Garden Goodies

This is our second year with our container garden and I have to say, we are quite pleased with it.  Last year was really what I call our learning year.  We grew a variety of things from radishes to peppers.  Our biggest failure last year was tomatoes which I tried to grow from seed.  Everyone told me that was hard and I said, "Oh but I want to try anyway!"  And so I did and I was rewarded with no tomatoes.  The biggest success last year was jalapeno peppers.  I used those to make pepper jelly which was pretty tasty!

So this year we are growing:
Bell peppers

Jalapeno peppers

Tomatoes

Green Beans
Romaine Lettuce
Butter Crunch Lettuce
Summer Squash

Cucumbers

Green Onions
Radishes
Basil
Parsley
Spinach
Garlic

So far we have had a good harvest from the green bean, cucumber, and tomato plants and our lettuces with the exception of the spinach.  The peppers are finally starting to take shape and who only knows what's going on with the summer squash.  It's big and flowering, but no fruit yet.  Things I will not be growing again - Spinach, radishes, and Green onions.  Next year I would like to try to grow broccoli.  I am hoping to get a bigger garlic harvest next year, but we will see.

Today I harvested some of the basil today to hang it up and dry for future use in the winter months.  I am hoping the basil plant continues to grow.  I have been told cutting it back promotes growth, so we will see. Later this week I am going to make homemade bruschetta with our tomatoes and basil and then I am going to make baugettes and mozzarella cheese.  I can't wait and I don't even really like bruschetta!  I'll be sure to share some pictures.

Brownie Pudding

How could this even begin to be a bad thing?  I like brownies and pudding, so I would only hope the two combined would be heavenly.  I was not wrong.

From my Food Love board:
http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/02/16/brownie-pudding/

First melt butter:

Then beat together eggs and sugar and add some vanilla:

Flour and cocoa powder:

I sifted these two together because I have learned over all my baking expeditions that cocoa powder can be notoriously clumpy.  Sifted them together is an extra step and one I found quite annoying when I first did it, but now I understand it's purpose and add it in even when I am not told to do so!

Mix these all together and bake:

I would have a picture of the finished product here, but it was consumed extremely quickly and without presentation.  This is the best chocolate fix I have had in a while.  Super easy recipe and super delicious.  What are you waiting for?  Go make this now!

More Meatless Monday

Huh, I could abbreviate this post as MMM which would be kind of ironic since it's about food and good food that makes you say MMMMMM!!!!  Ok, enough about that.  I realized that I skipped over my use of a Pin from last week's Meatless Monday experience.  Truth be told, I used this recipe more as a guideline because I have used a similar approach to pasta toss meals, so this wasn't what I would call a "new" recipe.  Just a new variation of it.

From Meatless Mondays:
http://www.skinnymom.com/2013/04/23/skinny-mediterranean-pasta-toss/

Since I have made a version similar to this, I played around with the ingredients a little more than I normally would on a first go for a recipe.  First, I didn't have zucchini, so that didn't make the cut.  I did not have 10 small sweet bell peppers, but I did have one big one, so I compromised.  I also didn't have grape tomatoes, but had a fresh one from our garden, so I figured it was equivalent in other ways.  I substituted egg noodles for penne because I like it better for a pasta toss.  Turns out I was out of balsamic vinegar (*gasp*) because I had used the last of it to make Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing and hadn't remembered to get any at the store in a while (this has since been fixed).  I should do a post on that too - it was the best!  ANYWHO, back to the actual topic, given all those changes, the meal still turned out great.  I even added capers to the mix because, why not?

I think a pasta toss is a great way to blend a lot of fun flavors together.  Mine always include artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes with egg noodles.  The rest is whatever is on hand.  But that's my personal preference.  This is probably one of the few meals I really go off recipe for.  So far it has yielded some pretty tasty results.  I would encourage you to try it too!

Meatless Monday Inspiration

As part of our New Year's Resolution we have adopted the Meatless Monday here in our house.  We have been mostly successful at acknowledging it on Monday, but other days are ok too.  At least in my book.  The idea is to focus on not needing to eat meat at every meal.  They are usually healthier meals and they cost less too.  Pinterest has been really good to find meal ideas for this.  Generally I think of pasta, but they have plenty of beans, vegetable, tofu, and grain options.  It's been fun trying new foods.  Some were better than others, but at least we are trying.

