Snow, Snow,and More Snow!

Garden is buried in feet of snow. It is hard to believe that life will ever fill its' white baron landscape.

In the spring, long dormant seeds will spout again and plants will rise from once frozen soil. The cycle will begin again.

Until then, all is white and I have nothing to write about.

Marriage Announcement

Marriage Announcement

Doesn't relate to anything, but I love my hubby.

Purple Quiche!

This is just your basic quiche recipe with an extra special twist. It was made with some beautiful, royal purple cauliflower. The results were eye catching and delicious.

I tried to grow purple cauliflower this year, but I planted it too late. It takes much longer that its white and orange counterparts to develop. Still, I wanted to see how the color held up to being baked, so I picked up one at the local farmers market for $3.

I followed a pretty basic recipe.

Fill pie shell with veggies:

Mix eggs, half and half, fresh ground pepper, spices.

Pour mixture over veggies, top with cheese and bake. Then cut and eat. Bon Appetite.

This would be great addition to a MN Vikings football party. However, I think the best use for this is to get kids excited about eating there veggies. Never underestimate the power of novelty.

We Don't Know What Were Doing

Weeds, Weeds and More Weeds!!!

Honestly, I didn't know what were plants and what were weeds until it was much too late. Here is my pile of weeds from my garden and I'm not where near done. WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE DOING! Despair. And I'm pretty sure I accidentally weeded some of my phlox.

Last year, we had all new soil. Only the morning glories were able to sneak there way through the layer of soil we added to fill in the hole where a garage once stood. This year is a whole 'nother story. Suggestions? I just cannot keep up with all this.

Canning

We thought about canning last year when we got an abundance of tomatoes at the end of summer. Instead, we made tomato sauces and froze them. However, we were left with an overstuffed freezer.

This year we thought of canning again, but it has been so warm (and we have no AC) that we didn't want to add too the heat of the house. However, the past couple of days the heat has been manageable...and my hubby has become a canning machine!


I cannot take any of the credit. He's in the kitchen canning right now. With help from a cookbook (recent gift from my mother-in-law) In the past three days he has canned:

• Pickles (cucumbers)
• Beets
• Beets and potatoes
• Beans (green and waxed)
• Cauliflower
• Peppers
  

I hope that this is a way to bring some of the flavors of local and garden grown food into the long Minnesota winter months.


We are looking for ideas and recipes. Please share!

Everyone Deserves Fresh Produce

During the year, so many Minnesotan families find themselves unable to meet all their expenses. They may need to go to a food shelf to meet their dietary needs. Sometimes the selection of food can be limited to shelf stable products of modest dietary needs

This past weekend, John and I got to do good while spending time at our favorite place. Near the end of the St. Paul Farmer's Market, we joined a small team of volunteers to collect donated produce and items from the vendors for a local food shelf. We had a blast. People were very generous, giving many of their expert products. We collected almost 1,000 pounds of healthy produce. We didn't collect more, only because our van was full. Then we carted the items over to the Neighborhood House food shelf.

The Neighborhood House in St. Paul does amazing work serving the community. Among its many services are its food shelf. It operates the largest single site food shelf in Ramsey County. In 2009, the Neighborhood House Food Shelf served over 38,000 people about half of them children and distributed over 620,000 pounds of food.

I am so proud that this food shelf will be providing its patrons with lots of fresh produce options and organic products donated by the generous farmer's market vendors! I hope this will allow those who have come across hard times provide healthy food for their families and keep dignity in their hears.

First Tomato Has Arrived!

Our first tomato is ready to be picked! How exciting! Looking forward to more delicious flavorful tomatoes.


For those of you keep track, this tomato is not from one to the giant tomato plants we have growing in the ground. Our first tomato arrived from an upside down plant growing out of an old milk carton.