Adventures in Gardening

Growing up, I always watched my dad do yard work. But not just yard work as in mowing the lawn. I mean, yard work because he really cared about his yard. Plus it was a stress releiver. Even though he has a bad back he still spends time devoted to sprucing up his yard and now (lucky him...) helping me with my yard! I never thought I would enjoy this kind of thing. And I admit, there are some days where I really don't feel like going out to water my veggie planters or flowers. And some weeks I let the weeds get a bit more out of control than I would care to admit. However, once I get my butt outside and start on whatever project it is, I find myself enjoying it and it actually becomes relaxing. A bit of a stress releiver. Almost in the same twisted way that I find peace in cleaning after an argument or a stressful day. It's probably connected to some sort of control issue, and enjoying the fact that I can control something and have an immediate (or almost immediate) result from something I've done. However, that's another issue...

My yard and my garden is now my pride & joy, my little project. I get so excited each day when I see how things are growing! My roses are beautiful and so fragrant. Going through the garden department at stores just makes me excited and I have to restrain myself to NOT spend money on more plants or garden decor. So much fun. =) Mock me if you will.....but if you are a garden lover then you will understand.

Take a look at my "babies" and how they've grown this year....


So here is a look at one of my two raised planters in my backyard. (They came with the house, how awesome is that?) This picture was taken the weekend before Easter. The plants around the perimeter are my tomato plants. A variety of cherry, roma, and more of a robust variety.



This is a close up of ..... peek a boo! A tomato, first of the season. This was taken last night, May 17th. Though this particular plant surprised me. It came out of "nowhere", or more specifically, from a seed that dropped from a plant from last season! And surprise! A huge tomato plant! :-)



This is from last night as well, just 1/2 of that same planter but you get the idea. Everything is growing so big! Except my poor little basil plant in the front there. Snails and birds were attacking it.... so I think I saved it on time. I'm paying special attention to it so that I can hopefully nurse it back to health.....I LOVE basil. It's so darn expensive in the store!



Oh! And this is my cucumber plant. It's in the front/center of the planter with the tomatoes in it. I've never grown cucumbers before but it seems to be doing well. I hear they can take over the space they're in, so....bring it on ..... I'm ready!



This is what my other planter looked like the week before Easter. These are zuchini, yellow squash and yellow onion plants.



Now, look at them! Getting so big! The ones in the front with the different colored leaves, they are my yellow squash plants.
In the middle are my yellow onions. I know they look like scallions, or green onions. But the round yellow onion is actually under ground to be harvested later.
On the other side are my zuchini plants. . . getting rather large as well!


Peeking inside my zuchini plant......I've always wanted to try a recipe with squash blossoms, you can stuff them and fry them....we shall see....


And here are my yellow squash getting bigger each day!


I just had to throw this in here, a beautiful rose from one of my plants :)


And I love this plant, I have two of them but I forgot the name. They are floppy and kind of do their own thing but I like it! The only thing is I have to make sure to cut off the dead ones when they are dead that way it makes room for new blossoms, but overall it's low maintance. Adds nice color :)

Yum.

Dinner was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s.

:-)

Just had to share. I did the plate so cute with lemon & orange garnish all pretty to take a picture but my camera was charging and we were hungry and wanting to start the season finale of Desperate Housewives, so, we ate it before any picture taking could take place.

You'll just have to make it and see for yourself.


p.s. don't be afraid to alter the recipe. for instance, I just pan cooked the chicken then didn't even roast it in the oven. . . totally worked fine. :)

Gnite.....

Dinner Time - Citrus Chicken Breasts

This is delicious. I've only made it 2 times....but I have had the recipe for years. I kept flipping past it because 1) it had too many ingredients and 2) the blend of ingredients seemed odd and I just never actually felt inspired to give it a shot. However the thing with me and cooking is I'll always at least TRY to make something. The the "TRY" isn't emphasized because of the actual skill in cooking necessarily (though some recipes are intimidating for that fact) but it's more because of flavors. You never know though until you do TRY it. So, that's my encouragement for the day. Don't be intimidated by a recipe because of uncommon flavors or seemingly odd techniques. Just go for it and you never know....it may turn out to be a favorite in your house!

Level: Simple.
Prep time: 15 minutes. (Plus 1 hour chilled marinade time)
Cook time: 35 minutes. (give or take)
Serves: 4.

INGREDIENTS

4 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger (TIP: use either the back of a spoon to 'peel' the skin off the ginger or use a small pearing knife...don't try to use an actual veg. peeler which is way too cumbersome for this task.) (also, keep leftover ginger in a baggie, freezer safe, in the freezer. Fresh ginger tends to spoil quickly)
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon ground fennel (We thankfully received one of those huge spice racks for our wedding ... and fennel seeds (unground) were included. Well last Christmas my mother in law gave me a mini mortar-pestol to grind my own spices. This came in handy for the fennel here. See pics below)
4 (1/4 lb) bone-in chicken breast halves, skinned. (I just use whatever type of chicken I have on hand or that is on sale .... and it turned out fine)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
4 teaspoons e.v olive oil
1 small shallot finely chopped
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons chopped fresh basil.

