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.

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..

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

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

Squash & Zucchini Pie

Last week's CSA portion included squash, zucchini and onions which was basically everything I needed to try this recipe I saw here.  As always I made some changes but this was easy and different from what I normally would do with zucchini and squash.

 

Ingredients

3 C squash & zucchini, sliced & halved

1 small onion, diced

1 C Bisquick

3 eggs

1/2 C canola oil

1 T fresh parsley, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 C shredded parmesan

Salt & Pepper

Mix together eggs, oil, parsley, garlic, parmesan, salt & pepper.  I didn't measure the salt and pepper, just ground it over the mix generously.

Add squash, zucchini, onion, and bisquick.  Mix well together.

Pour into a greased pie pan.

Bake on 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is golden.

We had this as a side dish with grilled chicken but I also think it could be used as a main dish.  I think it would be good with diced ham or shredded chicken added as well if you wanted a main dish with meat in it.

Eat Local Wednesday! Our CSA

I'm super excited about our CSA portion this week.  It's the first week when we don't have mostly greens and instead we have some of my favorite things:

Squash ~ Cucumber ~ Green Beans ~ Carrots ~ Blueberries ~ Green Onions ~ Snap Peas ~ Potatoes 

We are headed to the lake this weekend so we will probably take most of this down there to cook and enjoy with friends!  Except for the blueberries, they will be gone by morning!! ;)

And a preview of tomorrow's post - Squash & Zucchini Pie

Herbs & Veggies: An Update

Our little container garden is doing so well this year!!

My lemon tree is flowering!

We have been cutting back and eating up our lettuce but you can see some small plants coming up where I replanted a few weeks ago.

Dill is getting tall...

Just look at our peppers.  I would say peppers seem to be the biggest improvement over last year.  Last year they were in a container that also had tomatoes and this year I dedicated an entire planter box just to them.  We have tons of peppers growing and some of them even look as if they are nearing time to eat.

Ancho peppers

Jalapenos

Cayenne

Garlic  seems to be doing well.  I have to do some more research to known when the garlic is ready for harvest.

Our herbs are doing really well with the exception of the cilantro.  The cilantro was doing great but at this point it has seen better days.  I think it is about time to pull it up and replant it for more.  It's important to keep cilantro cut back even if you aren't using it and not let it flower, but it was growing so fast it got away from us.

Basil plant with lemon thyme in the bottom right corner and rosemary at the bottom left.

Parsley and oregano...

 

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Rosemary, lemon thyme & basil.

and lastly, tomatoes...lots of them!

Eat Local Wednesday!

I am super excited about this week's CSA portion because we got strawberries & Margaret's strawberries are soooo good!

This week we've got lettuce, kale, cabbage, asparagus, green onions, bok Chou & strawberries!  I'm not gonna lie I picked this up about 15 minutes ago and I've already had a strawberry snack.  Otherwise I'm excited for some fresh kale to go in my smoothies and who knows what the end result of the other stuff will be.

CSA Haul

We got lots of good stuff in our CSA portion this week: lettuce, stir fry greens, turnips, broccoli, asparagus & chard.  I'm thinking stir fry tonight or tomorrow for dinner.

Stir fry is so easy to make and the best part is you can throw whatever you have on hand in it.  We make it quite a bit and no two times is it the same.  This week's will probably include the above mentioned greens, broccoli & asparagus plus some peppers and onions we have on hand and maybe some chicken or beef.  It's so simple just to saute everything in a pan with some spices and soy sauce and serve with rice.
Here are a few past stir fry style recipes we shared.
Chicken Stir Fry

Beef & Broccoli This recipe has been the most viewed and pinned recipe in the history of the blog.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

We got rhubarb again in our CSA portion last week and I wanted to make something different since I have made strawberry rhubarb pie the last 3 times.  I happened to see this recipe on Skinny Taste and it looked simple enough so I gave it a shot.

Ingredients   1 lb strawberries, quartered 1 lb rhubarb, sliced 1/2 orange 1 T corn starch 1/4 C honey 1 C quick oats 1/2 C wheat flour 1/2 C brown sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 C butter melted   Place strawberries and rhubarb in an oven safe dish.  I used an 8x8 square pan.     Squeeze juice of half an orange over pan and add orange zest.     Add honey and corn starch  Stir together for filling portion of crisp.     For the topping - mix oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter together in a bowl.     Top strawberry rhubarb mixture with oat mixture.     Bake on 375 for 40 minutes, until top is golden brown.
 

Eat Local Wednesday! (CSA Week 2)

  This is week 2 of our CSA and we are excited to have several wonderful things in store.  This week's portion includes: asparagus, bok choy, tatsoi, mixed lettuce, spinach, dill, cilantro and rhubarb.

I think a strawberry rhubarb pie is in store for Mother's Day.  Find the recipe here.  

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