Yesterday I got my first harvest. One lonely squash and 3 blueberries.
I have so many baby squash, zucchini, cucumbers and tomatoes, that when they are ready to harvest it will be a big one (hopefully). I also have baby okra!
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Recipe: Asian Wok Seared Lamb with Cilantro salad and Stir Fried Zucchini
OK, so I bought the zucchini this time, but hopefully there will be zucchini in the garden this summer (I have 8 plants in the ground) and I will be making this with my own and not store bought. The cilantro in this recipe was from my herb garden.
I came up with this recipe after eating at a chain restaurant that we do not have locally. My kids love this and it is a great meal for any occasion and can be made with beef as well as lamb.
I also usually make Asparagus Stir Fry to go with it but as luck would have it, it was on sale at the store and they were all out. So I decided to try it with zucchini and it was a winner!
Cilantro Salad
Ingredients:
1 head of romaine lettuce chopped finely
1/4 cup of cilantro chopped finely
Directions:
1. Mix romaine and cilantro in a large bowl until well blended.2. Remove from bowl onto serving tray. Set aside.
Asian Wok Seared Lamb
Ingredients:
1 pound of lamb cut into bite size pieces (can cut from leg of lamb, or chops)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp Cilantro chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
Directions:
1. Mix the soy sauce, and sesame oil in a large bowl
2. Marinate the lamb in the soy sauce mixture for 15-30 minutes turning to coat well (can be left in fridge over night to marinate if desired.)
3. Place marinated lamb into preheated hot wok and sear until browned, draining off any excess liquid to allow for searing.
4. Add garlic and cilantro cook for two minute stirring occasionally.
5. Place fully cooked lamb on top of cilantro salad, and serve immediately.
Zucchini Stir Fry
Ingredients:
3 Cups Zucchini julienned or chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp soy sauce (more or less to taste)
2 cloves of garlic minced
Directions:
1. Preheat wok and add sesame oil.
2. Add zucchini, and cook for a couple of minutes until zucchini begins to get slightly limp.3. Add remaining ingredients, and cook for additional 1-2 minutes stirring continually, be sure you do not over cook or the zucchini will become mushy.
4. Serve immediately
I came up with this recipe after eating at a chain restaurant that we do not have locally. My kids love this and it is a great meal for any occasion and can be made with beef as well as lamb.
I also usually make Asparagus Stir Fry to go with it but as luck would have it, it was on sale at the store and they were all out. So I decided to try it with zucchini and it was a winner!
Cilantro Salad
Ingredients:
1 head of romaine lettuce chopped finely
1/4 cup of cilantro chopped finely
Directions:
1. Mix romaine and cilantro in a large bowl until well blended.2. Remove from bowl onto serving tray. Set aside.
Asian Wok Seared Lamb
Ingredients:1 pound of lamb cut into bite size pieces (can cut from leg of lamb, or chops)
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp Cilantro chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
Directions:
1. Mix the soy sauce, and sesame oil in a large bowl
2. Marinate the lamb in the soy sauce mixture for 15-30 minutes turning to coat well (can be left in fridge over night to marinate if desired.)
3. Place marinated lamb into preheated hot wok and sear until browned, draining off any excess liquid to allow for searing.
4. Add garlic and cilantro cook for two minute stirring occasionally.
5. Place fully cooked lamb on top of cilantro salad, and serve immediately.
Zucchini Stir FryIngredients:
3 Cups Zucchini julienned or chopped
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp ginger1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp soy sauce (more or less to taste)
2 cloves of garlic minced
Directions:
1. Preheat wok and add sesame oil.
2. Add zucchini, and cook for a couple of minutes until zucchini begins to get slightly limp.3. Add remaining ingredients, and cook for additional 1-2 minutes stirring continually, be sure you do not over cook or the zucchini will become mushy.
4. Serve immediately
Friday, March 19, 2010
Gardening Has Officially Begun!
The weather finally warmed up enough and the sun came out long enough yesterday to get outside and do some much needed maintenance. Since I am still recovering from surgery I did not get much done before I had to stop, but I did manage to weed a bit around my sidewalk path and pull up some not so pretty anymore plastic path lights that we are replacing with (hopefully) better quality stainless steel ones. My first 3 daffodils bloomed and I would post pics, but my darling 5 year old daughter picked them all. So I guess we can settle fora pic from last year for now. Those are the path lights I removed, there were 12 total.
