It has happened again

It's been more than a month since my last post. My garden is doing well. I've got plenty of tomatoes, hot peppers and carrots. My broccoli is finally starting to produce. It's rained some in the past week and them temperatures have finally dropped into the 70s and 80s an my garden is thriving because of it.

It is so amazing to see the change in the garden the few hours after a natural rain, opposed to a watering from the sprinkler.

I've been getting fresh foods from the market and out of my parents garden and canning, freezing and dehydrating to my heart's content. I have some tomato sauce, dried tomatoes, frozen and dried potatoes, frozen corn.

I can't say that I dread winter as much as usual knowing I won't have to buy commercially packaged foods.

Outside of the garden in the last month, I've traveled to Michigan for vacation, been working a lot and creating a ton of content there, which is why I haven't felt inspired to write here, and have been preparing for an after school program I will be teaching. It has been a great summer. It is just going by so fast.

Oh, and I've been quilting and putting together other projects, like this one. It's a tea bag wallet. I exchanged it via swap-bot and use the one I received to hold tea bags in my desk at work. I love it, because if I thought it in my bag, my tea bags don't get all ratty or rip open.

I've almost finished my "Seeing Squares" quilt. I've been working on that project in my spare time for months. I also put together this bag for bag. It's for filling with grocery sacks so that they can be reused. Nifty huh?

Too big a time gap

It's been too long since my last blog post and mainly it's because after sitting at a computer all day at work, the last thing I want to do on my summer nights is stare at the computer for another few minutes.

I have been working in the garden a little. I've at least taken the time to water and inspect it for bugs every day or every other day. I need to spend about an hour weeding it. The weeds grow so fast.

I have large green tomatoes. They should turn soon. I have two zucchinis that are about four inches long. I have baby peppers on one pepper plant and a ton of flowers on my sprawling cucumber plants. It won't be too long before I can harvest a good harvest.

In other worlds, I've joined a few swap-bot swaps. I've wrapped them all up for a while. I need to take the last one to the post office today. I've been promising pictures of the garden and swaps, but for now, I'll share my healthy recipe from the Swap-bot Healthy Recipe Swap.

Eat Your Greens Guacamole

Ingredients

3 avocados - peeled, pitted, and mashed

1 lime, juiced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup diced onion

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 Roma (plum) tomatoes, diced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions

In a medium bowl, mash together the avocados, lime juice, and salt. Mix in onion, cilantro, tomatoes, and garlic. Stir in cayenne pepper. Refrigerate 1 hour for best flavor, or serve immediately.

Beer Can Chicken

Sometimes I like to roast a whole chicken. There is something about cooking the whole bird that makes me feel closer to the farm. Please don't get me wrong, I do not really have a desire to be on a farm and cleaning my own meals, but I like to remember where my food comes from. Those boneless skinless pieces often often make me forget all about the farm.

So Thursday night I decided beer can chicken on the grill would be the way to go. We typically use the Weber's Real Grilling book as a jumping off point. It's taught us a lot about proper grilling temperatures, times, and techniques. For example, did you know that you should only turn most foods once during cooking and you should never press on the meat while it's cooking? Also, I have learned that resting the cooked meat is just as important as cooking it, plus it gives you time to finish up the veggies or bread.

Anyway, beer can chicken involves slow roasting a chicken on the grill over a beer can. It results in a moist and flavorful piece of meat. I was fortunate enough to pick up a contraption that holds the beer can and stabilizes the chicken on clearance at some discount store, but it isn't necessary. You can rely on ample balancing skills.

Beer Can Chicken,
Adapted from Weber's Real Grilling

Rub:
1 tsp. Kosher salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
olive oil
1 12-oz can of beer (it must be a can, NO BOTTLES)
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1. Open the can of beer, drink half the can. Let the other half sit on the counter until it's room temperature (I love any recipe that includes serving myself a drink).
2. Prepare the rub using the rub ingredients listed above
3. Wash, dry, and do any needed clean up to the chicken. Rub down with olive oil, then rub down with the rub.
4. Using a can opener, poke two additional holes into the top of the beer can. Add additional ingredients to beer can.
5. Set the chicken, legs side down over the can of beer so that the can is inside the chicken. Balance the chicken and beer can like a tripod on the grill (the two legs and one beer can make a three way stabilizer).
6. Grill on indirect medium until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 170 to 180 degrees (about 1 to 1 1/2 hours). Carefully remove from grill. The contents of the beer can will be extremely hot.
7. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.

