April Showers

Wow, I'm really rolling here at one blog post a month! Go me!

So it rained here in the Lou... for a month! It's raining now and probably won't stop until June. Somehow, despite the rain, we managed to put up a new swing set, mow the grass for the first time this year, plant the front flower bed, survive an allergy/asthma attack (nola), gain new employment (me), and slosh through Easter.

Swing set plus all day basking in the pollen equals steroids and nebulizer treatments for the four year old, not to mention a new routine of checking pollen counts, administering Benedryl, lots of changing clothes and after-play showers. Spring has sprung! The only good thing about all this rain is that it washes away the pollen. Maybe it will rain until the flora has stopped blooming and we will be free to roam the yard again without fear of the evil yellow stuff.


Logan helping Uncle Scoot build the Swing Set.



Waiting for a Swing Set to be built is tough....



Unless you end up in a chair with your partner in crime and just giggle till you pee your pants!



So, I have a job. Yep. Me. I'm helping a friend do landscaping. Only two days a week, and only if those two days work for everyone involved... but it's been really fun so far. I get to start and finish a project in the yard, not MY yard, but A yard. Around here outside projects get delayed for potty breaks, settlements of disputes, getting balls from over the fence, getting snacks, drinks, toys, etc... you get it - kids get in the way of yard work. So not only do I get a break from the monkeys but I'm getting to work outside, which I love. And if that wasn't enough for me to do it... I'm actually getting paid!

And today is Easter. We woke up to bunny baskets and then quickly got dressed in our wonderfully handmade by Cayce Easter clothes... (not me, she totally didn't make me an Easter dress this year, but I'm crossing my fingers for next year).



The kids and I went to my mom's for more baskets and an indoor egg hunt (rain!) and some honey baked ham. Yum.



Now we're home and waiting for yet another round of storms. **Oh! By the way... we were SO SO SO close to all the Airport Damaging Tornadoes! And luckily we live in a small pocket that didn't get any severe weather, although the adjoining towns to our west, north, and north east got hit really hard - ie. the airport.**

That is all for April so far. Not much left of this month so no one hold their breath that I will be posting again until May Flowers....

Hot Salt!

What's better on a super snow day than something super HOT? Hot Salt!

I had all these hot peppers drying from the summer and kept meaning to do something with them... So I decided to not just make pepper flakes, but hot pepper salt.

Started out with a plate full of dried Pinata Peppers that I grew this past summer.


I took the tops and stems off and put them into the food processor.


A couple pulses of the chopper and they were broken down to large flakes.


So I added some Kosher salt and mixed it a few more times...


And voila! Hot Salt! And this stuff is on fire! I've added it my salads and to spaghetti... WOW! Burn Baby Burn!


I'm just proud of myself for actually doing something useful with something I grew. I think this stuff will last us a long time, seeing as that you can't really use too much at a time...

Tom-Ickles (or Pick-Ah-Toes)

Or Pickled Maters.
All names will work.

I have these super cute, teeny tiny, currant tomatoes in my garden.


Here they are in my hand, so you can see how small they really are... and isn't the way they ripen pretty? In a rainbow almost.


I had so many green ones on the plant, which seemed to be dying off, and I didn't want them to go to waste. So I looked up a recipe for pickled green cherry tomatoes.... supposedly they will taste like pickles. Here is the recipe that I roughly followed. First I gathered and washed all the green ones, and some yellow and orange ones, too.


Then packed them into the jars with some garlic, onion, a hot pepper, and pickling spices.


Then poured the brine (cider vinegar and kosher salt, boiling) into the jars to cover the tomatoes.


And here we have jars of pickled currant tomatoes.... They're now in the refrigerator for at least two weeks... I can't wait! I hope they don't taste horrible. I'm not sure what I will do with them other than eat them straight out of the jar... but who cares. It was fun to do.


They've been in for a week now - only one week to go before the tasting.... will let you know if they turned out okay.

A Rainbow of Fruit Flavors

Tomatoes are fruit. We all know this. But so are peppers and okra as well! So apparently I don't have a vegetable garden this year but a fruit garden! And here is a wonderful fruit salad I made the other day.

Chocolate Cherry tomatoes (purple ones), Snow White Cherries (yellow ones), Red Currant tomatoes, and Red Baby Bells (the peppers). All these colorful fruits came from my garden and went into my belly!


Here they are all washed an in a bowl


The I chopped up some avocado (also a fruit) and some lettuce (the lone veggie in my salad) and piled my halved maters and chopped peppers on top. A little oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and OH YEAH - yummy fruit (and lettuce) salad!



