Planting

I that I never posted about my gardening/planter boxes this year.  The pot above was just something I threw together last week for some color on our front porch.  But I planted the boxes back in April and forgot to every post here.

Just a recap, I have 4 raised beds/boxes that Eric made two years ago.  They are sheet metal boxes encased in wood, with drainage holes in the bottom.  They are filled first with pond stone for drainage then dirt.

Box One:  Lettuce.   I planted several varieties of lettuce - a few types of romaine and some black seeded simpson.

Box Two: Peppers.  3 jalapenos, 2 cayenne and 6 small habaneros.

Box Three: Herbs.  Parsley, cilantro, 2 basil plants, rosemary and lemon thyme.  The lemon thyme is leftover from last year, hence why it is HUGE!  I also planted dill in a separate container, not pictured here.

Box Four: Tomatoes.  I planted better boy, roma and cherry tomatoes this year.  One plant of each.

And just for fun, one other little flower I planted to sit on the front porch table.

Oven Roasted Brussel Sprouts

I have been on a mission for a while to prove to Eric that he likes brussel sprouts.  He has always said he didn't like them.   But we went out to dinner a couple weeks ago and they came with our meal and he liked them so I figured I might as well make them now.  Well he said these ones could be served in a restaurant so I say my mission was successful.

Ingredients

 Brussel sprouts

4 pieces of cooked bacon, crumbled

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

Balsamic Vinegar

Honey

Half brussel sprouts and place in a bowl.

Drizzle with olive oil.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast in oven at 425 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.

 Remove from oven when slightly browned.

Place back in bowl.

Add crumbled bacon.

Drizzle with balsamic and honey.

Serve immediately.

Shrimp and Andouille Jambalaya

 

A few weeks ago I made jambalaya for Fat Tuesday.  Eric said it was the best I had ever made.  It was definitely really good, partly because the andouille was so good.  This recipe originally came from Zatarains several years ago.

Ingredients

1 T olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 green bell pepper, diced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 can fire roasted tomatoes

1 pkg Zatarain's jambalaya mix

1 C water 

1 lb shrimp

1 lb andouille sausage, browned and cut into slices - if you live in Culpeper or nearby the andouille sausage from Croftburn Market is THE BEST!

Add olive oil, peppers and onions to dutch oven and allow to cook 5-7 minutes until softened.

Stir in tomatoes (with liquid from can), water and jambalaya mix.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add shrimp and sausage.  Cover and cook for approximately 10 more minutes until shrimp are pink..

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas

I saw this recipe for oven baked fajitas and decided to give it a try.  We used to eat fajitas all the time and somewhere along the way we just stopped.  Don't know why because we both like them.  If you look at the pictures you will see that I don't like to eat my fajitas with the shells.  Eric does but I didn't remember to take any pics of them all wrapped up.  I adapted the above recipe a little bit and here is how I made it.

Ingredients:

3 chicken breasts

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

2 small onions

1 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes

3 T olive oil

Chili powder

Cumin

Garlic powder

Tajin

Red pepper flakes

Cut chicken into strips.

Mix olive oil & spices together (I didn't measure any spices just a generous shaking of each).

Marinade chicken for 30 minutes or longer.  You don't have to do this, I just find it gives more flavor.

Slice peppers and onions.

Place chicken, peppers & onions and the remaining marinade in sprayed cooking dish.  I used my Rachel Ray oven baker but you could just use any baking dish.

Mix together well.

Top with diced tomatoes.

Stir together all ingredients.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are tender.

Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

We had a head of cabbage leftover from our last CSA portion last week and the original plan was to make cabbage rolls.  But when push came to shove, I just didn't feel like taking the time to make the actual rolls so we just mixed it all up and baked it together just the same.  I made my own tomato sauce from diced tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic, peppers, etc but that isn't necessary.

Ingredients

1/2 head of cabbage

1 1b ground beef or venison

2 C wild rice, cooked

Tomato sauce

Cook rice according to package instructions.

Brown meat.

Chop cabbage.

Mix rice, meat, cabbage and sauce in a dutch oven.

Cook, covered, for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

Shrimp Stir Fry with Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Ya'll know I like quick and easy meals and this was one of them.  I found this recipe on the blog Iowa Girl Eats.  She called it a 20 minute meal and I would say that it was pretty accurate.  I followed her recipe fairly closely although I did do a quick cooking rice so it wouldn't take as long and made a couple other small changes.  If you actually cook rice according to the recipe it would not be a 20 minute meal.  Regardless, even with making your own teriyaki sauce this was a simple recipe.  If you preferred to go even quicker, you could use store bought teriyaki sauce.  Eric & I both really liked this meal and when something is quick, easy, and we both like it, it is likely to be made many times.  We have been in somewhat of a cooking funk lately so this was a nice change of pace.  It's nice when we are able to cook in the kitchen together, it cuts down cooking time even more when you can double team a recipe.

Ingredients

1 bag Uncle Ben's Boil in Bag Whole Grain Brown Rice

4 C Chicken Broth

2 tsp sesame oil (divided)

1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined

Garlic Salt & Pepper for seasoning

1 C corn kernels (I used frozen)

1/2 C peas (again I used frozen)

2 green onions, chopped

Homeamade Teriyaki Sauce

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

2 T water

2 T sugar

1 T mirin

2 tsp. brown sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 tsp corn starch

First prepare rice according to package instructions.  I boiled mine in chicken broth instead of water but you don't have to.  Set aside.

Second, prepare sauce.  Mix all ingredients except corn starch together and cook over medium heat until sugar is dissolved into mixture.  This should only take a couple minutes.  Set aside.

Sprinkle shrimp with garlic salt and pepper.

In a wok, heat 1 tsp of sesame oil. 

Cook shrimp a few minutes until starting to turn pink.

Set aside.

In wok, add last tsp of sesame oil.  Cook peas, corn and onion 3-4 minutes until tender.  Add rice, shrimp, and sauce back to wok.  Mix together well.

Enjoy!!

Eat Local Wednesday!

This was our very last CSA portion of the year.  We got lots of good stuff as you can see.  For anyone who is interested for next year, the CSA we participate in is called Madison Eats.  We get weekly portions starting at the end of April and running through the end of October.  I credit this CSA with teaching me to use some new ingredients that I had never used before.  It helped us to find some new favorites as well.  See below for some of our favorite recipes using CSA ingredients we have had over the past few years.

*  Cabbage  *  Swiss Chard  *  Sweet Potatoes  *  Potatoes  *  Garlic  *  Onions  *  Carrots  * 
Winter Squash  *  Mixed Braising Greens  *

Grilled Eggplant Pizza 

Fried Green Tomatoes

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Oven Roasted Butternut Squash

Eat Local Wednesday!

Well along with all the posts our CSA posts fell by the wayside as well.  Our CSA only has one more week.  Here's what we got today...

Cooking greens  *  Lettuce  *  Squash  *  Kohl Rabi  *  A pepper  *  Potatoes  *  Onions

Crockpot Chicken Chili

I thought chili would be a perfect meal for this cool, rainy, fall day.  I posted this recipe once before but didn't have pictures so I thought I would repost it today.  I originally got this recipe from Skinnytaste.  This recipe is nice because it goes in the crockpot and is pretty simple.  If you prefer a beef/sausage chili try this recipe I posted in January. 

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced

1 15 oz can black beans

1 15 oz can kidney beans

2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes with green chilis

1 15 oz can corn

1 8 oz can tomato sauce

1 packet taco seasoning

1 T cumin

1 T chili powder

2 large chicken breasts

Mix all ingredients, except chicken, together in crockpot. 

Place chicken breasts atop other ingredients.

Cook on high for 5.5 hours.

Shred chicken with 2 forks.

Mix shredded chicken into other ingredients.

Cook additional 30 minutes.

Optional: Garnish with shredded cheese, sour cream, and/or cilantro for serving.

