The sad, sad state of my garden...

My gardens, or lack-there-of, are quite a disappointment this year. I just didn't have the energy to get outside this spring, and haven't had an opportunity to get out there since the little man's been born (who shall henceforth be known as DJ ;) 

 My dad came and did some weed-whacking a few weeks ago and pulled the weeds from in and around these two beds, but that's about all that had been done. We had nothing but rain for the entire month of May, I'm talking rain for all but like 4 days in the month. And then no rain for June. July has had a little, but I think we're still down about 3 inches from average. Everything in pots died.

Joe's work schedule and the crazy hot heat and high humidity have made it difficult to mow even. I think we've mowed three times. Or I should say he has. I haven't done anything. Our yard looks awful!

dead herbs...

more dead herbs...

overgrown beds...

all the strawberries went to waste...

no weeding done. no flowers planted...

out for a walk, assessing the sadness...

herbs I bought at the farmers market to replace the ones I killed. 

Adventures in Harvesting

This carrot was twisted all the way to the tip!

This past week I've been on vacation and so has my Hubby. We've gotten quite a few things done, especially outside. Not all that I had hoped, but still quite a bit. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of just about all of it! Most of it wasn't exciting anyway.

We ripped out a bed that had been neglected long before we took possession of the house. It was overrun with lily-of-the-valley and three large lilac bushes. As much as it pained me to do it, I cut down all three of the bushes and ripped up the lily mat that lay on top of the actual dirt over there. In it's place, we've planted an apple tree. I want to get two more dwarf varieties for over there, and find something that does well in semi shade until they get bigger.

I also dug my potatoes. I got quite a few and some much larger than I anticipated. I filled up my potato basket and kept a handful of green ones for seed potatoes for next year.

Last of the kohlrabi and some carrots.

Most of the green plant material got pulled up in the other beds. Spent squash vines and tomato plants and bean plants were pulled up. I even harvested about half of the carrots. And I'm glad I did. This variety got huge! A couple broke off in the ground and I couldn't pull them out. I'll leave those for the squirrels.

Adventures in Pop Tart Baking

That's right, I made my own poptarts. The real things, the ones from Kellogg's, are my Achilles heal. I lived on diet coke and chocolate poptarts when I was in college. The were my breakfast most days. I love them, I can't help it. Even now, when I know how terrible they are, they are my go-to breakfast when I'm running late. I can get one strawberry tart at the gas station for $0.69. And then I feel like crap the rest of the day. Hubby loves them too.

So, I set out to make my own and try and make them at least a little healthier. I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen. I followed her recipe almost exactly, except I did the half whole wheat, half white flour version. And they were pretty good.

Homemade Nutella tarts

 I made two different kinds. One with raspberry jam and one with my homemade nutella. But, my nutella is very crumbly because I store it in the fridge and I made it with coconut oil, so they don't look as  pretty as hers do! I also made one that was half and half because I had just a little jam left from the first four. That one was amazing!

Raspberry tarts

 Apparently my fork pricks didn't make it all the way through the top layer, because they all puffed up quite a bit. And the tarts with the jam in them are a little soft still, they didn't bake up hard like the others did. I'm thinking they could've gone in for a little bit longer.

Baked and cooled the next morning. Not bad really.

The verdict: These are good, but they aren't the same. Which is okay I guess. They're good on their own. And if I keep some around, I won't succumb to the 8am frenzy that is the gas station!

This post is part of the Simple Lives Thursday and Pennywise Platter!

The Best Homemade Ice Cream Ever

And I'm not kidding, at least that's what my husband says :)

This is a recipe based on an Alton Brown recipe, but entirely different.

Ingredients:
3 cups heavy whipping cream
3 cups 2% milk
1 1/2 cups rapadura or sucanat*
2 vanilla beans

Heat milk and sugar in a saucepan on medium heat. Scrape seeds from vanilla beans and place beans and pods in pan with liquid. Heat to 170°F or until the very first bubble appears. Do not let it boil!

Mixture heating on the stove.

Turn heat off and let cool on the stove. Once cooled down, strain and place in fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Then process according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Straining to cool. Yes, it was mostly cool at this point,
but my kitchen was VERY cold. I refuse to turn the heat on yet :)

After processing, it will still be quite soft. Place in freezer until hardened. This is where I add cocoa powder to some of it to make it chocolate. I mix about 1/2 a cup of cocoa with about 1/3 of the ice cream before hardening.

Then eat, both are delicious :) My hubby says the vanilla is so good that it's not worth making anything else! It has a little bit of a carmel-like flavor. It also isn't too sweet and, as my husband said, has a nice, refreshing taste. It doesn't leave you thirsty like some ice creams can. And, I feel good eating it. I know that there's only good things in it (for the most part anyway) and it's delicious. Enjoy!

*It is VERY important to use rapadura or sucanat, not regular white sugar. This isn't just for health reasons, but because it's what imparts the unique flavor to the ice cream and makes it oh-so-delicious!

This post is being shared as part of the Pennywise Platter.

Garden Update: Green Tomatoes

This weekend is really chilly in this neck of the woods. This morning it's 44°F at 9:30 in the morning. I haven't turned the heat on yet, but I am definitely baking today!

Last night we were in danger of frost. I don't think we actually got any, but I wasn't taking any chances. It was cold and raining most of the day, and I knew that covering my tomatoes wasn't going to do me any good if they were already dripping wet. So, I made the decision to harvest all of the tomatoes, no matter how green they were. It hurt! There were even new flowers on some of our plants. I felt so sad...it seems like such a waste. But seasons change and there's nothing we can do to stop it, no matter how small our baby tomatoes are.

Green tomatoes, as well as a few peppers
and a weird melon that I'm not sure of...

I got almost a bushel of tomatoes, some were red, but most were still green. It was a cold, wet harvest and I couldn't feel my fingers when I was done. But I do love smelling like the tomatoes :)

Ripened tomatoes, destined for pizza sauce and salsa!

Now I have over half a bushel of green tomatoes. I've pulled out the ones that I think will ripen over the next few weeks, but I'm left with quite a few that are still very green and underdeveloped. Now what do I do with them? I can't waste the food, I just can't. So much food is sitting here, I'm just not sure how to eat it!

I need help friends! I'm thinking about maybe making a ketchup or relish, or even a jam to give as gifts. But if any of you have no-fail recipes or other ideas, please share. Thanks!

And I never heard from our winner, so I will be drawing a new winner later today. Good Luck everyone :)

Adventures with Summer Squash: Recipe

I don't have any pictures for this one, but it was very delicious! Hubby didn't care for it so much. He said he was tired of chicken stirfry. Whatever. I loved it. I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago.

1 c quinoa, soaked and rinsed
1 lb chicken, cut to strips
1 3/4 c chicken stock
1 c peas (I used my snow peas)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 T olive oil
1 T white wine
2 T tomato paste
1/2 c finely grated Romano cheese
salt and pepper to taste

I found this recipe (or the recipe this was loosely based on) because I had things on hand that needed to be used: chicken, a summer squash, tomato paste and mozzarella cheese. So I added some mozz and only put a little bit of the romano in. I also cut up the squash and added it, along with some fresh basil and oregano. It made it a little more Italian tasting!

The original recipe said to marinate the chicken in the oil, salt, pepper and garlic for about 20 minutes. I didn't really have the time, so I just sauted the garlic with the onion and cooked the chicken after that with the salt and pepper added to it. Deglaze the pan with the white wine (I think I used more like 1/4-1/2 cup, because I had just a little left in the bottle), then add the tomato paste and mix. Add the quinoa, veggies and stock. Simmer about 15 minutes. Mix in cheese and any additional spices. Serve.

It warmed up pretty well for lunch the next two days too.

