Thursday, May 28, 2020

Start where you are! Container Gardening Success!



Early this spring, I decided I wanted to have a little garden again.  It's been a while for me in the garden, but this year I thought I would give it another try.  

I really wanted Doug to till a garden spot in our yard - or build me an amazing raised bed, but he had so many things on his honey-do list that I finally broke down and tried a container garden.  I wasn't sure how it would work.  

I follow Square Foot Gardening on Facebook and a few other gardening sites.  They really inspired me to give it a try and to start where I am!  

Someone told me recently that you really have to treat your plants like little babies.  That made sense and has stuck with me!  They need attention often and should be watched closely for anything they might need.  They can't talk to you so all you can do is keep a close eye on them and do your best to give them what they need to grow.

One blogger said she starts seeds in little trays so I tried that.  Even in our tiny house, we had room for two trays of seeds.  I got the trays at Walmart, bought organic potting soil and even starting in early April, I was able to get a good start on my plants.  

Inside gardening fed my hunger for spring!  It was fun and didn't cost very much.  I started seeds for lettuce, beets, okra, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, and nasturtium (flowers).


  


Here's the tray of seeds just a week or so after planting. I placed my trays with lids in a sunny window on my kitchen table.  I made sure they had warm water to keep them moist.  The lids kept the seeds from drying out.




Once it warmed up a little (I live in mid-Missouri), I sat the trays outside, still with lids, until it warmed up.  Once the daytime temps were in the 60's, I removed the lids.  (They need water more often without the lids.)  I babied them, bringing inside at night since we still had chances for frost- and put the trays back outside when it was warm.




I re-used a few containers I already had, replacing the dirt with organic gardening soil, planted the baby plants, gave them a drink, and the growing began.  This old concrete pot has Butter and Black Seeded Simpson lettuce growing in it.





Each morning, I step outside with my coffee to breathe in some fresh air and check the baby plants.  So far they are all doing great!


I have been amazed at their growth.  I planted a tiny little tomato plant under these beets.  Maybe he will continue to grow after the beets are harvested?  Fingers crossed!  





On one of my favorite gardening Facebook pages, the gardener had some of these awesome Geopots with beautiful plants growing inside.  (I am not receiving any money for bragging here.  They are just that awesome!)  I messaged her and she shared the link for ordering.  I am SO HAPPY with these pots.  They are really grow bags (instead of pots) and the one in this picture is 15 gallons so has plenty of room for healthy plants.  I used garden soil in the bottom half (from a pile of leaves we add to every fall in our yard) and in the top half used bagged organic garden soil.  

These beets seem to like their digs just fine!  I've been cutting a few leaves, mixing with my other lettuce for salads and adding to my sandwiches - until the beet roots are ready.  

I plan to use these beets in my favorite raspberry beet jelly.  I am so thankful that I posted that recipe on this blog so that I can make some this summer.

Here's the link to my Raspberry Beet Jelly recipe.  (Shhh... I call it Raspberry-B at my house because if I say the word "beet", I know I will be the only one eating it!  LOL)  (Sorry - this picture was early on and it leaves a lot to be desired.)





Try a few pots of lettuce, radishes or beets!  Growing things makes your soul and TUMMY feel good! It's easy!  Start where you are, using whatever containers you have on hand.  Dollar Tree or Walmart may still have some cheap seeds (some of mine were 50 cents).  The key is to treat them like babies, making a routine of checking on them, watering them, and making sure they are happy.  The rewards are huge!






Happy Gardening, everyone!


Wishing you good health and 
happy days ahead!

Gina







Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Surprise Muffins - Another Pantry Friendly Recipe!



Surprise Muffins 
(Easy - Uses Pantry Ingredients)

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • *Jam/jelly of your choice (optional)
  • *Colored sugars for sprinkling (optional)

Directions:

PREHEAT:  Oven to 350 degrees

COMBINE:  In a mixing bowl all of the dry ingredients. Stir well.

COMBINE:  In a separate dish from the dry ingredients- the egg, oil, and milk.  Stir so egg is thoroughly blended with other wet ingredients.

COMBINE: Wet and dry ingredients and STIR, just until blended.

PLACE: Muffin papers in 12 muffin cups/tin.  (I really prefer papers for these muffins.)

SCOOP:  Approximately one heaping Tablespoon of batter into the bottom of each muffin cup.

NEXT PLACE:  About 1 teaspoon of your favorite jam or jelly on top of that batter.

TOP: With another spoon of muffin batter.

SPRINKLE: With colored sugar, if you want - or not. (I used to make six w/ one jam and six w/ another, with color coordinated sugars to tell them apart.  Little kids just eat this stuff up, trust me LOL.

BAKE @ 350 degrees for approximately 25 minutes or until browning.

