News from the garden : After the rain...

Since my next few photo-a-day entries revolve around the garden, I decided to compile everything into one post, to save you from the agony of my blog-bombing.




June 5 : Environment -- My garden of course.

Clockwise from top
| swiss chard | squash | herbs | mint |



Here's our very first squash blossom! Once they start blossoming, there's no stopping these plants! My marigolds are right next to them, and I'm so afraid they'll be overshadowed by the squash! My marigolds need plenty of sunshine!!





June 7 : Bright

My entry for today is our very first nasturtium! Did you know you can eat the flowers?
But after seeing the flowers, I don't think I can bring myself to eat them.
J is a little less sympathetic. This one he plucked right off and popped into his mouth. :(






June 9 : From down low

Somewhere on the ground, the Swiss chard is quietly growing.
I just love how Swiss Chard looks. Especially up close.
The hues, the patterns of the veins, the contrast of the yellows, greens and reds.





Then finally,
a very uninspiring picture of our harvested green beans.
But they do taste oh so delicious!

That's all folks!

May 31 : Four things...

Four things growing in our garden
Clockwise from top left
| little tomatoes | cabbage | kohlrabi | snow peas |

And there's more stuff growing in our yard, in case you missed the previous entry.

Actually, I lied. The cabbage is grown by our neighbor. I slipped that in the collage because I wanted to show you how fantastic of a farmer he is!!
Plus, he gave us that particular cabbage, so now I can make my favorite cole slaw!




And P.S. this is June's Photo A Day Challenge. Join me on Instagram @mrsjrizzle !!

News from the garden : FMSPhoto a Day entry for May 15 - 7 O'Clock

Every evening we water or weed. I got a tan just from working in the garden!
Here are some pictures of what's going on in the garden so far!




This is our first strawberry of the season. It wasn't easy keeping an eye on it every day, watching it ripen, making sure the bugs or animals don't get to it first. Finally when we picked it, it was so sweet! Or maybe I was just tasting happiness!






We picked some green onions for dinner tonight. So fresh, so crisp, and a little spicy!
I used it as a garnish in a sauce made out of vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, minced ginger and chilli.
It was so tasty!






And a whole bunch of radishes! What to do with them???



I hope your garden is doing good too!

News from the garden: The beginning of the madness!!

Our seeds arrived in the mail a few days ago.



Wheeeeeeee!!  Can you tell how excited I am?
We bought 2 types of marigolds to keep out the bugs.




As a result, these seedlings sit atop my craft table.  They have taken over my craft room, just as I found some motivation to start crafting.  *killjoy*

I can't wait for the warmer weather and when we can transplant them into the ground.  Meanwhile, the hardworking husband has tilled the land in preparation.
Spring, please come already.

News from the garden: Fall Surprises!

Here's the last round of harvest from the summer crop before we cleared it for the fall garden.






Did I hear someone say baba ghanoush???

Via


Here is another surprise. We had strewn some marigold seeds last summer. Nothing ever came up, until this spring. And then it was only a wee flower struggling to survive amongst the other towering plants. In a blink of an eye, that lone marigold grew and blossomed into this:





Isn't Mother Nature amazing?
We now have daikon, arugula, bak choy and some other veggies in our fall crop.
What are you harvesting this season?

News from the Garden: Freezing okra for the winter

There's only so much okra I can eat.

I finally googled a method to freeze the gazillion okra (and other vegetables, for that matter) from the garden to save for the winter.

I know my future self will look in retrospect and thank me, especially when I return from Singapore with a whole bunch of sambal belachan to fry the okra in!


Method:

1. Wash and clean okra and separate them into two piles - younger pods (4 inches and under) and larger pods.

2. Carefully slice off the heads of each okra, taking care not to expose the seed cells on the inside.

3. Prepare a big pot of boiling water at the same time, so when you're done slicing off the heads you can place the okra in the boiling water immediately.

4. Start either with the younger pods, or the larger pods first. Blanch younger pods for about 3-4 minutes and larger pods 4-5 minutes.

