In Giardino

It has been a very nice holiday.  We had our annual open house on Christmas Eve.  The theme this year was Pancakes and Pajamas.  So we had all breakfast foods and most of us wore pajamas to the party.  We always have a big crowd for our house and things get tight, but people do not seem to mind.  We had 3 kinds of quiche, 2 kinds of french toast casserole, corned beef hash, potatoes and onions, bagels with lox and the fixins, polenta with mushrooms and spinach, and a sweet potato and apple kugel - a recipe I found on pinterest.

 Christmas day is usually quiet.  We wake when we want, have leftovers for breakfast and open our presents, just the two of us.  My hubby made for me 5 beautiful bird houses for the garden.  One has a peekaboo back, so we can hang it in front of a window and peek in.  The others are a blue jay house, a cardinal house, and the largest is a screech owl house.  We will hang that one on our chimney, away from the others.

Here are two of the houses, ready for new tenants.  The garden is resting for the season.  I really miss those home grown tomatoes!

 Of course, the holidays are all about embarrassing the children.  So, here is our Genny, mortified that mommy insisted on this torture.

I also received a very large cast iron skillet for a present, so I will be seasoning that soon so it will be ready for use.  We are going to be grilling some ducks on New Year's Eve and I might use the skillet as the drip pan.  All of that duck fat should season it nicely.

Until next time,
Ciao!
Birdie in Cucina

Holidays in Cucina

It is that time of year when we bake, bake, bake!  I have to get my gifts that need mailing ready to go and I need some cushioning for the contents.  The gifts are culinary in nature this year, so I thought that some caramel corn would be a perfect addition.

My sister and I discovered this recipe one year when we had a lot of leftover popcorn from stringing for the tree.

Oven Caramel Corn

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

12 cups of freshly popped pop corn, divided between two ungreased baking dishes

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick, or 1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup lite corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around the edges.  Continue cooking 5 minutes more, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in baking soda until caramel is foamy.  Pour on the popcorn and stir to coat.  Bake 1 hour, stirring well every 15 minutes.

Now it looks like the caramel might not cover enough at first, but trust me, it gets around after all of that stirring.  This stuff is highly addictive!

I am bagging this up in celophane bags for transporting and freshness.

Until next time!

Birdie in Cucina

Fall turns to Winter

It has been a pretty uneventful month or so.  I have to say that we are generally pretty boring people.  My husband works from home and I am a homemaker, so we spend the day together, sort of anyway.  It is nice because we can eat lunch together and spend time with our dogs without them being alone for long stretches of time.

We have had a a beautiful fall season and winter seems to have come early this year.  We had our first snow storm of the year on the day before Thanksgiving.  We got less than they said we would, but it still made it difficult for travelers.  Thank goodness the roads were clear on the holiday and our family could still join us for our feast.

I took over Thanksgiving dinner a couple of years ago when my mother in-law decided she didn't want to do it anymore.  I certainly didn't mind.  The only challenge is fitting enough people around my table in my incredibly small dining room.

This year I decided that I would make as many of the dishes as friendly to my restrictive diet as I possibly could.  Preparations began a good month ahead of time with me looking through my favorite cook books, magazines, and websites for the recipes.  From there I made my grocery list and shopped on the Monday before Thanksgiving.

I could only find frozen turkey which I was very concerned about getting thawed before I wanted to cook.  Okay, there was one fresh turkey that was so big it would not fit into my oven and would take a new mortgage to purchase.  Early on Wednesday, I took out my turkey and prepared it for the brine.  I ALWAYS brine my turkey and I highly recommend it.  I learned this trick from Cooks Illustrated.  Into my biggest stock pot went about 2-3 cups of salt, the turkey and water enough to cover the turkey.  It sat in the brine, in the refrigerator, until I was ready to cook it at 6 am on Thanksgiving.  I aimed to get the turkey done early so it had plenty of time to rest and retain all of the juices.  I did not have to add any liquid to the turkey pan, as it produced quite a bit on its own.  I lay the turkey on a bed of carrots, celery and onion and placed a sage butter under the skin of the breast to keep things moist.  I did not baste so the skin could get nice and crispy.

