Haven't forgotten about you...

It has been a while, but life has been bizzzy. Today I took a mental-health afternoon and tried to catch up on many little things that kept piling up. Feels good to have those to-do items checked off.

Our garden is growing like crazy! We have so much lettuce we could eat salad for days. Our 4 stalks of okra are starting to sprout little plants! The carrots are growing, but I'm not sure how you really know when they are done. There is also a huge, sprawling vine where the watermelon seeds were planted - and I'm still hopeful a little melon ball will appear before winter. I'm excited to think about what we'll plant next spring.

Dinner was good tonight - cooked for the first time in a while. Sliced and roasted some butternut squash, baked up a pork tenderloin and made some salad. Felt good to have a home-cooked meal after a long string of quick meals. We've all been sick - me, Mike, and Gams. But think we're on the mend. Feels good to have the carpet vacuumed, laundry clean, and ready to face the week ahead.

Hope all is well!

October First Soup

Since this is a hodge-podge of a few recipes, I'll claim its new name as "October First" soup!

Really - it is Curried Sweet Potato, Carrot and Apple Soup. Adapted from "Wonderful Curried Sweet Potato Soup" - http://www.food.com/recipe/wonderful-curried-sweet-potato-soup-161324

1 T butter

1 T olive oil

1.5 T Curry Powder

1 t cinnamon

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into cubes

3 medium apples, peeled and chopped

4 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

32 oz. box chicken stock (or veggie stock)

1 t sea salt

2 t pepper

one shake of nutmeg

1/4 coconut milk (I used the So Delicious Coconut Milk rather than canned/sweetened milk - although you can probably use both).

In a large pan, melt butter in olive oil over low-medium heat. Add curry powder to form paste; add garlic. Add sweet potatoes, carrots, apples, cover and let simmer for about 15 minutes.

Put half of mixture into blender with half of chicken stock; puree and pour into soup pot. Repeat, and stir well. Add coconut milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and more of other spices to taste. Bring to boil; cover and let sit for about five minutes.

Soup should be a rich orange-yellow color and relatively thick consistency.

To freeze, let cool and pour into a freezer bag to allow for flat storage.

Dinner(s)

Today is the first day of October! And it's been quite a day - especially cooking-wise. After a crazy busy week, I was unable to prepare dinner hardly at all. It is hard to have a sense of groundedness when you eat out all week (lunch and dinner, sadly).

Anyways - I went with some fall dishes!

First, I made turkey chili. It is a standard recipe I've used, which I inherited from my mom, and this time I let it simmer in the crock-pot. I still had to cook the chicken, onions and garlic on the stove top, but it seemed to thicken up well in the CP. As I'm writing this, I realized I didn't include chili powder - but I did season the meat while it was cooking. Oops! :)

Second, I made soup! I'm trying to use up some ingredients as we're going out of town next week, and I had three big sweet potatoes left in our pantry. We had a lot of sweet potato fries lately, so I was trying to think outside the box. Seeing my curry powder earlier, I was trying to find a way to combine them. I found this recipe simply googling "sweet potato curry soup." In looking at a couple other recipes, I decided to cook up sweet potatoes, carrots, and apples. They all softened together, and then I blended em up with chicken stock in our blender. At the end I added some more spices and let it thicken some more as well. (I'll put my recipe in the next blog!)

Lastly, I wanted to have something on hand to pull out of the freezer and warm up some night. I poached some chicken and pulled it apart. I also cooked up some pasta, dumped some left over tomato sauce and mixed it all together. Slicing up some sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and excellent cheese purchased by my parents, I made a haphazard spaghetti casserole-thing. Sometimes they work out, sometimes not. Still fun to try!

Trying to stay away from baked goods this week - Mike and I are holding off from desserts. But I will definitely be making some pumpkin bread soon!!

Neglect

It is hard keeping up with my garden this week. I tried to rationalize this morning that since it is so humid, that counts as watering.