5. After blanching, dunk okra in another pot of ice cold water to cool okra immediately. Apparently this prevents overcooking. I leave them in the cold water for about 5 minutes while I blanch the next group of okra pods.

6. Drain cooled off okra in a strainer.

7. When okra is sufficiently drained, I divide okra into meal-sized portions. I place these portions in a Food Saver bag and vacuum seal them.



Now J and I found a FoodSaver for real cheap at Goodwill. We bought the FoodSaver + FoodSaver bags for a grand total of $6.99! What a steal! And we'd seen them in the stores going for at least $100! Just buying a roll of FoodSaver bags cost about $10, so yea, it's definitely a steal!

But if you don't have a FoodSaver, you can the more common Zip Loc bags. It doesn't ensure a proper vacuum seal, but I guess it's the next best option.

Guess I'll be doing this with my zucchini and squash soon!

Recipes: What to do with too many roma tomatoes -- Tomato sauce!!!

My gawd.

The J-man would be so proud of me. For 4th consecutive day I've been cooking, using ingredients mostly from the garden.

Just don't tell him it's cause i had to use up those stupid tomatoes. Too many already! (I have a feeling i'm going to get beat up for complaining about having too much food...)

This morning i just gave away a big bag of tomatoes, bell peppers and squash. And i still have leftover for myself.




We bought a dehydrator so i can dehydrate stuff. but I have ENOUGH dried tomatoes, so i had to look for recipes to make something other than sun-dried tomatoes.

So here's a recipe for easy tomato sauce for your favorite pasta. And remember, if i can do this, it's a no brainer for you!



Ingredients:

Roma tomatoes
Onion
Garlic cloves
Basil leaves
Pepper and salt
Chilli flakes

I didn't use any measurements, just eyeballed the amount. But if you need the measurements, i got the recipe off here


Method:


Cut a slit in the tomato skin before putting the tomatoes in boiling water and let boil for 1-2 minutes. No more than that! or the tomatoes get too squishy to peel

Place all boiled tomatoes into a bowl of (optional: ice) cold water to cool. Now the slit you have made before makes it easier for you to get the skin off after the tomatoes have cooled.

While waiting for tomatoes to cool, chop the other ingredients : dice onion, finely dice garlic cloves and also the basil leaves. Set aside

Heat oil in medium sized frying pan. Saute onions for about 5-7 minutes before adding the garlic.

Meanwhile, you can start peeling the skin off the tomatoes, and dice them into halves or quarters.

Throw all chopped up tomatoes into a strainer and drain all liquids. Sprinkle salt all over the tomatoes.

When the onions and garlic are done, add tomatoes to frying pan. Add basil leaves and chilli flakes, more salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix well, then let simmer over low heat for about 30-35 minutes.

You can boil your pasta while simmering the sauce. When they both done, just pour sauce over the noodles. I like to add shrimp to my pasta, so i would blanche some store bought cooked shrimp in the hot water used to cook the noodles, and add them to the dish.






All set and ready for dinner!! (and leftovers for tomorrow's lunch!!)

News from the garden: Spooky Bumpy Yellow Squash

So, in the garden harvest every day, we get okra, beans, tomatoes and tons and tons of squash. Our squash plants keep going at it! We have zucchini, yellow squash, pattypan squash (the white flower shaped one), and the latest, is the crooked neck bumpy squash! It sorta makes my skin crawl looking at it. I don't know if I will eat this because I think J wants to save this for its seeds so we can continue the bumpy trait in future crops. Don't know if i like that idea...





And getting lots of bell peppers too...




Our famous neighbor, the Tomato-Man-of-Highway-115 has begun to sell his tomatoes. I just placed one on his weighing scale and it weighed a pound and a half! But like him, our tomatoes grow in abundance and our lovely Brandywine tomato is the size of my TWO HANDS!




Ok maybe because i have small hands. But still...





Excuse the giant hairy leg, but did anyone say ginormous zucchini? This one is going to seed as well, that was why we let it grow so big. I don't think it would have tasted as good as the smaller ones...

