More dehydrating!

I decided to give sweet potatoes a try in my dehydrator.  Although I wasn't sure how the potato "chips" would turn out so I julienned them and tossed them in EVOO with sea salt before dehydrating.  They're crunchy & good!

Swiss Chard, Tomato & Cheese Casserole

This shows the process of layering.  First you start with the chard/pepper/onion/garlic mixture.  You then layer the sliced tomatoes and then the cheese.  This is delicious and I have been making it for about 10 or so years.

Summer time BLT's!!!

It's August and my tomatoes are at their peak!  We ate BLTs for 3 nights in a row and lovin' it!!! 

Dehydrating Veggies

Eggplant Bacon - that's what this is called, but of course, it's not bacon.

The recipe calls for thinnly sliced eggplant, salted.  And then you press it in between paper towels to remove the moisture.  You then marinate it and put it in a dehydrator.

It says that it's good as a sort of "chip" dipped in hummus.  And you know what?  It is!  A fun new way for me to use and preserve eggplant from my garden.  I've had my dehydrator going quite a bit this month for my tomato crop (romas and grape/cherry) to preserve them and use them dried all throughout the fall, winter and spring.  I'm excited to expand my dehydration to other veggies from my garden.

Turner Farm

I took Lia with me again to Turner Farm for another flower arranging class.  These classes are awesome.  You go and pick your own choice of flowers from their cutting garden.  The people are very laid back and don't care that I bring my daughter with me. 

Lia had a ball just roaming around the flower and herb gardens!

Here is the instructor in brown, Melinda, who is the head garderner on the farm.  

You can't see it but Lia has a flower that Melinda gave her behind her ear.

Here's my triangular arrangement!  These classes are inspiring!

Delicious Pot Roast!

August 15, 2010

I made in Ina Garten's Company Pot Roast with a chuck roast Karla gave to us from the cow she raised on her grass!!!  It was DELCIOUS!  Thanks Karla!  ☺ I know this is more of a cold weather meal but we didn't have any problem eating it!

Uncle Sam Expects YOU!!! to keep hens & raise chickens....from 1918

Kinda hits home for us to realize how much this can do for our diet AND for the chickens.  And this before they were EVER raised before 1918.  Let's hope this is a wake up call for anyone who really wants to eat delicious, healthy, grass fed, happy chickens!!!  Love ya chickens!!!!

Blues Fest!

August 7, 2010

Our friend Daivd Tracy played with his brother's band The Crawling King Snakes at the Blues Fest this year! 

Yeah Daivd!!!

Lia & I jamming to the band, I don't know why she's looking so serious here because we were dancing and having a blast!

Some friends who joined us:  Kathy, Patrick & Debbie.

Here's Nathan & Kip.  Nathan was just great with Lia!!!  What a sweet kid he is.

After David's performance, he got to come and jam to The Juice with us.  He also kept Lia happy letting her play with his phone.

Eggs

Here is my and Lia's breakfast : Egg-in-the-Hole for me and bunny eggs for her!

And here are our eggs - I collected SEVEN today!  The photo is not so great b/c it is from my cell phone - BUT notice that there is a VERY large egg (larger than teh browns or cream (it's from 1 of our Ameraucauna's - we don't know which one has been giving us large eggs - and this one is larger than large!).  We are guessing it's a double yoker but won't open it until we show our friend Amy who we bought these chickens from.

Sunflowers from my garden

Ever since I took the flower arranging class at Turner Farm, I have been motivated to cut and arrange the flowers from my own garden and bring into our home.  I love these sunflowers, and sought out this smaller version after growing the huge ones year after year that just droop heavily after blooming.  These give so much more options for enjoying them inside!

             This is one from the beginning of August - my Zinnias which I love - and was afraid to cut -

but learned that they will bloom better if I do cut them! 

Lia's Cupcakes!

Here are the cupcakes I made for Lia's birthday party.  I'm excited about how they turned out.  The KIDS (and adults) loved them!  Especially the chocolate butterflies!

Chinese Long Beans!

Check these out!  Look to the right of the picture...that is one LONG bean from the faucet all the way to the other side of the sink.

Thanks Tami for this gift....my friend that  I recently met came to our home for the first time and brought me (from her garden) Chinese long beans, tomatillos and lemon cucumbers!!!  What a great friendship and kindred gardening spirit we share (along with sweet almost 2 year old daughters)!  :D  Tomatillo salsa I hope to make tomorrow.  We've been enjoying her lemon cucumbers in our greek salads lately and I SWEAR that these cucs are the REASON the salads have been soooo good (not kidding Tami).  I might need to grow some of those cucumbers next year...