Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: December 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Anasazi Patties with Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Awhile back, when Brett and I first tried Anasazi beans, he said they reminded him of poultry, which I could go along with. Since then, when thinking about using Anasazi beans, I have tried them in applications where flavors similar to that of poultry would be conducive - mostly Mexican until now - and it has always worked beautifully. I mean no judgment, but I am not one of those vegetarians who is interested in recreating all my omnivorous favorites veg-style, personally, I did not stop eating meat so I could try to recreate it with fake things, I never really liked meat all that much anyway. However, I do not have a problem using particular flavor profiles. For example, I think the metallic, iron quality of green lentils holds up to the seasoning profile you would use with red meat quite well, so I will rock that seasoning combination with lentils. I will not, however, try to create something that is supposed to resemble, in taste and texture, say fajita meat strips.

Anywho, back to the topic at hand. Seeing as how Anasazi beans take on poultry-ish flavors very well, I have wanted to make a patty out of them and use poultry seasoning. I don't like calling something like this a 'burger' as to me that implies meat, but at the same time, meat doesn't have a license on the word 'burger' either - there have long been many different types of burgers, made from different types of meat, legumes, and veggies - so I was at a little bit of a loss for what to call these, I guess patties it is.

These were very, very good, though they do not taste anything (thankfully) like chicken; the beans just take on the poultry seasoning quite well. I put my food processor to work for the veggies (I so rarely think to do that and it saves a ton of time!), so the patties and the sides were all done in about 45 minutes - oh, and I was also left with 4 huge patties to freeze for quick, tasty meals in a hurry. I decided to serve these with my take on rosemary roasted sweet potatoes. Laura, from the wonderful CoMo blog Peace by Pastries, is always making something like these and various other delightful looking sweet potato dishes and I finally had a meal I thought they would go well with. They were pretty good, I would recommend (as I do in the recipe below) peeling the sweet potatoes first. And I'm honestly not sure how much I like rosemary. It has a strong "smaste" (smell-taste), and even after trying to crumble the pine needle like rosemary, it was still in large pieces that I wasn't super fond of. We also served this meal with steamed kale.

The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Anasazi Patties
Makes about six huge patties.

4 cups Anasazi beans, cooked ****
1 carrot, peeled and shredded +
1 1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms, chopped +
1/2 yellow onion, chopped +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1/2 cup regular rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup chopped walnuts +
1 tbsp organic ketchup
1 tbsp safflower oil
1 tsp poultry seasoning
black pepper

Fixins:
whole wheat burger buns
mayonnaise (I used vegan mayo)
stone ground mustard
ketchup
zesty pickles +
lettuce

(I used my food processor to chop all the veggies and save time.)

In a large bowl, smash beans with a fork, leaving just a few in whole or half form. Stir in the veggies and combine well.

Slowly stir in the oats, flour, vital wheat gluten, and walnuts. You may need to use your hands to get everything all worked together.

Add the ketchup, oil, and seasoning.

Refrigerate the dough for about an hour.

Once dough has sat for an hour, form six large balls out of the dough and flatten as you would for a burger.

Spray a small skillet with safflower (or other) oil in a mister. Let pan heat up for about a minute over medium high heat and add a patty. Fry for about 6-8 minutes and flip. I like the patties to get firmer, so I will often cook them on both sides, and then do a lot of flipping for an additional minute or two. This will allow them to cook a little more without them getting burnt.

Put on your favorite bun with your favorite toppings (how we dressed them is listed above).

Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
3 small sweet potatoes, cubed (you can peel them if you like) +
2 cloves of garlic, minced +
1 tsp dried rosemary + (not sure if it is local or not)
1/4 tsp Spanish paprika
1/4 tsp salt
dash black pepper
1-2 tbsp safflower oil

Preheat oven to 375.

Toss cubed sweet potatoes with garlic and spices. Place in a baking dish that has either been sprayed with oil or lined with parchment or foil to keep the taters from sticking.

Roast for 35-45 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

I am really stoked that we have more of these burgers in our freezer. Using the vital wheat gluten gave the patties a firmer, more pleasant texture, and it also gave me something to do with the jar of the stuff that has been lurking in my cabinet.

A bit of a side note I just noticed, as of today, I have been blogging for a year. It is amazing how quickly the time goes by.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Years! I have the last post I am behind on scheduled to go up tomorrow and will finally be caught up (!!!!!). I will be back early next week with a local booty update and to catch up on your blogs (I may have a new recipe by then as well).

'Til next time.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Maple-Brown Sugar Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Roasted Apples, Walnuts, and Cinnamon-Sugar Crumb Topping

This yummy looking treat was Brett and I's Christmas morning breakfast. It was super easy to make and filled our apartment with the warm, mapley, and cinnamon-spice smell that is quite fitting for the season. I am not generally one to do anything special or nice for brunch as I am usually satisfied with something simple and I save my energy for our evening meals, but occasionally it is nice to make something special, and what better occasion than Christmas?

This recipe also features some Missouri grown bounty. Local, easy, seasonally appropriate, AND yummy, you can't ask for much more than that from a brunch, can you?

That's enough blabbering by me, check out this bad boy.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Kidney Bean, Sweet Potato, and Millet Stew

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I know we sure did. Though we were unable to visit Brett's family in Illinois due to our losing our debit card (we have new ones now thankfully), we decided rather than be bummed, we were going to make the best of it. I am personally a huge fan on long weekends away from work anyway (who am I kidding, I am a huge fan of ANY time away from my job - it is lame!). So we spent that last four days reading, listening to music, running a few errands, watching awesome football, and playing video games together. We played Hot Shots Golf (I almost won! I have literally NEVER beat Brett at that game and we have played it so many times.), and Brett let me "run errands" for him on Grand Theft Auto since I have fun "driving" the car around. I say "driving" because it is very difficult and I often run into things or get the cops after me just trying to go get something to eat. Since I have been driving for him occasionally, I have broke about 4 cars (they just stopped running), completely scared the characters girlfriend away (because I accidently started shooting out the car window when I was trying to brake), got busted, and somehow got involved in a gang war. Such a savory game, I know, but it is pretty fun to drive around.

