Proof

 

If you didn't believe that my kids actually eat vegetables, here is the proof. Middle Monkey is eating a baked acorn squash with nothing on it but a little bit of butter. Yes, I am bragging.

 

 

Now look, some monkey or another has put a plastic bug on my Valentine's flowers. Naughty or nice?

Has anyone ever grown potatoes in bags? If so, did it work?

Chimichurri Sauce

 

As I mentioned yesterday,we have a lot of parsley. There are four large plants and several smaller sets. If it were geographically possible, I would share some with all of you. At this point I am running the risk of spoiling several relationships because of excess parsley offerings. So I needed a recipe that uses lots of parsley. I found chimichurri.

Chimichurri is an Argentinian recipe for a sauce that is a condiment or marinade. There are many different recipes but the basics are parsley, olive oil, garlic, onion, salt, pepper and something acidic.

Here is my version #1
1 cup parsley loosely packed
1/4 cup dried cilantro
1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic
I left out the onion
Pinch of salt
Dash of my After Burner sauce (you can use Tabasco)
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon paprika

Process everything in a food processor until smooth.

This stuff had the prettiest color and tasted fresh and smokey at the same time. Manly Man had smoked some ribs for dinner. I like a little acidic flavor with beef and pork, but most steak sauces are really salty. This was a nice compliment to the rib meat in place of a vinegary barbecue or steak sauce. I also think it would be good on grilled veggies and as a marinade for grilled fish. If you have too much parsley this is a good option.

Pretty Day Pictures and a Meme

It was a beautiful day today. I spent the afternoon in the garden. Here are a few pictures of what is going on.

Cabbages and a crystal ball.

 

Broccoli and a Calico

 

The first head of cabbage which will be kraut in a week.

 

Parsley, I have about four large parsley plants. Anyone want to come help me bale it?

 

James and Shala posted a meme yesterday and I thought I would play along.

Describe your gardening style.

Well does what a mess count as a style?

What was the last plant you bought?

Curly Whirly Juncus.

What were the last seeds you bought?

Heirloom tomatoes, but I have to add that I received some really cool heirloom seeds from Monica including Avivvi and Ladino di Panacchio. Thanks Monica.

When was the last time you picked dirt out from under your nail?

Well I need to do that right now.

Any plans for the garden this year?

Convert the whole thing over to raised beds. I am about a third done with this project.

What was your biggest mistake in gardening ever?

Giant rose bush in tiny space, using a broken thermometer in the compost pile, trying to grow a Brandy wine tomato plant year after year and never succeeding here because we get too hot (I never learn). I am sure there will be more.

Biggest success.

Raising three boys who love veggies.

If you could do anything right now regarding gardening what would it be.

Control the weather. Wait that is the gardening super power I want.

Thanks Double Danger for hosting this meme.

And if that were not enough. James asked me a few questions a little bit ago and tonight he posted my response with a few other garden bloggers. I feel so Auntly. Anyway, go check out the responses of "What Does Gardening Mean to You" over at Double Danger.

Test

Okay, I played with my feed again. This is a test to see if it will show up anywhere. If it works on our family blog, I will change blotanical again. Wish me luck. I am horrible at this. Thanks to everyone who drops and checks for my missing posts.

Hey, Who Ate That Last Hunk of Bread

I made wheat bread yesterday. There was a little bit of it left tonight after dinner. Everyone went to bed, and that bread heal was mine. All I heard was a door squeak. I thought a monkey needed a drink. NOOOOOO....that monkey crept out of bed and stole my bread. GRRRRRR.

Well, here is what they don't know. A few weeks ago I read a snippet of something that said you could make fresh bread every day in just five minutes. To tell the truth, I just read the snippet and didn't actually go find the book or anything. I think, I can do this, just refrigerate some left over bread dough and bake it tomorrow. Well, I saved the bread dough and it morphed into something very large and prickly in the fridge. I pulled off a hunk of it, shaped it into a loaf, and baked it. MMMMMMM...it smells wonderful.

I am going to start leaving notes tomorrow. The following will be my first note.

To whoever (whom, can't remember the rule) ate the last piece of bread,

You cannot have any of this loaf.

With Love and Irritation,

Mom


Do you think it will work?

Beef Noodle Soup

 

It was cold and drizzly here today. It was a perfect day for soup and crusty bread. I busted out my brand new, bright shiny crock pot and made a batch of beef noodle soup. The crock pot was a Christmas present from Mamala. Thanks Mamala. To go with the soup, I made sour dough wheat bread. Mmmmm...comfort food.

 

Here is a picture of Tisha watching me sew on my hand cranked sewing machine. This was taken just before she attacked the thread feed.

Beef Noodle Soup
1 pound beef tips
1/2 medium onion chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped thyme
1/4 cup chopped rosemary
6 cups of water
3 Beef bouillon cubes (The good stuff is in the Mexican food section)
Ground black pepper to taste
6 ounces wide egg noodles

This is an all day recipe so start early. The house is going to smell wonderful. Set the crock pot on low. Place the beef tips in the crock pot with water simmer day. About two hours before dinner time, put all the other ingredients but the noodles in with the beef tips. Add more water if needed. Twenty minutes before serving, raise the temperature of the crock pot to high. Ten minutes before serving add the noodles.

The bread was made with whole wheat, essential wheat glutton, one egg, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoon melted butter and enough natural sour dough starter to make a soft dough. I only kneaded this batch one time. The top split, but it looked like I did it on purpose. Sorry, I don't measure anymore.

Which one is this?

 

I tried really hard to take an in focus picture, but failed again. This is a little bitty tiny daffodil. I tried to find something on the internet about it, but just come up with other little daffodils slightly larger than this one. Anyone know what it it?