Sprouts

Cucumber

Though a chill wind still howls outside my window, the days are getting longer and the sunshine more intense as thoughts of juicy, vine ripened tomatoes, bare feet and sandy beaches invade my brain. Spring has nearly sprung and with its approach comes grandiose plans for this year's garden. So hungry am I for those freshly picked veggies that I have already begun planting. I was actually on the ball this year and ordered a majority of my seeds with plenty of time to start them inside. I got all heirloom varieties from Baker Creek , a family owned, Missouri based company committed to preserving our agricultural heritage. I may have been a bit over ambitious with my ordering, as I will be trying a number of new crops this year. 
     
You may have noticed that, though the blog is entitled "Pots and Plots", thus far the focus has been entirely on the pots. This is mainly due to the fact that I generally start the growing season very enthusiastic and optimistic, but then grow increasing discouraged by powdery mildew, insects and blight. I have some new strategies that I intend to try this year, and I'm going in with the attitude that whatever yield I do get is better that nothing. I also hope that others can learn from my misadventures and offer up some helpful hints of their own.

Dwarf Sunflowers

So far things are going swimmingly. I planted 2 
varieties of cucumbers (short and long), broccoli rapini, dwarf and giant sunflowers, zucchini and May Queen butterhead lettuce. Everything but the lettuce is planted in egg cartons with organic seed starter soil. The only drawback to the egg cartons, is they seem to dry out rather quickly. I try to spray them religiously twice a day, and before most of the seeds sprouted, I tucked them in at night with a plastic wrap blanket. The zucchini, both cukes, the dwarf sunflowers and lettuce have popped their little heads up, but the giant sunflowers and broccoli rapini have yet to make and appearance. I'm wondering if perhaps I don't have enough sun for the rapini. We'll see. I planted the lettuce in its own little plastic spinach container greenhouse. I'm hoping to have a few heads grow to maturity inside, so I can dine on fresh greens while it's still frosty outside.

Baby Lettuces

I have only one window that's really suitable for incubating plant embryos. To make the most of it and keep the seedlings safe from cats and toddlers, I installed a simple shelf even with the top of the bottom pane. It's just a piece of plywood cut to size set upon two small blocks 

Ghetto Greenhouse

that are screwed into the sides of the window frame. I attached a smaller block just above the shelf to keep it from tipping. I tried to be as minimally invasive as possible as I intend to remove the shelf after it is no longer inhabited. I realize this is not an option for everyone. We own our house and have old, crappy windows. If this is something you can get away with though, it's working out very well!

So happy planting and stay tuned for more greens, outside, with row covers! (try to contain your excitement)

Life is a bowl of cherries...and chicken

I love this time of year! All the fresh local fruits and vegetables. There's a wonderful orchard near my house where you can go to pick all manner of fruits throughout the growing season. Yesterday, I went cherry picking, so I have a lovely basket of dark, sweet cherries just begging to be experimented with. I thought...well grapes are good in chicken salad...why not cherries? So here is what I came up with.

Cherry Chicken Salad

Ingredients 

2 Cooked Chicken Breasts*
1/2 cup Cherries
1/4 cup Walnuts
1 stalk Celery
2 Tbsp Mayonnaise 
Salt and White Pepper to taste (I'm sure Black Pepper would work just fine too.)

• Cut chicken breasts into small cubes, or shred. Either way is tasty.
• Pit and quarter cherries.
• Rough chop walnuts and celery.
• Mix all ingredients with mayonnaise, salt and pepper.

Can be served on a bed of greens or made into sandwiches...whatever strikes your fancy. I opted for whole wheat wraps with arugula. The spice of the arugula added a nice dimension.     

*I cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot and took the meat from that. Typically when I make chicken salad I poach the breasts. 
Poaching Tips


  

 

Something Fishy...

