Beets

The most wonderful thing about growing your own food is sometimes you get something wonderful.

I get the man and those big red beets!

I can not wait to roast these sweet babies.

Maybe I will make a roasted root vegetable pizza.

How about a couple of beat songs?

Oh yes, Beet it!

Another one?

We got the beet!







The Beet goes on.                       

Wait for it . . .

You can't stop the beet.

Yeah I think I am funny.

Turn the beet around.

One more?



Eat to the beet.                             

Okay I promise to stop now but I did find a few other beat songs.

I hope you have a upbeet day that is filled with love and laughter! Be well my friends.









Mini Garden update

My yard looks like a meadow and I love it. The "weeds" are flowering, the grass is wild, and there are bugs living in it. I know it is not typical suburban beauty but it is just how I like it. Today for the garden up date is just an over view of the yard. I did not include the right side of the house where I am working on a rose garden and where three of our figs live. Not to worry it will come back around soon. We have company coming so the lawn will be mowed and the garden will be straightened out (meaning pulling out the flowering salad greens and putting in the summer crops) so that it appears to be perfectly happy and ordered. When we have company coming we clean up our act a bit. You know spend a couple of days spring cleaning and getting ready to impress any and all who chose to visit our lovely home. Hopefully we will keep it clean following the deep cleanse. I am getting off topic here is to my meadow in it's last days being free.

This is the view from my back porch. I love it! My husband and I sit out on the back porch at night with a bottle of wine (sometimes) and just enjoy this peaceful setting.

This is also a view from my back porch. Interesting fact about the trees with the yellow flowers. In Paris they use the flowers as a base to most perfumes. They have a lovely sent that at night is really wonderful. Rob told what they were called but I can not pull it out of my brain right this second.

This is looking into our vegetable garden area on the left side of the house. We are hoping that all these trees will block the view of the neighbors.

This is the Pecan Tree. I love how the leaves seem to be floating green clouds.

This is the Pakistan Mulberry tree.

Do you remember this Chocolate Persimmon? It has grown branches that are over a foot in length. It is truly amazing.

This is the Black Mulberry Tree. It is supposed to be the fastest growing fruit tree. We are watching it.

This is some kind of squash, peas, corn, and salad greens.

A view from the inside of the vegetable garden.. These baby Vegetables are mostly tomatoes, and peppers.

We are working on adding a path in between the garden beds. We are going to collect seeds from the flowering plants for next year. 

We wanted a giant head of Broccoli, so we waited for it to keep growing. What we got are yellow flowers. The lesson here is to pick the broccoli when it looks edible.

I feel like I should warn you. My husband is going to take a video of the whole garden and I am going to post it for you to see. I thought it would be easier then three or four complete updates on what's growing on.

I hope that your garden is showing signs of spring and that your day is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe

Yesterday I posted a very lovely recipe but I forgot to take pictures. So today I will introduce you to the worlds best snack food.

Skinny Texas Cheese Fries

I found this recipe on Pintrest and you can find it here too http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/skinny-texas-cheese-fries.html.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium potatoes (2/3 lb total), yukon gold or russet, washed and dried (skin on)
• 2 tsp olive oil I used vegetable oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp cumin
• coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 1 slice center cut bacon, cooked & finely chopped I left the bacon off for a vegetarian treat.
• 1/3 cup sharp shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp diced scallions
• 1 tbsp sliced pickled Jalapeno (jarred on canned) I used fresh peppers 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up. Lightly coat with cooking spray.

Cut each potato lengthwise into 1/4 inch thin slices; then cut each slice into 1/4 inch fries.
In a large bowl, combine cut potatoes and oil; toss well. Add seasoning (paprika to salt and pepper). Toss to coat.

Place potatoes in a single layer on a lightly greased large baking sheet. Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes or until tender crisp, turning once half way through (depending on thickness this may require more or less time).

Remove from oven, place fries into two small oven safe dishes (or one large dish for sharing), top with cheddar cheese, sliced jalapenos, scallions and bacon bits and return to oven for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese melts. I couldn't wait for the cheese to melt. It was really wonderful. If you need the nurtitional information she lists it on her website. Thanks skinnytaste.com!

Please visit http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/09/low-fat-buttermilk-ranch-dressing.html for a really delicious low fat buttermilk ranch recipe to serve with these yummy fries. Remember everything taste better when it is homemade. Enjoy!