You may or may not have noticed that there wasn't a local booty update this week - I actually didn't go to the Root Cellar this weekend. We still have some stuff around and Brett has a cleaning/repairing project that is going to render the kitchen useless for a good portion of the week, so we will be frequenting our favorite local restaurants for a few days . It is nice to have the break from cooking, but I'm sure come next weekend, I will be ready to get back in the kitchen. Though not pictured, we did pick up some local Country Goodies peach apricot jam and a loaf of Uprise's Columbia sourdough (awesome flippin' bread by the way).

Anywho, I have been working on a little project to clean out my cabinets, inspired by Jessy and Dan who, awhile back, were working to use what they had around the house and reduce the amount of groceries they bought each week (they are so awesome that they passed the savings on to charity!). I was looking for something in my tiny kitchen the other day when I noticed how much food we have: tons of canned goods; bulk beans, rice, and other grains; winter squash, frozen goodies from summer; nuts, seeds, and so much more. I felt really bad at that moment - that we kept going out and buying new loads of groceries each week when there was so much food still around the house. I also realized that this project was not only a good way to reduce waste (and free up some cabinet space for all the goodies I want to can and preserve over the summer), but also a great opportunity for creativity. I've been creating a list of our "reserves" so that I can plan our meals accordingly and only buy things that will allow me to round out a meal using at least a few ingredients I already have.

Now, I'm in no way against stocking up, not at all, but I didn't know I still had most of this stuff! And there does come a point after stocking up that you have to start going through your stash. My goal is by the end of the winter to have the reserves depleted and our freezer empty and waiting to be filled by the abundance of summer (though we will always have a bulk amount of beans and rice around).

Brett has enjoyed this since it means that we are experimenting a lot less - and by "experimenting", I think he means trying something that isn't Mexican(ish) or Asian. :-) And honestly, I do better when I stay within the Mexican/Asian umbrella. I seem to have those flavors down and can just kind of wing it - sometimes when I venture outside that "comfort zone", things go horribly wrong. You might notice - if you don't perhaps you will now - that we use pretty much the same ingredients, we just pair them with different beans or seasonings to change things up. Most of the time I am reluctant to call what I post here "recipes" as they aren't anything special and they are often similar to other things we've made before. But if you want to know how to cook vegetarian, using mostly local ingredients, you have to be willing to eat, well, a lot of the same things, and get creative with how you throw them together.

Enough of the small talk and errant blabbering and on to the real purpose of this post - the food!

I have wanted to work with the local kidney beans we found at the Root Cellar and have been getting a little tired of creamy soup, so I decided to go a different route with this dinner. I also didn't want to make another chili either, but I wanted something warm that sticks with you as chili does. In going through my cabinet, I noticed a large container of bulk millet I bought awhile back (and forgot about) and the idea for this thick stew formed. I was pleased with how well it turned out and we got to use up some of our excess food as well as local produce, that is hard to beat.

This meal is not spicy - even Brett agreed - I, being a spice freak, added dried crushed habanero flakes to my bowl, so if you like spice, you might want to supplement with cayenne, crushed habanero, or even sriracha. We ate this with tortilla chips and it also made nice work lunches last week.

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Limits of Growth: The 30-Year Update - A Review

The Limits to Growth was originally published in 1972 and has subsequently been updated twice at the 20- and 30-year marks of the original publication. Commissioned by the Club of Rome, the authors created a computer model, World3, to look at the relationships between exponential growth, human systems, environment, and finite resources. They do not try to make predictions about the future with the World3 model –variables such as the amount of available resources, the capacity of “sinks” to absorb pollution, or the maximum productive capacities of soil or technology can only be educated guesses – but rather, seek to explore possible trends when accounting for certain assumptions in the variables.

A little aside: the “scientist” in me was very pleased when reading this book. The authors make sure to clearly and consistently explain the limitations and assumptions in the model and its various scenarios. They remind us – as all good scientists should – that we should be skeptical, yet respectful; we should look at their ideas with honest, open eyes and minds, but also be willing to come to different conclusions about what we see, to disagree with their assumptions, because nobody really knows.

They approach the idea of limits from a systems perspective – focusing on the “big picture” – this does not mean that systems analysis does not look at individual elements, but it looks at individual elements in relation to other elements or how that element affects the whole. They do not seek to gain insight about any one variable in the model on its own.

A main focus, and thus part of the purpose of the model is to explore the limits of exponential growth in a finite world. The concept of exponential growth is very important, though not well understood. This isn’t because the concept is hard to grasp, there are many examples that clearly illustrate it, it is that the ramifications of understanding the situation are complex and face us with real limits that call for a fundamental change in the nature of our daily existence and interaction with our environment. An easy way to begin to look at exponential growth is this question, “Why does the population continue to expand rapidly in absolute numbers even as the birth rate is declining?” The short answer is the age distribution of the population and the sheer size of the population. Though couples are choosing to have fewer children, there are more couples coming of reproductive age, thus we end up with a net increase.

Perhaps now we can understand how the repercussions of something consequential like population, resource demand/availability, or pollution can be affected by exponential growth. This is why when someone says something like “we have a 150 year supply of ‘x’ resource left” it is very misleading. These figures are derived at the consumption rate at the time, the 150 year figure only applies if there is no growth in demand for the resource over time – this is something that is not likely to happen unless we reach very harsh limitations.

The World3 model used to chart the possible interactions of variables such as food/person, services/person, consumer goods/person, industrial output/person, population, resources, pollution, ecological footprint, life expectancy, and human welfare, is inherently limited in that it doesn’t (because it is too complex and speculative) account for war, political strife, corruption, or even all of the variables affecting those mentioned above. The point of the model is not to make predictions of the future, but to give a rough idea of what could lie ahead, what our possible future could look like, what problems we could be faced with, what the trends show, etc.

What I noticed immediately was that accounting for just one variable – even completely – was not enough. Simply reigning in population does nothing to stymie pollution or land degradation, just as simply reducing pollution does nothing to increase the abilities of a limited amount of land to feed an exponentially growing world. What you are left with are three basic scenarios, all involving overshoot as the authors believe our consumption is already above sustainable levels: oscillation, collapse, or equilibrium. Of course none of these scenarios are exclusive, even a situation of equilibrium might have periods of oscillation or scarcity due to delays, which will be discussed further below. There are also relative degrees of these scenarios, measures to account for these limits such as land stewardship, voluntary simplicity, pollution abatement, and family planning are taken and provide nuanced differences in results.

A scenario of oscillation basically means that the population would overshoot the planet’s carrying capacity (ability to provide all the services and goods the population needs) – but not to a point at which the planet could not recover - this would lead to periods of scarcity and die off leading to the reduction of the population below the carrying capacity of the environment. This could happen voluntarily, involuntarily, or in some combination. If crisis hit, we could understand that we’ve overshot of planets ability to sustain us and take whatever measures we can to come back in line with that ability, or we could allow Mother Nature to bring us back in line with that capacity via famine and possibly disease. Remember again, this model assumes no war or political strife, which is not likely to be the case in times so desperate. The scenarios of collapse, on the other hand, occur when no precautions or abatement measures are taken – or they are taken too late – and the planet loses its ability to completely recover. The scenarios often show a drastic reduction in available food, resources, and life expectancy, along with increasing pollution. A dramatic reduction in human population follows and the material standard of living can not be brought back up to previous standards - at least not on timescales useful to humans. The most desirable scenario, equilibrium, could involve times of over exceeding the carrying capacity, but the long-term trend is one in which the resources needed to sustain the population are above the demands of the said population. This could be brought about with sound social, industrial, and agricultural policy, pollution abatement, population reduction, but most importantly, with a voluntary reduction in desired material standard of living - this does not mean us all living like paupers, but I think the days of 3 TVs and 2 computers would be long gone at that point.

Part of the problem we face is the reality of delays and feedback loops. Pollution emitted from cars today do not immediately begin affecting the atmosphere – on the contrary – it will be many years before we feel the full affects of today’s pollution. Meaning, say this was a perfect world, and we ceased any and all pollution starting now, we would still see an overall increase in pollution for a few decades before it began to level off and decline. This is what muddies the picture of the future even further, how long does it take for the full affects to be felt? Nobody is completely sure because, of course, we are in uncharted territory. There are also feedback loops, both positive and negative to (try to) account for. A positive feedback loop is one where an effect on a variable in one direction causes it to move even faster or farther in that direction. Agriculture and population are the easy example of a positive feedback loop. More population can be sustained as humans move to agriculture, but as more people are born, more land has to be cultivated at an accelerated rate. A negative feedback look is where an effect on a variable in one direction causes a decreased response. An example of this could be the unsustainable extraction of water from a river. As more water is drawn out, less water flows to the sea, perhaps ceasing to flow all together.

These elements, the various choices humanity can make along the way, and all the variables that were not included in this model limit what one can glean about the future from a computer. But what it does show is the importance of looking at a system not just its constituent parts, of understanding the spiral effect of feedback loops and exponential growth, of understanding and accounting for delays where possible, of the importance of far sighted thinking and full accounting of the “costs” of the things that make our society possible, and that we understand that there is such a thing as too late to avoid collapse. We must find and respect limits, explore alternatives, and be ever-mindful of our ability to leave a world that is either better or worse than the one had, but only if we act - and act with foresight, humbly, and together.

This was an excellent book that I will be adding to J's Recommended Reads. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand systems thinking, feedback loops, delays, or the many possible outcomes for our future.

I probably won't post again until next week due to the holidays. I made (and have planned) a couple of new recipes, but I am going to wait to post them until next week.

From the both of us here at Veg*n Cooking, we wish you a happy, safe, and non-consumerist holiday (like how I added that in?).

'Til next time!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Weekly Local Booty 12/14-12/20/08

Thank you everyone for the incredibly kind comments on my last post. There are times when immersing oneself in information can become a bad thing. Reflecting on the current situation and the relative helplessness it can lead to are tough to deal with at times, and it helps to make sure that you take the "heavy stuff" in moderation and make time for the fun. I am generally very good about this, but at times I find myself overwhelmed. I think it is something that all of us who are concerned with the state of things, the sustainability of our current situation, with minimizing our impact, feel - without moderation it can really start to bog you down. I appreciate all the comments and have been (and will continue to) take the advice given. Brett and I are going to enjoy this chilly day in Mid-Missouri by playing games together and making a tasty dinner. I might try to get a little reading in as well, but thankfully, the books I have in "queue" are not heavy or depressing, quite the contrary. And though I always say I will do book reviews and then forget until I am immersed in another book, I will try to do reviews of the ones I have yet to read.

Anyways, on to the real purpose of this post, this week's local booty! You will notice that there isn't nearly as much here as we usually get, we have a lot of local goodies around still: peanut butter, almond butter, tahini, salsa, jam, pickles, walnuts, pecans, chestnuts, pasta sauce, locally produced chocolate, apples, squash, potatoes (sweet and regular), kidney beans, onions, garlic, and the last of our community garden tomatoes that were ripened in a paper bag. With the "non-locals" starting to show up at the Root Cellar, I have also starting using the stash of local veggies and other goodies we froze over the summer from our garden, CSA, and the farmer's market. I did pick up some non-locals this week, but they are a minority of the ingredients planned for use in this week's meals.

