Weathering the Storm

As you may have heard, we had some severe weather go through North Liberty today.  My parents heard the news on their satellite radio CNN station.  Crazy.  As far as we know, there is not any damage.  This includes my garden!  Luckily, we did not have hail or winds that were strong enough to hurt the plants. 

We have eaten pretty heavy the past few weeks.  Last weekend we had company for my graduation.  The week before I tested recipes.  This past week we had lots of leftovers.  So, after a week of ham, cupcakes, cookies, and homemade vegetable cream cheese, Corey and I are having a week of salads for dinner only.  We do this periodically when our pants are feeling a little tighter than usual.  Most of our salads are meat-free.  I gave up meat for Lent this year, and aside from the occasional burger or ham with company, I found that I prefer a meat-free diet.  I think this is what trendy folks are calling a “flexitarian” diet. 

Tonight I used a recipe from the Betty Crocker website.  It’s a little surprising, but it actually has excellent, healthy recipes.  Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/middle-eastern-bulgur-salad/a0ec933e-db62-44bf-be56-39e76272a63f?itemId=496cac44-a3df-4b64-9d38-ddfe9d90a062&sc=Vegetarian+Salad+Recipes&term=Vegetarian+Salads.  I omitted the cucumber (we’re not fans) and used a full cup of bulgur.  I made the bulgur on the stove instead of soaking it.  I also only used 1/4 cup feta, but then topped the salads with more.  I set the tomatoes in a bed of lettuce.  We both liked it quite a bit.  And, I have two servings leftover to take for lunch to bar review tomorrow and Tuesday. 

A Few Good Basil Leaves

Now, I know that I really should not snip leaves off of my herbs the day after I plant them.  However, I recently saw Martha Stewart make a lovely peach and red onion salad on Today, and I wanted to try it last night with nectarines (Corey’s fruit of choice).  It calls for fresh basil.  So, I snipped a few leaves.  I snipped one small section each off two of the three plants.  I kept them in a glass of water until I made the salad.

The recipe can be found at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43063452/ns/today-food/.  I used three nectarines and decided that was probably the equivalent of two peaches, so I halved all of the other ingredients.

My only complaint was the salt.  Corey didn’t mind it, but I thought the recipe called for too much.  Next time I will probably omit it.  All of the other ingredients were excellent. 

Planting Season

I finally have most of my vegetables and herbs planted for the year. I have 3 tomato plants (one grape, one Early Girl (50 day), and one Celebrity (70 day)), 3 sweet basil plants, one onion chive, one garlic chive, one parsley, one cilantro, and two mint plants.

The mint is on my front step in a planter with New Guinea impatiens. I planted it about two weeks ago and have already harvested once. I'm hoping that by harvesting early, the plant will become bushier. So far I have only used the mint in my water. I decided to freeze half of my recent harvest. I read on the internet that a person can freeze mint leaves whole and then just drop them in water later.

The rest of the plants are on my deck. The Early Girl tomato is in its own pot, and the rest of the plants are in the big, wood box that my husband built for me last year.

My soil is a mixture of humus, vermiculite, and peat moss.

The only other plant I have left to purchase and pot is rosemary. It prefers different growing conditions than the rest of my plants, so it will be in its own pot on my deck.

And some of the neighborhood goldfinches just for fun: