Guest Post: Gardening// Egan

 I've asked a few gardeners to guest post about their experiences with gardening and what they've learned. Being interested and passionate about natural foods and self-sufficient living has me looking forward to a garden of my own someday. 

Guest: My sister Egan lives about 10 minutes away from me and I love making food with her especially in the summer when we can use her garden. She does such a good job and she is a testament to having a successful garden and being the busiest person I know. (traveler, busy job, social, church, and every sport you can think of)

I asked her a few questions:

how long have you been gardening?

I started my first tomato plant (I LOVE garden tomatoes!) at a house I was renting with friends in Sugarhouse 6 years ago. Now that I have my own place I have had a garden every year I have lived here. Some years I have been more ambitious with what I plant than others. 

what made you want to start a garden?

My Mom and sister, Annie-- nothing compares to homegrown vegetables and we were raised working in the yard and ate fresh and healthy food. Plus I have this awesome little area for a garden and it would be a real shame if i didn't!

what gardening tip can you share?

I always have my 'go-to' vegetables that I love-- zucchini, tomatoes, basil because they are so easy and I love to eat them.. but I also think it's good to try something new every year instead of getting overwhelmed with trying them all at once. Then you learn what you like, learn what worked etc. Read up on your area and prep your soil! This year I tried peppers, cucumbers and strawberries. So far they have been pretty awesome! I also have learned to plant what you can manage. I am busy, especially in the summer and dont have time to spend in the garden everyday... or every week (oops). But I try to plant things that aren't too needy. Also my older sister Annie also gardens and so I  just do what she tells me. :) 

what was the biggest thing you learned from gardening?

Water management! It's different for each plant and makes a huge difference.  

what advice do you have to beginning gardeners?

Start with 1-2 things you love to eat and that do well in your area. Give your plants plenty of space to grow and good soil. And I have so much to learn so I cant give much more advice here except it's worth it!






Thank you Egan! You're everything I want to be.

Guest Post: Gardening// My mom

I've asked a few gardeners to guest post about their experiences with gardening and what they've learned. Being interested and passionate about natural foods and self-sufficient living has me looking forward to a garden of my own someday.

Guest: My mom. Lives in Seattle, WA. I first blogged about my parent's beautiful garden HERE. Oooooh how I love that place.

There are a lot of poems about gardening.  There are two I think of--and both kind of have a morbid touch to them (Robert Frost’s “A Girl’s Garden” and this one below, lyrics from the musical “A Secret Garden”).  Here is a sample: 

A bit of earth,

She wants a little bit of earth,

She'll plant some seeds.

The seeds will grow,

The flowers bloom,

Their beauty just the thing she needs.

She'll grow to love the tender roses,

Lilies fair, the iris tall.

And then in fall, her bit of earth

Will freeze and kill them all.

Gardening is like that--there are delightful and delicious rewards, but there is also the cycle of life--things get hurt, get sick, and even die.  There are things out of our most diligent control. But next thing you know it is spring and stuff starts growing again.  So, it is worth it.

I grow a few flowers but I really focus on berries and vegetables--edible things.  That is because I like to eat more than I like to have a vase of flowers in my house.  I like the idea of being a bit more self-sufficient (there must be a better word) and I also like the idea of having really fresh vegetables and fruit.  I can go out in the yard at 5:30 and find something to make for dinner or breakfast from early May to mid-October.  Then I can go to my storage shelves or my freezer the rest of the year and get a bottle of tomatoes  (there is nothing canned that compares to the taste of home-bottled tomatoes) or zucchini relish, rhubarb for a crisp, or a bag of blueberries to smother my oatmeal.  It is a lot of work, but it is satisfying to me.

During my semi-Hippie days when I was 16 years old I began to long for a garden--to get back to nature. So when we bought our first home a few years later I planted a vegetable garden--that was in SLC which has great weather for gardening.  Then we moved to Seattle and gardening there is a different kind of thing altogether.  The sun is spotty,, the moss is pervasive, the slugs are ferocious eaters, and the nights are cold.  But I can usually get a really good crop of tomatoes and zucchini, some beets and carrots, early lettuce and peas, lately I’ve had great results with kale, and then there are the berries.   Berries love the Seattle climate and the acidic soil.  

Last night I made a delicious soup from a few zucchini and 2 bunches of kale.  Instead of the vermicelli it called for I used some angel hair spinach pasta.  I only used 3 cloves of garlic instead of 4 and was judicious with the red pepper flakes--but really, the flakes are an important part of the flavor of this soup so I was glad I added some.

Some of you readers probably haven’t gardened much yet, but I hope you won’t be afraid to try.  I was a city girl and had to learn through doing.  You can to--your plants might die, but next time they’ll grow and you’ll be so excited when you pluck a tomato off your very own vine!

Thanks for the post mom! I have so much to learn from you. Every single summer I am so sad I'm not in Seattle feasting on your garden.

Recipe: chicken and veggie pizza-tacos

 

Cool recipe name right? I was stumped.

I used the same dinner formula that I did (every night) over HERE.
I had canned chicken (I don't like cooking meat and I rarely make or order it). I had cherry tomatoes and zucchini from my sister's garden. And, then I went to the store and bought the remaining pieces to my creation.

Recipe: Chicken and Veggie Pizza-Tacos

sprouted corn tortillas
olive oil
zucchini
cherry tomatoes
shredded mozzarella cheese
canned chicken
garlic powder
chili powder
red pepper flakes

On a cookie sheet with parchment place tortillas.
I sprayed (with my Misto) a little olive oil on each one.
Sprinkle with some shredded mozzarella cheese.
Top with sliced tomatoes and zucchini.
Next, add some canned chicken to each.
I added a dash of chili powder, red pepper flakes, and a garlic powder.

Oven at 350. 10-15 minutes (I didn't time, just guessed).

Listening to: Band of Horses to prepare for Thursday's Twilight Concert Series here in SLC, UT.

marathon training

 

I am training for my first full marathon right now---St. George October 6th! I'm in my 8th week of training using Hal Higdon's training guide.  So far I've been really happy with the training and getting used to running so many miles at a time. I ran a half-marathon in 2008 which I loved, but I've never ran more than 13.1 miles at one time. I've enjoyed Ragnar and Dirty Dashes the past few years, but decided to just DO IT and signed up for St. George. I was thrilled I got in.  Riding on that high I also signed up for the Big Cottonwood half marathon in September (two weeks before my full). Pray my knees survive.

 With my long runs on Saturday's there a few things I am dependent on and couldn't run with out:

map my run app

kid clif bars

cetaphil spf face lotion

pandora

nike hand held water bottle

nike running socks

Are you a long distance runner? What are your tips and tools?

"creeps" with Kimberly

 

 

Summer break came and the first thing I did was make breakfast with Kimberly.

I've known Kimberly for years. We were set up to be friends by her then boyfriend, and then were roommates for years after that. We happened to both be studying Elementary Education, and were even lucky enough to teach at the same school for a year. She got married last year and moved down the street. We still like to cook together and share recipes. She suggested "creeps" (or as her predictive text spelled crepes) and of course I was up for that.

We used my crepe recipe doubled, loaded them with berries, bananas, and a smear of Justin's chocolate hazelnut butter which Kimberly had gifted me for my birthday.

We went to the pool straight away. Am I missing anything to a perfect summer kick off?

Breakfast // Broiled Peaches with English Muffin

 

 

 

Peaches get soft so quickly, really too quickly, so I knew I needed to use my almost too soft peach in my breakfast. But I also wanted an english muffin, cause I'm into that lately. Ah-HA! I should broil the peaches some how. I used my toaster oven, sliced up a peach, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with unsweetened coconut flakes and topped my toasted english muffin with plain yogurt while the peaches broiled (10 minutes). It was very good and I'm sure the fruit possibilities for this formula are endless.

what's cookin good lookin?

Summer eating. It's tricky cause avoiding the oven is preferred and not spending too much time on a meal is necessary. It's hot here in Utah (102 today) and there are way to many fun things going on which makes meal time short and simple. One of my go-to dinners is as simple as it gets and tastes the way a summer meal should.

heated up sprouted tortillas
sprinkled with mexican cheese
warm up some chili beans
layer on tortilla with spring lettuce, spinach, sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, avocado, and a squeeze of lime.

I love the color that a mexican type dish like this brings. I normally would put the peppers and tomatoes in a pan to heat up as well, but decided to keep the heat off and have raw toppings. Worked just fine and saved me some sweat.

I like that a dish like this can be redone through the week with some tweaks. Instead black beans or add some fish, charbroil the peppers, add an egg etc.
What are you eating this summer?

Listen while you cook: Imagine Dragons "It's Time"