This also opened up the oven for the side dishes.  First up was corn pudding since it has to cook for an hour.  I found this recipe this year and it sounded much more interesting than my traditional one.  The texture of the frozen corn and the flavor of the onion made such a big difference. 

Next was the Bourbon Sweet Potato Puree with Pecans. The bourbon adds rich flavor that is not too sweet and the nuts add texture.

I also roasted some mushrooms with salt and pepper and made polenta to go with them.  this was a nontraditional dish that my husband didn't think would go over with his parents, but they loved it.

Stuffing was a challenge to figure out how to do gluten free.  Last year I made a stuffing with gluten free bread and frankly, it was terrible.  But I ran across a recipe for Wild Rice Stuffing.  That would provide the necessary traditional  flavors and be acceptable.  You basically make your favorite wild rice blend, I used chicken stock for the liquid.  While that is cooking up you saute onions, celery, mushrooms, sage and other traditional stuffing seasonings in some butter.  when the rice is finished, add the onion mixture.  throw that in a casserole with a little more chicken stock and back for about 20 minutes.

Instead of the gooey green bean casserole, I made steamed green beans with some sauteed shallots and lemon zest.  Add the green beans to the saute pan to marry the flavors.  With all of the rish dishes, I wanted the beans to have a fresher cleaner taste.

We also had a nice green salad, some corn muffins with blueberries (a tradition in my husband's family), and then dessert!

I made a pumpkin pie with  a buttery pie crust recipe.  I substituted King Arthur Gluten Free Flour for the flour in the recipe.  The filling is from my very worn copy of Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.  I substituted coconut milk for the evaporated milk.

All in all, I would say that Thanksgiving this year was a success.  Of course I made turkey stock from the carcass and it is now waiting to be soup.  Leftovers have been a joy to eat and have gone pretty fast.

Now the planning for this year's Christmas Eve open house begins!  It is going to be very different as we are having a pancake and pajama theme this year.  All breakfast foods!  Still in the planning stages, but I think it will be fun and different.

In Cucina

So, I am trying to not grocery shop quite so often and rely more heavily on my pantry.  I really felt that we had slim pickins for dinner tonight.  But I saw a can of tuna on the shelf and remembered the old standby, tuna noodle casserole.

Being gluten and dairy free, this could pose a problem.  So I did some searching and realized that I could make my own cream of mushroom base.  This may not be a revalation to a lot of folks, but I am not known for making things thick when they are supposed to be.  My gravy almost never thickens.  But I felt empowered, so I gave it a try.

In the skillet went a whole stick of butter.  I don't count butter in my dairy free world.  I suppose you could substitute margerine if necessary.  In went chopped mushrooms and shallot to saute.  Once they were softened, I threw in about 3 or 4 tablespoons of white rice flour and whisked away.  Once it was cooked a bit, I added a can of coconut milk and whisked away more.  I let it simmer a while and IT THICKENED!!!!  WHOO HOO!!!!  I added some garlic powder and pepper.  Yummy!

In it went with the pasta, tuna and peas.  Lots of pepper and I am good to go.  I know lots of folks add cheese and breadcrumbs and bake this a while and that would be good too.

I think I will try this technique with my gravy the next time I make it.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina

Fall means harvest time.  We recently stopped at the local farmers market and bought a large basket of red delicious apples.  My husband eats a lot of apple sauce, so I thought it would be fun to try and make our own.  This way I know exactly what is in it.

Red delicious apples are very sweet on their own, so I knew I would need very little additional sweetener.  I only used 1/2 cup of coconut palm sugar in this pot, along with the juice of one lemon, some cinnamon (of course), some ground ginger, and a wee bit of salt.  I also added about 3 cups of water. This pot is only half of the apples we purchased.  I made 2 batches in two days to give my hands a break on the peeling and chopping.  Cooked it down until the liquid was thick as I liked.  Then I let it cool and then bagged it in freezer bags and popped them into the freezer.

