Most of my garden seems to be doing wonderful. My son, who loves to be outside and therefore spends a lot of time around my garden, only trampled a few things before learning that these are "momma's lants" (he spends most of his time pushing his truck around running over my herb garden). We've had broccoli, bok choy, TONS of green beans, kale, collard greens, celery, and FINALLY last week I got my first ripe tomatoes! It's great when a plan comes together! One thing that isn't doing so hot - ...
The Kitchen
Organic Canning; Dilly Beans with Fresh Dill Heads
The farmer's market had a TON of fresh dill heads last week adn I decided that now is the perfect time to try out these dilly beans made with fresh dill. I've made these multiple years but have always used dried dill seed. Typically I've had a hard time finding fresh dill at the farmer's markets but for some reason this year it's been really prevelant (although I'm thinking that the season is coming to an end because it looked pretty dismal on Thursday). We even found a farm with cut your own ...
Organic Canning; Black Raspberry Preserves
Have you ever had black raspberries? Apparently they are native to North America. They're a wild raspberry and they have a more rich taste, some call it "wine-y". I personally like the tartness of red raspberries but I'm pretty sure my little guy likes these better and I know my husband does. So, what are Black raspberry preserves? Preserves in general are very similar to jam, they are fruit and sugar, cooked to form a thicker spread. Same ingredients, the only difference is that the fruit is ...
Bacon, Ham, Veggie & Potato Breakfast Skillet
I'm so excited, I walked outside and my first orange pepper is ready to be picked! It's teensie tiny but an extra pepper means I can use some peppers in today's breakfast without cutting into the amount I'll need for tonight's garlic scape pasta! I had a few potatoes that needed to be used, bacon and leftover ham in the freezer, and extra red onions and now pepper so I put together this yummy dish. It's amazing on it's own but even better topped with some homemade salsa (I had the best canned ...
Summer Canning Series; Preserving the Harvest, Week by Week
It's the middle of peak canning season and I have NO time to do it :( On top of all of the things that normally keep you busy during the summer in Michigan (fun things like vacations up North, boating, etc) my family has been crazy doing other stuff. I got my real estate license, my son has had to start patching his eye for 6 hours a day (long story and I'm not going to go into it), my Etsy business has been doing pretty well (Wedding season, you know?) AND my husband and I started a business. ...
How to Grow Organic Broccoli; Organic Gardening
I harvested my second head of broccoli yesterday! I love it when these cool weather, supposedly not going to work in my 6a garden actually work out! Especially when I’ve been nurturing these little guys for literally 4 months. I’m not kidding, I planted these seeds inside on March 10th and here I am harvesting broccoli head number 2 on July 10th! I have grown 1 or 2 heads of broccoli in the past when I lived in Chicago (in zone 5a) and it seemed to grow just fine, but then I kept reading ...
Soy Free Stir Fry, Bok Choy, Broccoli and Chicken; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
First harvest of the season! It's always so exciting to start reeping the rewards of all of you hard work all spring! My garden was going strong and then, overnight all of my brassicas started to wilt :(. I was so bummed, especially to see 3 heads of bok choy so wilted they had to be pulled. I figured out the cause (read about it here) and it was spreading so I decided to harvest the 6 heads of baby bok choy that were still looking perfect, then I had to decide how to use them. This was also a ...
Dairy Free Corn Chowder; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
One of the best things about holiday cooking are not only the traditional holiday meals, but also the traditional after holiday meals. This one may surprise you but it's become a staple in my house both after Easter and after Christmas with leftover ham. My husband doesn't eat ham and bean soup that my family always made growing up to use the ham bone and leftover ham (I personally love it and have a ham bone in the freezer waiting) so for years I was left questioning "what can I make with ...
Mother’s Day Cupcake Bouquet; This one’s GF!
I can't believe how beautiful these cupcakes turned out! They were surprisingly easy (for me, I do have some artistic talent though so don't hate me if you have troubles :). I looked online for pictures of flowers and the just winged it. Afterwords I was wishing I had taken some videos as a tutorial so I spent a ridiculous amount of time drawing a few tutorials (see them below) that pretty much give you no idea how to do this successfully haha sooo.... I've also included some links that I found ...
Grilled Lamb Gyros; Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Nut Free Recipe
It was getting warmer, so I decided it was time to fire up the grill for the first time of the season! First up, these grilled lamb gyros that you can easily make gluten free, dairy free, soy free and nut free by using gluten free pitas and making homemade dairy free tzatziki sauce! Honestly these were not the type of meal I would normally make first thing in the spring, but I FINALLY found plain coconut milk greek yogurt at the grocery store. I have no idea why it took so long for them to start ...