My wonderful husband weeded my entire flower bed, raked the yard, and started weeding the garden spot which looked really good except for the huge fire ant mound at one end. I will try the boiling water method to get rid of them and if that doesn't work dirty mop water had killed them before and if they are still kicking after that I guess I will have to resort to poison/pesticide which I really don't want to do since I want to try and stay as organic as possible, but fire ants are nasty little critters and very hard to get rid of.
I am starting my seeds this afternoon and will post some more pics then. I have blueberries starting to bud, strawberry plants to try and get out, and seeds to start. It is supposed to rain this weekend. I was looking forward to a nice sunny weekend like yesterday and today, I certainly hope I can get at least one day of stuff done this weekend so my hubby can get the garden spot ready.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Why garden?
I grew up in the South U.S. in the country. My Grandparents on both sides gardened, my parents gardened, and there was many a day I have fond, and not so fond memories of seeing and smelling the numerous varieties of heirloom flowers in the flower garden, weeding and hoeing rows in the vegetable garden, eating fresh fruit off the trees, and sitting on the back porch shelling peas, snapping beans, and shucking corn.
When I grew up and moved away to college I had a rude awakening when all of my store bought produce did not taste the same as I remembered vegetables and fruits tasting when I was growing up. I love vegetables, berries, and fruits, and you just can not find anything in the supermarket that compares to fresh home grown heirloom produce. Unfortunately my college town did not have a farmer's market either, so I was stuck with supermarket produce for awhile.
I got used to the store bought produce, but whenever I visited my grandparents I always stocked up on canned and fresh veggies from the garden, jams, jellies, and pretty much whatever I could get my hands on.
A couple of years ago my husband was diagnosed with high cholesterol, and we know he has a family history of heart disease, so we made the decision to drastically change our diet. We switched to whole grain breads and pastas, reduced the amount of processed and pre-packaged foods we were using, and reduced the amount of sodium and the types of oils we cooked with. I also decided that I wanted to do a vegetable garden.
I have had a flower garden for years, roses, lilies, gladiolus, daisies, iris, heirloom daffodils, and some herbs, but I had never considered a vegetable garden. I guess I was kind of scared and not sure I could do it. After all I am a mom of three who works full time and goes to school, but for the sake of my family and taste buds, I decided to just go for it.
I decided to try a few of our favorites, watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, peas, cucumber, squash, and okra. Some things worked, even better than I could have imagined, the heirloom tomatoes from my grandparents grew and produced big, yummy and a generous harvest, in fact all of the tomatoes except the cherry tomato gave a huge crop. The cucumbers, okra, and squash also did fantastic.
When I grew up and moved away to college I had a rude awakening when all of my store bought produce did not taste the same as I remembered vegetables and fruits tasting when I was growing up. I love vegetables, berries, and fruits, and you just can not find anything in the supermarket that compares to fresh home grown heirloom produce. Unfortunately my college town did not have a farmer's market either, so I was stuck with supermarket produce for awhile.
I got used to the store bought produce, but whenever I visited my grandparents I always stocked up on canned and fresh veggies from the garden, jams, jellies, and pretty much whatever I could get my hands on.
A couple of years ago my husband was diagnosed with high cholesterol, and we know he has a family history of heart disease, so we made the decision to drastically change our diet. We switched to whole grain breads and pastas, reduced the amount of processed and pre-packaged foods we were using, and reduced the amount of sodium and the types of oils we cooked with. I also decided that I wanted to do a vegetable garden.
I have had a flower garden for years, roses, lilies, gladiolus, daisies, iris, heirloom daffodils, and some herbs, but I had never considered a vegetable garden. I guess I was kind of scared and not sure I could do it. After all I am a mom of three who works full time and goes to school, but for the sake of my family and taste buds, I decided to just go for it.
I decided to try a few of our favorites, watermelon, strawberries, tomatoes, green beans, peas, cucumber, squash, and okra. Some things worked, even better than I could have imagined, the heirloom tomatoes from my grandparents grew and produced big, yummy and a generous harvest, in fact all of the tomatoes except the cherry tomato gave a huge crop. The cucumbers, okra, and squash also did fantastic.
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