As you may know if you have read some of my blog, I have a vegetable garden. All the planting has been done for a few weeks now. We have been watering (and weeding) faithfully. Seeds have sprouted and with Spring well under way, I am now impatiently looking forward to harvesting some fresh vegetables from the garden.

Luckily, some vegetables are quick to germinate and mature. I have already picked my first crop of radishes. They were beautiful and tasty. There are more on the way. We have also been picking bowls full of strawberries every day. I have two beds that are 4 feet by 12 feet long and they are producing quite nicely.

One of my most anticipated goodies is the home-grown zucchini. Last year we had such an amazing crop that we had to find some new recipes to use them all up. Here are two of my favorites. The first is a savory muffin. My daughter found the recipe, but of course I altered it to make it work for my family. The second is an old recipe that my mom used to make. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

ZUCCHINI MUFFINS (savory, not sweet) yield 10 muffins

Ingredients:

1 cup grated zucchini (after draining off extra water in a strainer)

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or your favorites grated cheese)

1/2 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1/2 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Combine all ingredients well. Drop into well greased muffin pans. Bake at 400° for 11 – 14 minutes. Remove when golden brown and firm to the touch. Serve all by themselves or top with marinara sauce for a delicious side dish.

SPICED ZUCCHINI BREAD yield 1 loaf

Ingredients:

1 cup grated zucchini (after draining off extra water in a strainer)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter softened

2 large eggs

1-3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh if possible – you won’t believe the taste difference!)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, soda and nutmeg. Add in zucchini and mix well. Stir in flour completely then add walnuts. Place in a greased and floured pan. Bake at 350°F until golden and firm to the touch.

Beef & Barley Soup

Ingredients:

1/2 pound leftover roast (Today I used tri-tip.)

drippings from the roast or 2 cans beef stock

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks of celery, chopped

6 carrots, sliced

1 pound bag of frozen cut green beans

2 -12 oz. cans of V-8 juice

3/4 cup pearl barley

boiling water to fill crock

Here’s the easy part.  Throw all the chopped, sliced and cubed ingredients in the crock pot.  Add the barley, stock or drippings and the V-8.  Fill the crock pot with boiling water.  Turn the crock on to high heat and cook for 6 hours.

Serve this soup with some fresh bread and a green salad!  Simple, delicious and nutritious.

Do your bananas ever look like this?  Surprisingly, it happens in our house quite often.  I have a hard time understanding it, though.  My daughter likes them almost totally green.  The little ones like them just barely yellow and I like them just before they turn brown.  How is it that some of them get to the point of being over-ripe?

I definitely don’t have the answer to how they get to that point, but I do have several ideas of what to do with them when they do.  I buy lots of bananas, because each of the six of us eats one almost every day.  So sometimes, one or two slip through and are past the fresh eating stage.  Try some of these ideas.

Make Banana Bread.  Make Banana Pancakes, all you have to do is mash the bananas and add to your regular pancake mix or recipe.  Or you could make Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Cookies!  My daughter found this recipe and these cookies are delicious!

Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup room temperature butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup mashed bananas

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg (fresh grated if possible)

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Stir in the egg.  In a separate bowl, mash the bananas and mix with the soda.  Let sit for two minutes.  The soda will be activated and this will produce light cookies.  Add the banana mixture to the butter/sugar mixture.  Stir in the spices and salt.  Add in the flour and mix until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts.  Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a non-stick baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 11 – 13 minutes or until nicely golden brown.  Makes about 30 cookies.

What if you only have one over-ripe banana?  My mom taught me this trick.  Peel the banana and drop into a large freezer bag and freeze.  The next time you have one or two over ripe bananas, peel and add them to the bag.  Soon you will have enough for a recipe and nothing will go to waste!

I have been very busy planting my vegetable garden. I am almost done, so hopefully tonight after work I will be able to plant the last few beds. That won’t leave a lot of time to cook dinner though, but I have a plan: Frozen cheese ravioli, left-over marinara and a quick salad. By the time the water boils and the ravioli are done, I will have the sauce warmed and the salad made. We even have some rolls left from last night if someone wants bread with their dinner.