I hope your day is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Song of the day

I have been thinking of this song, well I fell in love with a hopeful farmer. It is a sweet song.

I love to remember all of the reasons that I fell in love with my husband. I am a lucky lady. Take a moment and remember all of those sweet things that made you fall in love and go ahead fall in love all over again. We have been married for just a little over ten years and sometimes it is a little hard to remember what it was about him that I loved so much I could not live with out him.

We were just two dumb kids and only half of us could legally drink.

I can honestly say that I love him more than I ever thought that I could when we got married. I am still just as happy and grateful that he chose me. These two people made these two people.

Friends I hope that today you are happy from the inside out and that it is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Recipe Tuesday

Vegetarian meal planning becomes a chore and quickly loses its appeal.  After five weeks of lent my husband has become a lot more intolerant of meatless meals. It is amazing to me that it took five weeks of no meat before he started complaining. We are counting the days until Easter actively planning to eat a big bacon cheese burger.  Tonight I combined two recipes to make the meal last a little longer, well so my husband has a lunch tomorrow.

I took Kohlrabi Parmesan and crossed it with Macaroni and cheese.  It turned out really well but then I love the flavor of Kohlrabi.

Kohlrabi Parmesan

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/vegetables/kohlrabi-parmesan/

Makes: 4 servings Start to Finish: 20 mins

Ingredients

 ·       3 tablespoons butter or margarine

·       4 small kohlrabies (about 1 pound), peeled and coarsely shredded (3 cups) I roughly chop the veggies into bite size pieces. It is easier and goes a lot faster.

·       1 medium red or green sweet pepper, chopped (3/4 cup)

·       1 medium carrot, coarsely shredded (1/2 cup) I use 2

·       1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese or more

·       2 teaspoons snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed I like to use fresh mint and basil. Use what you have growing in the garden or your favorite herb.

·       1/8 teaspoon salt

·       1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper

·       Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)

·       Fresh thyme

Directions

1. In a large skillet melt margarine or butter. Stir in shredded kohlrabi, chopped red or green sweet pepper, and shredded carrot. Cook and stir for 4 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.

2. Stir in the 1/4 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, thyme, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan or Romano cheese, if desired. Garnish with fresh thyme. Makes 4 servings.

To combine this to Macaroni and Cheese I made a pan of elbow noodles and then tossed the vegetable mixture with the noodles and added more cheese. I also added lemon juice to the whole mixture It was really good.  If you want to try something new this is a great recipe.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and that you day is full of love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Song of the day

Last night I woke up and could not sleep from 2-5. As I lay awake letting my mind run there was a reoccurring song playing in my head. When I woke up I decided to find it on Youtube. What I found was these classic cartoons.

This is the cartoon that inspired Splash mountain at Disney parks. It is one of my favorite rides because of the upbeat songs. My favorite is

Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye,
My oh my what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine coming my way,
Zippity doo dah, Zippity aye.
Mister blue bird's on my shoulder,,
it's the truth,
it's actual,
everything's satisfactual!
Zippity doo dah,
zippity aye,
zippity doo dah,
zippity aye!

Maybe I needed a reminder that it is a wonderful day. Now I need to go water the plants around the garden and take in all of the beautiful flowers that are around the back garden (British for yard).

I hope you find a happy song to brighten your day and that it is filled with lots of Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Song of the day

Last night my husband heard some interesting news that was eye opening and disheartening. Have you ever gotten news about someone that changed the way you thought of them or shattered an illusion? It happens to me more often then I care to admit. Maybe I am too hopeful, maybe I am too naive, and maybe I want to believe that people are good. To be frank I want to believe that the people that I love and have let in my life are honest, good, kind people. I love them after all. If I could I would wrap them in light and deliver them from trouble but I am just a girl with a big heart. Tomorrow I will wake up and all will be right within my world again. This may sound weird (no weirder than most things I say) but the truth is I want to be a light, a beacon of hope for the people around me. I know I am flawed and that I have a long way to go. I can not stop trying or I might lose who I want to be. This song has been playing in my head all morning. Today it suits my mood, and mirrors my own thoughts.

Today my heart is heavy. If you pray friends say a little prayer for me please. For now I will try and remember:

Psalm 118:24

This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.


I hope your week is truly blessed with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Wonky with good intentions

As promised this post is all about my homemade skirt which I am calling Wonky with good intentions. To be honest it is really comfortable even if I need to take lesson just to be able to read the pattern. Really I mentioned that I had no idea what interfacing was to a friend of mine and she kindly told me about a white material you line clothes with. That is good to know after the fact. I think I am totally addicted to my sewing machine and making my own wonky clothes.  For the record Wonky is a British word that means slightly skewed. Really this word is a word that describes me the best.  Before you look at the pictures of me in the skirt I must warn you my husband has no picture taking skills. He literally points and shots without looking (I love him anyway).

It is a blue skirt with the solar system at the bottom.

Buying patterns for clothes are slight depressing. This skirt pattern is a size 18 minus about two inches. It makes me want to lose at least ten pounds.

Funny story my husband does not want me to lose anymore weight because he likes the T and the A. Too much information? I am so sorry I was trying to distract you from the pictures. I need to brush my hair and work on wearing make-up (I haven't since I was 18 so I am not going to start now. Except for professional pictures that I pay for. Really I have to look at those family pictures everyday.).



Be prepared I also made some very special tote bags that I want to share with you but they are gifts so I have to wait to surprise the receivers. Although I have a lot to learn look forward to more randomly created outfits for this one of a kind girl. Is there anything you want to try to make or do? I want to encourage you to just dive in and see what happens next. You may surprise yourself at how awesome you are. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to follow your own heart. Following your heart allows you to grow into the person you were meant to be.  I am still testing the water and looking for who I am meant to be, of course I take the scenic route which happens to be the long road with a pretty name. I am glad you visit me from time to time while I am discovering life.

I hope that your week brings a new happy discovery, that it is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Super power

I have decided that I have a super power. What is it you ask? Well I am too dumb to quit when I am in over my head. For example I don't always read straight through recipes and when it starts to seem a little off I improvise and it usually turns out better than it might have been. I started college to encourage my sister in law to go back to school (she is four months younger than I am. If I can do anyone can). I am finishing up my freshman year and starting my Sophomore year (Sounds better than if I told you that it is my third year I am starting. Yeah, I will be graduating in 2018-2020). When I was 19 I got married (to a really incredible guy, best decision I ever made) and we are still married. I decided teach myself how to drive at 18 (Lucky for everyone I got better). I also wanted to sew (and sew I did on a very bad machine with no knowledge of how it was supposed to work). This leads me to my new wonderfully horrible idea, I am going to make my own clothes. I started with a skirt (let me tell you guessing your ways through reading a pattern can give you a major headache.), I do not know how to read a pattern so with a little imagination and a little help from youtube it is almost finished. Why yes I will take a picture of it when it is finished.

My super power is maybe less about being too dumb to quit and more about following a dream, or being determined to finish what I start. I think it is funnier to say my super power is being to dumb to quit. Do you have a super power? I bet you do, and I am willing to bet it is really wonderful. Sometimes I wish my super power was a little more OCD so that the house would stay clean. Yes, if you are a wonderful house keeper than it is a super power. We all have something special to offer the world, and we all should be proud of who we are. Yes Friend that means you too.

I hope you embrace your super power and that your week is filled with Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Random confession

When I get to travel in the car by myself I roll the windows down and turn the radio up. I listen to Bob FM (you can listen here http://www.1035bobfm.com/listenlive/) they play random songs out of order and it is wonderful. I sing at the top of my lungs and I even use erratic hand movements, I reach out to the crowd (cars) ahead me, and sometimes I nod my head excitedly.

For instance yesterday I ran some errands alone and I was excited to hear the following songs in no particular order

Every Rose Has It's Thorns by Poison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2r2nDhTzO4&ob=av2n

YOU REALLY GOT ME by Van Halen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V6VBKsO-Fk&feature=fvst

ROCK OF AGES - DEF LEPPARD     
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1V8GtZjWFQ

HOT BLOODED - FOREIGNER      
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c1m2BAg2Sc

Come baby do you do more than dance? I'm HOT BLOODED... Sorry I love this song... Why yes my hand is a microphone. I'm HOT Blooded check it and see...

"I HATE MYSELF FOR LOVING YOU" - JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPkTGm4RtVM

CAN'T BUY ME LOVE" - THE BEATLES      
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JD8SYLQzgM

HEARTBREAKER" - PAT BENATAR
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy-QmgdUVTI    

HOTEL CALIFORNIA" - EAGLES      
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUbTW928sMU

BLACK BETTY" - RAM JAM      
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMLnDuzgkjo


So if you see me in the car alone, I am the crazy lady singing poorly, rocking out to all the wonderful music in all the wrong ways. Yeah, I know I am not cool, and I am not making a statement through music. The fact that I know most of the lyrics makes me happy, and so does singing along as a bad back up singer. You know the drunk one (I am not drunk even if I look like it) that can't quite remember all the moves or the words.


