How Does Your Garden Grow??? Update 3/24/11

Things seem to be going along fairly nicely with the garden. I planted all but two of the seedlings I had started in the colder months, and last weekend I planted my direct sow varieties: cucumbers, 4 kinds of squash, radish, chives, dill, basil, shallots, garlic. green peas, and green beans. Once I put all my seeds in the ground there was a period of time when I was itching to take photographs and had nothing but mounds of dirt and sun scalded leaves as subjects (thank goodness all my plants seem to be moving past this now). So I ran around my back yard and took these before MRob (a.k.a. ornamental plant enemy) mowed everything down.

 

 

Signs of spring are everywhere.

Look at the little guy hanging out on the right side of the flower. Didn't see him till I looked back a the pictures.

Make a wish :)

Mmmmmm.....blackberries :)

I still…

can't resist…

a rollie pollie :)

Does anyone know what these are? They grow all over my backyard, and I have no clue.

This guy flew right over my head :)

and then...

like magic I started seeing signs of life in my garden :)

My garden is coming along nicely. Everything is up now except the shallots, chives and garlic. I think they may take longer. The tomato plants seem to be holding their own and getting stronger. I am so excited. I can't believe I am growing things, as opposed to killing them slowly :)  I am elated! I will share more pics from the garden with you guys later. Right now I have to go water the plants and get to work. Hope you have a great Thursday!

Love,

Stephanie H.

Guess Who's Birthday It Is!

 

If you guessed my Mom you are right. She is 68 today. The lady in this picture is the best friend I have ever had folks, and not in that "cool" mom sort of way. She has always been a mother first.  I can never remember having a problem that she was not the first one on the scene. I can not explain how blessed I have been to have a mother like her. Words don't cut it. At this point, I have lived long enough to realize that everyone does not have the luxury of such a wonderful mother, and I am truly, TRULY thankful to have been blessed with this great lady as my primary female influence. She was always there for us. She was selfless, smart, creative. and she always, ALWAYS put our needs first. Her many sacrifices mean so much more to me now that I realize she didn't have to make them. They were her choice, because she loved us so much, and because, as I said earlier, she was a mother FIRST.

Well,  I just wanted to surprise her and tell her happy birthday (she reads my blog everyday). Happy Birthday Mom!!!! I wish I was there. I would make you a cake. I hope you have a really great birthday. I love you. Tell Ean I said to give you a kiss from Aunt Steph :)

Love,

Stephanie H.

Soar Autism Awareness Walk

***Update at end of message***

Good Morning! I just wanted to quickly share with you about a project I recently worked on. A couple of weeks ago I received a request from a friend to work on a T-shirt for the Soar Autism Awareness Walk and Family Fun Day in Hammond, LA on April 2, 2011. Of course I was honored to be asked and happy to help. Mississippi Rob and I are really looking forward to the walk, and working on the T-shirt was a lot of fun :) If anyone is interested in participating, contributing or getting more information about SOAR and/or the Autism Awareness Walk here is a link to their website

http://www.soarwithautism.org/

FYI - If you  do want to contribute you can make my friends little boy very happy, by donating under  their team name - Delaney's Dinosaurs.

Here are some sketches and the final T-shirt design for the walk.

Here is the final T-shirt design.

 

Well I just wanted to share with you about this great cause that I was given the privilege to help out with. Hope you have a great Monday :)

Love,

Stephanie H.

***Update*** 

The following info was sent to me by a member of SOAR today, and i wanted to add it to give more information.

"One in 110 children is presently affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder in America.  That represents a startling increase of 600 per cent in the last twenty years.  Autism is a lifelong disability that not only impacts the person with the disability, but the entire family.  In response to the growing number of families impacted by Autism, five mothers joined with Northshore Families Helping Families to create a new initiative, soar---Strengthening Outcomes with Autism Resources.  That number quickly grew to include three additional mothers and a grandmother as the core soar group, with well over one hundred fans on Facebook in the first month.

The mission of soar is to provide the individualized services, information, resources and support needed to positively enhance the independence, productivity and inclusion of individuals with Autism to soar beyond limits.  Soar hopes to build an extensive lending library with materials and resources specific to Autism Spectrum Disorder, computer software such as visual picture systems, technological devices such as iPads and iTouches for families to utilize in our center, advocacy for Autism services, network meetings, workshops and trainings on Autism and related topics, and family to family support.

 
Soar is pleased to announce the inaugural Autism Awareness Walk and Family Fun Day to be held on the Northshore.   The event will be Saturday, April 2 at North Oak Park in Hammond from 10:00a.m. to 2:00p.m.  We are presently seeking sponsors for the Autism Awareness Walk and Family Fun Day and welcome your support of this inaugural event.  The purpose of the event is twofold:  to raise awareness in our community about Autism Spectrum Disorder and to raise funds for the purchase of materials and resources for use by families facing the challenges of this disability."

A Stephanie Moment

I share this simply because it will, with out a doubt, absolutely thrill my (very twisted) baby sister, and I love to see that little brat smile :)

Last night Mississippi Rob went to a football game, and I finding myself delightfully on my own, decided to indulge in a little "me" time. So, I scheduled a pedicure with Julie. Now I am not, in general an overly indulgent chic. My head and schedule are almost always bursting with ideas/potential projects, and frankly I spend most of my time and money on making/creating/growing stuff these days. Pedicures are one of my few indulgences. They are necessary. Pedicures were the first thing I gave back to myself when I started coming out of the long and tiresome funk I spent the past couple of years in, and Julie doesn't know it, but she is very special to me. She has the spa-side manner of an angel. She exudes gentleness and concern, and during a time when I felt nothing could heal my heart she made me feel better, if only for a little bit at a time. She is humble, amazingly unpretentious and (for me at least) it is a blessing to be in her presence. We talk about books and gardening, our families, and vacation plans. She always remembers to ask about my father's health. She really is a precious soul. I always try to be very considerate and respectful of her. I worked in the service industry for a long time, and I hope with all my heart I have never or will never make her feel the negative way you can sometimes feel in a service job. I try to let her know how much I appreciate what she does in the
only way I can...I tip her well :) After spending an hour with Julie pampering my tootsies, the massage chair at my back, I was feeling wonderful, and my feet were thanking me. Here's a little visual.

She couldn't do anything with my hobbit toes or the poison ivy and sting ray scars on my legs and ankle, but those are some very shiny toe nails. Thanks Julie!

  

As I was sitting with my feet under the ultra-violet thingy, waiting for my nails to dry, I spotted a 225 Magazine (local free magazine) near the register. There was an article about Baton Rouge chefs I wanted to read in it, so I grabbed a copy on the way out the door.  I walked a little down the sidewalk to Jason's Deli where I planned to get some take out and head home, but then I had a radical idea. I usually always get take out when I am by myself, but last night I realized I didn't want to go home yet, and I didn't care about eating by myself. I wanted soup and salad bar, and I wanted to eat it in the restaurant, by myself and read my magazine. Not because I had to, but because I could!!! This probably seems silly to you, but I never eat alone. NEVER!!! I felt so empowered and brave. So self-assured and well adjusted. I ordered my food, took my drink and cup of soup to a booth at the back of the restaurant and then headed over to the salad bar (Jason's has THE BEST salad bar). As I was maneuvering lettuce onto my plate with the provided tongs, I heard a sound…a clink…insert train derailment sound bite here. I looked down…slowly…and this is what I saw.

This is a recreation of a crime scene. Earring is playing itself. All other parts are played by professional vegetables and pots/pans in order to protect the innocent.

Now I have to go put plants in pots,  sow the final seeds in my garden, and hunt for gel earring backs. I hope you all are having a lovely, productive Saturday!

Love, 

Stephanie H.

 