The vegetarian marinara sauce is really easy and tasty. Here’s the recipe:

Vegetarian Marinara Sauce (double batch)

Ingredients:
2 large onions, chopped finely
2 bulbs of garlic, minced finely
2 bell peppers (red, green or one of each), chopped finely
1 can black olives, drained and chopped finely
1 pound mushrooms, chopped finely
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 – 26 oz. cans of crushed tomatoes
handful dried oregano
handful dried basil
salt to taste

The reason I chop every thing finely for this sauce is that it gives a consistency resembling ground beef in the sauce. It took a very long time for my kids to realize there wasn’t any meat in this sauce.

In a heavy bottomed pan sauté the onions until softened. Add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes. Next add the bell peppers and garlic and cook until soft. Add the rest of the ingredients to the pan (except the salt) and bring up to a boil. Turn down and simmer for at least 30 minutes. The longer it simmers, the better the sauce will taste. After the first 30 minutes, taste the sauce to see if it needs any salt. It may not because the olives are salty and the canned tomatoes usually contain salt also.

A trick I use if the sauce gets too thick, is to add a can of V-8 juice. It has most of the same ingredients as the sauce so it adds liquid and maintains the flavor.

So if the weather holds, my garden will be completely planted tonight before dinner. My Quick Fix Dinner will be less than 30 minutes from start to finish. Everyone will be satisfied with the garden and the dinner!

Cookbooks are a great tool.  The index makes it easy for you to look up a favorite ingredient and find something new to make.  You may even be reminded of a recipe you tried in the past and just forgot about.  Cookbooks also usually have basic cooking techniques that you can try on whatever ingredients you have on hand.  Several of my favorite cookbooks are “Fanny Farmer – Boston School of Cooking,” “Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook” and the new “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School.”

I like to just browse the ads and food section when I am unwinding after work.  The Thursday Food Section of the newspaper and the weekly grocery store ad have some of the same benefits.  Both usually have either sales or articles and recipes on seasonal items.  When strawberries are in season, they are usually on sale.  If you open the food section you will usually find articles and recipes, also.   Often, the articles and sales relate to an upcoming holiday.  You can almost always find a nice ham on sale at Easter time and the food section will have recipes and articles on traditions or histories of foods. 

Another way I like to plan healthy meals if to break down the types of meals I want to cook and how many of them.  For instance, I try to cook at least two meatless meals per week.  Those meals might be egg based, meat-free pizza, vegetable soups or cheese ravioli or tortellini.  I then try to plan three meals using poultry and two meals with beef or pork.  Making a plan helps me make sure that we aren’t just feasting on red meat every night of the week.

It does take some time and energy to plan healthy, tasty meals for your family.  But, I truly believe that it is worth the time and effort.  With a little planning you will not only eat healthier meals, where you can control the amounts of oils, salts and seasoning, but you will save money and time running out to restaurants or fast food places.  You and your family will be healthier when you plan your meals around fresh, seasonal produce and you won’t believe how tasty everything will be!

I have been planning my garden (on paper), buying seeds (on-line) and preparing the garden beds (cleaning and amending) so that I will be ready to start planting as soon as Spring gets here.  In our area we can actually plant a lot of our vegetables in February and March, but I never seem to have everything ready by then.  So, starting tomorrow the seeds are going in the ground.

My husband and children have been busy building three new raised beds to expand our garden.  They are four feet wide by twelve feet long and twelve inches deep.  These three new beds also have wire attached to the bottom of the bed to help discourage the gophers and ground squirrels from eating my root vegetables.  I am truly hoping that we get a nice crop of potatoes and beets this year.

So tonight I probably won’t get a lot of sleep, due to my excitement over Spring.  If you have a small plot of dirt at your back door or a balcony or terrace where you could put a few pots, I would suggest you plant something yummy to harvest and eat.  Nothing ever tastes as good as the fruits of your labor!

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3

1 To everything there is a season,

3 A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted

Corned Beef Brisket

Ingredients:

1 corned beef brisket

1 onion coarsely chopped

5 cloves of garlic peeled and halved

seasoning packet from brisket

1 tablespoon pickling spices

1 teaspoon coriander seed

1 teaspoon celery seed

1 teaspoon dill seed

boiling water to cover brisket

When I follow the package directions for corned beef brisket, it never has enough flavor for me so I add lots of extra spices.  The spices listed above are my favorites, but you can add anything you want.

