The biweekly garden update

I had a ladybug visit this past week. Hayden and I had so much fun watching it crawl around on my bell pepper plant!



Flowers on my bell pepper plant!!!



My baby tomatoes!



My broccoli!



Swiss Chard



Head Lettuce



Baby cilantro



Lavender Flowers about to pop out



Potted carrots



Sweet peas



Cauliflower



Hayden's Sunflower



Corn

Everything is doing pretty well. My squash's are having a little trouble staying green. I am worried they are iron deficient. I have to get some compost to try and fix that. It looks like the acorn squash is going to be getting fruit soon. I love gardening, even though it takes FOREVER!

Meaty Stuffed Shells

I am normally a cheese ravioli or stuffed shells kinda girl but these made my belly very happy. They were also another really easy recipe! Oh and in the picture, they weren't baked yet. I forgot to take an after picture before they were eaten.

You will need:
16 large pasta shells
1 jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
1.5 cups of mozzarella cheese
1 lb of ground italian sausage
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
2 eggs
Some plain breadcrumbs

So first, make the shells according to the package. Stop the cooking by washing them until cool with cold water.

Next, cook the onion and the garlic until soft with a little olive oil. Add the sausage and cook until brown. Mix the 2 eggs, about 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs and 1/3 cup of the sauce with the meat mixture. This will be the stuffing for the shells.

Take you shells and stuff with about 1 1/2 teaspoons of the meat mixture or however much you want. Once you are done stuffing, arrange in a 13x9 glass pan. Cover with the remaining sauce and the cheese. Bake in the oven at 375 for 35 minutes or until the cheese is brown and bubbly.



There a picture of my Hayden spreading the cheese on top of the shells. He did a great job!


He thought the cheese was slimy and yucky!

Enjoy!

Yummy Pasta Salad

I know these have been simple recipes lately but things don't have to be hard to be really yummy!

To make this pasta salad you will need:
1 box of rotini, baby penne, bowties or that tri colored one (forgot the name)
3 roma tomatoes diced into big chunks
1 can of olives, your choice
1 bell pepper, diced into big chunks
1 bag mini pepperoni
cheddar cheese
parmesan cheese
1 bottle of your favorite italian dressing


I cook the pasta with the directions on the box. When they are done I run cold water over to stop the cooking. After everything is cut, I throw it into a giant bowl and toss. Then I cover with as much of the salad dressing is needed to make it look wet. The pasta will absorb some of the dressing so more is always good to make sure it isn't dry.

You can pretty much add whatever you want; like peas, corn, carrots and many more things. I am sure you could use different salad dressing too.

This is a great and easy recipe to take to a barbeque or a potluck and lots of people will enjoy it. We certainly do!

The best cole slaw in the entire world!

So this is super easy to make and tastes just like KFC's cole slaw. I normally use a bag of the preshredded stuff to make it even easier. Here are the ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
8 cups finely chopped cabbage (about 1 head)
1/4 cup shredded carrot (1 medium carrot)
2 tablespoons minced onion

If you don't have the buttermilk, you can add a few drops of white vinegar or lemon juice in another 1/4 cup of milk. The instructions are super easy. Basically all you do is mix everything but the carrot, cabbage and onion together in a bowl until blended well. Then fold in the shredded veggies. It will be a bit watery. The cabbage will suck up the extra as it marinates. Refrigerate for a few hours and then enjoy.

Garden Update

I just have to say real quick RIP celery, carrots, watermelon, Anaheim peppers and corn. Brady was at it again. The seeds have already been replanted. Here are some updated pictures of the major growth in the garden. Enjoy!


Acorn Squash has a FLOWER!


Holy Lettuce! This is the leaf lettuce. I also have head lettuce.


Cherry Tomato Flower


Broccoli


Sugar Snap Peas


Carrots in my bales (the destroyed ones where in a pot)


My eggplant has new leaves!!!


This mushroom popped up in an 8 hour period. All I can say is holy fungus!!

Caramel Popcorn

This was a very easy, quick and yummy snack. I was sitting around and really wanted some popcorn. My mom used to make this when we were watching movies.

So you just pop some popcorn. I used loose popcorn and a pot with some oil in the bottom. I have learned the hard way to constantly shake while the popcorn is popping. I then set the popped corn aside in a large bowl for when the caramel is ready to coat it.

To make the caramel you need:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

With the caramel, all I did was mix until boiling. Then stirring constantly, boil for 5 minutes. After you are done with making the caramel, pour over your popcorn bowl. Mix well and spread over wax paper.



Then, enjoy your yummy treat. I am sure you can mix in nuts, dried fruit or whatever you like to make this a little more nutritious but just the caramel was good for me!