Tonight's meal comes from my Meatless Monday board (duh):
http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/06/grilled-corn-cheddar-quinoa/

Quinoa has become a staple grain in our house and a nice alternative to just plain rice.  According to what the internet tells me, it's also healthier for us.  Bonus.  Like most recipes I was drawn to this one for the ingredients list - I liked them all, and the ease factor of the recipe.  I will say I already pre-grilled the corn and it's been hanging out in the refrigerator waiting.  The meal itself came together really easy (when you have the corn all ready and waiting).

The taste factor/family taste bud test was a hit for both my husband and myself.  My toddler had other opinions, but it could just be the day of the week since he usually loves this kind of stuff.  It's a little weird having this as the main dish because it feels like it could easily be a side to salmon, chicken, or pork.  It was still pretty substantial to stand on it's own though, so either way, it was good and we will do it again.

Adventures in Cooking

Probably the most useful function of Pinterest for me has been recipes.  New ways to try food, find fast one pot friendly recipes, bake amazing tasty treats, and find healthy ways to incorporate the "good for you" food into all of this.  Tonight was not unlike most nights around here.  Hmm, what to make for dinner.  I have chicken thawing, what can I do with that?  Amazingly enough, you can search "chicken recipes" and get answers.  I love the internet.

Recently pinned to my Real Food board:
http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-chicken-quinoa-broccoli-casserole

I had actually been searching the internet for quinoa recipes for my Meatless Monday campaign, so this kind of worked out nice, although definitely not meatless.  I liked how this meal came together, although I am not sure the science behind heating half your liquid then adding half a cup of cold liquid and flour to make the "cream" sauce.  It seemed to work out, but I did need to sift the flour as I put it in so it wouldn't clump too much on me.

My rule of thumb for cooking a new recipe is to follow the instructions as they are written and the ingredients as measured out by the author the first time through.  If I like it as it stands, beautiful, if not, I make notes on what to change should I make this next time.  In this case, I might make the sauce differently than they said to.  I might learn that there is a reason why they explain to do it the way they have it, but that's the wonderful thing about cooking, all the learning as you go. :)

This cooked in the initial 30 minutes they said to cook it for.  Well, maybe it was 35 minutes by the time I actually got to the oven.  At first it didn't look like it was done, but I mixed it all together as they said to and as I did so, it looked like the right consistency.  I added the broccoli and topped with cheese.  I didn't have Gruyere, but they said any kind would work, so I added Jarlsberg instead.  Next time I am sure I'll use cheddar or mozzarella since that's usually what's on hand.  I also used Old World Seasoning for both my poultry seasoning (apparently I don't have this spice?) and the substitute for "seasoning".  That just seems a little random to me, clearly you have a taste in mind, could you be more specific?  I think those two things can definitely influence the flavor of the dish, so who knows if this tasted anything like what the blog author intended.  Bottom line though: I liked my version.  This will be done again.

Things to play with in future makings of this dish:
Change up the vegetables.  I could see doing carrots, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, peas, corn, etc.  Pretty much anything would go.  Since you add the vegetables at the end, you can cook them to your level of doneness and just add at the end.
Change up the seasoning.  I am not sure what other generally seasonings are out there, but you could always build your meal around whatever one you pick.  For example, if you used Italian seasoning, maybe use mozzarella cheese and maybe Italian sausage for the meat instead of the chicken and maybe peppers and onions instead of broccoli.  If you did that, you probably need to cook the meat ahead of time.
Change up the cheese.  I would say just use whatever you have so long as you like it. :)  My general cooking sense - if you like the flavors individually, why not try them together? If it's terrible, make a note and don't do it again.

Definitely worth having in rotation and hey, it uses quinoa so it's got to be healthier than most things out there. Mark that as a plus!

Oven Cleaner

After yesterdays spectacular debut into homemade cleaners that promise miracles, I decided to try another.  I mean, at the very least I have to be cleaning stuff at least somewhat even if it doesn't get it sparkling spotless like the instructions said it would.  Today's goal - clean the oven.