Steamed Tilapia with Mango Cucumber Salsa

Ingredients

2 Tilapia Filets

Orange Chili Marinade

Mango Cucumber Salsa

• Place filets in marinade and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Remove filets from marinade and place on heat resistant plate. 
• Lightly salt and pepper fish* 
• Place plate inside bamboo steamer and steam until fish is white and flaky, about 10 minutes. (Baking the fish would work as well, I was just experimenting and it turned out quite nicely)
• Carefully remove fish from plate with a spatula. Plate will be hot. Duh.
• I put the fish on a bed of greens with sliced avocado, but you could also use rice or even quinoa.
• Top with Salsa and serve! Preferably with ice cold Margarita.

Marinade

(Amounts are approximate, as I was just kind of dumping stuff together)

Juice of Half an Orange

1 T Orange Zest (I may have gotten a bit carried away with my new zester)

1 T Vegetable Oil

2 T Apple Cider Vinegar

1 T Lime Juice (I actually had no limes so I used Limeade)

1 t Crushed Red Pepper

Salt and Pepper

• Whisk all ingredients together in the container you will be using to marinate the fish. 

Salsa

1 Smallish Cucumber

1 Mango

1/2 Jalapeno Pepper

2 T Black Beans

1/2 Red Onion

1 t Fresh Cilantro

1 T Apple Cider Vinegar

Juice of Half an Orange

Pinch of Salt

• Peel and chop Cucumber and Mango**
• Remove seeds and chop Jalapeno. (Seeds can be left in for more heat)
• Finely chop Red Onion
• Rinse, dry and chop Cilantro***
• Mix all ingredients in a small bowl

Serves 2

*I actually used this fabulous Passion Fruit Chili Pepper Salt I got from www.saltywahine.com They're a Hawaiian company with a bunch of really great seasonings.

**An easy way to chop mangoes http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cut_a_mango/ Do not make the same mistake I did and wait until you have already made a mess of the mango to look at this. It will be too late.

***I recently learned a nifty trick for drying just-washed greens. Place them in the center of a dish towel and draw the four corners of the towel together. Swing it around your head like a lasso. Yell yee haw. ( Yee haw optional) Warning: If greens are very wet, there will be a splash zone, so you may want to take the party outside.  

Getting Started...

April 13, 2012

So I've decided to start a blog...though if by some strange happenstance someone is actually reading this, that fact is evident. I don't know that I have anything new and fascinating to share with the world, but I like to cook and I like to garden, and I do both by trial and error, so if someone somewhere can learn from my mistakes, offer advice, tell me I'm fabulous, or teach me how not to write run-on sentences, then this forum has served its purpose. 

I would like to start by relating a recipe that I tried the other day. It was one of those quick, thrown together things that actually ended up being pretty tasty. Let's call it:

Spring Pesto Rice

Ingredients:

1 C uncooked brown rice

2 Spring Onions chopped

1 Bunch Asparagus, woody ends trimmed off *

4 Hard Boiled eggs **

1/2 C Spring Herb Pesto (see below)

• Bring rice, 2 cups water and a pinch of salt to a boil. Reduce to medium low heat and simmer until all water has been absorbed. about 45 minutes.
• Steam asparagus and chop into 1-2 inch pieces.
• Mix pesto, onions and asparagus into rice. Salt to taste.
• Garnish with crumbled hard boiled eggs.

 

Spring Herb Pesto

Ingredients:

One Bunch Fresh Mint, stems removed

One Bunch Fresh Parsley, stems removed

1/2 C Roasted Almonds, roughly chopped

1/4-1/2 C Olive Oil 

Put all ingredients in food processor and process until smooth. The amount of olive oil depends on your pastiness preference. 

* For trimming asparagus: hold woody end and bend stalk until it snaps. I've heard that you can then use that stalk as a guide to chop all of the others, but I like to snap them all individually :)

* Easy Hard Boiled eggs:  Put eggs in a pot. Fill pot with cold, salted water about 1 inch above eggs. Cover. Bring to a boil. Remove pot from heat and let sit, covered for 13 minutes. Transfer eggs to cold water. I find the eggs easier to peel if they are somewhat old. 

Makes 4 Servings 

I happened to have the pesto left over from another recipe and hard boiled eggs already made so it was very quick and easy to put together!