Green Quesadillas with Black Bean Hummus

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this has been an extremely full week. I have been in my garden every day after work planting, and watering and fertilizing, and staring at mounds of dirt, and waiting for things to come up, and smiling :) I have patience issues, but the plants don't care about that. They put me in my place, and grow at their own pace. One day I got this insane urge to catch a cricket while I was out there...and I tried to do it!!! I haven't touched a cricket since I was at least 10, and I have to say I still haven't. I wasn't fully committed because he was a little gross looking, and also too fast for me. Still, it reminded me of laying in the grass in my parents back yard stalking grasshoppers as a kid. I was a master grasshopper hunter :) Those were the days! I wonder if this is what a mid-life crisis feels like. I always knew that I wouldn't be of the red convertible variety, but seriously??? Anyhoo, the point is, our diet has seriously suffered this week for the garden, and my cricket catching activities. One night in particular I dined on a bowl of frozen mixed vegetables and a piece of Swiss cheese rolled up inside a piece of sliced turkey. It was delightful :) So last night, because we haven't had a decent meal all week, because I've only done one food post this week, and because my sister in law was showing off to me about the corn beef and cabbage she had in her crock pot, and prattling on about what I should make for St. Patrick's day, I made…green quesadillas and black bean hummus. You can't get more Irish than that, right??? OK, back off! It's Irish and Mexican fusion. You probably haven't heard of it. It's pretty cutting edge :) Regardless, I will tell you that Mississippi Rob and I both ate it and we both liked it. It was very good and very easy. Easy is important sometimes, when you are hunting cricket. I wonder if there is a limit on how many times you should say cricket in a food blog post??? I haven't seen it covered in any of the "how to make your food blog appealing" type articles I've read, but I have this vision of Gordon Ramsey and Robert Irvine simultaneously cringing every time I type it. Please forgive me. I've always been a little rebellious :) Here's how I made the quesadillas:

I added 1 clove garlic -chopped fine, 1 banana pepper -sliced in rings, and about 9 sprigs of cilantro -roughly chopped to a small bowl.

I added 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar, a couple of grinds of fresh pepper and a pinch of salt to the pepper mixture, covered it and put it aside.

To the bullet or food processor, add 2 cups canned black beans, 2 tbsp liquid from beans, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 clove garlic, 1/2 tsp ground cumin and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

Blend until smooth. This is actually my sister-in-laws recipe, and I also have to confess that I got in a hurry (because I had to go water the plants before dark) and got the proportions wrong, so mine looks much more runny than usual. It was still good, but I just wanted to point out that it is normally much thicker. It is also extremely addictive, low calorie and for my backpacker friends it dehydrates very well and re-hydrates with cold water. Really, really good stuff!!!

Now to make the quesadillas. Slice one small zucchini in thin strips long ways, and add to a heated pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Add a couple grinds of pepper,  a couple pinches of salt and 1/4 tsp cumin.

Add about 3 thin sliced onion rings, and cook vegetables until tender but not to soft.

In a separate non-stick pan spray with non-stick spray and 5 to 8 squirts of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spray. When pan is heated, add one flour tortilla. Spread 1/4 cup fat free cheddar cheese over the tortilla.

Place half of the squash and onion pieces on top of the cheese.

Add a generous amount of the pepper mixture.

Cover with a second tortilla.

When the cheese has melted and the bottom tortilla is lightly browned flip it. Cook the other side until lightly browned. Remove quesadilla with spatula to plate. Cut quesadilla into quarters and add black bean hummus and what ever other toppings you like. I used low fat sour cream and Wholly Guacamole. Have you tried Wholly Guacamole? I was skeptical at first,  but it is really good, all natural and now it is sold in individual 100 calorie packs which is awesome, because I love guacamole and MRob won't go near it. Just sharing.

 

 YUMMMMM!!!!

I hope you have a great Friday and an awesome weekend! I hope you get outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. I hope you ride in a red convertible with the wind blowing through your hair. I hope you spy a cricket along the side of the road as you are riding, and leap spontaneously from the convertible to catch the cricket. I hope you catch him, and then put him down gently. I hope you feel really, miraculously alive, and I hope some one is holding a video camera near you if you go chasing after a cricket :)

Cricket! Cricket! Cricket! Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. I am OCD and rebellious you know :)

Love,

Stephanie H.

Black Bean Hummus Recipe

2 cups canned black beans
2 tbsp. liquid from beans
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
pinch cayenne pepper (I use Tabasco)
 
Put all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until smooth.

  

This Morning...