I'm going to try some pickling soon... first time ever, wish me luck. I will be pickling some green tomatoes. The tiny currants and small cherries... supposedly they will taste like pickles. I will let you know how that turns out (process to be done soon, final tasting will be in a few weeks).

The Color Purple

Purple Pole Beans! My arbor is finally covered in bean plants, and the plants are finally covered in teeny tiny beans! The first to grow up are the purple pole beans. I've seen some Lima and a few regular green beans too. The purple are just so pretty! The vines are dark purple and the flowers on the plant are a bright, lighter purple. And the beans - as you see above - are almost a metallic bright purple. The camera couldn't do them justice... I tired. So I steamed them and they turned green. I knew they were supposed to but was still slightly disappointed when they didn't stay so pretty.



And here is my okra crop - regular green ones and burgundy. I know it's not purple, but let's just say that burgundy is a shade of purple for the sake of my catchy post title. They also turned green after being steamed. But were still yummy. The larger ones were too woody but the small ones were melt-in-your-mouth delicious. (Or, more accurately for those non-okra-lovers out there, they were slime-in-your-mouth fantastic.)

Eating purple things is awesome! Even if they do turn green after cooking....

Seeing Red(sauce)

Well - first of all - here are all the types of squash from the garden, just showing them to you all together.


Okay! Now on to the tomatoes! Some of these are mine, but most are from my mom's tomato jungle.


I've never made my own read sauce. I've never really made anything from my garden tomatoes except slices. I usually don't get enough to go through any real trouble. But since I was given all these tomatoes I figured I would give some red sauce a try. So since I don't follow recipes well but had no idea what to do, I just looked up 'red sauce to freeze' on Google. I read about five or six versions of what to do. Then I just went into the kitchen to give it a shot.

First you have to peel the tomatoes. In order to do that you blanch them (drop into boiling water for about a min, or until the skin splits - then drop into ice water to cool off). So I ended up with a pile if skinless tomatoes - which I will say look like hearts, and feel kinda gross... but hey - whatever. My fingernails looked like I had been bleeding. Okay, yuk - back to the food!


After they were peeled I had to core them, get the seeds out, and cut them into chunks. This is about an 8-10 qt bowl of tomato meat.


I sauteed some onion - about one medium, and about five gloves garlic. Took those out of the pan and added the tomatoes. I let them cook as I mushed them. About 30 min, till they were softer.


Then I went outside and picked some herbs - basil, oregano and thyme. Chopped those up and added them into the tomatoes. Added a little sugar because that's what everyone else did (but I forgot how much, so I just threw in a palm full).


After this I started thinking it was too chunky. Which is a-okay with me, but if I wanted my kids to eat this, which of course I did, it would need to loose the chunks.
Tomatoes = Bad. Red = Good.
So I ladled it out and into the food processor. A couple of spins later it was back in the pan. I also put the onion garlic mixture into the food processor and gave them a whirl. And then I got tricky! I grabbed some cooked carrots (cause orange is pretty much red people!) and gave them a whirl and added them to the sauce as well. More secret veggies for the kiddos - they'll never know. For that matter, neither will the husband. All in and on the stove for some slow cooking and reducing. I put the flame on low and just let is sit for about two hours, stirring every once in a while.


And after a couple of hours and some flavor adjustments - it was too sweet and I had to counter with vinagar and salt - I let it cool on the stove for about 30 min. Then I got it ready to freeze. About 2 - 2 1/2 cups in each freezer bag and about 2 or more cups into 1 1/2 ice cube trays. (I always freeze red sauce in ice cube trays and then pop the cubes out and into a freezer bag for quick use - otherwise I would waste a lot, which I used to do all the time.)


So that is my first ever red sauce. I think I will leave out the sugar and basil next time due to the sweet factor - I'm not a fan of sweet red sauce. Husband said it tasted just like REAL red sauce... go figure!

You can freeze it for up to a year - but I'm sure we will have eaten it way before then!

Next up - purple pole beans (they're so purple!)

Flora & Fauna

We went to the Zoo the other day. And here are a few pictures of some animals...
I must say, the Okapi and the Zebra are my favorites but I can never get a good picture of the Okapi - they're always hiding in the back. Oh, if only I had a telephoto lens.... But the Zebra showed me his true colors.

Even their butt stripes amaze me. The patterns of a zebra are impressive, even the bootie ones!
And then we saw a lioness in a tree - first time seeing that at the zoo.


And we visited the Stingray Exhibit. Those suckers were big!

And you could touch them and feed them. They were so slimy! I was shocked, even though I have no idea what I expected, of course they would be slimy! But it still made me say, "Eeewww!"

The kids were somewhere between awed and bored. But they talked about it later like it was really cool.