I am using another pin from my Cleaning Tips board:
http://craptastical.com/oven-needed-cleaning/

I have abused my oven quite a bit.  Sometimes things will bubble over and I'll think, man I should clean that up.  What really happens is I forget about it because you have to wait until an oven is cool before you can go playing in it.  And by then, I have moved on to some other sparkly thing in the house or a screaming toddler or have gone to bed.  Possibly all three.  I get a nice reminder the next time I turn on my oven and there's a pretty obnoxious smell/smoke coming from the oven.  "Oh yeah.... I was supposed to do something about that."  The process repeats until I have effectively burned off whatever I boiled over.  So sad for the oven.

BUT!  Today is the day the oven gets a face lift!  I am sure it's as excited as I am.  I mean, how excited can one get for a clean oven?  I am not even really sure.  Anywho, here's the very fancy recipe:
3-4 drops of Dawn
4 Tbsp. Baking Soda
5 Tbsp. Distilled Vinegar **do not use this much, start with 1 tablespoon and add until you get a good paste.
Juice of 1 lemon = 1 Tbsp. lemon juice

As the website I am using said: Go slow when added the vinegar.  Otherwise you are going to get a mini volcano on your kitchen counter.  Smear the goop all over your oven however you see fit.  Let it set for a few hours and then come back and wipe it down/clean it out with a dish towel.

Before picture:

I told you it was gross.

After pictures:

Notes:
1. I think the mixture is wrong.  Mine was much more liquid than paste, so I would dial back the vinegar a bit.  I ended up sprinkling some more baking soda directly into the oven to get the scour power.  They may have meant 5 teaspoons and not 5 tablespoons.  The picture also showed way more dawn than 3-4 drops.  I think if you can find the mixture balance to get it to a paste, then you are much better off.
2. There is NO way this is just a "wipe" down and bingo-bango, it's miraculously clean.  This still took a fair amount of arm muscle and a sponge with the scrub side to clean the sides of the oven and get the junk off.  And even then, some places did not come clean.

Overall, my oven is cleaner, although not the pristine clean I was looking for.  The oven door is still gross (in my opinion, although less gross than it was).  I think the lesson here is: Cleaning ovens suck no matter how you do it.  This just happens to be the non-toxic version which can be cheaper and better for the environment.  So, take that for what you will.  I have a clean oven and that's really an accomplishment in and of itself.

Does This Really Work?

I am sure you have seen pins that claim they have the newest, most simplest, fancy way of cleaning ever!  I am always skeptical about these claims.  Most are using ingredients that sound plausible, but just not main stream enough for it to be, "oh, of course that would work".  I have a handful of pins on my Cleaning Tips board which boast a lot of these kinds of things.  Today I am going to try this one:
http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2011/11/goodbye-to-yellow-armpit-stains.html

This blog entry actually did what I am doing.  She explains that she was told about this miracle cure fix it for stains and she was skeptical but she posted before and after results and it seems to work for her.  Since I am able to follow a recipe (the ingredients ratio) and scrub clothes with the best of them, I am pretty confident this will work.

I sweat like there's no tomorrow.  I think I might sweat more than my husband, so needless to say, the shirts I am going to try this on are from my drawers.  I have a lot of free shirts I wear around the house (especially on maternity leave) and I used to wear them out in public.  I wear them a lot less now because they have the funky arm pits.  So, let's see how this stacks up on the cleaning scale.

Mixture 1 part Dawn to 2 parts hydrogen peroxide.  Mix together, apply to stain.  Scrub.

Before:

After:

Overall opinion:
This worked, but there is still some stain on the shirt.  I imagine this is partly because I picked one of my worst shirts to try it on and I have really high expectations.  Also, the pin text called for adding baking soda whereas the actual article did not specify that until later as a "bonus" ingredient.  They also let it sit for an hour then laundered as normal.  I rinsed it after scrubbing and let it dry.  SO!  There are a few things I can try in the future which may help remove the stains further.  I think this could be a valuable thing to keep on hand especially with small kids who manage to wear most of their daily activities from arts and crafts to food to poop.  I have seen it all.  Ha!  It'd be nice to know it can really actually come out though.  :)