Tidy Brown Wren, bringing order to your nest

We've been eating greens from our garden all winter long.     How have we managed that?     By gardening undercover.     We're growing spinach, lettuce, pok choy,  swiss chard, collards, and kale.  You can see that some of our lettuce has gone to seed because it has been such a warm winter for us here in southeast Virginia.   We simply planted the veggies in October and covered them with floating row covers that were stretched over hoops made with pvc pipes.      The edges of the covers are weighed down with bricks around the edges.   No watering, no weeding, no fertilizing. 

  Having a hungry 21 year old Marine living in our house has some advantages and some disadvantages.    Advantages: He can lift, move, or rearrange any furniture I need him to take care of.   He loves to cut the grass.   He takes the garbage out with a quick "Yes, Mam!"   I can get a big, quick hug any time I want one.   Disadvantages: We're always running out of food. At least I chose a cheerful magnet to attach the note to the freezer.  How about that sunshine? For those of you who are worried about our starving son, we ate the ice cream that night with homemade Hot Fudge Sauce .  I just wanted to make sure we had enough ice cream for all of our dinner guests. 

Got okra?  Well, our neighbor had tons of it and came to our backdoor with a 5 gallon bucket filled with the pods.  I washed a bunch of it by scrubbing each pod with a green scrubby pad to remove the hairy coating.   I cut off the top and bottom of each pod and sliced them up.  If any pods were tough, I tossed them in the compost bucket. I tossed them with olive oil and some Old Bay Seasoning. By the way, using parchment paper on your pan makes clean up much easier and keeps the okra from sticking to the pan.  I roasted the okra in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Hubs likes these veggies a little on the crispy (slightly burnt) side so I may have roasted them a bit longer. We used the roasted okra with homemade salsa and some grated cheese to make nachos.  I roasted the rest of the okra and froze it to use later. 

Our friends have a peach tree in their yard that has been producing lots of peaches.  They brought some to church and I happily loaded up. I peeled and chopped the peaches, added some sugar and lemon juice, and then started boiling away.  I had 8 cups of chopped peaches and I added 4 cups of sugar.  Before filling each jar with the mixture, I added 1/2 tsp. of lemon juice to each jar.  I always refer to my Ball Blue Book of Canning when in doubt. I prepared my canning set-up.  The large pot to the left has boiling water ready for the water bath.  The small pan in the back right has lids and rings sitting in warm water.  The pan in front is simmering the jam.  I put my jars into the boiling water bath, submerged, for 20 minutes. An hour later I had 4 half pint jars of peach jam ready for the pantry.  I love the beautiful color.

Our grandsons stayed with us for a few days last month while Mommy and Daddy moved from a condo into a house (yay for a backyard to play in!).  Littlest one was not in a mood to eat and being the overly protective grandma that I am, I decided to take matters into my own hands and whip up some nutritious smoothies to get a lot of fruits and veggies into the boys. The smoothies were a hit and both boys downed them and asked for more. I usually call these smoothies "Green smoothies" because, well, they're green.  On this day, however, they were brown because of the combination of greens and blueberries (green + blue + brown).  Littlest One kept saying, "Honey, more brown smoomie please".  Apparently the brown part didn't bother him at all.  Want to make a Green Smoothie?  Here's what you do:      1.  Add one large handful of greens (lettuce, spinach, swiss chard etc.) to one cup of liquid (milk, water, juice, k...

I first discovered Lemon Balm when we bought our house several years ago.  It had been planted near the front door and looked like a weed to me.  After doing some research, I found that Lemon Balm is in the mint family (so it's not so far from the "weed" category).  It spreads easily and grows quickly.  For several years, I've used it to garnish fruit platters and pitchers of ice water in the summer.   Because I have so much of it, I figured I would research what else I could do with the herb.  Come to find out - you can make a tea with it! I read a few recipes and came up with my version of Lemon Balm Tea that my family really loves.  First, pick a bouquet of lemon balm and wash it well.  Trim the leaves and put into a glass bowl. Add boiling water to cover the leaves and let it steep for 20 minutes or so.  Don't worry if the leaves turn a bit brown - that 's normal. Strain off the liquid, leaving the...

Whenever the cool breezes of fall start blowing, my tummy starts yearning for apple cake.   My mother-in-law always made this cake and it is definitely a family favorite. It takes a little bit of time to put together, but it's surely worth every bit of effort. First, I peel and slice about 6 large apples.  I like to use a crisp, pie-making apple.  You can also use an crank-style apple peeler to make the work go quickly.  I also juice an orange and zest the rind. I add cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar to the apple slices and let them sit while I make the batter.  I also grease and flour a bundt pan or angel food cake pan.  Alternate the apple slices and batter in the pan, ending with the apples.  Here's where I should be showing you the beautiful, finished cake, but this is what happens in our house:  And yes, the family voted it delicious while it lasted.  Here's the recipe: Nana's Apple Cake 6 large apples or 8 small ones, peel...

I've still got green tomatoes hanging out at my house and I decided to make one of my Hubs favorite pickles.  He came home from work one day with a recipe in his hand.  A co-worker had brought in these pickles and it was love at first bite. The recipe is very easy to follow but it does have a lot of ingredients. First, fill a large glass jar with sliced green tomatoes.  It try to cut all the pieces the same size.  In a saucepan, mix 1 1/4 oz. (1 whole bottle) of pickling spice with 1 quart of water.  Simmer for 15 minutes. Add 1 pint white vinegar, 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1-2 cloves minced garlic, 1tsp. dill weed, 6 hot cherry peppers - diced, and 1/2 tsp. cherry pepper seeds (optional).  Pour this mixture over your green tomatoes. Screw on the lid and keep refrigerated.  Pickles are ready to eat after 3 weeks.  Note:  If jug is not filled to 1/4 inch from top, add boiled water. The original recipe was called Brodsky's Pickl...

I've had a lot of green tomatoes to deal with, thanks to Hurricane Irene.  She blew the green tomatoes right off my plants.  I picked them up off the ground, brought them into the kitchen and got to work making a yummy green tomato relish.  I'm generally not a pickle or relish eater, but this is one relish I will eat.  In fact, during my third pregnancy (many moons ago), I craved it so much I ate it by the spoonful right out of the jar.  Weird, I know.  The process is pretty simple:  Wash your tomatoes and  finely dice them.  You don't need to worry about taking the skin off.  You'll need 2 quarts of diced tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup of salt to the bowl and let sit over night and then drain off the liquid. The next morning, combine:  1/2 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. dry mustard, 2 tsp. celery seed, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. allspice, 1/4 tsp. ground cloves, 1/4 cup mustard seed, and 2 cups apple cider vinegar.  Bri...

So, you've been growing tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. What to do with them? How about canning them? To get started, you'll need a few things: 1.  A large cutting board - I like to use one with a "drip catcher" all around because the tomatoes are very juicy.  I also put a kitchen towel under the cutting board to catch any overflow. 2.  Jars (we'll talk about them next), jar lids, and bands.  3.  A sharp knife 4.  Canning funnel 5.  Jar lifter 6.  Ladle 7.  Lemon juice and measuring spoon 8.  Small pan with simmering water to heat jar lids in. I clean and sterilize my jars in my dishwasher.  When they're done washing, and before the go to the dry cycle, I put them on a cookie sheet in my oven and set it on 170 degrees. I fill my large canning pot up with water (it's so big that I have to set it on the stove and fill it with pitchers full of water).  I set the heat to high right at the beginning because it takes a...