I didn't make a trip to Uprise Bakery this week as Brett is doing fine on coffee and we are planning a chunky soup eaten with tortilla chips for this weekend. I considered stopping in for breakfast on my way to work but we had some seriously crazy winds yesterday morning here in Columbia.

Here is this week's haul from the Root Cellar, this ran about $30.

Starting from the bottom right: lots of shiitake mushrooms, 4 lbs. of purple potatoes (we really like potatoes), cayenne peppers, carrots, 2 avocados (not local, obviously), a bell pepper (not local), and a bunch of Red Russian Kale (not local, from Colorado). I also got a St. Louis produced Fitz's Root Beer; it's just not pictured here.

I forgot to talk about fantasy football/football picks last weekend, and I know how very disappointed that makes you all, so I will fill you in on what happened. Our team snuck into the playoffs, the first of the two games was last weekend. Unfortunately, we lost our playoff game and thus our fantasy football season is over. We are both very pleased with the outcome, neither of us thought we would come even close to doing as well as we did. In football pick news, Brett had gained a slight lead on me - but we split on quite a few games last weekend - I now have a 3 game lead since I "swept" in the games we split on. "Fucker" was his response to this outcome. :-) We split on 3 games this weekend, so we'll see how it pans out.

Song of the Day: "Lullaby of Birdland" - Dexter Gordon and Lionel Hampton

Have a great weekend everyone!

'Til next time.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Whole Wheat Brownies

So these aren't really anything special. In fact I almost didn't post about these as I haven't been all that into the whole blogging thing this week (I've had to force myself so I don't get behind and have tons of recipes and pictures waiting to be posted about), and as I said, these really aren't anything to write home about. But they are really good and they have been, by far, Brett's favorite baked good I've made during my recently kaput baking project. That combined with my having a little time at work means I have decided to post the recipe for anyone interested.

These are just plain whole wheat chocolate brownies, but the texture is far better than the fudgy brownie recipe I have been using for the past year or two. They also aren't as sweet, and Brett and I have a problem with finding sweets that aren't too sweet.

(Sorry about the picture, this was the best one I had taken.)

The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Wheat Brownies
Modified from this recipe.

1/2 cup Earth Balance, melted
1 cup raw organic sugar
2 eggs (or replacer) +
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract + (not local)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray an 8x8 pan with oil.

Combine Earth Balance, sugar, eggs, and vanilla well in a large bowl.

Slowly add the dry ingredients. Don't over stir.

Spread batter evenly into pan.

Bake for 25 minutes or until knife inserted in the middle comes clean.

Sorry for the lackluster post, I haven't really felt like doing much this week, I'm not sick or anything, but certain things, such as Sharon's predictions for 2009, the lameness that is my job (and my insecurity and fear to try to do something different with my life), and my inability to save the world all by myself - :-) - have been wearing on me lately.

Have a happy Friday everyone, and as always...

'Til next time.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Herbed Pumpkin Gnocchi

A week or so ago, Scott, from the cool CoMo blog Show-Me Eats, posted a recipe for Pumpkin Gnocchi that he and his son made. Both Brett and I absolutely love gnocchi, but the few times I have tried to make it, the result has been disaster. So I gave up really, we occasionally buy Rising Moon Organic's garlic and herb gnocchi, but it just isn't the same as homemade gnocchi, not to mention, I can get local potatoes from around here, and if a four year old can do it... :-) What kept me from making it sooner was the pumpkin in the recipe - I had to convince myself that it wouldn't taste funny. I can tell you - it does not taste funny at all and it was not a disaster. This meal was absolutely amazing and Brett and I will make a double batch next time so we can freeze some for really easy, tasty, and local dinners.

I changed the recipe a little bit for a couple of reasons. First off, there cheese called for in the recipe - obviously, my being allergic to dairy meant that I had to remove that, but I knew that if I simply removed it without adding some more flavor that it would be a little bland, so I worked in some herbs and a little more salt than I would have used had I been using cheese. The recipe was also in grams and such and since I am lazy and thus didn't want to get my scale out, I found rough equivalents and worked from there.

I went through a lot of trouble trying to decide what kind of sauce I wanted to serve this with. We ended up eating opting for St. Louis made Zia's pasta sauce, but I had also made a vegan chestnut cream sauce that I was planning on serving with the gnocchi initially. Until we tasted it that is... The chestnut cream sauce actually turned out pretty well - I think - if you like creamy sauces like alfredo. Neither Brett nor I can stand alfredo so when I tasted it after it had been blended and seasoned, I couldn't bring myself to eat it. I know my description of it makes it sound like it was very mouthwatering, but my tastes are just different. We both thought that if you like alfredo you would really dig on this sauce, and hey, it's made with lots of local ingredients and it's dairy free (though you could easily use real milk in it). If anyone wants the recipe, let me know and I will add it to the post.

All I will say is that if you like gnocchi, give this, or Scott's original recipe a try, YUM!

(You might notice that I didn't shape the gnocchi. I tried to at first, but I was just making a mess, getting frustrated, and along the way I realized that it really didn't matter all that much. I would like to get that down though; I didn't feel as though this looks like real gnocchi. :-))

The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Herbed Pumpkin Gnocchi
Recipe modified from here.

1 cup pumpkin puree +
1 1/2 cup mashed potatoes (see note below) +
2 cups (or more - see note below) semolina flour
4 cloves of garlic, roasted (see note below) +
3 tbsp olive oil + (not local)
1/2 tsp dried rosemary + (not local)
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
salt
pepper

Notes:

*I used 2 small yellow potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed, so it wasn't exactly measured.

*Use however much you need, but I found to get the dough to the consistency I needed required about 2 cups of flour.

*I mashed the roasted garlic cloves in with the potatoes.

Get a pot of salted water boiling.

Combine pumpkin, potatoes, oil, and seasonings.

