The texture of green

Why I don't weed when it is wet...

A friend and I were chatting after class the other day and she was commenting on the great rain we have had recently.  "At least it makes weeding so much easier, I bet your thrilled!"

Oh, how I love my flower growing friends!

I didn't have the heart to tell her that vegetable gardeners view rain with a kind of love hate relationship.  Yes, in the moment of the downpour we are thrilled.  Plants that looked droopy or tight suddenly give of the impression that they are smiling.  Worms are everywhere and the color is indescribable.  I will agree, the dirt is soft and inviting to both walk on, and dig in.  Don't.  Trust me on this.  The few weeds you will get out as the dirt turns to something akin to biscuit dough on your fingers and shoes just isn't fun.  This, coupled with the number of diseases that spread particularly in beans and tomatoes, and the fact the dirt where your feet are will turn to some sort of brown rock when it dries, is what keeps me out.  I even cringed stepping on the soft springy soil to take the photo above.  Neurotic, I know. Go to your garden.  Love your plants from afar.  Look, but don't touch!
Sonja

New things coming up

Ahhh.  Onions.  Always one of my first happy, hearty plants to emerge in the garden.  I have selected a few more beds to plant in the square foot method this year and onions were one of the obvious choices this time.  For those of you unfamiliar with square foot, check out their website squarefootgardening.org  It is a beautiful site with lots of photos that will explain things in much greater detail than I will right now:

1.  Make a 4x4 grid
2.  Use it as a spacing guide to plant your seeds

That's it.  Like I said, visit the site, you will get much more than that, because obviously it is much, much bigger than that...

No, I have not fallen off the planet...

So it has been an interesting year.  Last June rumor started around work that the hubby's job was on the chopping block.  I know, don't listen to rumor... needless to say, it was a stressful summer with no work local.  An even more trying fall followed with him taking a temp job four hours away and only coming home about every 3rd weekend. Christmas brought a new job that only has an hour commute and we are all back together again.  God is good, all the time.
As I planted my tomato seeds this week while looking out at the snow still in our back yard, it occurred to me that I had not posted on my blog for a while.  I know, a year is not "a while", but I am fairly sure no one who reads my rambling was really holding their breath waiting for the next installment of food related, well, rambling.
I am rededicating myself to posting.  Why?  To tell you the truth, I'm not really sure.  I think this has evolved in my mind to a sort of diary that I can look back on and see some of the day to day humdrum that I don't remember any more.
That, or I am just that kind of crazy.
Tomatoes to come!
Sonja

Starting Your Seeds

The "pretty" version of my garden.  Nothing like real life...

We are using tomato plants to start

 Soooo, it is that time of year again, spring, where everything in Wisconsin is waiting for the snow to melt the ground to warm so that we can get out into the dirt.  Don't get me wrong, we love it here, but the growing season is so short it makes the gardening season somewhat of a race.  Because we get the itch in January  like everyone else, but can not do anything outside until Memorial weekend, we start on paper.  This year we are trying something new.  Rather than attempting to manage 5000 square feet of weeds, we are going to use the Square Foot method by gardener Mel Bartholomew in a few sections and see how it works for a garden the size of ours.  This reduces our space to a more "manageable" 2500 feet.  More to come on that as the year goes on.

So what does a person in Wisconsin do eight weeks before you can get into the actual garden?  We pretend we have little gardens in the house.   The initial challenge is deciding what you would like to plant, and how many.   For this post, I am doing paste tomatoes.  In the lower right quadrant of my plan, you can see some sideways words "Heinz" along with dots.  I plan to grow 20 in my patch, and one of the three gals who garden with me is also growing a block of 10.  My seed tray has 36 spots, my seed pack 70+ seeds.  This way I start both of our tomatoes, allowing for a few that may not germinate, and have enough left in the pack for next year.  The stick helps me push the seeds into place, and the grow sheet or dome help hold in moisture and warmth which tomatoes love.

In goes the dirt

 First we start by filling the cells with a seed starter mix.  I know, it is not organic, but around here, you take what you can get at this time of year.  The tomatoes will need to be potted on at a later date, and at that time I will switch to a local compost that one of the ginseng farms sell.  Fill the cells to the top, smoothing out the dirt, but don't really worry about squishing it in there.  You just want to be sure they are all filled to the top. Messy job so you can put newspaper down on your counter for clean up.  I prefer the mess, helps perpetuate the illusion that I am really outside working ;-)

Pressing it down using another set of cells

Now we take another set of cells and squarsh down the mixture in our tiny pots.  Too much air is not good for germination and growth.  When you compact the seeding mixture, you are creating a nice snug bed for your seeds.  Seeds require good soil contact.
There is a method of starting seeds that involve something called soil blocking.  It eliminates the need for plastic or peat pots and uses a mixture of peat, lime, sand, soil and compost that are formed into, well, soil blocks... The blocks stand on their own in a tray until they are placed in your garden.  The mixture helps them hold their shape on the tray and the roots actually help strengthen the whole structure.  When a plants roots encounter air, they stop growing that direction, so there is not worries about plants attaching to each other.  Pretty cool, huh?

 I pour out my entire packet of seeds into a little cup at this point.  I do this so that I am sure to have enough to plant the whole tray at one time, and count what I have left in the pack for bookkeeping purposes.  As I said, this pack has over 70 seeds, so I write on the envelope approximately what is left so that I do not reorder these next year.  This packet of seeds are the Heinz variety from Territorial Seed company out of Cottage Grove OR.  Their catalogs are some of my favorite winter reading.  These beauties will be diced, sauced, salsa-ed, juiced and catsuped next fall as each plant has a ton!

One little tomato to be...

 Here is one seed in a cell.  Sooooo happy in his little dirt bed!  I use the stick (wooden kabob type) to help me push the seeds where I need them.  It is my favorite planting tool at this stage of the game as it is much smaller than my finger, can be used to make holes if I need to, and if I drop an extra one in a cell, I lick the flat end and touch the extra seed.  It attaches to the end of the stick and I can easily move it to another spot.  When all the spots are filled, I sprinkle dirt over the whole tray to the top and repeat the squarshing, ensuring everything is touching.  I have also filled the tray underneath with water to wet the dirt from the bottom up.

Now, we wait, don't mind the blinding snow in the background

 In this photo, you can see I have placed the clear dome over the whole works. I opted to not use the germination sheet, as we are leaving town on Friday, and I want to have a stable environment set up by then to hold over the weekend of being alone.  This tray is now placed on top of a heat mat, on a shelf in my indoor greenhouse.  I found the greenhouse on clearance at Menard's for $18 during the winter.  The trays,of which you can pick up replacements for $0.99, heat mats and my other two greenhouses were purchased during previous gardening years, and I reuse them from year to year.
This brings me to one of my favorite topics on gardening.  The cost.  That package of seeds was $3.55, the dirt, of which I used a fourth of the bag, was $3.44.  I am splitting the seed cost with another girl and based on the size of our gardens, she pays 1/3 of the cost.  Keep in mind also, that we are only using 1/2 of that pack this year.  So for those of you who are keeping track..

                                                                My seeds  $1.17

                                                                         Dirt  $0.86

                                      Total for tomatoes this year  $2.03

That is for 20 organic paste tomato plants.  This means my cost per plant this year is $0.10.  I can't even tell you what each jar of diced, sauced, salsa-ed, juiced and catsuped tomato product will cost, because my brain can't do that type of tiny math.  Kinda makes you want to get in the dirt, huh?

Blueberry Jam

I made blueberry jam.  It is a beautiful thing, looking at eight jars of black yumminess sitting on my counter, still warm from their magical preserving bath.  Eight cups of hand picked, organic, raised four miles from my house kinda local blueberries that I lovingly crushed and turned into jam.
All I can say is...

Yuck

I used pectin like everyone else does, only this time I thought I was smart.
Low sugar, the box said.
No sugar needed recipes, the box said.
At least 25% less sugar than regular recipes, the box said.

Ok, we all know I am not drinking the aspertame kool-aid  substituting anything for natural sugar in my house, so I was pretty sure I was going to need some sugar.

Four and a half cups later...

Yes, we all can do the math on that one.  That means that roughly half, HALF, of each one cup jar is sugar.  I tasted it, hoping against all logic that it would be ok.  That it would still taste like a sun ripened blueberry.
Wrong.
So wrong.
Might as well have drank the kool-aid, sorry Dees...
Damn.

