Pretty Bird

I finally did it...I cooked a whole chicken. Let me start by saying that Kevin is scared to eat any meat that I cook. I think I am a decent cook, but because I like my steaks rare he assumes that I like all of my meat bloody. Not true, I prefer well-done chicken (don't we all?). To my surprise, Kevin loved this chicken! He actually liked the pork shoulder I cooked a couple of weekends ago, so maybe we are making progress. Here are some before and after shots of my lovely little chicken.

Before (I read online that there is no wrong way to truss a chicken, so don't hate on my technique). ha!



After (do you hear the angels singing?)



I think I am going to start making a whole bird more often. It really was easy, cheap, and I can use the leftover meat for casseroles, etc. I also made the Black Bean & Couscous Salad and the Grape Salad. Both are so good and easy and our refrigerator is definitely full for a few days. I really don't cook much during the week because of our work schedules, so on the weekends I try to do it big, ha! For the Black Bean & Couscous salad, I started thinking about it...all of the veggies in this salad will be grown in my garden this summer (except the black beans). It will be so neat to just head to the backyard for my ingredients.

This is a picture of the Black Bean & Couscous Salad, I got the recipe here http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Black-Bean-and-Couscous-Salad/Detail.aspx



Here's a picture of the Grape Salad, see below for picture and recipe (I got this recipe from my mom, she got it from church)



Ingredients:

1 bag of green grapes
1 bag of red grapes
1 8oz block of cream cheese (room temperature)
1 8oz container of sour cream
1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 tsp of almond extract
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Wash and mix red and green grapes together. Mix the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, and almond extract together with a mixer until smooth. In a separate container mix together the brown sugar and chopped pecans. In a trifle bowl (or Tupperware if you aren't trying to be fancy, see above), add half of the grapes, top with half of the cream cheese mixture, and half of the brown sugar mixture. Repeat layers and chill. This recipe is great for showers.

Food-Filled Weekend!

Last weekend I got a couple of fun things for my yard, a plum tree and a blueberry bush!



Of course, I will have to wait a few years before I can even start hoping for a plum but the sooner its in the ground the sooner we'll have fruit. I've never heard of this, but when I was at Home Depot I saw a "Fruit Cocktail" tree. I googled it when I got home and sure enough, it really exists! The fruit cocktail tree at Home Depot grows apricots, plums, peaches, and nectarines all on the same tree...amazing. I didn't get it because I knew nothing about it at the time, but now that I've looked into it a little more I may have to go get one. So So Cool!

This weekend I have a lot of things on the menu...new things to try (all in an effort to eat more veggies!). I am going to do Act #2 of the roasted root veggies and succotash since it was such a hit. The main dish will be a roasted chicken. Do you know I have never cooked a whole bird? I can't wait! I hope it is pretty when it comes out of the oven (either way, I'll share some pics). I have everything I need except some kitchen twine so I will go on a hunt for that tomorrow. I just plan to put lemons in the cavity and coat the chicken with a little oil and add salt, pepper, thyme, and a little rosemary. On Sunday, I am making Bacon Mushroom Swiss Meatloaf with whipped potatoes and green beans. Kevin should love that! He thinks mushrooms should go in every dish. Lastly, on Monday we are going to have spaghetti, but instead of noodles we'll try spaghetti squash. A $5 squash vs. an $.89 pack of noodles is a pretty big difference so it better be good! If nothing else, we'll try something new and add scraps for the compost bin.

Speaking of the compost bin, its not easy getting used to having it. I've accidentally thrown out compost-able material 3 times without realizing it! I've thrown out part of an onion, an orange peel, and coffee grounds. I started looking online for a kitchen crock to put my scraps in, but decided that is just too fancy for me...a plastic bowl will do the trick.



This bowl now sits on my counter at all times. I try to dump it out at least once every 2 days so we don't get bad smells in the house.

I forgot to mention earlier, I am also making a couple of snacks this weekend. Some friends of ours just had a baby and we are going to take them some food (I'll just make double so we'll have some too). I am going to make Grape Salad and Black Bean & Couscous Salad. Both are very tasty! I have a bad habit of eating so much of the grape salad that I get sick, ha! I'll try to show some restraint this weekend.

I can't wait to post pics of my chicken...I hope it turns out to be tasty.

Happy Friday!

We're in this together!

Melina and I met at her house at 6am (eek!) to get started on her garden beds. We started by figuring out where they would be placed in her backyard and then beginning her lasagna layers. After we got the newspaper/cardboard layer placed, we had to take a break for water aerobics. We had such a great time (this was my first water aerobics experience), and our instructor was an Asian, female version of Richard Simmons (headband and all!). She had a super-high intensity level and I never knew a pool workout could be so challenging. I loved it and we hope to make this a Saturday morning ritual. After our workout, we had lunch and got back to the garden preparation. Melina's layers are exactly like mine (cardboard/newspaper, leaves/mulch, peat moss, and soil), but she added another super-awesome ingredient...



Composted Manure! Is it bad that I now have poop envy? Seriously, I am going to have to go get some of this stuff! Take a look at her garden beds...



Remember, her middle bed is stacked because she will use that for root vegetables that need a little more depth. I think we are both excited because our garden beds are ready to go, but also a little sad that we don't have anything to do until we can plant in April. I also should have mentioned that today was BEAUTIFUL outside! We haven't seen the sunshine in quite some time, so we really enjoyed ourselves being outdoors.