And the classic Saint Louis Zoo shot - kids in front of the Giant Gorilla Statue.


And this year is the 100 year anniversary of the Zoo - so we had to get this shot... Look how adorable they are!


And moving on to the Flora...

My Fairy squash! I have about six so far.


And the yellow one is a One Ball, and the tomatoes of course... the garden is being good to me so far. My window sill is full!


The one ball was yummy - and so were the Fairy squash.


They taste like acorn squash, if you've ever had those. And you cook it the same as well.
So that is my flora and fauna for now... hope you've enjoyed it.

Squish Squash!

I am beside myself with disappointment. The dreaded squash bugs are back. Last year they wiped out all my squash plants... I think I only got a few squash total. This year I was hoping to avoid them. I planted the fairy squash, which is supposed to be resistant to the evil squash bug. I also planted onions around my squash because I read that worked in keeping the SqBugs away. No such luck. They are here. And in abundance. They seriously make my skin crawl. They are so gross and creepy and they move so fast... thank goodness they don't fly - I would freak out! Just look at these nasty creatures! Told you!

I will give credit to the Fairy Squash - it does seem to be unaffected (so far). The summer squashes are not so lucky. I did however get a few. Here is my first, and probably only, EightBall squash along with a yellow crook-neck. I have a few more on the plants which I will probably harvest early to avoid them being eaten or killed.


I have been picking them early, like I said, so it isn't a huge one - but still a good size.


And here is the 8Ball - I think this is the appropriate size to pick it - this is the first year of growing these...


And one more shot of the happy couple before they go under the knife...


And here they are - ready to go into the frying pan with a little butter, EVOO, s&p....

They were absolutely delicioso! I think they taste even better when they are picked young... I really hope I get a few more before it's all said and done. I plan on having Kirk just dig out all the summer squash plants and pitching them due to the bastard bugs.... But I am keeping the hope alive for the winter squash (the fairy) - I have about 4-6 almost ready for picking...

(I will have a fireworks post tomorrow... we had lots of fun.)

Holy Tomatoes!

Most people say that you're lucky to get a red tomato before the forth of July... well people, I must be lucky! Here are some of the tomatoes I picked yesterday... I ate about three of them before I thought to take their picture. This bowl contains at least 3 varieties, probably 4. So while the kids wanted the classic PB&Js for lunch today I couldn't pass up eating some of my fresh tomatoes!


I picked three, the really grooved one, which I think is an heirloom of some kind, and two of the smaller ones.. I have no idea what type they are. I cut them in half (you should always cut them across the middles, not from top to bottom, to get all the seeds and goo out - it's a lot easier!) - look how red an juicy! YUM!



Then I cut them into bite sized pieces and added just a touch of red wine vinegar and a drop or three of extra virgin olive oil, and of course some salt and pepper.



So yummy I couldn't stand it! Having all three types of tomatoes in the same salad was really good! Some are tangier and some sweeter than others. It was a really yummy lunch that I grew from seed in my backyard. Now that's good stuff!

In My Garden

My Gladiolas are finally in bloom. All along the fence and bright, fiery red.

And here is Logan showing you how big the veggie garden is getting:


Above are the squash plants, just as tall as he is. And below are some of the tomatoes, much taller than him. And I have tons of green tomatoes just waiting to turn. A few have begun to turn slightly orange and pink - but I'm waiting for the red explosion!



And almost an afterthought this year is the herb garden. Here is some thyme. I don't use it much, not this kind. A little oregano in the back ground, I will use that more I think...


But here is my favorite herb/ground cover ever! Elfin Thyme. Possibly my favorite plant ever, but like music and songs, it's hard to choose just one... but Elfin thyme is for sure in the top five.
I have it growing (slowly, oh so slowly) between the paving stones of the patio I made last summer... did I mention I made this patio ALL BY MYSELF? I did. Me. Just me.

Here is a close up of all the tiny, tiny leaves... I love this stuff. You can walk on it, it comes back every year, and it smells really good. I assume you could use it in cooking, but I wouldn't dare take any from the patio since it grows so slowly.


And the back of my yard... mostly in shade, no real grass grows on a consistent basis but something else does. Another of my very favorites... moss. I love moss. It's like soft carpet under your feet. I have a project for this summer (and I hope to get around to it sooner than later). I found it in one of my Organic Gardening magazine issues. You take a cement bowl, or pot, or urn - which ever vessel works for you... You fill it with a rounded mound of dirt and cover it with a layer of moss. Sounds simple, boring even... but I think it will be beautiful. It should come back every year, and if not, I have an abundance of moss in my yard to replenish it. Here is such a patch of my lovely moss:


Just wanted to say that I love Moss and Thyme.