COOL:  A few minutes before eating.  Insides may be hot.


Enjoy!

Gina


Back in the day when I had littles around, I used to make these Surprise Muffins a lot!  

It was about the time I had had a car wreck and was unable to work and finances were a little tight that I decided to cast off the prepackaged cereals, pop tarts, toaster strudels, and other pricey/packaged breakfast items and instead dug out a few, basic recipes for breakfast items.  Once I started, I never looked back.  Muffins were a reliable choice at my house.  Customizable recipes like this one were even more reliable!

In an effort to save money and yet offer something we all enjoyed, I sought out recipes that used common ingredients that I was likely to find in my pantry.  Occasionally I made recipes that were heavy on special ingredients, but really I rarely did that.  You can take a basic recipe and tweak it to make a very special dish rather than buying a bunch of expensive one-hit wonder ingredients.

I found this recipe in a treasured Betty Crocker basic cookbook.  I hadn't made this recipe much since my girls both flew the coop but in tough times, the tough get going, right!  I knew making these muffins would be both a little nostalgic and delicious so I went for it. 

Since I lost my treasured cookbook in the fire, I hoped I could find the recipe online.  Success.  It was there.  Here it is!  I made the muffins and they were every bit as delicious as I remembered.  They remind me more of a scone than a muffin (now that I have experienced such things).

For the "surprise" in my muffins back in the day, I used to use apple butter, strawberry jam, grape jelly (Doug's fav), homemade apricot or peach preserves.  Pretty much, whatever I had on hand, I used.  This time, I only had grape jelly on hand and red sugar so that's what I used.  Also, this time I made a few without anything inside and no sugar on top.  I enjoyed them with a little soft butter. So delicious! 

Prepackaged cereals and breakfast items may get harder and harder to find - so having a few, pantry friendly recipes might be something we all want to have in our bags of tricks.

Make these muffins!  I know your family will love them as much as we do!







Stay healthy out there, everyone!

Gina


Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Taco Tuesday: Making Homemade Tortillas - Best ever!!



Fresh Homemade Tortillas
*These are the best ever!

  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking POWDER
  • 1 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/3 cup oil
  • 1 cup warm water

Instructions:

  1. Combine flour, baking powder, and table salt in a mixing bowl and stir well.
  2. Combine oil and water in a separate dish and stir well to combine.
  3. Pour oil/water mixture over flour/baking powder, salt mixture and stir well to combine.

Form dough into a disc and let rest about 10 minutes while getting ready to roll/cook.

Get skillet out and spray w/ cooking spray if not using a non-stick surface.  I used an iron skillet since I don't use non-stick skillets.

Cut the dough disc into half, each half in half, each half in half until you have 16 equal pieces.  Form each piece into a round piece of dough.

Roll each piece on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a thin taco-sized tortilla.  You could probably pat them out if you don't have a rolling pin.  (I roll a couple, fry them, and then roll again, but if you have a helper, it would go much faster.  Still wasn't bad and the results are way worth it!  Promise!)

Cook in the skillet approximately one minute on each side or until small bubbles appear.  The cooked side should have a few small brown spots as an indicator that it is time to turn.

Place hot tortillas in a gallon baggy or under a towel so that the steam keeps all of the tortillas soft.  I reheated mine in the micro when the rest of my meal was finished.  (I actually made mine earlier in the day so had that mess all cleaned up when ready to cook supper.)

* These reheat great.  Store leftovers in the fridge and reheat in the microwave.




Hello everyone!

Still doing our best to social distance and avoid unnecessary trips to the store.  Here's another recipe to help with that.

I hadn't made tortillas in years and my daughter had the best recipe which she raved about. I gave her recipe a try and they are the only recipe I will ever make from now on. SOOOOO GOOD! 

These tortillas are first, SUPER EASY - and are light and delicious!   Yes, tortillas are cheap but these things are so dang good!  I served ours with chicken fajitas which we cooked in an iron skillet on the gas grill burner outside.  Dinner was a special treat!  There's nothing like warm weather and the delicious aroma of onions, peppers, and meat sizzling outside!

My mom also tried this recipe to avoid a trip to the store and she loved them too!  She usually thinks my homemade stuff is silly but she was completely won over with this recipe.    

We both halved the recipe to only make eight since we each only cook for two, but they are so good that next time I will make the entire recipe for having leftovers.

Even if you haven't tried homemade tortillas previously, give these a try!  You will be amazed at how simple ingredients make a special presentation!

I'm making these tonight for Taco Tuesday at our house!

Enjoy!

Gina


Supper was so good!  Chicken Fajitas!  Mmmm!




Rolled out like this.  I have a short rolling pin.


Cooking in the skillet.



Ready to flip!