If you have good recipes for squash (i'm sick of eating them stir fried / grilled...) send them my way please!

One more thing, let's turn this Friday the 13th unlucky day around by saying : Last day to enter the beautiful turquoise necklace giveaway if you haven't already heard. Yes it's open to international readers too so join in the fun! Are you feeling lucky?

Weight watching and Calorie counting!

So, the J-man decided to get in shape before his Philippines trip in July. He is on a boys only vacation with his buddies he had met in Shanghai. And he's going to be gone THREE WEEKS. Yucks.


Anyway...

My friend S at work introduced me to this website My Fitness Pal. It's a free site, anyone can join, so I thought I'd join in the fun. I've never really paid any attention to the food I eat. I'm not picky. I grew up eating whatever that was served to me at the dinner table. My mother was strict that way, we were not allowed to pick and choose favorite foods. And so I stayed that way. Of course I do have foods that I dislike more than others, but when I'm hungry, food is food is food.


What I meant to say is that we have started to really started to watch what we eat, so J can get in shape before his beach vacay. Although I don't think I am at the point that I need to start losing weight, I think it is pretty interesting to pay attention to calories and carbs and see how that'll work out for us!

On this site, you decide on your goal : to lose weight, to maintain etc. You punch in your height and weight and they calculate how many calories, carbs, proteins and fats you are allowed to consume in a day. Then you keep an online journal of your meals everyday, as well as a record of the exercises you do. A very simple process that takes less that 5 minutes, and at the end of each log, it estimates what you'll weigh at the end of 5 weeks if you eat according to that day's consumption.

I like it because after I punch in the numbers, I can decide at the end of the day if I have any leftover calories to consume a chocolate bar or drink a soda. That's my "treat" for eating well during the day! And sometimes it's alarming to find out how many carbs / calories are in certain foods. For example, I drink a cup of Dunkin' Donuts K-Cup coffee at work everyday. That's at 10 calories. Pretty low right? But the crunch comes when i add 3 tablespoons of liquid creamer, then BOOM i add 10 times the calories to this drink!

I mean, it makes sense, I just wasn't THAT aware all this time.


So, I guess this is a good exercise for me personally. I encourage everyone to be more aware of your food consumption too! Eat well!!

News from the garden: Our garden spilleth over

Did somebody say spill?

I meant surprise, tangle and overtake!




Hmm... When did they grow so big?
By the way, I was in the picture just for perspective.



So this is the "sandbox" that J and his friends built. He filled it with mulch and dirt and planted around 19 squash plants. We have the regular yellow squash, zucchini and scalloped squash. They're all starting to bear fruit! Yummy!!!

A Giveaway and Harvests from the Garden!

Did i tell you, my favorite thing to do these days is picking beans in the garden?

We have two rows of bean plants. And every day, the plants yield this much.



The bean plants are very unforgiving though. Their leaves sting and my arms itch like crazy for awhile after. But the joy of picking the beans off the plants keeps me going. It's like an Easter egg hunt! Only much easier, and more bountiful!



This bean is the size of my palm!

Oh yes and then there are the snow peas.



They're a tricky bunch to pick. The snow peas are flat, so you don't see them until you move to a different angle. Then you wonder "It was right under my nose the whole time, how did I not see this one!" But I love the smell of the snow pea blooms, so picking the peas make me feel happy!



These cute carrots are super sweet and crunchy!



And our zucchini blooms are out!

Even our bearded dragons are enjoying the fresh veggies from the garden! I can't wait for the tomatoes!!

By the way, I'm doing a giveaway for my fellow blogger Jess of Avant Garde Living. It's her birthday and I'm giving away a cute little clutch on her birthday week. So hop on over to take part!! Hopefully one of you will win it! Good luck!!!
Happy birthday Jess!

News from the garden: Spring harvests!

Already? You say.



Dwarf Bak Choy (or I call it Baby Bak Choy, my favorite!)



Red Romaine Lettuce for salads



Snow Peas climbing up the ladder. Grow, peas, grow!



What we had for dinner that night!


It's a pity the leaves are so bug-eaten. So much for us trying to be pesticide-free. Although they don't look very nice, nothing beats the taste of home-grown food!!


Watch this space for more exciting veggies!

And don't forget to join in the
ElephantisLove Etsy 1st Anniversary Giveaway!
which ends April 22nd!

News from the garden: Spring 2012

Via

A new season, a new garden.

We have VERY grand plans for our garden this year. Already it's three times the size of our last plot, so it's going to be GOOOD!

Some of the plants this year are... are you ready?

Snow peas, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce (like Romaine and Argula), chinese vegetables such as Bak Choy and Gai Lan. We also have okra, radishes, eggplants, squash, zucchini, garlic, sweet Georgia onions. We have bush beans and Asian long red beans, cantaloupe and watermelons, our usual tomatoes (Roma and Brandywine) and herbs like basil, thyme rosemary sage cilantro dill, fennel and MINT!

MINT!!! Now think Mojitos in the summer!!!

And get this. SEVEN types of peppers : red and orange bell peppers, pepperocino peppers, chili padi (seed specially flown in from Thailand, cayenne pepper, jalapeno peppers and maraconi peppers.

Too bad it's just the start, and they're all tiny sprouts growing out of their planters. Eventually when they bear fruit, I'll be posting pictures of our harvests. The J-man got cool seeds this time, like Burmese okra and an eggplant variety from Iraq. We also bought 50 bamboo poles and erected the structures, in the picture below, for the beans to climb.




We bought our seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and they claim that all their seeds are non-GMO, non-hybrid, non-treated and non-patented. We wish to support companies like this one, so if you are looking into gardening, do read up about the companies before you buy the seeds.



When I came home from work one day, I had four strong muscular men working in the backyard. The J-man and his friends were constructing our very own chicken coop!!! They wired a fence all around a little shed we have in the yard. And we'll purchase the chickens once we clean out the shed and clear the area within the fence. Fresh eggs every morning! Just imagine that!



Lastly, don't laugh, but we're also trying to grow our own oyster mushrooms. Since we're not going to have his parent's neighbor's tree stump to rely on for our supply, and it really isn't morel hunting season yet, we're hoping these babies grow a little bigger before we harvest them! They're growing in ziplock bags!!

I will be posting with more updates on our garden / farm, so stay tuned and I hope you share our excitement!

On the grapevine...

Our carrots are all harvested. This is the lot.
I feel sad that we've been growing them for so long only to be devoured in ONE sitting.



We shared some with our dragons...



who by the way, is shedding. Verne is, at least.



Then I got busy crafting again, so there're new items in the Etsy! Whoo! This one is my favorite so far!


And i've finally learnt how to play "Dream a Little Dream of Me" on the guitar! Still practising and nursing swollen fingers.


Enjoy your weekend and be productive!

News from the (overgrown) garden: Tales of neglect

We've moved out from my in laws. Which means our garden is now 20 miles away. Which also means we're not counting on it to be watered everyday but thank goodness it's not summer now. So our fall garden has been thriving on it's own (as Mother Nature generally does).

Went back to see the in-laws last night, they got us a microwave oven for Christmas (yay!)



We went out into the garden to pick our fruits of (non) labor and found these strange looking leaves.

When we got back, J was impatiently trying to figure out what they were. He looked through pictures on the seed packets and online and couldn't for the life of him remember what he planted.

After a frustrating hour of researching on the internet... bakchoy, no. Arugula, no. The metaphorical bulb lit.



He had chopped off the tops of what were the beginnings of the beautiful heads of broccoli!!!!!

This was followed by many minutes of palm-to-face self-admonishing dismay.

Moral of the story: never neglect your plants. Or perhaps, just label them clearly.



But the carrots growing in our current backyard, in a bucket, is doing THIS well. They're the length of my palm (and if you know me, you know how small my hands are). But they're super sweet!