I am a bit too lazy for canning.  And I think I would like someone to teach me that first hand instead of just reading up on it.

I also stuck a bunch of the apple peels in the oven on cookie sheets at 250 degrees to dehydrate for snacks.  Why waste them?  Yum.

Until next time, 

Ciao!

Birdie in Cuchina

In Cucina

Yes, it has been a while.  It is now full on fall.  We are enjoying the last of our garden harvest.  I am disappointed to say that all but the fall lettuce I planted is gone, thanks to the nasty cabbage worm.  Poor skeleton kale plants.  But, it was a valient attempt.  Tomatoes are still ripening, so we are liking that.

Fall means football season.  Sundays are pretty lazy in our house.  As I made breakfast this morning, I also loaded the crock pot.  Two sliced onions, a sliced Granny Smith Apple, and a small pork loin.  Sprinkled with rosemary, salt and pepper.  Cooked on low all day.

With the crock pot, it is best to keep it simple.  My sister taught me that.  She would stick a whole chicken in the crock pot in the morning and come home from work to a perfectly roasted chicken.  It bastes itself.  I add a few seasonings, like grated ginger and orange zest.  Yummy!  Put in whole potatoes and come home to baked potatoes.  Some folks wrap them in foil first, but I don't.

On this particular lazy Sunday, I got too lazy.  I sauteed broccoli rabe without blanching it first.  Bad idea.  Blanching it gets rid of the bitter taste.  Always blanch!  We also had some mashed potatoes.

Okay, they were from a box.  My husband gets these wierd cravings for mashed potatoes, so we keep a box in the house.  I'm so ashamed.

So that is my lazy Sunday confession.

Until next time,

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina

This grilled eggplant is the beginning of this evening's dinner and an another dish a bit later.  Pasta sauce!

We have had a huge increase in tomato harvest.  So yesterday I put them into the food processor.  The left jar is the roma tomatoes.  The right is the heirloom purple and the yellow cherries.  All of the roma and about a third of the others went into tonight's sauce.

First into the pan was olive oil, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and some carrots for a bit of sweetness.  When these sweat down, in went the next layer.  Some diced banana peppers, the tomato puree, seasonings, and a bit of leftover white wine.   oh, and the eggplant.

This simmered all the while the pasta water came up to a boil and the pasta cooked.  I have to say it was pretty darned good.  The eggplant and mushrooms gave it richness and flavor that meat usually contributes.  I just love playing in the kitchen!

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

Epicurious

Epicurious.com is an awesome recipe website.  I got the recipe for tonight's dinner from it.

Spicy Asian Noodle Salad

In Cucina

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by our garden.  Tomatoes, peppers, kale, eggplant.  There is onion and garlic, some anchovy paste, salt and red pepper flakes.  This is the first part of the saute.

This is after the the addition of the kale and left over pulled pork.

Addition of the cooked pasta and a bit of pasta water.  It tasted fresh and flavorful.

We need to be ready for a lot of tomatoes in the near future.  They are ripening fairly quickly now.  I may have to freeze them or learn to can very quickly.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Giardino

I just harvested from the garden.  My favorite part of gardening, to be sure.  Some lovely leaf lettuce, some basil, and nasturtium.  Nasturtium in salads is just wonderful.   it has a peppery taste and every part of the plant is edible, leaves, flowers and buds.  Some folks pickle the buds and use them like capers.

As a lot of things are ripening, we are eating a lot of salads with our meals.  

Seems that we aren't the only ones enjoying our garden.  Methinks some birdies have been helping themselves to my tomatoes.  Sneaky birdies.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina Al Fresco

It is a lovely afternoon.  So lovely that my work from home husband is working al fresco on the patio and I am joining him to prepare dinner and harvest from the garden.  Here we have the first of the peppers to harvest, some cherry tomatoes with one heirloom and one each of the eggplants were grew.  Now I am no expert, but the eggplants havent increased in size in over a week, so I am assuming that they are ready to be picked.  I specifically chose them for their small size.  I am hoping to combine all of these beauties in some way in the next day or two.  Next to the bowl, I have some garlic chives freshly cut along with some other herbs.

The chives will go in some garlic mashed potatoes later today.  The herbs are for the herb butter to baste the grill roasted turkey that is in the grill as I type.   i am using the same technique that I used for the duck earlier - Indirect grilling.  This means on my gas grill I turn on just the rear and from burners.  I place the turkey on the stand up rack over an oven safe casserole.  This gets placed in the center of the grill and the lid is closed.  The heat surrounds the turkey to cook it.  I will baste occasionally with the herb butter, but I also slid some under the breast skin to keep that from drying out and add flavor.

I love cooking outside and we have really used our grill a lot this summer.  I foresee us continuing well into fall and maybe on nicer winter days too.  Beats heating up the house when it is warm, that's for sure.

i started the turkey pretty early, mainly so it has time to rest and be ready for eating when we are ready.  This turkey isn't very large, about as big as the duck was really.  So it should not take more than 2 hours, if that long.  I will do the potatoes closer to diner time.  Add salad and left over asparagus and that's dinner!

Tonight is graduation night for puppy school.  It starts at 6:30, so I want dinner to be ready before we go.  Not sure if we will eat before or after puppy school and that is okay, because I think everything will sit well if we need to eat it after.  Turkey is great for left overs and hubby can have his hot turkey sandwiches he loves so much.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

Al Fresco

Tonight's dinner featured brined and grilled boneless pork ribs with a dry rub featuring cardemom.  Granny Smith apples sauted in butter with onions, coconut palm sugar, and fresh rosemary.  A salad featuring greens and tomatoes from our garden.  Al fresco on a beautiful day in mid August that seems more like mid September.

We worked up our appetite by taking the dogs to the dog park today.  I worked a bit in my sewing studio and we will close the day with a date night at the movies.  I cannot think of a better way to spend a day.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

Birdies

So, it hasn't been the best of weeks.  My symptoms have been playing games with my head again, rendering me useless most of the time.  It has been a while since I have had symptoms this strong, so it is extra disappointing.  When this happens, I don't feel like doing very much.  Cooking hasn't been too necessary, as we have enough left overs to get us through the week.  I am keeping up with my household duties, as the schedule I have set keeps them easy to do.  I am thankful for that.

This all makes for some pretty boring blog posts, however.  As I rest, I can spend sometime outside with my camera, hoping for some good bird shots.  I finally got some shots of the Goldfinch that likes our sunflowers.  So, here he is.

In Giardino

So much for a serene and restful Sunday!  We worked hard today in the garden and the rest of the yard.

When we installed the patio earlier this year, it left us with this mound of dirt that we refer to as Puppy Mountain.  The dogs like to run up and down it and dig it up.  But it is ugly and hard to mow, so down it comes!  With the help of my hubby and a rental tiller, soon it looked like this:

Now we can get grass seed and have a nicer lawn along with the awesome patio.

While hubby worked on excavating Puppy Mountain, I worked on the new garden bed and fencing.

I planted my fall crops of kale, cabbage, arugala and lettuce.  Then mulched with straw to hopefully keep the weeds out.

Fencing is important when you have a puppy.   If there is no fencing, there if more excavation of those lovely veggies!

After a morning of hard work, lunch time!  Remember thise burgers I talked about last time?

Here they are all ready to be grilled, along with the sweet potato chips waiting to be baked and the lettuce greens drying.  A yummy salad and crunchy chips are the perfect burger accompaniment.

We still have more work in the garden to do this week.  Hubby has the week off, so we are trying to get as much done as we can.  Along with some fun stuff too.

Now to relax a bit:

A rose in bloom

Our sunny sunflowers.  The birds love them.  I wish I had my camera when the gold finch was visiting.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Giardino

While we are enjoying this wonderful summer here in PA, it is time to think about fall garden planting.  I stopped at the garden center the other day and picked up some yummy things to harvest this fall.  Cabbage, kale, lettuce and a sad little arugala plant I am hoping to coax back to life.

Before they can go in the ground, however, we need to make space for them.  We are having such success this year that I am getting cocky and extending the garden bed.

So we took some time today to do just that.  After taking some time to mulch the original sections, we cleared the sod under the shade of the crab apple tree.  The idea being that next year the shade will help the cold weather veggies do better when it gets warm.  We had spinach fail, I think, because it was in direct sunlight during the warmer months.

So, here we are with compost and top soil, after a good tilling of that clay underneath.  The weed blocker will be a walking path.  More work on the fencing, gates and walkway tomorrow.  Then we can plant the fall veggies and begin working on other areas in the yard that need attention.

In cucina, I have chicken breasts marinading in an orange molasses marinade.  I am looking forward to grilling  that tomorrow.  For today, we have grilled Italian hamburgers and fresh salad.  What are Italian, or what I call Dago, burgers?  I use my meatball mix to make burgers.  Now that I am avoiding gluten, I use planko crumbs, oregano, garlic powder, rosemary, pepper, minced onion.  All mixed up and ready for grilling.  Don't forget to dimple the burger patties so the burgers don't shrink as they cook.

Not a very exciting dinner, but fresh and delicious and very summer.  We eat al fresco as often as the weather allows.  Cooking outside is fun and helps to keep the house cool.

The day before yesterday, I made some pretty exciting salmon, if I do say so myself.  Pan seared salmon, with a peach, blueberry and bourbon chutney accompanied by sauteed kale fresh from the garden.  Peaches are in season and I just had to use them.  This turned out fantastic!  I sauteed the peaches in butter with coconut palm sugar and bourbon, then added the blueberries at the end.  A little corn starch thickened the juices.  Yummy!!!!

Until next time,

Birdie in cucina

In Giardino and Menu Planning

There has been a lot of progress in the garden this week.  I am so excited to see a tiny white eggplant forming.   I chose this variety, along with a small dark variety, because of their size.  I am hoping that small doses of eggplant will be more paletable to my husband, who is a bit anti-eggplant.   

I used ro be anti-eggplant myself.  When I was a child, my father would cure quantities of eggplant in olive oil and strong spices like oregano.  This is a very Italian thing to do.  We had a special pottery crock specifically for this purpose.  He would fill the crock with eggplant, oil, salt and spices.  He would then put the lid on the crock and weigh the lid down with a couple of bricks.  And this would sit for quite a while.  The results were how I was introduced to eggplant.  Yuck, in my opinion.

Since my childhood, I have revisited many vegetables I thought I had not liked.  It turns out that I just didn't like the way they were prepared.  Give me eggplant parm anyday!  Grilled eggplant!  Just not that cured stuff.  I have a love hate relationship with zucchini as well.

You see, we were an incredibly poor family and my parents had a difficult time getting food on our table.  My mother's friend had a farm and would give us rabbit meat and veggies from the farm.  One summer there was this proliferation of zucchini.   I mean there was zucchini in everything we ate.  If that wasn't bad enough, my mother had the habit of overcooking it until it was mush.  I find many of her generation did this with veggies.  It's like that had to kill them.  Anyway, I swore I would never even look at another zucchini when I grew up.

I like the darned things now.  In reasonable quanities and cooked correctly or raw.  You will notice that I do not have zucchini in my garden, however.  I am not that brave.  I would end up being one of those people who sneak zucchini on neighbor's porches and running, I think.

Here a tiny purple eggplant is forming.

The beans are growing fast!   I cannot wait until we have some to pick.

Right now the garden guides my menu planning.  We have an abundance of lettuce and quite a bit of kale to eat.  So we are eating a lot of salads.  And in this summer heat, what is better than a fresh, cool salad?  I sure don't want to heat up my kitchen if I do not have to.  We grill a lot and also use the crock pot to avoid turning on the oven.   But you would be surprised how even a crock pot can put off heat.

I usually menu plan around what I find in the garden and what is on sale at the grocery store.  I am trying to be more purposeful about purchasing what is in season as well.  The duck I made a couple of weeks ago was a splurge, but it was in season, so it was cheaper than it could have been otherwise.