In the bottom of the crock pot pour in the coriander, celery and dill seed.  Place the brisket on top and pour the season packet and pickling spices on top.  Place the garlic and onions around the brisket.  I boil the water in a kettle to help speed up the crock pot process.  Pour in the boiling water over the brisket and cover.

Cook on high for 5 – 6 hours.  Remove the brisket from the crock pot and allow to cool on a platter.  I am not very good at slicing the brisket thinly, so I use a fork and pull apart the brisket removing any fat along the way.  You can return to the cooking liquid to reheat if you so desire.

I serve this corned beef on a really good rye bread with mustard and Swiss cheese.   It really doesn’t need anything else.  One of my favorite side dishes for this sandwich is a coleslaw containing apples and pineapple.  Here’s the recipe:

Sweet Coleslaw

Ingredients:

1/2 of a large head of cabbage, chopped or shredded

1 granny smith apple, coarsely chopped

1 – 16 oz. can of chunk pineapple, well drained (reserve juice)

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Combine the cabbage, apple and pineapple and mix well.  In a jar combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and sugar.  Shake well.  Add a little pineapple juice at a time to make the dressing the consistency you would like.  Pour over the cabbage mixture and mix well.  This salad can be made a few hours before serving with out getting soggy.

We all love this corned beef recipe and the coleslaw is also one of our family favorites.  I hope your family enjoys it as much as we do!

Today we celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day!  Johnny Appleseed became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his great leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance of apples.  Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was John Chapman planted apple trees across the American Frontier. John Chapman was among the American settlers who were captivated by the movement west across the continent.  During the life of John Chapman, the “West” was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois.  As Johnny Appleseed travelled west, he planted apple trees along the way, and sold trees to settlers.

Johnny Appleseed’s dream was for a land where blossoming apple trees were everywhere and no one was hungry.  A gentle and kind man, he slept outdoors and walked barefoot around the country planting apple seeds everywhere he went.  It is even told that he made his drinking water from snow by melting it with his feet.

Johnny was a friend to everyone he met.  His clothes were made from sacks and his hat was a tin pot.  He also used his hat for cooking.  His favorite book was the Bible.  John Chapman was a deeply religious person and was known to preach during his travels.  According to legend, Johnny Appleseed led a simple life and wanted little.  He rarely accepted money and often donated any money he received. 

So today let’s celebrate an American legend.  Eat an apple or two.  You know what they say.  “An apple a day keeps the doctor away!”

Why garlic and onions? Whole books have been written about garlic, an herb affectionately called “the stinking rose”. A member of the lily or Allium family, which also includes onions, garlic is rich in a variety of powerful sulfur-containing compounds including thiosulfinates. While these compounds are responsible for garlic’s pungent odor, they are also the source of many of its health-promoting effects. In addition, garlic is an excellent source of manganese, a very good source of vitamin B6 and vitamin C and a good source of selenium.

Onions are low in calories yet add abundant flavor to a wide variety of foods. With only 45 calories per serving, onions are fat and cholesterol free, very low in sodium, high in vitamin C, and a good source of fiber and other key nutrients. Higher intakes of fruits and vegetables have been associated with a variety of health benefits. Research shows that onions may help guard against many chronic diseases. That’s probably because onions contain generous amounts of a flavonoid called quercetin. Onions not only provide flavor; they also provide health-promoting phytochemicals as well as nutrients.

Making garlic and onions a staple in your healthy way of eating may greatly lower your risk of several common cancers, suggests study from Southern European populations (Galeone C, Pelucchi C et al, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition). Study participants consuming the most garlic had a 39% reduced risk for cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, 57% reduced risk for esophageal cancer, 26% reduced risk for colorectal cancer, 44% reduced risk for laryngeal cancer, 10% reduced risk for breast cancer, 22% reduced risk for ovarian cancer, 19% reduced risk for prostate cancer, and 31% reduced risk for renal cell cancer, compared to those eating the least garlic. Similarly, those eating the most onions showed an 84% reduced risk for cancer of the oral cavity and pharynx, 88% reduced risk for esophageal cancer, 56% reduced risk for colorectal cancer, 83% reduced risk for laryngeal cancer, 25% reduced risk for breast cancer, 73% reduced risk for ovarian cancer, 71% reduced risk for prostate cancer, and 38% reduced risk for renal cell cancer, compared to those eating the least onions.