MARINADE

Combine 1/2 of the garlic, the soy sauce, ginger, 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon orange zest and fennel in medium bowl. Mix well and coat chicken. Cover and refigerate 1 hour.

COOK

Preheat oven to 450º and spray a roasting pan with nonstick spray. Remove chicken from marinade; sprinkle with salt and pepper (just a pinch). Heat 2 teaspoons olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken (skinned side down, if you used that kind of chicken) and cook until browned, about 4 minutes. Turn chicken and cook 2 minutes longer. Transfer chicken to the roasting pan and cook until instant read thermometer reads 170ºF, about 20-23 minutes. (me personally, I use smaller portions of chicken so that it lasts longer for left overs so my cooking time varies and is often shorter than they say).

Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in skillet (same skillet) and add remaining garlic and shallot, stirring frequently until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in broth and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Cook until mixture reduces to about 3/4 cup, about 4 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and stir in remaining orange and lemon zest, salt, pepper, and basil. Serve chicken with sauce.

~~~~~
I made couscous (super easy whole wheat couscous from Trader Joes in a box, takes about 5 minutes to make) and put the sauce/chicken over the couscous and it soaked up all the flavor, it was so delicous.

So give it a try if you like! Just thought I'd share :)


All mixed and in the marinade. Looks funky I know, but will be so good!

Fennel and mortar/pestol all ready to go...

Grinding away...

There we go! Not bad!


Oh and P.S., I couldn't resist a bite or two of my leftover blueberry crumb cake I made over the weekend. Is it against the rules to take bites of left over dessert while making dinner? I think not! :) Recipe for the cake coming next...

Mother's Day 2010

Let me start by saying, my mom is pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Though, those of you who have the pleasure of knowing her, I would think you'd agree. She is a wife, a mother, a full-time employee (make that business operations manager at Comcast which is technically way more than just standard 40 hr full time status by the way), women's ministries leader at church, and most importantly a friend not just to others but to me. She's had a pretty straining year by anyone's standard so I decided to make mother's day extra special.

My plan started off being massages, pedicures and lunch in Solvang. Most of this was covered by my super awesome radio contest winning skills, meaning I had a massage and a lunch certificate in my pocket at the Hadsten House Inn & Spa in Solvang. If you have never been there, by the way, this is a shameless plug saying you must try it. Pricey? Yes. Worth it? Double Yes. Though, you could always listen to Krazy Country 105.9 on weekday mornings at about 8am for "Family Fued" question of the day to win a 3 course dinner for two at the restaurant, which is how I prefer to do it. But anyways, I digress.... =)

My plan slightly changed to be just pedicures and lunch at the Hadsten House. Between massage and pedicure my mom chose pedicure to have "cute toes" (to quote mother) for Hawaii...(she left a few days later for her 30th anniversary trip with my dad) I made the appointment at Enchante Spa in Solvang, which is another place that you MUST visit if you are in need of some pampering. It is owned by a woman named Debbie and she has owned it for 10 years. It's on Alisal road in Solvang and it's the most adorable cottage you've ever seen, which happens to be a spa!

So, pedicures were all set. Now on to plan lunch. Well, the day before the day,I realized that the Hadsten House isn't open for lunch! Um, DUH. Darn it....so, on to plan B! That would have been great, had I actually made a plan B. So, I made an executive decision that we'd eat at Los Olivos Cafe. No coupon for my plan B, but it's okay cause mommy dearest is worth every penny ;-)

I picked up my mom in a private chauffeured car that morning (okay okay,that was more in my 'dream' plan.....I'll start over.)So I picked her up in my newly washed sparkling white 2004 Toyota Corolla. I know, I know, with such a cool car, why would I even want to hire a privately chauffeured car anyways? I don't know what I was thinking.

And, we were off! It was a lovely day!


Being greeted by a beautiful rose and flower garden, nothing beats that. So pretty!

Mom....sipping her iced tea and munching on her freshly baked rasberry scone. So delicious! And at no extra cost by the way. And yes that is a lavendar scented warm neck wrap she has on. These ladies at Enchante don't mess around when it comes to pampering you!

How could you not relax in a spa that looks like this? Adorable!!!

Me and Mom, freshly done toes and ready to enjoy lunch. Which was yummy by the way. No pictures though darn it I forgot to take my camera out of my purse, we were too busy gabbing away.... ;-)

Love you Mom!

Love is in the air...

For Babies.....that is.
I love this cutie patootie London Ava, 4 days old. Congrats to the proud parents Kelsey & Josiah :)

Pasta Night!

