A book called "The Mini Farming Guide to Vegetable Gardening"

It is written by Brett L. Markham and I got it through inter library loan through my local library.

(I have no affiliation with Brett or with Skyhorse publishing.)

I have only read a few pages of this book and I am already liking it.  I hope no one minds if I share a paragraph or two that have "hit" me.

"When you grow your own vegetables, you can grow them far less expensively than they can be purchased, thereby making it much more feasible to follow our mother's advice.

Another reason why people don't eat enough vegetables, I am sad to say, is because most vegetables you can buy at the supermarket are unappetizing.  Humans have a natural evolutionary desire to consume the most calorie-dense food available in order to avoid starvation.  To a degree, this can explain our preference for snake cakes over rutabagas.  But another important ingredient in that equation is that industrial agriculture has turned what should be a culinary delight into something so tasteless and useless that it can't be consumed in quantity without a dip or sauce to disguise its bland character."

This is so true.

Growing up, my mother only had a few recipes that were served over and over and over again.  We hardly ever tried anything new.

Now, there were always more than one kind of vegetable on the table at any meal, but my mom cooked them to DEATH!!  I am sure I mentioned it before, that I didn't know broccoli or asparagus were supposed to be green and not khaki colored and that they were supposed to have a "bite" to them and not be mushy.

No wonder I was never very adventurous with trying different vegetables.

I know, we all tend to blame our mother's for everything.  And while I'm not actually blaming my mother, it was growing up with my mother in the kitchen that formed my preferences into adulthood about vegetables.

Once we had our Darling Boy, I tried to include as many choices as I could, but now, being the "mother", I know that I didn't expose him to as many choices as I could have.  BUT, I always encouraged him to try new things, no matter where he was or whom he was with.  And, I'm glad to say that he always did and have a very well rounded list of items that he eats and prepares himself.

I think part of why I have gotten the gardening bug so badly is that I do want good, nutritious food.  I want to know where my food came from, how it was grown and how fresh it is.  There is no reason why everyone can't grow something in their yard, and if not in their yard, in containers on their deck.  It really isn't that hard or expensive, and it does not take that much time.  Everyone of us could make such a statement if we grew some of our own food, even if it were just tomatoes and lettuce through the summer.

So many people spend thousands of dollars on landscaping their yards, and having a lawn service, just imagine if they instead spent one tenth of that on growing some of their own salad items?

I know, I'm not saying anything new, I'm just repeating what so many other's have said, I just felt like I needed to say it and share it.

Thank you for listening.

My Baker Seed Order

Earlier in January, I wrote how I purchased a copy of the "Whole Seed Catalog" from  The Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.

I placed my order on January 14th, and it was here in two days.  It was packaged and sent on the 15th and I received it on the 16th. Shipping for my order was $3.50 and the actual postage on the envelope was $3.08!

I am very impressed with the speed of their service and that they charged for shipping as close to what the cost of actual shipping was. 

I ordered 20 packages of seeds.  Yes, very ambitious, for a first time seed planter.  But, I'm learning, and I want to try everything that I read about.

My Dear Darling wants carrots.  So, I found and ordered several types of carrots.

Our Darling Boy likes yellow beans.  Not wax beans.  Yellow beans.  I know, they are one and the same, but if the package says "yellow" beans, well then, I can say I planted "yellow" beans.

I want peas.  All kinds.  Sugar Snap.  Snow pea.  Regular pea.  I wanted them for eating and partly for improving my soil.

I ordered some Golden Purslane for a gal I work with.  She loves Purslane and this way, I can plant some and give her something that I know she will enjoy.

I also ordered some Ground Cherry to try.  I'm looking for new things and adventure.  What better way than to try an heirloom?

How do you or did you pick what you ordered in seeds this year?

New Year's Crab Dip!

I bet, by now, you think all I do is eat!

 

I am lucky enough to have a Dear Darling who likes to cook, experiment in the kitchen and try things without an actual recipe.

 

New Years eve I was just going to do simple and easy.  I went to our local Wegman's and got some of their already cooked Garlic Shrimp and I was going to make some angel hair pasta and a salad and BAM!, dinners on the table.

 

My Dear Darling had other ideas.

 

"Why don't you go get some crab meat? We'll make some dip."

"Oh, and pick up some spinach while you are there."

"Do we have cream cheese?"

 

So, back out to the store, now the third one that day, to pick up some crab meat.  I've, we've, never made crab dip before, but I always buy Lump crab when I am making crab cakes, so that is what I bought for this dip.



 

 

 

 

Above is the mix, cream cheese, Lump crab, spinach, some chopped onion, some chopped red pepper, shredded mozzarella and I think there is some shredded jack cheese in there as well, and maybe even a tablespoon or two of Hellman's.