I have never been a circular peruser, but I think that I am going to become one.  I think this will help me make better planning choices and help us to save more money.   It will take a lot of torture for me to be a coupon clipper, however.  Let's not get crazy.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in cuchina

In Giardino

I have been wanting to share my herb garden.  I decided it would be easier to over winter my herbs in pots, so I decided to do a container herb garden.  Plus, the new patio needed some softness and a water feature.  Buddha overlooks my herbs and provides serenity.

The other reason for pots was I wanted to have a couple of mint varieties.  Mint is extremely invasive, so better in pots than my garden.  However, these aren't thriving the way I would like.  I think they need bigger pots and not so much serenity.  The big container has a couple of thyme varieties, creeping rosemary, chives and sage.  A big pot of garlic chives at 11 o'clock, lemonbalm at 7, chocolate mint at 5, basil and lavender at 3, rosemary at 2, and a hot and spicy oregano variety at 1 o'clock.  I had cilantro in there, but it didn't like our hot summer.  

I like being able to enjoy all of these visually, they also deter bugs, and I can use them in my cooking!

I learned from my cilantro mistake and put my parsley in the shade.

Today's tomato harvest, ready for washing and more ripening.

And, here is my garden guardian, our puppy, Chai.  She isn't so much a guardian as she is a helper in the garden, so a nice fence was erected to curb her digging enthusiasm.  This was one of her more serine moments.  She loves laying under our few trees.

On the menu today, an Asian Chicken and Rice Noodle Salad inspired by Buddha and to use some leftover roast chicken.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina

There was a lot of action in the kitchen yesterday.  First thing was breakfast.  I had put some corned beef in the crock pot the night before so we could have some corned beef hash and eggs. I never knew what good corned beef hash could be until I made my own.  I will never eat that awful canned stuff again. Most diners don't even make their own anymore and that is very sad.  It's frankly not that hard and well worth the effort.

We usually have leftovers for lunch, so I spent my day cleaning.  The kitchen had a good scrubbing coming and I gave it!  Deciding that if I am going to be a Domestic Goddess, I had better get a schedule started and stick to it.  I cleaned and cleaned.  It feels good to have a really clean kitchen to cook in.

As the day was a rather chilly one for July, I decided that we could handle a heartier meal.  Pasta with tomato sauce and italian sausage.  As I avoid chemicals and processed foods, this means starting with good tomatoes.  I had a couple store bought ones starting to turn and a bunch of ripe garden tomatoes as well.  I wanted a very rich flavor to stand up to the sausage, so. i decided to roast the tomatoes first.  Looking back, I think a sheet pan would have been a better choice to give the tomatoes more room.  Aslo, I think next time I will deseed and dejuice the juicier ones.  But they still did their job.  I sprinkled them with olive oil, oregano, rosemary and salt.  Put them in the oven for about 45 minutes.  I think I will try a higher temp that 350 next time as well.

Now to construct the sauce.  Onion, garlic and the sausage go in first.  I use both hot and sweet sausage.  Get that browned up and add the next layers.

Chopped bell peppers -I like the little ones for more choice in uses and they have good flavor.  The tomatoes and the juices, and a cup of good red wine.  I like chianti for sauce, but anything you will drink, except the sweet stuff, is fine.  More spices, salt and some red pepper flakes.  We like it spicey!

This all needs time to cook down and thicken.  It isn't one of those sauces that cook for hours, mind you, but the longer it cooks the richer the flavor.   i start my pasta water now and by the time the pasta is cooked and ready, so is the sauce.

It was a yummy and satisfying dinner served with salad and some wine.  Well, hubby had the wine.  I am supposed to avoid that too, so I figured the addition to the sauce was enough for me. And we have leftovers for lunches!

Hoping to keep up with my cleaning schedule well enough to make each day's zone take very little time and not have to rush to clean when we have people come over.  Wish me luck!

Ciao!