Spaghetti Carbonara with Asparagus

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
2 Tb grated parmigiano cheese
salt, pepper

1 lb asparagus, chopped into long pieces

10 oz spaghetti, regular or whole grain
2 tsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic minced
4 oz nitrate free ham, cut in pieces
1/4 cup soaked dried tomato halves, chopped

Beat eggs, cheese and salt and pepper in large bowl while water for pasta is coming to boil. Cook asparagus in water 4 minutes, scoop out and set aside. I put them in a colander in the sink so I can pour the pasta water over it to reheat at the last second. Put spaghetti on to boil and while timing, cook (in another pan) garlic for a bit in oil adding ham and tomatoes half way through the cooking time. Scoop out a mug of pasta water and then drain spaghetti and immediately dump on egg mixture, stirring quickly. Add ham mixture and continue to stir, adding a bit of pasta water to thin if needed. Serve with asparagus on side, unless you have asparagus lovers in your house, then you can add the raw veggie to cook with the spaghetti during the last 4 minutes of its cook time.
Serves 4- 10 points plus per serving

Menu Monday December 5-11th

When I plan out my week, I try to keep similar Points Plus values to my meals and snacks in order to make things easier. Breakfast tends to be 6-7, lunch a bit less, supper around 10 with a couple snacks or a beer in there as well. As the weeks go on, feel free to comment things so that I can tailor the menu a bit. Also pay attention to the suggestions at the bottom if you are dealing with "selective" eaters in your house. All recipes I am posting with be four servings unless otherwise noted. If there are two of you in the house, you have two choices. Handy huh? You can either half the recipe or you can make the full batch and have left-overs for your lunch the next 2 days. Remember, that little scale that is somewhere in your kitchen is your friend...

Monday (Run 2 miles, strength)
Oatmeal, blueberries, brown sugar, milk
Open face with 4 ham slices, 1 swiss, mustard, lettuce, apple, carrot sticks
Big raw salad, 2 PP worth dressing, Spaghetti Carbonara, asparagus
Almonds

Tuesday (Spin)
1 egg and 2 whites, wedge laughing cow cheese on English muffin
1 slice toast, peanut butter, apple, celery
2 grilled chicken thighs(5oz), 1 cup brown rice, broccoli, tomato and red onions with balsamic
MGD 64

Wednesday (Run 2 miles, weigh in)
1 small or 1/2 large muffin, string cheese
Kids Flatout, can tuna, olive oil mayo 1Tb, lettuce, grapes, 1/4 oz chocolate
4 oz lean steak, winter squash, sugar snap peas
5 c air popped corn with hot sauce
cheese stick

Thursday (Step class, strength)
Mulitgrain bagel, 2 T hummus
1 sliced boiled egg, 8 Triscuit, grapes, carrots
1 can Progresso Lentil soup, 5 saltines
1/2 c cottage cheese, pineapple

Friday (Run 2 miles,)
Kashi Golean, 1/2 cup milk, banana
Open face 3 slice turkey, mustard, lettuce, 1 cup Progresso minestrone
Fish fry, pizza or something I have been craving for the week keep to about 20 points

Saturday (P90 or kickbox tape)
Soft cooked egg, 1 slice toast with 1 T strawberry jam and 1/2 slice swiss, fruit of choice
Any leftover soup from the week, cereal or an open face sandwich with veggies
Chili, leftover rice, pickles, onions (stay away from cheese, you can't taste it anyway)

Sunday (Day off)
Kids choice, I may or may not eat it, or will stick with cereal
My birthday, so who knows? Will not eat breakfast as we have brunch on Sundays so will try to make good choices depending on where we go and what I had for supper on Friday.

One thing to remember, I weigh in on Wednesday, so Friday tends to be my splurge day. If you are a Sunday weigh-er, that might not work for you.

The Garden

Here it is, in all its 20,000 square foot wonder, complete with a few weeds

Squash, cucumbers, peas and onionsThe root bedBeans, pole beans, potatoesTomatoes, peppers and sweet corn

Menu Monday May 8-15

Hello all, it has been busy with school, life, work for hubby and celebrating #2 First Holy Communion. Spring is finally here and the boys came over yesterday and dug up my garden spot with their gianormous tractors! I will post pictures soon of the 20,000 sq foot space so you can see the craziness I am talking about. In the mean time...