 

 



 Next, he put it all into a glass pie plate.  He wanted to put it into a 4 quart casserole dish, but I didn't think it would cook evenly in that.  (My thinking, it's an "expensive" dip to burn)

 Below, is the finished product.  It was wonderful!  It was filling with Corn chips.  It was TOO much for two people and too rich!

 

 

We ate about half of the pie plate and we had no shrimp dinner that night, we were STUFFED!!!  The shrimp dinner became New Years Day dinner and the other half of this we vacuum packed and put into the freezer.

Never be afraid to try something you've never done before or that you don't have a recipe for.  Yes, at times, it can be a gamble, and in this case, an expensive one, if it didn't come out edible, but most often times, you may find a new favorite!

Organic Gardening - The book (s)

 

Since beginning my gardening experience last year, I have purchased a few books and have read ALOT of books that I borrowed from the local public library.

 

My father got me a subscription to "Organic Gardening" magazine, which I thoroughly enjoy and recommend to any new gardener. (no, I have no affiliation with them.)

 

As I have mentioned before, books are a downfall for me, and if I am not careful, they become a problem, so I now try to choose very wisely when I buy them.

 

I bought this book and enjoyed it greatly.  I read it from cover to cover, over the course of several weeks and learned a great many things, and relearned some things that I had forgotten.

 



 

 

This is an old one, written by Samuel Ogden in 1971.  I would imagine that it is out of print now, so you could check your library system to see if they have it or can get it.  Even though it was written in 1971, it is a really good book and a lot of the information in it is still applicable today. This one was actually on the shelves at my local library.

 



As I read each book, I have been trying to record in my "garden journal" anything that I find interesting and helpful, so that I can refer back to it in the future.

Swedish Meatballs

This weekend, I asked Dear Darling what he would like for dinner.  I really struggle with this, as I do like to cook, and I do like to eat, but I HATE figuring out what to fix!

 

So, he said he wanted:

Swedish Meatballs

I have not made them in years, so I went to AllRecipes.com, which is a favorite recipe site of mine, and found the above recipe.

I did follow the making of the meatballs to the T, but I did use more meat with the same amount of spices.  In the past, it's been probably 10 years since I made them, I no longer remember the recipe, I know I did not use allspice or ginger, but I did use nutmeg.

Anyway, I cooked them as directed, but since I have issues with fat content and additives, I used water instead of canned or powdered broth.  They came out of the oven just fabulous!  I used some of that liquid to make "the gravy" and them put them in the crock pot to keep warm until dinner time.

I did forget to purchase egg noodles, so we used angel hair pasta from the pantry and I cooked up some frozen broccoli and dinner was a hit.

I will definitely make them again, just as the recipe is written.

Rice Pudding

Here is the rice pudding recipe I use from allrecipes.com

Creamiest Rice Pudding

They say when you get older that your tastes change.  Well, I've found that to be very true.



 

 

 

My mother will be gone 7 years this month. 

 

I never liked rice pudding when she would make it.  When my oldest brother was alive, she would make it for him, because he loved it, and she did too. 

 



 

After my mother died, one of my godmother's brought over her rice pudding for us to have at the house.  I tried some, and it was love.

 

Now, was it just that I loved "her" recipe for rice pudding?  Was it simply that I was hungry?  Or was I trying to connect with my mother?  I will never really know.

 

After a while, I called my cousin, my godmother's daughter, and asked her if she had her mother's recipe.  She sent it along, via snail mail and when I received it, I thought "I could never make THAT".  It was SO calorie laden and full of fat, my gallbladder would surely object.  Plus the quantity it would make, and I'd be the only one to eat it.

 

So, that recipe when to the bottom of the pile and was forgotten.

 

One day, while surfing through All recipes . com, I decided to look for a rice pudding recipe, and the one above, is the one I found and that I use and love.

 

I do half of what is called for, as I am still the only one who eats it, and I use 2 % milk, and one egg.  I have also tried using one cup of heavy cream and three cups of 2% and that comes out even nicer, if you can afford the calories and the fat.

 

I learned that making rice pudding is a slow process, you have to constantly be getting up to stir it, you can't really do much else, or it will burn, and you have to "look" at what you are doing to be sure the consistency is what you want.

 

When I make this, I let it cool in the refrigerator, and when I eat it, it's usually a meal and I add cinnamon to the top. 

 

 

I now have many memories of my rice pudding.  While it isn't my mothers, or my godmother's, it is the one I use and think of them, and I wanted to share it with you.



The weather has gotten to me!

Sorry I have been away from here for a bit.

The winter cold will do that to me at times.  I just seem to want to hunker down near the wood stove and knit.

Please check back later in the week, the posts will be regular again.

Wishing for spring ( as a new snow fall descends....)