Truth is I'm not seeing much 'fruit' of my labors. There is lettuce, but it is still small. The cauliflower and broccoli was eaten up by bugs. The lavender I planted doesn't seem to be springing up. The instant gratification desire within me is not being satisfied. It is still on my mind, but in a different way...perhaps gardens are best for the spring.

The cooler air and shadier afternoons remind me that fall is almost here. I am excited to relish in the time of year meant for apples, pumpkins, and raking leaves. Just typing about the orange, red, and yellow shades inherent with the changing seasons makes me smile. I am happy when summer turns to fall, despite the hustle bustle that comes with it.

Leaves

I see lots of leaves! Leaves of lettuce and carrot-tops! However, the leaves of the broccoli and cauliflower have disappeared. :( The ones that remain have many holes in them. Bugs? I don't know what I'm doing, clearly... but I still water the plants!

The flowers I planted last week are also starting to sprout, but the lavender has yet to sprout up. On Saturday morning I bought new seeds: oregano, rosemary, and other spices. I hope to plant them some time this week and set them alongside the lavender. Or I might start the garden inside. It is supposed to be a rainy beginning to this week, so that could prove beneficial for plant growth!

I did an OK job of keeping things watered despite the 5 days of classes. It is a good way to stay grounded, as I've said previously, but admittedly it is tough to add one more thing to a busy morning routine. I did pretty well with keeping up with devotions this week also; I am reading "The Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. It is awesome. I've also kept up with my exercise routine and I'm feeling like the legs are holding up alright!

One thing I hope to do LESS of this week is snack. Being back in school makes me crave munchies while sitting in class. My appetite hasn't really changed, so I hope this careless grazing stops!! :)

Hope all of you have a great week!

Mary Mary Quite Contrary...

...how does your garden grow?

It is a BEAUTIFUL morning. I am saddened to think school starts, but summer is not over in my book. It's a cool 70*ish - and I'm outside watering plants and such. I am noticing that the spinach is not coming in yet - maybe it takes longer? The watermelon, conversely, is sprouting right up! How fun :) It is Mike's favorite fruit - and would be fun to have an October watermelon dish!

This morning I finally got some lavender plants into little seedling plots! They are to begin indoors, but since it's starting to "cool" off down here, I'm going to chance it. At least for today. Would be fun to use in the house for fresh scents. And in home cleaning products.

Oh yes. I found a book at the library on green housekeeping. I'm blossoming into an environmentalist before your eyes. I suppose being in my first home and seeing how much cleaning products cost and the do-it-yourself'er in me wants to try some new things. We fill up our recycling bin a week ahead of time, so this week unfortunately we are pitching some cardboard. I'm going to try and rescue it, but we'll see...

I also planted some zinnia seeds. They are in our little bin that we once used for herbs. Interestingly, there are some little basil sprouts that are popping up. In making room for the zinnia flowers, I thought about uprooting the basil. I was reminded of the verse in Matthew -"Let both grow together until the harvest" (Matt 13:30). So this will be fun to watch. The windows are open and Gambler and I are enjoying a quiet Cary morning. More to come!

Growing Basil: Hurricane Edition

As we anticipated the storm, I chose not to water the garden the day before. Predictions were for 2-5", and I didn't want the fresh seedlings to float away! Unfortunately, rain was less than extraordinary - in fact, the wind was the most intense aspect of Irene's visit to Cary. It did eventually rain, and was a nice, gentle shower.

I didn't pull the basil plant in, as it was a free-standing pot. I should have! I guess I wanted to chance it and see - ha. Anyways, it hung in there as well. Following the "storm", I checked on everything and it seemed great.

In fact, I made a wonderful dish last night, the recipe for which my mom passed along to me. Summer Garden Pasta! It was a marinade of cherry tomatoes and basil, among other spices and olive oil. It was perfect. I last hoorah for summer before school starts tomorrow!

It was an incredible summer to say the least - I will miss you Summer of '11, but know this new year will bring lots of new adventures and blessings. :)