So it stands to reason we should be eating garlic and onions, lots of them. There are so many varieties of both to choose from. Red, yellow, green and white onions are just the beginning and garlic comes in many varieties also: Persian Star, Inchelium Red, Chet’s Italian Red, Chrysalis Purple and Elephant garlic. So what’s the problem?

For me garlic and onions are not a problem in any way. I love them fresh or cooked. I like all the varieties and flavors. Unfortunately, not all of my children feel the same way. What’s a mom to do? I have found a few things that help my children eat them, because I rarely cook anything without garlic and onions. Here are a few ideas to try:

I will often grate rather than chop my onions before sautéing them. My kids tell me it is not so much the flavor that they don’t like; it is the texture of the onions. When I grate them, they don’t seem to even notice the onions in their food. You can also grate garlic using a microplane or the smallest side of a box grater.

If I am going to make a soup or stew, sometimes I will take the garlic and onions after sautéing and puree them in the blender with some of the stock for the soup. Then when I add the carrots, potatoes and other vegetables, the kids don’t even know garlic and onions are in there.

You can also try roasting garlic. Cut the tops of the garlic. Place on parchment paper or wax paper with a layer of foil underneath. Pour the olive oil over the garlic and sprinkle with a little salt. Wrap the parchment and foil around the top of the garlic. Roast in a 350°F over for about 1 hour until the garlic is soft and caramelized. Allow the garlic to cool before trying to work with it. I have a great recipe for Roasted Garlic Cheese Spread. Give it a try.

I love onions and garlic. With all the evidence indicating they are super-foods, I am going to continue to eat them in abundance. Maybe you should, too.

“I will not move my army without onions!”

-Ulysses S. Grant

“It’s hard to imagine civilization without onions.”

-Julia Child

“The onion and its satin wrappings is among the most beautiful of vegetables and is the only one that represents the essence of things. “

-My Summer in a Garden by Charles Dudley Warner

“For this is every cook’s opinion,
No savoury dish without an onion;
But lest your kissing should be spoiled,
Your onions should be thoroughly boiled.”

-Jonathon Swift, Irish satirist

“No one is indifferent to garlic. People either love it or hate it, and most good cooks seem to belong in the first group.”

-Faye Levy

“The air of Provence was particularly perfumed by the refined essence of this mystically attractive bulb.”

-Alexandre Dumas

“The best thing to do with garlic of course, is to eat it.”

-Sylvia Rubin

I made the invitations on the computer and told everyone to wear their barnyard best (jeans and overalls).  I didn’t want any one’s good clothes getting ruined.  We invited about 20 children who were family and friends.  We had a great turn out.  All of our children and grandchildren were there and 7 friends from school and church. 

We started off with some basic rules about how to hold the animals and directions for safety and then we let them go.  Each animal pen had an adult to supervise the holding and petting of the animals.  We have two pot-belly pigs, five hens, eight chicks, two horses, two baby bunnies and my grandson brought his big bunny to the party, too!

We showed the kids the beautiful colored eggs our hens lay and then talked about how they hatch and showed the chicks, then we showed them the full grown hens.  The piggies did their one trick.  They sit on command and then look up at you and smile.  The kids loved holding all three of the bunnies.  We decided not to give rides on the horses.  It would have taken a long time, but we did let each child pet Jessie (my percheron/paint mare) and sit on her for a picture.  Joe (my thorough bred) was not happy about being tied up and left out of the fun.  We had a great time with the animals.

After a lot of hand washing, we moved on to cake and ice cream.  I have made nearly every birthday cake for every one of my six children until they were at least 18 years old.  I figure I have made over 80 birthday cakes for my children alone, not counting other family and friends.  My cakes aren’t always pretty, but they are always tasty.  This one was kinda cute.

I think my little one really enjoyed her party.  She had lots of family and friends there to celebrate with her.  Everyone went home with barnyard themed goodie bags.  I think we all had a great time!