And that is beer can chicken! Delicious.

Fresh Veggies, Well Baby Veggies

I posted a few days ago that I finally had some produce in the garden. While it's going to be a while before it's ready to eat, I'm excited to see some growth. The proof is in the pictures.

On the right is a teeny tiny pepper. I'm not sure of the variety. It's probably some kind of hot pepper, but not a jalapeno. I started this plant in my areo garden because I had a few seeds left over and a seed pod that never grew anything taking up space. I wasn't sure the plant was going to make the move from the hydroponic system to the real dirt in the group, but it did and it's my first to produce.

On the left is my single tomato. Still green, but growing. This tomato looks strong. I hope more show up on my plants.

My parents have been harvesting cucumbers. I also had a fresh radish from their garden yesterday. It was so hot or sour or tart. I'm not sure the taste description you give a radish, but it was delicious.

So far, other than a few little cabbage worms on my broccoli, we've been keeping the pests away. Yesterday I learned of a new threat to the garden: neighborhood kids. They aren't pests, but they are curious, and they are not afraid to ask if they can have my fresh food. As long as they keep asking that's fine, but I don't want anyone stealing from my garden.

Rhubarb Strawberry Cobbler

I read this post by The Pioneer Woman and decided I had to try this Rhubarb cobbler. I picked up rhubarb at the City Market from a farmer who could measure a pound better than the scale and took it home to chop and bake.

At my husbands request (and because I bought some VERY ripe strawberries) I modified the recipe to be a rhubarb, strawberry cobbler. It turned out really good. It had a little crunch from the rhubarb. I reduced the sugar because of the strawberries and that kept the sweetness at the right level.

Also, it was pink and who doesn't love to eat pink food. In this picture you can see the beautiful pinkness secured into place by the delightful cobbler.

Of course to serve this treat in style, I had to make some homemade whipped cream. Now I'm not saying that my whipped cream is the best out there, but I've gotten the routine down to culinary science. The secret... put everything in the freezer for about 15 minutes before you start, and use a metal bowl. The metal bowl gets cold fast and stays cold. For some reason the cold really helps the cream to peak and thicken.

Dinner is off to a late start, which isn't surprising when there is so much to do around the house and the weather is so nice to get it done, so to ward off starvation we opted for dessert first!

Flooding, so indoor crafts

It's been a rainy day in the mid-west. Three to four inches in Indianapolis this morning. I drove through the yard to avoid the rising water in the street to get to work this morning. I got drenched from head to toe and kept my shoes off most of the day because they couldn't dry out.

I got home tonight, and my garden looks like it survived. One potato plant and one Brussels sprout plant were a littl tipsy-turvy, but I think that was from the wet ground. They look like they will be okay as long as it deoesn't rain too much more tonight.

So I decided to use my evening to work on a great project for an upcoming Swap-bot swap. I'm going to wait to post pictures until I drop it in the mail. I've got to pick up some yummy teas before I can do that, but you can learn to make your own Tea Wallet here from "Is it Naptime Yet?"

I've got weeds

I need to find some time to get out in the garden and pull weeds. They are there and they aren't going away without a few hours of attention. I pulled out a few while I was checking things out last night. I also made a big salad from our fresh lettuce. It was delicious.

Around the house, the cats are starting to get a little case of cabin fever. They are indoor cats. They have been indoor cats since they were about three months old, but Dicey especially has been crying as he starts out the window. We've started letting them out while we're prepping dinner. He never goes more than a few feet from us. Racer, our more timid cat, will hardly do more than stick his head out the door. I'm hesitant to let them out until I get them to the vet for additional shots and flea medicine. Maybe we can do that later in the summer.