I hope that you have a wonderful day filled with favorite music, Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Window

March Photo Challenge
 Day 8
Window

This is half of one of my living room windows. This one is next to my desk.

 I love that I have roses by the fence and Jasmine next to the window.

When the flowers are in bloom it smells wonderful.

I hope your week is filled with love and laughter. Be well friends.

Photo Challenge day 7

March Photo Challenge
Day 7

Something you wore

That's right a zombie T-Shirt that I bought for my husband for Halloween a few years ago and now I wear it to sleep in. It is soft and comfortable.

I hope that your day is filled with surprises, Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Confession

Remember how I told you that my first confession was coming? Well it happened. For me it was one of the most traumatic things I have ever had to do. I cried (you know that ugly snotty cry) and I shook uncontrollably. Basically I was close to a nervous breakdown. Believe it or not I am not really a big crier, yeah I tear up when I was those you tube videos of solders surprising their love ones. So this was a total mess, me I was the mess. I had to face a lot of my own fears and go against my nature. I went alone (not a big deal I like solitary time. What mother doesn't) here I was sitting in a group of people. I just get really nervous around people I do not know. Then I had to walk over the the priest face to face and talk about my sins. When you are an abused kid (at least I did), you learn not to talk about it, to hide the bad things. I confessed the biggest thing on my heart and mind and then panicked an confessed to not so detrimental sins like over indulging in wine and gossip. The priest had to tell me to calm down twice. I am so sure that I did everything completely wrong.

It was traumatic and hard but when I got up to talk to the priest I felt like God put his hand on my shoulder and walked with me. So I know in my heart that he knows I did everything I could personally do and that he knew my struggle and my strength. I know that I was forgiven.

I only hope that confession gets easier.

I hope that your day is bright with hope, Love and Laughter. Be well my friends.

Fruit

March 2

Photo a day Challenge

Fruit

CSA Strawberries for lunch

Up

March 1

Picture of the day

UP

Looking up next to my window.

A tour of Greens

Today is all about the edible greens that we are growing. This is only a small amount of lettuce.

This is the lettuce that I pictured above next to some yummy radishes.

Perpetual spinach, which is related to Chard not spinach. I still use it as if it were spinach.

Arugula. I love the spicy leaves.

Swiss Chard.

My favorite Kale. The bugs are out. I found a caterpillar on one of my leaves. So we will have to watch for the invasion. We put the caterpillars in the compost pile or we kill them. No chemicals are used in our garden because our kids eat them as they pick the leaves.

Mustard greens. These are very spicy in a weird mustard way. I love them in soup or in a small amount in a salad to add just a hint of flavor. I do not know how my kids or husband just eats these huge leaves straight.

This is all in a different bed. Swiss Chard, Kale, Mustard and Arugula.

This is a picture of all of our garden beds so far. There are three of them here. We are planning on expanding this soon.

Arugula flowers are a delicate wonderful addition to salads and well just to pick and eat.

I know it was supposed to be all about the greens but look at the asparagus. Yum-Yum

I love this bed. It is full of everything good in a salad.

A lot of our good dirt got washed into the yard a month ago and guess what is growing now? Kale.

This is some wonderful kind of lettuce.

Oops! This is not a berry post...

But it was so juicy and sweet! Look at the juice that exploded when I took a bite.

Again colorful lettuce.

Bok Choy

My husband loves Swiss Chard.

So we have a lot of it growing everywhere. 

It is so pretty!

You see what happened is we went to a nursery and they had all of these beautiful greens and they all needed a home. I like the nutty flavor these small leaves have. 

I love the pretty red spots on this lettuce.

More seeds taking root.

This is on the other side of our house where the roses are. This is every thing your have seen so far but they are smaller here.

I love the colors of the Swiss Chard here.  

The bees are happy about Arugula flowers.

I am happy about the bees. Maybe this year we will get melons and squash.

It is looking like this might be a good gardening year. I am looking forward to the coming vegetable season. I still have a couple more posts to go one what is growing in the garden and then I will start over and update the trees. Hopefully they will be dressed up nice and pretty for you by than.

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with interesting salad greens, Love, and Laughter. Be well my friends.