For now, I am going to research all of the fruits and vegetables I intend to plant. I need to take a look at space planning for my garden and draw out my plans. Once I get that finalized, I'll post the details.

Happy Saturday to All!

Mother Earth

My friend Melina (my partner in newbie gardening crime) gave me a very thoughtful gift... a "Mother Earth News" magazine subscription.



It's a pretty cool magazine! My first issue has a really neat article on tomatoes...who knew there were SOOOO many types of tomatoes!?! There are a couple of "Al Gore"ish articles (which Melina warned me about), but for the most part there is a lot of good information. This new subscription is something else gardening related that I can get excited about. We've had a doozie of a winter and I am ready for spring. This weekend we have pretty weather in the forecast and highs the high 50/60s, so I have plans to be outside. Melina and I are going to set up her raised beds and the lasagna layers. She is even going to do one stacked raised bed so that she can plant some of the root vegetables that require more soil depth. I will try to remember to take some pictures of her beds too. This should be fun!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This morning we woke up to beautiful snow. The flakes were huge and it was really coming down (for Alabama standards). I decided to take a picture of my snow covered soon-to-be garden.



Kevin and I were planning on getting take-out from one of our favorite restaurants and enjoying the evening in. I think we may just stay home today and watch the Olympics. It's not the most romantic of plans, but I really do think my favorite times are spent in comfy clothes with Kevin and Stoli (our super-spoiled Maltese).

Since I have a ton of the pork shoulder left over from yesterday, I decided to make 16 bean soup with it. Who doesn't like comfort food when there is snow on the ground? I'm soaking my beans as I type.



Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Bright idea! OK, so really it is pretty obvious.

Confession: I have been eating terrible things. Putting all this bad food (mainly fast food) is killing my energy level and I just don't feel good. I think I am in a winter slump or hibernating...either way, something's got to give. So, tonight I went grocery shopping for produce...I am craving vegetables (I think my body is trying to tell me something). Tomorrow I am going to cook a pork shoulder with apples and onions. To go along with that, we will be having succotash and roasted root vegetables. My sweet friend (shout-out to Julie) recently told me about parsnips. A few weeks ago she tried them for the first time and loved them. Since I have never tried them, I decided this weekend is as good as any. For the roasted root vegetables (in addition to the parsnips), we will have carrots, butternut squash, potatoes, and rutabaga. Speaking of rutabagas, my mom used to make these for me as a child and I remember loving them. I am not sure why I have neglected these as an adult, but I think it is time the rutabaga and I get to know each other again. I also got some bananas and some cucumbers (to make German cucumber salad, of course!).

On to my bright idea...tonight as I was peeling my cucumber and cutting off the ends, a light bulb went off. The more vegetables I eat, the more scraps I will have for my composting bin. If I succeed at eating more fruits and veggies, it is a total win-win for my compost bin and I. To kick things off, I've already prepared a batch of scraps to put in my compost bin in the morning. I will be adding my cucumber skin and ends, 1/2 of a squeezed lemon, old chopped up chives that I never used up, several egg shells, and coffee grounds. Also, the hubby has promised to help me gather more leaves for the compost bin since the bulk of the contents should be "brown" material (the smaller portion is the "green" material, such as wilted lettuce and cucumber peel).

This weekend should be nice and relaxing. I sure wish there was a way to post a "smell" on a blog...can you imagine how wonderful that pork shoulder is going to smell?!?

Edited to add a picture of our dinner. We had the apple and onion roasted pork shoulder, succotash, and roasted butternut squash, parsnips, and rutabaga. Kevin loved it!

Now comes the hard part...

I don't know for sure, but I think setting up the garden site must be the hardest, most labor intensive part of gardening. Taking a blank canvas backyard, developing a plan, making sure the soil is nutrient rich, etc. seems like the least fun activity when it comes to growing your own fruits and vegetables. We actually enjoyed today (even though it was in the low 30s outside)...if we enjoyed today, I think we'll really have fun with the garden this Spring/Summer! Today my husband and I got all this taken care of. Until late April, we really don't have that much to do. This is our soon-to-be garden area



This part of our backyard gets the most sunlight so we decided to place the boxes here



We started with a layer of cardboard boxes (notice the beer boxes, ha! ...Thanks Ruggby's!). We saturated this layer with water to encourage it to break down.



Then we added a layer of leaves & mulchy material that we got from the woods across the street from our house.



I made a quick run to Home Depot for some garden soil and peat moss. The Rogue is loaded down!



My laborer (aka. husband) helped so much! Thank you honey!



After our "lasagna layers" were complete, we covered our beds with black plastic bags so that it can "bake".



So, until April there will not be much to blog about. I will start my tomato plants inside and my herbs (hopefully) will continue to grow. I also will be adding to my compost bin. This weekend I added an orange peel and some coffee grounds. C'mon Spring!

And we have life!

Remember my cute little indoor herb garden? Well, we have growth! I was so excited as I saw the first sprouts of cilantro and oregano break through the soil. Then, out of nowhere, my parsley took off! I left for work on Friday and there was no parsley...by the time I made it home that day I swear there was a parsley bush! So fun! The chives are late bloomers, but they'll get there. I noticed a couple of places of green chives in the pot. I am really loving this...thank goodness for the herb garden (there is no way I could make it to spring without some gardening/planting fun). Here's a picture of what we've got so far.