This post is a part of the Simple Lives Thursday blog hop, The Pennywise Platter, and, because I got it up late, the Friendly Friday blog hop!

Garden Update: The Tomato Jungle

Last weekend, as I've mentioned, I wasn't very present at home. We were away most of the time, and the time spent at home, wasn't used for maintenance. And my garden shows it.

The tomato jungle, with some peppers thrown in for good measure.
This is AFTER I cleaned them up a bit. Hopefully some of them will ripen soon

The pond needs some TLC...badly.

The lily pads are taking over the world!

Kohlrabi is not a very good crop for square foot gardening.

And neither are turnips.

The peas are pretty much done. They're coming out this weekend.

We did get one last pea crop though!

Beans are growing nicely! I've only harvested once.
I've decided this variety is best as a dried bean.

Raspberries are popping up everywhere here.
I'm hoping I can transplant them all soon.

I. Hate. Crabgrass. These are strawberries, but you'd never know.
They will be transplanted soon also.

Stupid bugs. These are NOT onions, they are supposed to be rutabagas.
But the bugs have completely stripped the stems. They're coming out.

The cauliflower look a little better, but I'm not optimistic. I think I've found all the
bugs though,so it shouldn't get worse if I can keep up with them.

I've decided one of these, or maybe two, need to come out.
It would be a great place for my apple tree!

A volunteer butternut squash. It's making mowing a bit difficult.
There's also a tomato of some kind back there.

baby butternut

Adventures in Sourdough: Pizza on the Grill

Since I have been so busy lately, my sourdough starter has moved to a smaller jar, a jar that lives in the fridge. So I'm not using it as often, but I also don't have to worry about feeding it as often. When I need it, I pull it out, stir it up and sit it out in the laundry room to warm up for about a day. Which I did Monday. Tuesday was BBQ chicken pizza day.

I mixed up the sourdough pizza crust recipe from gnowfglins and let it sit for about an hour while I tried to tame the tomato jungle on Tuesday. Then used about 1/2 the dough for the pizza and put the other half on the table to sour some more*. I rolled it out with some cornmeal on the pizza peel.

I also had a whole chicken in the fridge that needed to be pulled apart, which I did. I took about 1 1/2 cups of the already-cooked chicken and warmed it up in a skillet with a little bacon grease. Once that was warm, I added about a cup of tomato sauce and about 1/4 cup of some barbecue sauce. I stirred that up and spread it out on the pizza. Then I just shredded some cheese on top.

Usually, I would also saute some onions and peppers in with the chicken. But, I didn't have any peppers on hand and I really didn't feel like cutting an onion. Since I used pre-made sauce, I didn't think it would be missed too much. (And I confess, it was store bought sauce from Trader Joe's! Hubby loves the stuff, but I guess it's a step up from Sweet Baby Rays, right? LOL)

My grill was preheated and I just slid it right on the grate. I wasn't a believer in grilled pizza, but it does work, I promise! No gooey dough falling between the cracks. It helps to get the grill good and hot when you first start and then turn it down a little after you put it on. Moving it over to indirect heat can also help. You don't want too much of a flame because that can cause the bottom to burn before the top is done.

Despite my initial trepidation, it doesn't fall through!

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a finished picture, and we ate it all, so, I promise it was good! It should take about 15 minutes, but check it after 10. Depending on your grill temperature and the weather (hotter outside = hotter inside the grill!), it can take up to 30 minutes.

 I've had an issue before where I put too much cheese on and it melted over the side. Which, of course, caused it to flame up and smoke...which wasn't good. But no worries, I was able to save the pizza!

Almost ready, yum!!

This post is a part of Simple Lives Thursday Blog Hop and Pennywise Platter Thursday.

*With the rest of the dough, we had cheesy garlic bread with dinner on Wednesday. Rolled it out on a stone bar pan, spread some of my whipped garlic butter on and topped with freshly grated parm. I baked it while the pasta was cooking on 400°F. It was DELICIOUS!