Breakfast
Cranberry white chocolate muffins
Eggs and toast
Breakfast banana splits
Pear cheese quesadillas
Cereal
Pancakes and bacon
Brunch

Lunch
Nut butter and jelly sandwiches, banans
Hard boiled eggs with soba noodles, veggies
Meatballs and rice, snow peas
Egg salad sandwich, veggies
Ham and cheese sandwiches, grapes
Panini, chips

Supper
Sesame crusted tilapia, gingered green beans
Beef snow pea stir fry, rice
chicken Fricassee, salad
Salmon with sweet potato crust, cilantro rice, relish plate with lime
Pizza
Pulled pork butt, coleslaw, biscuits with cinnamon honey butter
Thai green curry chicken with veggies, rice

Why coupons are a good thing... sometimes...

My hubby and I were watching TLC's Extreme Couponer the other night. I thought to myself, why am I not using coupons? Usually I don't even look at them in the Sunday paper as they are for things I don't normally buy. For some reason, my neighbor just doesn't run adds for $1 a gallon of the raw milk that I get from him...
I decided to check the paper this week because I love a bargain! Who doesn't? Then I checked the online coupon sites. Here is what happened this week, and no, my totals were not like what was on tv.
I went to that big store with the red bulls eye trademark on it today, armed with my flyer and coupons and scored big, see photo above. According to my receipt, I saved $32.90 today by buying things on sale with coupons, that we would normally buy.
Not bad...
Yesterday I went to IGA. I bought blue cheese, ham, pasta sauce, salad dressing and french fried onions. I saved $5.31. Everything was on sale with the exception of the ham, I had a coupon for everything but the salad dressing, stuff that we would normally buy.
Not bad....
I went to Walgreens, saved $29.87 inlcuding a few treats for Easter. I also walked out with $1.00 registar reward and 2 free movie coupons from Redbox, too. Everything was on sale, I used coupons, and it was stuff that we would normally buy.
Not bad...
Then I went to Trigs...
I got sausage, 4 frozen diet meals, 2 dozen eggs, 6 boxes of cereal and a jar of mayo. I saved $28.69, spending $30.57 buying things on sale, with coupons.........
Bad....
Wait, you say... ! I saved nearly 50% didn't I. I used my coupons, the stuff was on sale!
Yes I did, and now I have a cupboard full of high fructose corn syrup cereal, and a freezer with nasty "fast" lunches that I refuse to microwave and will pull out of the plastic package, break into small pieces and bake for 30 minutes in my oven and sausage full of nitrates. Here is where the lure of saving money got me. I don't buy those things on a normal week, why would I buy them now? For years I have changed our eating habits and ignored the brightly colored ads in the paper calling me to try this or that processed food. This week I failed on that one... So when I ran into my co-couponer, I gave her my 5 other cereal coupons and the frozen meal coupon. I don't feel guilty, because she does buy that stuff and she was thrilled to get the coupons. That makes me happy. She can use them, it saves her money and I don't have food in the house that my kids can't eat. Sure they will groan at the sight of oatmeal tomorrow, but at least I won't have to worry about little bodies that can't hold still, or break out in a rash, or have a tummy ache, or who are hungry thirty minutes after they ate breakfast.

On a side note.
To those of you who do eat cereal in your house, I do envy you. This post is in no way to make anyone feel bad about what they or their kids are eating. We just can't eat it here. I am sorry if you are offended, but then you kinda missed the point of the post...

Red Snitch Lunch

Soboro over rice

Bento4Japan

Many prayers have been lifted up for the people of Japan. People all over are thinking of that devastated country and with the electronic capabilities now, keeping up on what is happening through twitter, web news, and blogs. While there are many ways to help, our rotary club is paying for four people who work a vocational job to go for four weeks, sometimes it is overwhelming to know where to give. If you haven't had a chance to, you should go check out what the bento community is doing over on ebay. Bento bloggers like Heather at Ohayo Bento, Debra at Hapa Bento, are auctioning off bento sets to raise money for Japan on Ebay. What a great cause, and what cute stuff! Be sure to browse the selection and help raise money for those who are struggling while facing such a great disaster.
totally cute!

