Making Your Beds - Garden Style

    We aren't this far along this year with our garden as of yet, but I had these pictures from last year, so thought I would talk about prepping your garden.
     We have an extremely small yard, but lots of enthusiasm, so we have this small garden in between our wood storage "shed" and our storage shed.  It's large enough for all our greens, some beans and whatever else I can think to put here.  
     Last year I grew several different types of basils.  Purple, Lettuce Leaf and Lemon to name a few.  

Todd, hard at work

     I always grow too much basil.  It just happens. I start it from seed IN the garden itself.  I've tried starting it in containers and transplanting it, buying plants from the store, etc...but the way it seems to work the best is to just plant it in the garden.
     I think if you wait until the soil really warms up well, it just takes off and always would catch up and look much healthier than any transplants.
      Todd is working hard with this amazing Honda rototiller.  A friend of ours who doesn't garden anymore is letting us use this as long as we garden.  It's a definite back saver! There are different theories about the usage of rototillers, some for them and some against their use, but it seems to work for us. We rototill leaves, grass clippings and whatever else right in so it will add to the soil.

     When we dig into the garden, we can actually see all the new "dirt" that has been made and the clay dirt mix of the original back yard....nice!  
     What helps with this is our compost bin.  I have a very lovely stainless kitchen bin that I empty into our large yard compost container.  Yes, all those veggie scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags (paper kind only), and eggshells all combine with leaf material to make a nice hummus-y mix.  It's a great way to recycle household waste, and use up yard waste to 

The robins love to go through the soil to find any stray worms!

actually make something that will benefit your garden.  We take all of the old flower stocks from the flower beds and place them in a big pile to work on breaking down.  This will become a nice bit of soil after awhile.


Why "make" dirt?  Have you seen the prices of dirt lately? It's crazy and if I can keep my garden waste out of landfill to make FREE dirt, then well, there you go!

Happiness is...my shiny kitchen compost bin, found online.

So, the compost begins it's life in the kitchen in this most lovely of compost containers.  It was actually a birthday gift a few years back.  I kept asking my sister for one for my birthday and she finally broke down and against all her love of shopping, bought me this beauty! Ahhh!  I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I have to say that the birthday I received it is forever burned into my memory as a very happy day indeed!

This was the garden growing in mid-June.  The large pyramid in back is for my pole beans.  I have lettuce going on on the far left, mustard greens and turnip green, arugula and broccoli raab.  Notice the raise beds too. During a bad rainstorm, parts of our yard can get a little flooded.  The raised beds actually help keep the plants above the water line.  Raised beds also tend to warm up faster and provide good drainage.  We also place a thin layer of grass clippings on the walkways to keep down weeds and eventually enrich the soil.  It's important to go easy putting on a lot of green clippings as they tend to steal nitrogen from the soil around them which is needed to help them break down.  

This is the garden when it's still a baby.  We have one more bed to the right which is out of the picture because it wasn't planted yet but was waiting for basil.  So nice!

Well, here's to dreaming about your garden beds...can't wait until ours gets done!  Very soon we hope!  Be blessed!

Tomato Basil Tortelloni Soup!

Time for another recipe which includes some garden greens.  I made this soup today and a few people requested the recipe.  So, thought I would just turn it into my next blog.

The greens are my Swiss Chard and Giant Red Indian Mustard.  I can't help but be so grateful that these greens are up and giving me so many leaves to cook with this Spring.  

I am a lazy Spring gardener.  My garden beds aren't turned over yet and nothing is planted except for some nice cutting lettuces and extremely small parsley plants.  Good gardeners take advantage of this weather and can be already harvesting lots of food.  But no worries, looks like these plants came to the rescue and giving me more than enough for soups and recipes.

Swiss Chard

Okay, so on with the recipe.  I would say this recipe is a mix of Minestrone and Chicken Tortelloni Soups.  I've gathered my ingredients below and promptly peeled, chopped and julienned all the corresponding vegetables. All that's missing from the picture is some great homemade or quality chicken broth and whatever meat (if using) you plan to prepare.

Tomato Basil Tortelloni Soup

1 large can of tomatoes, stewed and blended or puree

2 -3quarts of home made or quality chicken stock, low sodium

1-2 cans of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 lb of ground Italian sausage, (turkey, beef or skip if making a vegetarian soup) browned, crumbled and drained

1 onion, diced

1-3 cloves of garlic, diced

 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into rounds

1-2 cups of greens, julienned into small ribbons or whole if using spinach (Kale, Swiss Chard, Mustard, Collards)

1 small zuchinni, sliced and diced

1 tbsp of Italian seasoning or basil

8 oz. of quality tortelloni, any flavor

1/2 tsp of freshly cracked pepper

Salt to taste

After meat is browned and crumbled, add diced onions and garlic and saute until onions are translucent, making sure the garlic doesn't burn.  Add your 2 quarts of broth and tomato sauce, or puree.  Bring to a boil and add your carrots, and diced zuchinni.  Let the soup simmer for about 10 minutes until the carrots are soft. Bring back to a boil and add your julienned greens, beans, Italian seasoning, pepper and tortelloni.  Cook tortelloni according to the directions on the package.  Mine was a four cheese variety. Add your extra quart of broth if the soup is too dense.  It's all up to your own personal preference.  Once cooked, season with salt to taste!  You can also add more Basil or seasonings if you would like.  We like lots, so feel free to change the quantities to suit your own flavor profile.

I also fill in soup with any vegetables I may have on hand.  You can add chopped celery, green beans, yellow squash or whatever you have on hand if the soup is not thick enough.  

Serve this soup with your favorite grilled cheese or panini sandwich and whal-la! You're in business! The tortelloni really swell up and start to fall apart.  So, this soup is probably best the day you make it.  Hope you like it! We all did...and that's what counts!  Be blessed!

A pocket full of posies; violets found alongside the road while on my walk after lunch.

Photo Hike

Okay, here's an easy way to hike without ever leaving the room.  It doesn't rid you of excess calories or build any muscle, but it is visually refreshing and that's almost as good.  We have so many great parks in our area thanks to an excellent park system.  So our "hike" on this day was at Hogback Ridge.  (The name comes from the fact that the high ridge with two steep valleys on either side resembles the bony spine of a hog.  Makes for a good story at least!) It's not a difficult place to hike because of the 1300 foot boardwalk, but the steps going down to the river compel you to exercise, hands down. So, enjoy the journey and hope you feel as refreshed mentally as we did once we were finished. 

Trekking on the trail, boardwalk style

This boardwalk is pretty easy for most strollers so this makes a family friendly park.

Early evening hike 

Approaching the steps to the river 

Going down was a bit harder than going up because of the steps.

Trail going to the river

We'll be there any minute now...

The prize...

The Grand River in all its grand style.  Love the reflection on the water...

Eye Candy

Beautiful, but icy water

Not just admiring the scenery, but checking out for Steelhead Trout. Huge fish that swim  up the creeks for winter and head back out to Lake Erie in early Spring.  Sometimes there are a few stragglers left behind.

Lovely white Trillium wildflower

If you don't want to hazard the steps going down to the river, then up on the ridge is another short trail that runs alongside it.  It has an overlook as you go along and then the boardwalk is replaced by gravel.  It's a nice short little walk and we usually head back up here after we walk along the river a bit.  There's usually so much to be seen and done by the river, that this feels like a nice wind down to the rest of the hike.  You can also find a few spots to walk down to the river along this trail that aren't as "treacherous" or as long as the previous steps.

Approaching the overlook, overgrown some, but a nice place to rest.

Last bits of sunshine

Boardwalk ends and gravel trail begins...

If you have a stroller here, be prepared to walk fast, it's a pretty steep  incline!

View of the water from along the trail.

A lone Violet makes a statement

Almost finished

Sunset on the trail

The reward?  Coffee and a chocolate almond biscotti at the local coffee house.  Perfect.

Have an amazing day!!

Tea Chat at the Open Door Coffee House

 Tea happens to be something I REALLY like to talk about and drink.  So, I was invited by our local coffee house where I used to work, to give a 10-15 minute talk about the quick history of tea and about some of the teas that the coffee house was selling. Awesome!  So I  worked on condensing the immense info there is out there on tea (ahhhhh!) into ten minutes and still managed to produce three handouts which included a "fill-in the blanks" sheet.  Thankfully, no one looked too disturbed at all the papers being passed around.

Open Door Coffee House

So, on with the teaching!  After giving some quick history of how the Chinese were the first to discover tea, the differences between black, oolong, green and white teas, what herbals are, how much caffeine is in tea, where tea is grown, what tea varieties do they sell here, it was time for samples.  (Sorry, that was a major run-on sentence.)

Heidi, the assistant manager, made tea for everyone and the samples went all around.  This helped so much when explaining the different flavors associated with the different teas.   

We started out with our Indian black tea, Ceylon and India.  Indian teas are primarily British Legacy Teas and are strong and assertive because they usually are processed and fermented quickly.  Think, espresso as compared to a regular cup of coffee.  These are the ones we mostly drink as Westerners and many Europeans.  I like them, but really love some of the Chinese black teas as they are smooth, with cocoa tones and don't need the addition of milk and sugar.  

The Japanese Green Sencha tea is very grassy and vegetal.  Brewing up to a bright green, it's definitely not your average bag of tea!  Very refreshing, slightly astringent and great hot or iced, a new favorite for me!

Finally, we got to our Rooibos tea.  The "tea" (it's actually an herbal), from South Africa is one of my big time favorites.  I drink it by the pound as it has superb health benefits, including its vitamin and mineral content.  It also contains some alpha hydroxy which is good for the skin.  I usually drink it flavored with natural vanilla and it's great iced or hot.  

Ceylon and India, Rooibos and Japanese Green Sencha teas

All in all, it was a fun time, and we all learned a little bit more about tea. It's a great drink, good for you and good tasting.  Life always seems to be a bit better with a cup of tea... 

All Things New

Forsythia

Spring is in full swing and thought I'd take some photos of some of the amazing life that is popping up around me.

First up is some gorgeous forsythia I managed to snap a photo of while on a neighborhood walk.  It blooms first and then the leaves come out later.  These are just about done blooming so I'm glad I was able to capture the intensity of the yellow flowers.  My camera battery was dead and I didn't think I was able to capture this shot.  But, somehow the picture took before the  camera shut off...yeah!

The birthing of chives

I actually got this picture a few weeks ago during that amazing warm spell we had.  I've already been able to use some of these chives on a couple of baked potatoes.  I'm looking forward to using more of them and making some chive blossom vinegar from their flowers...that'll be a later blog.

When you harvest your chives, make sure to cut from the bottom of the plant to get the whole chive.  Otherwise, they'll just be dead halfway up.  The chives will quickly put out new leaves from the area you have cut from.  

I have had these chives in a large pot by my side door for years now.  They do wonderfully in containers and I've actually re-potted them several times.  I put them in a pot right outside my side door because my other ones were planted a little further away and I was always too lazy to go get them.  Having them only a few steps away encourages my frequent use of them.

Blue Balsam Peppermint

Hands down, this Blue Balsam Peppermint variety is by far the best tasting peppermint out there.  I grabbed some starts from my sister-in-law's herb garden four hours away from here about six years ago.  Mints are some of the easiest plants to start.  I simply cut a few good sections of the stem making sure it had some root hairs coming out of it. Since I was visiting so far away, before I left, I wrapped the stems in very damp paper towels and put them in a baggie.  Five hours later, I simply placed them in water when I got home and planted in loose soil once they had rooted some more.  Wha-la!  Peppermint plants!  Not only a great plant but also a great memory of my sister-in-law and of the graduation party that day.  

This peppermint makes the world's best cup of tea and I never seem to have enough during the winter time, where it's super refreshing flavor is a wonder and comfort, especially if I or my family is suffering from a stuffy nose.  

Hope you enjoyed the photos.  On this Good Friday,  hope you're able to discover and enjoy some of the mystery and wonders of the things being birthed around you...Happy Easter to all!

Spring Greens and Italian Wedding Soup

 While the clothes were soaking up the early Spring sun and get their drying done, I thought I'd venture into the winter mulched garden to grab some freebie greens that I noticed were peeking up through the leaf mulch.  First up was the Giant Red Indian Mustard.  Don't let its diminutive size fool you, this mustard green packs a lot of flavor and tastes best when the leaves are smaller.  This one reseeded itself from last years planting and I'm all the more happy about it as it's one less thing I have to plant!  

Giant Red Indian Mustard

The next green on the list is my swiss chard.  I'm thinking this is its second year as it has come up in the garden in the same place I planted it last year.  It's a bienniel, so it will go to seed, but not before I've used it's leaves in a variety of dishes.

What's the nutritional deal with chard?  Well, it's a good source of Thiamin, Folate and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.  

I've already added these greens to my chicken noodle soup, but I realized that swiss chard is also very good in "Italian Wedding Soup."  So, I'm including a recipe of the soup because it's so tasty and the swiss chard adds to its delicious flavor.  

So, soak up the scrumptious color of this green and try whipping up the soup.  If you don't want to use chard (you can find it at most produce isles), then spinach is a highly respectable substitute. Enjoy! 

Swiss Chard

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

Ingredients:

Meatballs:

1 small onion, grated

1/3 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1 large egg

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon salt

1 slice fresh white bread, crust trimmed, bread torn into small pieces

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

8 ounces ground beef

8 ounces ground pork

Freshly ground black pepper

Soup:

12 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound of swiss chard, coarsely chopped (1 pound of spinach  would be a good substitution)

2 large eggs

2 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra for garnish

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and greens and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the curly endive is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the eggs and cheese in a medium bowl to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with parmesan cheese if desired.

Note:  Not into making meatballs?  Use some mild or hot Italian sausage as a substitute.  Simply crumble up and cook until done and then add to soup.  You can also just use a small pasta shape and cook in the broth if you don't want to use the egg/cheese noodles. 

(Original recipe courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis, Food Network)