nuts with pomegranate seeds. Amazing enough, they turned out really good. I did decide that the base recipe I didn't really like (never have, and I've tried in with several variations... Kudos to Giada most of the time, but not this one)..
So second try, I used the background for the traditional Nestle cookie recipe and made some modifications.... shortening for butter (with a drop of butter flavor), an even mix of milk and semi-sweet chocolate to counteract the tart of the pomegranate, and about 3/4 c of seeds. Mix and go...
These cookies were REALLY good. I could eat a handful so of course, to minimize that I packed them up and brought them to work. Now, mind you, I still have almost 3 cups of seeds left and looking for some ideas....
Filled the cookie jar this morning with both options, but unfortunately I forgot my food science when making the cookies.. Al the great crispness I liked the night before is gone and replace with soft, easily breakable cookies (will need to fix for next time).
That being said they were a BIG hit.. both kinds, surprise to me.. I will have to add it to my holiday repertoire.
Good Monday...
Oh, and the rest of the seeds have been relegated to making pomegranate liquor.. I will chat about that another time...

Double Chocolate Pomegrante Cookie Recipe
Traditional Nestle Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe with the following modifications:
-Replace butter with shortening
-Replace half of semi-sweet chips with milk chocolate (you could also do a 1/3 each of milk, semi-sweet and white)
-Add 3/4 c of pomegrante seeds

Using Cranberries

My mom loves cranberries. I remember as a kid eating cranberry relish every Thanksgiving and Christmas. And she always made it tart, I mean mouth puckering TART. I like cranberries as part of something , but not really as the sole flavor of a food. But, this past weekend I came in to some cranberries, well, alot of cranberries and I wnated to find way to use them in more than just a relish. So, of course I made the traditional cranberry orange bread and of course, I froze it for that occasion that will come up where I will need to bring food somewhere. But, I wondered what else could I make with cranberries?
Well, I love the juxtaposition of flavors: salty/sweet, sweet/tart, bitter/salty. So I decided to try a version of cookies I've made in the past, but this time with cranberries.
Check out my Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut Cookie Recipe (below). I think they turned out great.
And of course, as I mentioned in my last post, I'm loving the canning and prserivng so I made some cranberry conserve. What is cranberry conserve you ask? Great Question...It's kind of a mix between presrves and jelly with lots of fruits and potentilaly nuts (though my rescipe didn't have any).
Now of course the question is, what to do with teh four pomegrantes in the frig?


Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut Cookie Recipe
1 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2c + 2 Tbsp shortening
1/2 c sugar
1/4c dark brown sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c oats
3/4c semi-sweet chococlate chips
1/2 c walnuts
1/2 c rounghly chopped cranberries (fresh or frozen)

Mix like you would any type of cookie.
Bake 350F for 16 mins

And so it begins..

Day 1... And though I'm not sure how many of these I'll have, I thought I would start. Everyone nowadays, seems to have a blog, and so I thought why not. But, what would I blog about? Well, the one thing I really love (besides my family) is cooking so I figured I would start there.
I realized this weekend that as part of cooking, I love canning and preserving. I love the ability to take locate produce and find a way to save it for later. Now, I don't really want to go and buy fruit or vegetables at the local grocery store and then preserve them, but instead figure out a way to keep the fresh flavors of my neighbors pears, or the berries we picked over the summer.
So the thought is that I can talk about that.. cooking and canning and preserving and whatever else food does for me.
I don't expect this will be an everyday thing, but when it suits me, when I feel like I have something to share.