Slowly add in the flour, using a fork or your hands, until well combined and you have a thick dough.

Break the large piece of dough into 4-6 smaller pieces, roll into balls.

Roll out into about 1" ropes of dough.

Cut pieces 1/2" in length.

If you want you can shape the dough all nice. I made a huge mess trying to do this, so we just boiled and ate 'em without shaping them and they were just fine.

Gently place in boiling water and let cook for 3-4 minutes or until the gnocchi have the texture you like.

Serve with pasta sauce, cream sauce, or flavored olive oil as suggested in the original recipe.

These were so very good, I can't wait to have them again!

Song of the Day: "The Devil's Chasing Me" - Reverend Horton Heat

'Til next time.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Roasted Buttercup Squash and Garlic Soup with Leeks, Rosemary, and Basil

So it turns out we have a slight change of plans for Christmas. We will not be going to Illinois for the holidays this year; we will be spending Christmas here in CoMo. Why you ask? Well, Brett and I don't really "believe" in credit cards (I imagine this hurts my dad since he works for MasterCard), we don't believe in buying things if you do not have the money and both think they are unnecessary temptations. We have only debit cards. Brett lost his debit card. When we went to report it lost yesterday, we were informed that my card (tied to the same account) would no longer work either and that it would be 7-10 business days until we get our new card. No big deal right? We still have access to cash, no biggie. Then it hit us - how are we going to rent a car?! Especially with it being the holiday season, you have to give some notice. After a little bit of sulking, it was determined that we wouldn't be able to go to Illinois, and thus I will also not be making the baked goods baskets I've been testing recipes for over the past couple of months. It is a bummer, but I am looking at the "silver lining", I get a few days off and get to relax at home with Brett. I also don't have to spend two whole days in the kitchen either.

Thankfully, soup and bread night was back on this weekend, and despite the baking I did, I still made time to make soup. We had a couple of buttercup squash in our closet that I have been eyeing for awhile, eager to try them out, so they were the base for this week's soup. I must say, I think aside from butternut, buttercup is now my second favorite type of squash (though delicata are starting to rival too) - they are so sweet, creamy, and they are not stringy at all.

This was an easy, creamy, and wonderful soup for a mild Mid-Missouri evening. Speaking of mild - it was a beautiful weekend; Sunday it was gorgeous, now there is ice on the ground, and snow coming down. Damn winter.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Weekly Local Booty 12/7-12/13/08 and A Very Special Guest (Proof that Republicans CAN have a sense of humor - if they want)

Before I introduce our very special guest for this week's Local Booty Update, I want to make a note. I noticed when I was at The Root Cellar that more "non-locals" were arriving (the Cellar brings in out of state organic produce over the winter to supplement), and the "locals" - at least in terms of fresh produce - are declining. I will likely start buying a few of these non-locals from the Cellar each week and I'll try not to feel too bad about it. But hey - we've got to eat this winter, don't we? (And we have come pretty far in terms of food miles compared to, say, even last year.) I'm also not sure one can really be a true (non-dairy eating vegetarian) locavore either, at least not in the Midwest, where I call home. Anywho, you might not be able to tell from the photos below - we still managed to get a lot of good loot this week - I think it might be the last week for some of it, like the tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

Anyways, enough of that. We have a very special guest on this humble blog. None other than everyone's favorite president:

That's right ladies and gentlemen, Mr. George W. Bushy himself.

Why, you may ask, do I have a framed picture of George W. Bush, in what appears to be a handmade frame in our apartment? The answer is simple: protection. If the thought police come 'a knockin' on our door any time between now and January 20th, we've got "the big guns" - how could we be anything other than good, upstanding Americans with a picture of GW? (If we added a couple of NRA memberships and a crucifix, I think we'd really be set.)

Here he is feeling very festive, quite fitting for fall wouldn't you say?

In all seriousness, we had a White Elephant gift exchange at our office holiday party and this was the contribution by the graduate assistant in our office (studying political science), who happens to be a staunch conservative. As noted in the title to this post, proof that the dark side can, indeed, still have a sense of humor. I enjoyed this gift so much that I "stole" it from the lucky initial recipient. Too bad we couldn't have swapped gifts - my White Elephant gift, two hideously beautiful "peace garden stones" for his beloved GWB portrait - I think it would have been a fitting exchange, don't you? (The "Peace" garden stones were given to us by a very interesting person we met while doing some activism.)

I did question for a moment though how he came to have a framed picture of GWB. I figured he probably put it together for the event, but for a brief moment, I did wonder...

Onto the local booty, featuring, of course, our guest of honor.

I made two trips to The Root Cellar this week, there is only so much one person can carry (especially when I try not to take up two seats on the bus).

This is trip one (and no, we don't plan on eating this all this week, we were stocking up on a few things):

Starting from the bottom center this week: Missouri grown pecans (!!!!!), yellow potatoes, Zia's pasta sauce, a pie pumpkin, GWB, 3 small buttercup squash, another pie pumpkin, East Wind almond butter, East Wind peanut butter, and a not-so-pretty-but-still-perfectly-fine spaghetti squash.

And the second trip to the Cellar, I paid attention to this one, it ran $40:

Starting from the bottom left: a bar of locally produced Patric 67% cacao dark chocolate (a serious treat), yellow onions, bell peppers, Anaheim peppers, leeks, garlic, apples, tomatoes, dried cilantro, organic vanilla extract (not local), spinach, GWB (not local, thankfully), shiitake mushrooms, and eggs.

And of course, our weekly trip to Uprise Bakery:

In addition to our special guest, we have the "usual" - ciabatta and a half pound of whole bean fair trade organic coffee. This week we got "Midnight Sun", a dark roast.

So, I'm sure anyone who reads this blog for any period of time would infer that I have a weird sense of humor - you would be right. GWB: case in point. Anyways, I noticed something interesting about the dried cilantro I got from The Root Cellar. Tell me, wise bloggers, what is wrong with this picture?