Crowder Pea & Corn Succotash

We had a few people coming over for dinner tonight and I made the Pioneer Woman's Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork for pulled pork sandwiches....this recipe is delicious, you should make it!  We needed a side dish to go with our pulled pork sandwiches.  So we went in the fridge to see what kind of produce we had left and we came up with crowder peas, a couple bell peppers, corn on the cob, and a few onions thus our succotash was born.  It doesn't look the prettiest, but we all agreed it was good.

Ingredients: Crowder peas (one paper lunch bag full) 1 small onion, diced 4 ears of corn, cut from the cob 2 small bell peppers, diced 4 pieces of bacon fresh parsley, chopped garlic powder onion powder 1 bay leaf, crumbled thyme 10 shakes of hot sauce 2.5 C water S&P Shell peas.   Cook bacon in frying pan.  Remove bacon from pan.   Add onion, peppers, corn, garlic powder, onion powder, bay leaf, thyme & hot sauce to bacon grease and cook until veggies are tender.   S&P to taste Add peas and water and simmer until tender and water cooks out.    Crumble bacon and stir into succotash.

Container Garden Updates & Pepper Recipes

It's been forever since I updated on our container gardens.  Some things are going strong, some thing are not.  Skip to the bottom if you'd like to see some recipes for all your peppers.

What's working:

Tomatoes - the actual plant parts look awful, but the tomatoes are delicious

Peppers - cayenne, jalapeño, habanero, & poblanos growing like crazy

Garlic - should be ready for harvest very soon

Herbs (minus dill & cilantro)  -- pesto coming soon
Lemons - they are growing...we will see if/when they are complete

What's gone 

Cilantro

Dill

Lettuce 

Some ideas for your peppers:

Candies Jalapeños

Jalapeño Popper Chicken 

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly 

Southwestern Stuffed Peppers

Grilled Eggplant (&Pepper) Pizza

Jalapeño Popper Chicken

We have tons of peppers growing in our garden, especially jalapeños.  A few weeks ago, before we headed to the beach I was looking for a few recipes to use some.  I had seen this recipe for Jalapeño Popper Chicken on Skinnytaste previously so I just adapted it to work for us.

Ingredients Chicken breasts, thinly sliced 1/2 block cream cheese 3 jalapeños, diced  3/4 C cheddar cheese, shredded 1 T olive oil 1/2 C lime juice Panko S&P Wash chicken breasts. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Mix cream cheese, jalapeños & cheddar cheese together.

Lay chicken breasts flat.  Top with cheese mixture. Roll up chicken breast using toothpicks to hold the edges together. Mix olive oil & lime juice in a bowl.  Dip chicken breast in lime juice mixture. Roll in panko. Place on baking sheet, seam side down. Bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Jalapeno Pepper Jelly

Two summers ago I set out to learn how to can and this was one of the first things I made.  I found this recipe in The Complete Book of Canning from 1982.    

  Ingredients (Makes 5-6 1/2 pint jars) 4-5 jalapenos  4 bell peppers (I used red)   5 C sugar 1 C White wine vinegar 1 pouch fruit pectin (3 oz)       Prepare jars in hot water bath canning pot.     Process bell peppers and jalapeno peppers together in a food processor.

Combine pepper mixture, vinegar and sugar in a large pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, add pectin, stir together.  
Return to heat and boil for 1 additional minute.   
Ladle into hot jars allowing 1/2 inch head space.  Seal jars.

Just a note:  I used red bell peppers so my pepper jelly is red.  If you prefer your pepper jelly to be green you can use green bell peppers.  Or do one batch each way and give it away as Christmas presents.

First Tomatoes

We picked our first tomatoes yesterday.

And what better way to enjoy them than in our first BLTs of the season.  

We also have a ton of peppers that are ready to pick so I am hoping to can some pepper jelly this week.  If I can squeeze that in along with work and vacation prep than I'll be back to share it with you.

Summer Veggie Recipes

We love having access to fresh vegetables in the summer and have made some really delicious meals with vegetables from our garden and our CSA.  Here are a few recipes you may have missed.       Fried Green Tomatoes  

   
Grilled Eggplant Pizza

Squash & Zucchini Pie

Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Cauliflower Fennel Au Gratin

Corn & Tomato Salad

Squash, Green Onion and Corn Naan