Tonight was my night to take dinner to some friends of ours that just had a little baby boy almost 2 weeks ago, named J.T. (So cute and little!!) Any-who, perfect night to make something fast and easy that can feed them for a few nights and also us! Over the weekend I found great coupons for Hillshire Farms products so I got a killer deal on some keilbasa....so I decided to make some pasta that my mom used to make all the time. It was so yummy, so I'll share the recipe :)

And this is, by the way, not an official recipe, just kind of tweak it as necessary and put whatever amounts you have on hand, either way it'll turn out just fine!

• Cook any amount of pasta you need (I like the "ziti" shaped kind) according to package directions
• Meanwhile, in one big skillet, cook together slices of keilbasa sausage, zuchinni, sundried tomatoes (packed in oil preferably), and whatever else sounds good! I used artichoke hearts tonight, but my mom always put in yellow squash as well, and pine nuts (though I don't remember if she put the pine nuts in at the end).
• Once the pasta is done and drained, immediately mix in pesto (I used basil pesto, and some heaping spoonfulls because I love it! Just use however much you want). Put the pesto in right away when the pasta is hot so it will all melt and ooz in together.
• Anyways, once everything else (veggies, meat) has cooked together and browned up a bit, mix it all in with the pasta/pesto and there you go! All done!

It's an easy meal to make in large quantities and you can make it with whatever yummy veggies you have on hand that you happen to enjoy.

=)

P.S.

You have about a week....so by about next Monday or so I'll make it private. =)

Anyone out there?

So....I was thinking....does anyone even read this thing? And do I want ANYONE reading it? So the time has come, I'm going private on here.....if you do read this, and want to keep on reading it, let me know by leaving a comment and include your email address. I'll make sure to send you an email invite.
=)

Spring has Sprung!

I almost hate to admit it......but....I am starting to enjoy this warm weather!!! (except of course for this weird 'storm' this week)

So life has been a blur lately. From Thanksgiving to Christmas, then BAM! It's April, spring time, and we are already counting the days until our next vacation.....or is that just me? As if over a week off at Christmas time isn't enough.

Caleb & I had another great visit with his family in the Sacramento/Roseville area over Christmas. The best part of it was surprising his mom and showing up at her house on Christmas morning when she wasn't expecting us until late that night. The look on her face was well worth getting 2 hours of sleep, waking up at 3am and driving 5 hours. :-) I just wish I had snuck a camera to Jim (Caleb's step dad who was in on the surprise) so he could have snuck a pic of the moment. You'll just have to imagine...

Also....for a while around the end of 2009 there was possibility of Caleb attending an accelerated nursing program in Lompoc. Long story short, he applied and didn't make it in this year. There's always next year! We were able to see more than ever how God's plan is so much bigger than ours. We were feeling impatient, and wanting to push to make it work, even though it was a huge stretch. It just HAD to be right.........right? Thankfully for us, God sees way more than we do. 2 weeks before he would have started the program, we were doing our taxes and got hit with a huge blow. Caleb's employer was not taking out the correct amount of Federal Taxes all of last year. No, we didn't notice. Yes, now we know what to look for. Basically, we owe a lot of money in taxes when we thought we were getting a lot of money back. IF we had gotten our way and Caleb got accepted into the program this year, he would have had to back out of it. NO way financially could we have him hardly working to attend the program, and then pay for the program, and pay our taxes on top. So, in the end we see how cool it is NOT to be in control. (as much as I like to be in control.....) He's working hard and plans on applying next year - we'll see!

March 13 was our 1 year move-in anniversary of buying our house! I can't beleive how much has happened in a year! However, it meant it was time to plant my garden again this year! Something new this year was that I pulled out all of the crazy blackberry bushes ( I didn't get much from them last year, the birds ate them all!) and planted a super pretty flower garden. Right now it's a bit new, only been a few days, but as it all grows and blends together, it will be even more beautiful.

Here are some pictures of the things that make me happy =)

First Rose of the Year


Peek-a-Boo! Yummy Lemons


Beautiful beginnings


So cute!


Tride n' True Geraniums...

Thyme

Basil

Yellow onions, zucchini, and yellow squash

3 Cherry Tomato Plants, 3 Celebrity Tomato Plants, Cucumbers, Basil & Thyme. Soon to come....Dill & Cilantro. Loved having them last year....


One side of my new flower area....the other side is pretty much the same thing :-)

I can't wait to see everything blossom and produce yummy fruit. :-)

Shame on me

I can't beleive it's been since THANKSGIVING that I posted anything! Blog post coming soon......