This morning I am thinking about how blessed I am. I am warm, and safe in my home drinking coffee, and rambling away to you guys. Half way across the world, it's a very different story. I am thinking about my friend whose family is in Japan, and how worried I know she is for them. I am wishing there was something I could do for her and her family, and so I feel compelled to do the only thing I know I can do, pray. I realize I have spent far too much of my life being depressed and afraid or feeling sorry for myself. I know depression is chemical, and there is a physical reason why I feel the way I do when I am depressed. I also know that there are things I can do to counter act that chemical imbalance (exercise,  healthy eating, etc.), which renders that excuse (at least for me) useless. This morning I am acknowledging the spoiled, selfish ridiculousness of my lifelong whining and I am moving on. I no longer want to be the person who can't see the forest for the trees. I am waking up and smelling the coffee. I am taking time to smell the roses (maybe I should plant some roses, hmmm...) and they smell good! Looking back, I can see how every piece of the puzzle of my life has fit together. I see, time after time, that when there was a problem piece, it was always only just a matter of time before I was given the piece that made it all make sense. What I really want to say more than anything is, Thanks God :) Thanks for my family, and my friends. Thanks for my lessons. Thanks for my Mom and Dad (who always love me no matter what) and my sisters (who always listen to me, find the good in me, and point my silver linings out to me when I can't see them) and my brothers (who've helped pull me out of more scrapes than I will admit to), and of course my dear husband (who never puts up with my excuses. Rolls eyes). Thanks for my garden, this blog and the people who are reading it :) I didn't know what this blog would do for my life, but you did God. Thanks for persistently reminding me about it until I started it. Thanks for bringing my brother in law home safe and sound (check out my sisters blogs about his home coming. They are both precious and hilarious at the same time :)

http://areluctantdomestic.blogspot.com/2011/03/homecoming-part-1.html

http://areluctantdomestic.blogspot.com/2011/03/homecoming-part-2.html

Thank you for my beautiful nieces and handsome nephews, who seem to think I am great. I feel the same way about them :) I have A LOT to be happy for. Thank you for opening my eyes :)

Please bless my friend and give her calm. Please bless her family in Japan and the people of Japan in general. Please bless the people who are dealing with the nuclear situation that they will figure out how to fix the problems.

Amen

Finally, thanks for loving me folks!

I love you back :)

Stephanie H.

All Garden All Week

Good Morning! This week I am planting my garden. It may be a little early yet, but my plants were getting too big and I had to make a command decision. Plant them or loose them. So this week is likely to be mostly garden post and perhaps fewer posts as well, as I am crazy busy trying to get all this stuff I bought in the ground. On Saturday MRob and I went to our local garden center to get dirt, which I thought was going to come in nice neat little bags like at home depot. Imagine my surprise when MRob went off with the garden center guy and came back to pick me up with this…

…in his brand new truck. Ummm…I had no idea. Really. So MRob helped me haul dirt to my beds partially because he is a good husband, and mostly because he wanted that dirt out of his truck :)

 

While he was off loading dirt up in the wheel barrow…

I took pictures of my toes :) Then when he came back I ran around and looked busy and raked dirt with a yard rake (which doesn't work at all by the way. We found a garden rake later thank goodness).

 

I mixed my soil components all together really well and sprayed them down good with the hose.

I also, protected my garden from predators with said garden hose at least once :)

MRob and I measured and put screws in (BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I finally learned to use a ratchet screw driver after all these years), and I tied fish line between the screws to make my squares.

and then....

THEN....

I referred to my plan one more time, and I took several deep breaths of the fresh, allergy inducing spring air and...

 

I moved my little baby seedlings to their new home.

Look at little Ildi plant looking all grown up in the big plants bed :) I had a great time, and my thighs are very sore, and I have been out to check on them every morning and evening since I put them out...inhale...exhale...because I love them, and I miss them and....

I don't trust the local predators!

Tonight I am going to plant my seeds. I made stakes for them this morning from empty milk jugs. I figure every piece of plastic that I re-purpose is a piece that doesn't end up in the plastic soup or some poor seagulls belly. Here is how I did it.

I got a cup of coffee (this part is very important. You may need to get a second cup :), an empty milk jug, a pair of scissors and a pen I thought I would use but didn't.

 

I cut the flat panels off the milk jug.

I cut the flat panels into strips, and trimmed one end to make them pointy.

I wrote the names of my plants on them with a water proof marks-a-lot.

I got 30 markers out of one 1/2 gallon milk jug and it took me maybe 45 minutes, but I wasn't rushing. In the words of Ina Garten "How Simple Is That?" They won't run, won't weather, and best of all, if I use them year to year, won't end up in a seagull's belly. It's a win win win as far as I'm concerned :)

I leave you with this :)

That's right, I am getting my first flower :) She is probably waiting for me out their right now.

Have a great Tuesday!

Love,

Stephanie H.