Tuesday Garden Update

I haven't done a garden update for a while.  Here is a picture I took last Thursday.  I love the garden from this angle. 

The way our yard is laid out, I can't get all of our beds in one shot,
but from this angle, I get most of them.

At this point we are done with asparagus, peas, lettuce, turnips, and spinach.  We only got a couple of kohlrabi and one broccoli from the 12 or so brassicas we planted. :(

We're still harvesting strawberries, a second round of radishes, Swiss chard, rhubarb, and beets.  We're getting closer to having blackberries, green beans, tomatoes, garlic, onions, carrots and potatoes.  Planted, but just getting started are corn, cucumbers and pinto beans.  Still to plant is zucchini and winter squash.

I think I've mentioned that we only planted eight tomato plants this year.  That number has increased to about 20, thanks to volunteers popping up everywhere.  We can't save all the volunteers, but we do try to save most of them.

Kat's cabbage, front and center.

Kat's little garden is doing well.  Her Moon and Stars watermelon is blossoming and we'll harvest her huge cabbage (she started at school) within the next day or so.  I still think it's ironic that hers did so well when she doesn't even like cabbage.  Her celery (regrown from store-bought) has failed (twice), but her carrots seem to coming along.

How is your garden growing?  Have you finished planting, or do you, like us, still have a few things to get into the ground?

Another Quick Camping Trip

Shane and I decided to take the camper out again, just the two of us, while Kat was with her mom for the weekend.  It's been a few years since we camped without Kat, so we had a nice getaway as a couple.

An upscale housing development (Lakewood, for my local readers) was having community wide garage sales that we didn't want to miss.  We couldn't decide whether to camp or go to sales, so we figured out a way to do both, by camping just a mile away from Lakewood (at Blue Springs Lake).  That's right, we camped just 20-25 miles from home, and for all practical purposes, we were "in the city" the whole time, but as it turned out, this is one of nicest parks we camped in, and we had a very nice time.

A sight I won't often see -- the back of our camper while it's on the road.
Look how dark the sky looks.

Half an hour and 20 miles later, it's bright and clear!

Since we were sans Kat, our meals at camp were a little different this time around.  Any time we don't have her, we make a point of enjoying some of our favorite foods, flavors, and/or ingredients that she doesn't really like.  For example, Friday night we ate this Cajun Shrimp and Grits dish.  It was based on THIS RECIPE.  It doesn't look a thing like the original photo, but it was delicious and perfect for the cooler temperatures here that night.

We had THESE SANDWICHES for breakfast both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but instead of having the eggs on English muffins, we had them on bagel thins one morning and sandwich thins the next.

Our intent for Saturday was to run "home" to the camper for a quick lunch, then head back out for more garage sales, followed by a repeat of the same meal for supper.  What really happened was that we skipped lunch altogether, then had an extreme pig-out once we finally did get back to camp.  Pictured here (or just out of frame) are THIS DIP, along with some commercially-prepared hummus, a veggie tray and meat/cheese tray I put together, pita chips, woven wheat crackers, and sandwich thins.   There was just enough left over that we made a similar lunch yesterday when we came home.

To drink, we enjoyed water, iced tea, beer for Shane, some of the new Michelob Light Cider for me (meh...I was unimpressed), and each morning, coffee.

I tend to take too much food when we camp, but with each trip, I'm getting better at judging how much we will need.  I hope to be spot on by the end of summer.

That should be it for the camping posts for a while.  Our next camp out is reserved for July 4-8.  Unless, of course, we decide to go somewhere sooner.

Face the Music - Alison Krauss - The Lucky One

Alison Krauss & Union Station - The Lucky One

When I imagine the voice of an angel, I hear Alison Krauss.  This is just one of her beautiful songs.

Easy Breakfast Casserole

When my blog buddy, A.Marie at My Money Mission, posted this on her Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, I knew I wanted to try it for a camping breakfast.  Her recipe, as shared below, is for a larger casserole in a 9x13 pan.  I decided to make only half the recipe, and ended up using an oven safe skillet because I didn't have a small casserole dish in the camper like I thought I did. 

Actually, I started this on the burners by assembling the casserole in the skillet, covering it with foil, and setting it over a low flame. I was using the oven for the hash brown patties and turned the oven off when they were done.  It was too hot to light the oven again (the manual-light pilot is at the rear of the oven), so I just stuck the covered casserole in the still-hot (but turned off) oven, shut the door, and left it there for about 10 more minutes.  It was just perfect when it came out.

Here is the full-size recipe:


Easy Breakfast Casserole
1 doz. eggs, scrambled as you normally would
1 can cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1/4 c. milk
6 to 8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1 lb. bacon, sausage, or ham

Cook the bacon, sausage, or ham.  Drain grease if necessary.

Heat oven to 350F.

Combine the cooked meat with the scrambled eggs. Mix the milk with the mushroom soup and fold mixture into the egg mixture. Spread into a greased 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Top with the shredded cheese.*

Cover with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees until hot (about 20 minutes).

May be prepared the night before and baked when ready to use. Allow a little extra time for baking since it will be cold. Do not preheat oven when removing from refrigerator. Put in cold oven and turn to correct oven temperature.

*I believe A.Marie mixes the cheese into the egg mixture.  The only reason I did not do that myself was because I am still learning about our camper's oven and didn't want the cheese in the mixture to possibly keep me from knowing whether the eggs were fully cooked.  Next time I will probably add the cheese in before baking.

Super Easy Sugar Cookie Bars

These cookies are based on a recipe from one of those check-out counter booklets from Pillsbury.  The original recipe included almond extract and margarine.  I've made them with the almond extract, and while good, I think I like them better with vanilla extract.  I also use butter instead of margarine and for the oil called for in the recipe, I used coconut oil.  It gave the cookies a very delicate coconut flavor that we all liked.  I made these ahead of time for camping.


Super Easy Sugar Cookie Bars
3/4 cup sugar (can use white, organic, Sucanat, etc.)
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup oil (recipe doesn't specify; I like using coconut oil)
1 Tablespoon milk
1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (per your taste)
1 egg
1-1/2 cups all-purpose or unbleached flour
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon sugar (plain or colored)

Heat oven to 375F.

In large bowl, beat 3/4 cup sugar, butter, oil, milk, vanilla extract and egg until light and fluffy.

Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt; blend well.

Spread evenly in ungreased 15x10x1 baking pan (jelly roll pan); sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar or colored sugar.

Bake at 375F for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Cool 5 minutes, then cut into bars.  Makes 4 dozen bar cookies.

Crockpot Pork and Gravy with Vegetables

This is another recipe inspired by something our friend John made and served to us.  He makes a dish of sauteed chicken breast chunks served over rice, with zucchini and mushrooms (each sauteed separately) spooned over, and then poultry gravy ladled over all of it.  It's a pretty good meal.

Now, I'll tell you this, because I tell John this too...although he's a he, he's also something of a diva in the kitchen.  He does nearly all of the cooking for his family and he doesn't really like it when I take one of his ideas and make it my own.  But I do it all the time and he just has to deal with it.  So, if you were able to ask him, he'd say the recipe that follows is NOTHING like the one he makes, and not as good, either.  To use John's own words, I have only this to say...

Whatever.

I took his meal and adapted it, not only to the foods I already had on hand, but also to the crockpot, so I could let the meat cook at camp while we were out doing other things.  It could still be served over rice, but we voted for pasta instead.  So, John's right, this isn't much like his original dish.  But I have to give him credit for the idea.

None of us thought we were very hungry the day I made this at camp, but we ended up eating every last bite of it.


Crockpot Pork and Gravy with Veggies

1 pork loin roast (about 2 pounds) cut into 1-inch cubes
2 packets of gravy mix (pork or poultry, either will work) or equal amount of bulk gravy mix
1 small to medium zucchini, sliced into half-moon shapes
1 small to medium onion (I used vidalia), cut into large chunks
1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and cut into chunks
pan spray or a small amount of oil
1 Tablespoon butter
seasoned salt
cooked, drained pasta of your choice

Place pork and a generous amount of water in a smaller crockpot and turn on the HI.  Let meat cook on HI for about 4 hours, or on LO for about 6 hours, or until tender.

When meat is tender, whisk in gravy mix, cover and let thicken.  Ours turned out rather thin, but it still worked just fine.  If you like a thicker gravy, use either less water in the crockpot or more gravy mix.

Meanwhile, saute the chopped veggies in a skillet over medium heat that has been sprayed with pan spray or coated with just a drizzle of oil.  Add a little seasoned salt to taste.  When the veggies start to get a little bit tender, add a Tablespoon of butter to the skillet, increase heat to high, and sautee until veggies begin to brown.

Spoon veggies over cooked pasta and top both the veggies and pasta with some of the pork and gravy mixture.  Serve with fresh fruit and/or bread on the side.

Cowboy Potatoes

I mentioned in my previous post comments that I learned how to make Cowboy Potatoes by watching our friend John make them.  The method is his, but the measurements are mine.  You can adjust the amounts as you see fit.


Cowboy Potatoes

6 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 to 1-1/2 inch chunks
1 medium or large Vidalia or other sweet onion (or any type of onion, really)
1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1 stick butter (yes, 1 whole stick)

Place potato chunks on a piece of foil.  Slice onion into strips and sprinkle those over the potatoes.  Sprinkle potatoes and onions with season salt and then top it all with chunks of butter.

Cover with another sheet of foil and fold the edges over.  You want lots of room in there for steam, thus the two pieces of foil instead of a folded-over packet.

John's charcoal grill method is to like the charcoal, place the packet on the grill while there are still flames, and by the time the coals burn down and are ready for grilling meat, the potatoes can come off the grill.

My gas grill method is to light the grill and set it at a medium flame.  Place the potato packet on the grill and cook for 20 minutes.

Either way, take the packet of potatoes off the grill, but do not open it.  Set it aside while you grill your other meat and/or veggies.  When the rest of your meal is done, open the potato packet.  The potatoes will still be hot, and perfectly done.

Eat them just as they are, or top them with sour cream and shredded cheese.  They are delicious either way.

I haven't made these in the oven yet, but if you want to try them that way, I would suggest 20 minutes at 350F, then let them sit on the counter for 10 minutes before opening the packet.