Birdie in cucina

In Giardino

What a difference a couple of days makes.  We also had a doozy of a thunderstorm last night.  Watered the garden nicely.   But in just a couple of days I see great changes in the garden.

A pepper has finally appeared!  I was getting worried that I had planted too late.

An eggplant is forming as well.   I love new beginnings!

Look how much the beans have grown!

Tomatoes are ripening at a nice pace.  One year they seemed to ripen all at once and we couldn't keep up.  I am sure that will eventually happen here too, as there is quite a bit of fruit on the plants.  But for now we can enjoy them.

Good thing too.  We have an abundance of lettuce to eat.  Some has bolted, so we had better get to it.  There will be salad with home grown ingredients tonight to go with our grilled London broil and fresh corn on the cob.  It is a very good corn year and, as it is difficult to grow, I am happy with what has been at the store.

The marigolds were planted for color and pest deterrance.  A particular pest I had in mind was our new puppy.  I had read that marigolds keep dogs away.  They did not have determined puppies listed, so I guess I overestimated the power of these flowers.  So rabbit wire and a crooked but effective gate was put up around our treasures.

The dogs and I are enjoying an afternoon al fresco.  Enjoying the cool breezes and happy that another storm has blown over.  We are grateful that it has been what I would call a normal summer.  We have had our hot days, but they have been interspersed with days like today, sunny, breezy and warm.  A godsend when housebreaking and entertaining a puppy.

Our new patio has allowed us to enjoy these days even more.  We have never spent much time in our yard.  Our property sits at the bottom of the bowl that is our block.  We have clay soil and a high watertable, so our yard would flood and become marshy and useable.  Some drainage our neighbors have done and the addtion of the large patio have made outdoor living possible.  The gazebo for shade - since we have no trees except those that hang over from next door - and comfy furnature make afternoon siestas wonderful.  A firepit and awesome benches constructed by my husband make evenings just lovely.  S'mores anyone?

I will talk about my other features another day.  For now, we are just relaxing and catching the breeze.  I hope you have someplace like this to enjoy.

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina, al fresco

In Giardino

We are doing very well in the garden this year.  We haven't had one in a few years.  When I was working I just couldn't keep up with it.  Although,  I admit we went too large with those gardens also.  Just bit off more than we could chew, so to speak.

White Japanese Eggplant

Now that I am a domestic engineer, I can keep a proper garden.  We started about half of the size and I thought that would be manageable.  I did my homework and put in the garden at the same time we were installing the new patio in our yard.  This was the first time I did cold weather veggies - kale, spinach, lettuce, and a nice leafy cabbage.  Everything did well except for the spinach.

Now we are into the warm summer months, the tomato plants are monsters.  I need to get bigger tomato cages next year.  The yellow cherry variety is heavy with fruit, the roma are ripening as well, and the purple heirlooms are a bit slower.  All are very tasty and I am pleased with my choices.

Look at them beans!!

After the cold weather veggies vacated their space, I planted some peppers, and two variety of small eggplants, as well as bush beans, and scallions from seed.  The beans are sprouting quickly, there are pretty purple flowers on the eggplants, but the scallions are a no show so far.

Tomatoes and nasturtiums, with some late kale making an appearance.

We also planted nasturtiums.  If you have never tried them, they are easy to grow and taste wonderful in salads.  The whole plant is edible and it has a peppery taste.  Some folks pickle the flower pods and treat them like capers.

Just for fun, I thought you might like to see a visiter to the feeder.

I just love being able to use produce and herbs I have grown myself.  They somehow just taste better knowing that your effort was rewarded.  I can wait for the beans to come.  I have never done beans before.

We are so pleased with our efforts, we feel good about extending the garden by another third.  This bed will be under the one tree in our property and get some shade.  I think the cold weather veggies will like it even better under there and I hope we can have a nice fall crop.  I am also going to put in a potato barrel and give those a go.

Until then, all there is to do is eat a lot of salads.  We have a bunch of lettuce close to bolting, so we had better eat like bunnies.  Another entry will highlight my herbs and maybe the new patio space.

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina