See How the Garden Grows

Yesterday I was out watering the garden, twice since it was fairly warm.  I swear, I could watch the asparagus shoot up out of the ground.  Our asparagus bed came established with the house when we bought it 4 years ago and has always done really well.  This year, once I got all the grass off the top, is no exception!

My spinach is doing well.  Round 1 is getting it's third set of leaves in, Round 2 is on its first leaves and Round 3 is just starting to poke up out of the ground.  I need to get my last planting in this weekend.

I planted little gem lettuce - they're supposed to be cute little 5 inch heads of lettuce perfect for a single salad.  These little guys are just sprouting their leaves.

The rhubarb continues to flourish and the strawberries are beginning to blossom.  We are going to have to get in gear to get them protected!

My peas have finally decided to grow a little bit - they're starting to stretch for their trellis.

Last but not least, the broccoli.  I have tiny heads of broccoli forming already!  Some of the plants I had given up on after the Garden Beast attack are actually doing relatively well and may bring me produce after all!  Yesterday when I went out I saw beautiful little broccoli crowns forming:

Today I saw that some Beast had a snack last night!  Grrrr!  At least they limited their party to two of my plants!

The weather has been great this week: the perfect mix of rain and sunshine.  I'm antsy to plant my post-frost-date crops but will hold out.  Our nights have a tendency to stay cool for a little while longer.

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HV Blueberry Bread

I have to admit, while trying to use up the yellow squash in my freezer I've come up with some hidden veggie recipes that were tolerable but not worth sharing. However, I struck gold with this on on Saturday. It turned out delicious! You can make it in loaf pans as a bread or it would be just as yummy in square/rectangle pan as a coffee cake. Just adjust your baking times accordingly.

HV Blueberry Bread

3/4 cups Margarine
1 1/2 cups Sugar
3 Eggs
3/4 cups pureed Yellow Squash
3/4 cups Milk
2 teaspoons Vanilla
3 1/2 cups Flour (I substituted 1-1/2 cups White Whole Wheat and it was great!)
2 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
2 cups Blueberries (fresh or frozen)

1. Cream margarine and sugar together. Add Eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
2. Add squash and milk and blend thoroughly.
3. Add flour and baking soda and mix. Once batter is smooth, fold in blueberries.
4. Spoon batter into greased pans (2 loaf pans or 1-9x13) and bake at 350 until inserted toothpick comes out clean. 40-60 minutes for loaves, 35-45 for pans.

Enjoy!

Linked up at $5Dinners Yellow Squash Grow Eat $ave post.

May Cooking Weekend

This was my weekend to cook after joining up with the Freezer Cooking day efforts over at MoneySavingMom.com.  I generally do a big grocery run once a month and freezer cooking works in very well for my cooking habits.

I think I did pretty well this month. My plans to get marinated meat to the freezer didn't come to fruition, but we are ready for a lot of summer weather meals. See:



I prepped the ground beef to serve as burgers or to be added to other meals and I roasted two chickens.  We had some for dinner on Saturday and it was so good!  Made me wonder why I don't cook whole chickens more often.  Anyway, after dinner, the remaining chicken was separated out to go on salads  this week and to the freezer for meals later this month.  I also went the extra step to make the broth - well worth it!  Since I was cooking around the mood of a 15 month old, my cooking projects spanned the weekend.

The end of the weekend tally looks like this:
>20 & 1/2 hamburgers formed and frozen in meal packets
>2-1lb packets of hamburger to the freezer for later use
>2 HV Blueberry Bread Loaves: I took one to party on Saturday, one to the freezer. (recipe coming)
>3 Rhubarb coffee cakes (one for breakfast, 2 for the freezer)
>3  packs of Shredded Chicken for sandwiches or salads
>4-3cup containers of condensed chicken stock for later use.

Not pictured and prepped for the next week or so:

>2 quarts of homemade yogurt (smoothie season is in full swing here!)

>5 dinner sized salads for meals on the go this week

Added to meals that are already on ice, ready to be cooked or put on the grill, meal prep should be minimal this month.  I do plan to make one more round of the HV Blueberry Bread today for breakfast along with souffles.  It will be my one Monday Brunch I go all out for this month.

P.S.  I also made an amazing roasted potato salad to go with the chicken on Saturday. I'll be sharing that recipe this week too!

Sunday Sunshine

Practicing contentment by remembering the graces of the week and practicing gratitude by giving.

In the fragmented nature of my morning and my mind, here are a few things that I found myself thankful for this week:

:: Warm breeze to dry my clothes

:: Rhubarb and asparagus ready to pick in the garden

:: That the local Relay for Life that I'm working with has more people involved this year than ever before - putting their time and energy into supporting those fighting cancer and researchers looking for cures!

:: The stomach bug that visited our house this week was only a 24 hour bug

::  I have had a productive cooking weekend

:: I have been able to jettison some unnecessary supplies from my candle shop through eBay.

:: The first meal of the summer on the porch

:: Smoothies

:: Dandelions (I know, most hate them in their yards, but they do look really cool against the fields of spring green.)

:: Rainy days when rest is needed most

:: Audiobooks

:: Loving support of family

It has been a good week.  I hope you can look back, and forward, to find the joy dotting your story!  Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.” (James 1:16 -The Message) May the light of the Father brighten your week!