This tickles me in the same way that the local news gets me (or Democracy Now! when Juan Gonzalez is on the show), I love it when they mess up (or get confused, or something goes wrong with the feed or camera).

I don't think this will surprise anyone (especially if you've met me in person) but I could never tell an actual joke in real life - I guess I am too monotone and not very good at delivery because people can't often tell when I'm joking :-), so I have to go with a different angle (aka questionably funny) - which helps I suppose, since I have a different sort of sense of humor.

Have a great weekend everyone!

'Til next time.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin Bars with Maple-Walnut Frosting

For my second (and quite successful) baking adventure last weekend, I wanted to make something that was a spiced cake with some sort of frosting that was at least reminiscent of a cream cheese frosting. I was originally thinking along the carrot cake line, but when I got in the freezer to take out some pumpkin puree to make Pumpkin-Walnut bread for our annual work holiday party earlier this week, I pulled another container down and decided to go with a pumpkin bar. (On a side note, I am now out of all that pumpkin puree I froze, we've gotten two more small pie pumpkins and will be picking up a few more over the coming days to store with the rest of our winter squash.)

When thinking about the frosting, I decided to go with a maple flavored frosting as I thought it would complement the spiced pumpkin bars really well (it does!). Then I decided to add chopped walnuts and that created a super tasty (albeit very sweet) frosting that did slightly remind me of a cream cheese based frosting - score!

Now, I personally do not like super sweet baked goods. I am one of those freaks who prefer cakes and cupcakes unfrosted, so these were much too rich for me. They were really good, so I tried a couple of times to go back and have more (trying smaller pieces each time), but every time I tried, I just gave myself a tooth or tummy ache. I guess it might not be a super bad thing that I can no longer eat those really rich treats, but these were good, and I wanted to eat more than I could!

The bad thing about this baking experiment is that I found out that these will not work for our gift baskets. They were super tasty, and even had the flavor I was looking for, but they do not last long, and being frosted, don't take to being wrapped up and traveling very well. So in the end, it looks like our chocolate-caffeine sensitive relative is going to be getting a TON of peanut butter and oatmeal raisin cookies.

Plain 'ol Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Cookies

Promises, promises. I said I would post about last weekend's baking successes this week, and the next thing I know it is Friday, and I have yet to do it! Things at work have been pretty busy; I have been loafing around at home - just reading and playing Hot Shots Golf on the PS3. It's been fun, and I've really needed a break. My weekends have been so busy that I work all weekend before I go back to work, and then I also want to try a few new meals here and there. There just hasn't been the time for it! So on Wednesday, I took a much needed half day from work, didn't do anything important at all (that was the point!), and we've even been munching on Amy's California burgers (bought from the Peace Nook, also using local pickles) and fried potatoes (local), and steamed spinach (local). They have made for a couple of nights of easy meals, and I have gotten to relax! Normally I would prefer making my own "burgers" of course, but I didn't have any frozen and making burgers from scratch takes away from that much needed relaxation time. Anywho, this is one of the two successes I had last weekend; I will double-post today to get them both up.

A note: I still have lots of baking to do this weekend, so I am making simple tried and true meals. I am going to try my hand at making homemade gnocchi again tonight (as I won't be baking after work), I will be making soup tomorrow (for soup and bread night), and after that, I have planned a menu of things I have already posted about, chosen for their tastiness, but also the ease in preparation. We will be having Leng's Veggie Fried Rice, Bean Burritos (using 'Traditional' Refried Beans), Super Easy Tasty Taco Salad, Fajita Burritos, and perhaps a frozen Amy's pizza somewhere if needed. You will notice that most of these meals rely on refried beans. Brett will make up a huge batch and we will have the basic "element" for most of the week's meals already prepared. This will mean that I will (hopefully) have some relaxation time this weekend and during the week, but that also means that most of the posts you will see in the coming week or two will be baked good related. Please bear with me, the regular food will return after the holidays.

Back to the cookies! Geez I can get off on a tangent, can't I? I needed to come up with something that I could make for a family member that is allergic to chocolate and caffeine. I had Brett pry a little bit and we found out he likes peanut butter, oatmeal cookies, and cheese cake. Well the first two I can work with, the cheese cake - well that is a problem. I don't eat dairy and Brett despises cheese cake, so there would be nobody to test it. And somehow I imagine he wouldn't want a Tofutti cheese cake, and I am not about to taste Tofutti cream cheese - the thought just kind of grosses me out. So I chose to try out peanut butter cookies, and something I hoped would be at least reminiscent of cream cheese (see the next post).

These cookies aren't really anything special, other than being whole grain, super tasty, and loaded with Missouri-produced peanut butter (and eggs!). Mine didn't come out as pretty as I would have liked it to have. I guess I'm just not all that good at shaping things.

I've yammered enough; let's get to the picture and recipe!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

J&B Do Indian - Take 3: Whole Wheat Veggie Samosas and Garbanzo Bean, Cabbage, and Potato Curry

Over the weekend, since I wasn't able to get a loaf of ciabatta from Uprise for our usual soup and bread night (aka Saturday), I decided that it was the right time to try Indian food again. I've long been interested in Indian food as there is a lot of vegetarian fare and I understand it is spicy. However, our first two experiences with it were pretty bad.

I decided to try out a simple curry and veggie samosas. I've never seen an Indian samosa, I've only had Thai ones at a local restaurant, so I wasn't entirely sure what they were supposed to look like, hence why they are in many different shapes. I also decided to try out a curry as our main dish, as that is the type of Indian food I see most often around the blogosphere.

