Going for the Greens

With changes in all kinds of circumstances at home, I needed to be creative in my garden plans this year. I decided to give planting indoors from seeds and then transplanting outside in May or June another try. I punched holes in the bottoms of 12 clean yogurt containers, then slipped them into hole-less containers for proper drainage. I filled each with soil and dug out my stash seeds.

I used up all the tomato seeds (five varieties) in my stash. I didn't even know if any of them would grow. I think only one package was from last year; most were from up to a decade ago. My baby tomato plants might now be sold for at least $2.99 apiece in a garden center! Look how much money I'm saving!

I could not believe I didn't have a single pepper seed anywhere. I actually had to order fresh seeds. That cost almost as much as buying a couple of mature pepper plants in May! (And I should have enough seeds to last at least five years!) My new seeds arrived Saturday, so they're a bit later start than the tomato seeds, but I've never had trouble growing peppers from seeds. I'm not worried at all.

I, meanwhile, have been planting all my potato eyes all winter long, and I've been planting the bottoms of every onion I've used for the last year. Last year's seeds from onions I allowed to go to seed are coming up, also, and, tee hee hee, onions deter critters. A couple of carrots went to seed last year (as did some cilantro, basil, oregano and dill), and the seeds are beginning to sprout in the outdoor raised-bed gardens, even though we got more snow last week! My herbs perturb bunnies, and that's a joy to my soul. My volunteer rhubarb from last year is already making a raised-bed garden appearance, and it's keeping bunnies away from that box. The lavender, mint and sage are all starting to show fresh new green, and they deter critters. My indoor microgreens have been going strong for several months now. It's going to be a fresh, homegrown salad summer!

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From the Garden to the Kitchen

For our second date, Lizard made the most delicious homemade chicken enchiladas. For our fourth date, I made my favorite gourmet salad, only to discover he did not like salad, particularly tomatoes (my favorite food in the whole world), and salad dressing was out of the question. We have spent our entire marriage with him eating plain lettuce or spinach leaves whenever I made a salad. Until now!

Lizard's favorite meal in the hospital was the southwest chicken salad, which he tried because that's what I had for lunch almost every day of our 14-day stay. He says I've addicted him to southwest chicken salad.

I'd enjoyed salads for lunch at work almost every day for the last 10 years or more. I'd been making a salad for lunch at home almost every day since mid-March. After my garden began to mature in about June, I made my salads with veggies I grew. Most of my salads are seasoned with Balsamic vinegar. No oil. Sometimes Lizard would join me, but he'd have just greens.

I had my best Colorado tomato crop this year. I have 12 plants this year, and only two of them aren't in pots, so I'm hoping I will be able to get a few more tomatoes once the pots have to come in from the cold on a permanent basis.

I didn't have enough tomatoes to take a laundry basket full to work to share, had that been possible, and there wasn't enough at one time for a full pot of spaghetti sauce, but I was able to make tomato salads all summer long. Last week was the first time I've had to buy tomatoes since June. (I'd brought in the potted tomatoes during our September 1 snowstorm. Even though I protected them, production dramatically slowed.)

Ever since we got home from the hospital, we've enjoyed together at least four salads a week. Lizard is eating salad, and sometimes with "dressing"! He doesn't care much for Balsamic, but he really likes barbecue ranch (which I make homemade) and green chili. I think my salads top what was available in the hospital, and Lizard thinks so, too. It's so awesome to make a salad with as many homegrown ingredients as I can, then have him tell me my salad is terrific!

I hadn't made my own black beans and black bean refrieds in a long, long time, so last week's batch was particularly delicious. One of the things I love best about making my own beans from scratch is one bag of dried beans makes about the equivalent of four cans of store-bought beans. This most recent batch was made with a bag of Women's Bean Project black bean soup mix. I used a third of the beans to make soup, which features a cayenne pepper from my own garden, a purple onion from my own garden, plus a handful of frozen veggies. I couldn't use my corn or green beans because I'm not sure my corn will make it past the next storm, and it's definitely too small to use right now. Even though I planted it two weeks early this year and protected it during the spring cold snaps! Grrr! And the bunny took care of all my beans and peas while we were at the hospital in August.

I was able to freeze an entire food storage container of black beans for upcoming meals. About 1.5 cups of beans are in the fridge for impromptu burritos and salads. I mashed the rest into what might be the best refrieds I've made to date. Seasoned with sea salt and garlic, plus one of my cayenne peppers from the garden and an onion from the garden. I use olive oil or avocado oil instead of bacon grease, but I did throw in some turkey bacon this time, and Lizard says these are the best refrieds he's ever tasted. I feel some homemade Enchiritos coming on!!!

We didn't get to drive over to Palisade for fresh peaches this year, but the grocery store had a few Colorado peaches. I dried one batch with ginger, cinnamon and cloves, and I dried a second batch with a sliced and diced Hatch chili, which spiced up the peach slices nicely and also filled an empty Mexican seasonings jar, which, of course, is now half gone already.

My little lemon trees at work have died. I thought I would be gone two weeks back in March. Now it's looking like we won't be back in the office until sometime next year. So I planted new little lemon trees at home and enjoyed lots of hibiscus lemonade over the summer.

One of the most fun things I did during the summer was putting fresh blueberries in EVERYTHING. They were not my homegrown blueberries, but I hope my bush will put out next year. I made fruit smoothies (with no sugar). I made healthy blueberry bread and muffin crowns (with no sugar). I made blueberry pancakes from scratch with flax meal, whole wheat I ground myself, oat flour, quinoa flour and hazelnut flour. Oh, yum!!!

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Berry Tasty!

'Tis the season for berry salads...

One of my very long-time co-workers retired and is moving across the country. We decided to have lunch together one last time before she leaves.

I ordered the summer special, a spinach salad buried in fresh berries. The menu picture looked so appetizing!

The actual salad came with three slices of strawberries and six blueberries.

Needless to say, I was left hungry and disenchanted.

Next day, I made my way to the downtown market, which is a bit higher in price than my local grocery store near home, but few fresh veggies and fruits freshly survive my summer train commute. It would be worth a bit extra to buy and make my own berry salad(s). Plus, I could enjoy the mountains of berries in my dreams.

The downtown market has a small build-your-own salad bar. I put in a bit of spinach, a spoon or so of edamame, a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella, a handful of dried cranberries, and just under a tablespoon of raspberry vinaigrette. I converted to balsamic vinegar and stopped using salad dressing about eight months ago and have not regretted it one bit. Vinegar is healthier anyway, and just a small amount of salad dressing can contain up to 200 calories. !!!

I have a bottle of cranberry balsamic vinegar at home, and it likely would survive the heat of the commuter train, so I'll bring that in next time and skip the vinaigrette.

I also bought a container of blueberries, a container of strawberries and a container of raspberries.

Back in the office, I cut up some strawberries and tossed them in my greens along with some blueberries and some raspberries. One of my co-workers was peeling a cutie (or clementine) orange while I worked, and she (with clean hands) tossed a few citrus slices into my lunch. I still had a few cherries leftover from breakfast, so I pitted them and threw them in, too.

All my picturesque salad needed now was a handful of sliced raw, unsalted almonds! I'll bring those in next time, too! They won't have any problem with the heat or being packaged at the bottom of my crochet bag.

For just two dollars more than what I paid at the restaurant, I got the most magnificent berry salad, and I have enough berries to last for at least two more salads.

I may do this all summer long!

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