Please wait

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My beautiful husband

A little love for my husband today.

I love his beautiful face. I love his strong character. I love how he encourages me to be whatever I want, and that makes me want to be his wife and the mother of his children all the more. I love his honesty, and how he stands by his convictions. I love his tenderness when everything at home seems to be falling apart around my ears. I love his faith in God. I love how he reminds me of my own father. I love how he would give the shirt off his back to anyone. I love that he is married to me.

Menu Monday March 21-27

Irish food week is done here for another year, so it is back to menu planning out of more than one cookbook. While a theme week is fun, I am always happy for the variety that several cookbooks bring.

Breakfast
Cranberry and white chocolate muffins, pears
Eggs and bagels
Pecan maple oatmeal
Egg casserole, mangos
Cereal and bananas
Kids choice
Brunch- Strawberry french toast, bacon and eggs

Lunch
Egg rolls, somen, broccoli and oranges
Sesame chicken nuggets, onigiri, squash and pickles
Sausage octopi, rice, corn, potato croquette
Egg salad, bananas, chips
Country Steak, potatoes, green beans

Supper
Guinness beef casserole, carrots, no need-bread
Beef and green pepper soup, cheese bread
Orange chipotle chicken, rice, salad
Beef wraps, carrots, fruit
Spaghetti, garlic toast, salad
Pizza
Leftovers

Happy St. Patrick's Day-2011

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal,
Love leaves a memory no one can steal.
From a headstone in Ireland
One year today, we still miss you Mr. Olsen!

Makes me smile

God is good but never dance in a small boat - an Irish proverb

Brown soda breakfast scones

I like these for a change of pace, but they are not as tender as ones made with butter.

2 c unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2c soft whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c buttermilk (plus a bit more)

Sift dry ingredients together. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and dump in buttermilk. Stir just long enough to soak in liquid adding more if your flour is too dry. Do not overmix, tough scones. Turn out onto a floured counter and gather into a ball by folding 2-3 times. Gently pat down to 1 1/2 inch thick and cut 16 scones either with a biscuit cutter or just into squares like I do.
Wash tops with egg wash or sprinkle with sharp cheddar and bake 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Statements this Mom is grateful to hear

I don't know about every mother, but this makes my heart glad....

From my oldest:
-Mom, there are kids that actually eat the white bread they serve at school! That is so nasty! (nuff said)

From my youngest:
-I told Grandpa that I only wanted to play at McD*nalds, not eat. That food is yucky. (and he did despite being offered french fries that they were eating)

From my daughter:
-That girl's outfit is, like, so totally inappropriate! (oh we hope this lasts)

From my third:
-I need a haircut, my hair is touching my ears. (It is cute, but I am glad he wants to keep it short)

Menu Monday March 14-20

St. Patty's Week! Yes, it is all week here, not just Thursday, and we are celebrating all week because that's just how we roll around here. We will have Irish food, Irish beer, Irish whiskey, QVC All things Irish on tv, Irish music...not to mention our Irish children we will be doing all this with. Ok, maybe not the whiskey...or too much of the beer, a girls got to cook with it though. We may even have an Irish wake of sorts as we celebrate remembering Mr. Olsen. Here is our menu for the week.

Breakfast
Irish oats (also known as porridge, made in the crock pot)
Brown soda breakfast scones, soft boiled eggs
Potato cakes with butter and sugar
Buttermilk scones, raspberry jam, Irish cheese
Cheese toasties, tomatoes
Buttermilk pancakes with honey
Full breakfast/brunch-eggs, bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausage and potato cakes (we will be skipping the kidneys and black pudding for now...)

Lunch
Standard lunches/school lunch (see previous menus)

Supper
Dingle pies with beef rather than mutton
Corned beef, dumplings, cabbage and boiled potatoes
Mustard baked chicken, peas, colcannon
Irish supper at church (pork pie, beef and guinness pie and other goodies)
Salmon, asparagus with hollandaise, boiled new potatoes
Roast duck with apples and cider, roasted jerusalem artichokes
Spiced pork roast with apple and thyme cream sauce, carrott and parsnip puree, broccoli, baked caramel custard

Now that you know what we are eating this week, have you made your menu plan yet? What are your plans for St. Patty's day/weekend and do you have any traditions that your family normally celebrates?