The verdict? The samosas were pretty good - the dipping sauce pictured below was horrible, so I won't bother with a recipe. I will say though, I like the Thai ones a lot better. And the curry - I think if you like Indian food, you would like this curry, but for us, it was just too strong. I know curries are normally served with rice or bread - which I imagine tones down some of the something that is so overpowering about the dish, but already having samosas too, I decided against pairing the curry with anything. In the end, I think we just don't really like Indian food. We were able to eat this meal and see the positive qualities it would have to someone who likes the combination of flavors used, but it just isn't for us. I love Thai food though, so I am interested in trying a Thai curry. We like spicy, but there is just a little too much flavor for either of us to handle.

Don't let that stop you from making these though, if you like Indian food, I think the curry would be very pleasing. And the samosas were really good, their filling was very flavorful, but not overwhelmingly so. I think I will make sure to have some sort of chutney or other dipping sauce that isn't icky next time I make samosas.

The local booty legend (aka revealing my sources):
no asterisk = grocery store
+ = local produce from The Root Cellar
++ = The Peace Nook (will denote whether product is local or just from the Nook)
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden
**** = the non-profit buying club, Blue Planet or Purcell Mountain Farms

Whole Wheat Veggie Samosas
Makes about 12 samosas

Samosa dough:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp safflower oil
1/2 tsp ground cayenne pepper
a pinch of salt
enough water to work dough

Combine ingredients in a bowl (I used my hands to get it all combined) and let rest for 30 minutes.

Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until very thin. Cut into 12 even portions (I used a sharp knife, a pizza cutter would work well too).

Filling:
4 small potatoes, boiled and drained +
1 carrot, peeled and chopped +
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced +
6 shiitake mushrooms, chopped +
1/2 cup peas + (not local but from a local store)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1 tbsp curry powder
pinch salt

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a small skillet. Add the carrot, jalapeno, mushrooms, onion, and garlic. Cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add the peas and heat through. Drain any excess liquid.

Using a fork, mash the potatoes with the curry powder and salt. Stir in the rest of the veggies.

Spoon a tablespoon or more of the filling into each section of samosa dough. Apparently they are supposed to be triangular in shape, but I just rolled them up like eggrolls or burritos. Either way is fine.

In a large heavy pan, heat about 1/4-1/2 inch of safflower oil over medium high heat for about 3-4 minutes.

Carefully (I used tongs) place the samosas in the oil and fry for about 8-10 minutes and flip. Watch the other side, it doesn't normally take as long to get done. Drain on paper towels.

Garbanzo Bean, Cabbage, and Potato Curry
2 cups garbanzo beans (chickpeas), cooked
1/2 head cabbage, chopped +
4 small potatoes, cubed (I left the skin on) +
1 yellow onion, chopped +
4 cloves of garlic, minced +
1" ginger, minced
2 small tomatoes, chopped +
2 tbsp curry powder
dash salt and pepper
1/2 cup veggie broth

Heat a few tablespoons of water or safflower oil in a large skillet. Add the potatoes. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times.

Add the cabbage, onion, garlic, and ginger. Cook for another 10-15 minutes.

Add the tomato, garbanzo beans, broth, and spices. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

I would recommend serving this with rice or naan.

I had also mentioned that I had planned on taking the weekend off from baking - well that kind of fell through. I am making baked goodie baskets for our families for the holidays and one of the recipients is allergic to caffeine and chocolate, so I needed to try out a couple of recipes for him. Not to mention, we had our holiday party yesterday, so I also had to bake another loaf of our Pumpkin-Walnut Bread. I've gotta tell ya, I am going to be very happy to be done with these. It has been fun, and improved my baking skill, but I've felt like I've spent the whole weekend working between baking multiple things a weekend and all the dishes that creates. I also haven't had time to play with many of the new dishes I've wanted to, and to be honest, there are times when I don't want to make dinner at all after baking and doing dishes for 10-12 hours. I am down to two recipes to test, and hopefully, if those go well, I will be able to take not this weekend, but the next, off of baking. Wahoo!

Needless to say, I had a couple of successes this weekend and will post about them later this week. I also made the time (though I was exhausted at the end of the day) to make a homemade enchilada sauce from scratch, which I will be using in a nice (easy!) dinner tonight.

'Til next time!

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Weekly Local Booty 11/30-12/6/08

It's been a pretty chilly week in Mid-Missouri; thankfully we woke up this morning to some warmer weather! We are both feeling loads better - thank you for all the nice comments by the way - there is still a bit of a lingering cough, but other than that, we are close to 100%. I need to tell my mom that her "flu that wasn't contagious anymore" was in fact.

We ended up getting quite a bit of local booty this week from The Root Cellar. I made two trips there so I could stock up on a few things. I am going to take a break from baking this weekend, as I have missed having the time to make some new dishes I have wanted to try. I also have some gardening work I need to take care of. I learned that while our greens are growing a bit leggy and thus probably need some extra support, the cats also have a lot to do with why some of our plants are struggling. I think it is time to start another pot of kitty grass to keep their interest in our plants down. Brett told me that the other day, he had to get Nermal out of the cucumber pot, and get her to stop putting our pepper plants in her mouth and shaking them. Pesky critters!

You will notice that there is no ciabatta from Uprise this week. I went there yesterday morning, and they were running a little behind schedule, I didn't really have time to wait, so I decided to nix the soup and bread night this week. Instead, I am going to try Indian food again. I'm feeling brave, so I am going to make veggie samosas and a garbanzo bean curry (aka chickpeas - am I the only one who calls them garbanzo beans?). Hopefully it doesn't end in disaster, but I feel I cannot judge a cuisine from a couple of bad experiences. I did get a few granola bars while I was at Uprise for work breakfasts, but I left them in my office, so there is no picture.

Anyways, check out our local booty from The Root Cellar this week:

I believe this trip ran about $30.

Starting from the bottom right: 4 lbs. small yellow potatoes, 4 lbs. sweet potatoes, olive oil (not local), dried rosemary (I'm not sure if this is local rosemary or not, I will assume it is not), Zia's pasta sauce (it is good!), and two bags of walnuts (local nuts didn't do so well this year, I am stocking up while I can).