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

This was a very easy soup to make and it was very tasty! I also made some focaccia bread to go along with it. Here are the recipes in case you would like to try. The soup is an Emeril creation and the bread comes from joyfulabode.com

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup yellow onions or sliced leeks (white parts only, well rinsed)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• Pinch nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken stock or canned, low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 (16-ounce) package frozen broccoli, thawed and separated
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/4 cups shredded medium Cheddar
• Croutons, for garnish, recipe follows

Directions

In a medium pot, melt the 3 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and nutmeg and cook, stirring, until soft, 3 minutes. Add the garlic and thyme cook, stirring, until fragrant, for 20 seconds. Add the flour and cook, stirring until the mixture is well blended and smells fragrant, 2 minutes. Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, until tender, for 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree with a hand-held immersion blender. (Alternatively, in batches, puree in a blender or food processor and return to the pot.)

Add the cream and bring to bare simmer to heat through. Add the cheese and cook over low heat, stirring, until melted. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons cold butter, stirring to blend.

Remove from the heat and ladle the soup into bowls.


Focaccia Bread

http://www.joyfulabode.com/2008/11/05/easy-2-hour-focaccia-recipe-and-photo-tutorial/

1 1/2 cup Warm Water
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons olive oil



Mix the yeast and water together enough to dissolve the yeast. Set aside

Mix all other ingredients together in your mixer or by hand. Then add the yeast water. Mix until just combined. It will be very sticky.

Drizzle olive oil on a baking sheet and spread dough out onto pan. Cover with plastic wrap coated in cooking spray. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Poke your dough once risen all over. Drizzle more olive oil all over the bread dough and top with Parmesan cheese and your italian spices of choice. (I used garlic, onion, oregano and basil)

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. I cut mine into "bread sticks".

My little garden helper

Hayden is so in love with watching my plants grow. I think we have come outside more in the past month since I have started this journey to water and nurture and just watch the garden than we have since we have moved to California almost 2 years ago.

Anyway here are some pictures of my helper that I took in the backyard today. Oh and by the way, I can't wait to have a real backyard!









I love taking pictures of that kid!

How the garden grows

This is Ashby. He is my garden watch cat! I love him so much. I think he would so anything for me. I am truly his mommy. I have had him since he was 5.5 weeks old and he is now 3.
Happy Birthday Ashby!

So I gave in again and obtained some herbs for my containers. I think I am becoming addicted to gardening. It is so relaxing because I get out of the house, even though it is just in the backyard. Oh and the fresh air and sunshine is good too. I have a feeling this post is going to be picture filled. Now is the time where you put your feet up and marvel at the beauty of my garden. :)


My Celery. I really hope it does something!


My Broccoli. Its so cool that it is getting different shaped leaves!


My Watermelon. The aphids are sure loving this little guy!


My leaf lettuce. It is also getting different shaped leaves!


More Green Beans. My husband is going to be in heaven with all of this "nature's candy" for us to eat!



My newest addition...Cantaloupe! I don't even like it but a good experiment and another i aquired!


My Sweet Snap Peas.


Cherry Tomatoes...another new addition


Swiss Chard


My herbs/lettuce container garden...by the way, I HATE digging in the ground!

And lastly,


My Anaheim Chili Peppers!



Now that you have seen the progress of the garden, go buy some seeds and plant your own! It is the best thing in the whole world. Yeah, I like to cook but man do I love to garden.

Crab Wontons with Sweet and Sour Sauce

I have to say that these are AMAZING! I am a big fan of these to begin with but I like being able to use the amounts of cream cheese and crab that I enjoy. I also had a lot of fun folding the first three into pyramids. Then my fingers got stiff and it sucked, so I resorted to just making triangle packages. Anyway, here are the recipes for both the sauce and the crab filling to stuff the wonton wrappers with.

Crab Wontons

From: http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/2123408-fried-cream-cheese-wontons
vegetable oil (enough to fill your pot about 3 inches, if you have a deep fryer, that's so much better)
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, softened (make sure it's soft or else, you'll have a hard time mixing it)
1 cup of finely chopped crab meat (i used imitation crab meat because it's cheap and we all know that i live on a college student budget)
3 tablespoons chopped scallions (green onions)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground pepper
30 wonton wrappers (i used the small square wraps)
water for sealing the wonton wrappers

what to do:
heat up the oil. mix cream cheese, (imitation) crab meat, scallions, salt and pepper until combined. put a small amount, about a teaspoon in each wrapper and close it up. fry it for about a minute and a half or until golden brown. that's it! don't forget to serve it with your favorite sweet chili sauce. ;)

And a tip: You need to wet the edges of the wonton wrappers to get them to stick together.



Sweet and Sour Sauce

From: about.com

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup white or rice vinegar (Note: rice vinegar gives better results)
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch mixed with 4 teaspoons water

Mix everything but the cornstarch and water in a small pot. Heat until boiling. Add the cornstarch and water to thicken.