And the second trip, I think this load ran about $40.

Starting from the bottom right: local heirloom tomatoes, 2 jalapenos, 2 Anaheim peppers, oyster mushrooms, 2 red onions, 2 bulbs of garlic (I'm a little OCD with the local garlic), carrots, eggs, frozen peas (not local), 2 green bell peppers, a head of cabbage, salad greens, spinach, chestnuts (!!!!!), and kidney beans (!!!!!).

The stock of local tomatoes at the Cellar seems to be reduced each week. I honestly cannot believe that we've still been able to get local tomatoes this late into the year. We think that someone might have a greenhouse or something. I'll be sad when they aren't available anymore, but am very thankful to still have them when its so chilly outside.

Brett snapped this picture this week and I thought I'd share:

The rare sight of Gabby and Nermal being nice to each other. Only in sleep can they get along sometimes, it goes through phases.

I realized that I forgot to talk about fantasy football and our football picks last week (I know you are all so disappointed). We won our game last week and have now officially clinched our division. Our fantasy football team is going to the playoffs! We have some roster issues though. Since Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg with an illegal weapon (talk about a role model!), he has is out for the rest of the season. He is one of our best receivers. I've been thinking about picking up Hixon (from the Giants) since it seems he would likely to get more catches with Plax out. We've still got Greg Jennings (Green Bay) who might be our best receiver, we've got Vincent Jackson (Chargers) who hasn't done too bad, and then we have Hank Baskett (Eagles) who, whenever we decide not to start him, gets touchdowns and something like 5 catches, but when we do start him, he doesn't even get looked at. I think we are going to see what is available in the free agency.

Brett is catching up with me on football picks, just like he did last year! My lead is down to one game, and we split on, I believe, 5 games this weekend. It is an exciting year to be a football fan!

Another random aside: am I the only one who really digs classic NFL Films music? Seriously, it's some good stuff!

Anywho, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

'Til next time.

Thursday, December 4, 2008

Whole Grain Spelt Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

When determining what type of cookies I wanted to make, I decided that they shouldn't all be chocolate based cookies. I get stuck in a rut at times, as most people love chocolate, so that always seems the way to go. This is weird because my favorite cookie has always been oatmeal raisin cookies - not a chocolate variety (though I am a fan). Not to mention, not everyone can have chocolate (sad!), and not everyone likes chocolate (I can't even understand this!), so I branched out and made some non-chocolate cookies as well.

I love oatmeal raisin cookies, so any spin on them is a good sign in my book. I found some local walnuts at The Root Cellar over the weekend - some of them I used for pumpkin-walnut bread for Thanksgiving - but I wanted to highlight them in something else. I must say, these are excellent. From what I could gather, they were also the favorite at work as well. The walnuts were so flavorful, soft, and provided a creamy and buttery flavor that complemented the sweet and tart dried cranberries really well. These go wonderfully with tea and make a pretty dang good breakfast too, if I might say.

I modified this recipe from here.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Whole Grain Spelt Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies with Cinnamon-Sugar Frosting

I am really growing to like pumpkin. When I was looking at recipes for cookie ideas, I also had a local pumpkin roasting in the oven, so when I came across a few pumpkin cookie recipes, it seemed like a good thing to try.

(A side note about pumpkins (and winter squash in general): I am glad they are so forgiving. I got this pumpkin from The Root Cellar a few weeks ago and just got around to roasting it, I'm lucky they are longer keepers!)

This is one of the more difficult recipes I've tried. I am no good at glazing, icing, or decorating things, so I tend to skip recipes that call for any of the above. But I am trying to improve my skill and shirking off a challenge seems to be antithetical to my goal. I must admit though, I made a mess because I didn't really think the process through. It didn't occur me to put parchment paper under the wire rack while glazing the cookies until after I had made a mess, followed by my moving the cookies to a (parchment lined) surface, and cleaning up a big mess of glaze off the table and floor. And I have a college degree, in a "scientific" area no less... ;-)

Messes aside, these were really good cookies. They were mild, and yet another excellent cookie to pair with tea. I think these would make a great breakfast too - though I would prefer it without the glaze for that purpose. I don't like anything too sweet in the morning.

Recipe modified from here.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Garden Update - November

So a lot has gone on in a month. I think, having a good month of shorter days of sunlight and some mighty cool temperatures that some things are going to work inside without too much trouble, others will work inside just fine - they just need a little more coddling, and others well, without a lot of effort, they don't do so well inside.

The greens and pepper plants that were started inside seem to be doing just fine. Looking back over the pictures from the last month, they have grown a lot, they still have a ways to go before they get to a size where they could produce, but they are still growing and looking strong. I think one of the jalapeno and one of the cayenne starts will need to be staked up pretty soon. Basil seems to do alright in our apartment as well. The initial basil starts are growing, albeit very slowly, but they are growing. We started a second container of basil and they too are doing quite well. I started a window box full of salad greens and stuck them in, well, the window, and so far, they are doing very well, they seem to handle the cold of the window just fine.

I tried to start a second container of catnip for the critters and it looks like I am going to have to try again there, a little start came up and just as quickly withered away. The older catnip is still growing quite well. The cooking greens have been giving me a little bit of trouble, as has the cilantro. After some research online, I decided to sow the seeds for the cooking greens (chard, kale, and spinach) into the containers I wanted to grow them in. I did the same with the cilantro seeds. They all sprouted and looked wonderful. But then they started to grow and could no longer support their own weight and fell over and died. I think I am going to start the cooking greens and cilantro in smaller containers and transplant them into the larger ones when they mature a little bit. I am a little tentative about doing this, as they seem quite frail, but I can't think of any other way to handle that problem.

Our tomatillo plant died, but I don't think it is impossible to think that we could grow tomatillos inside. The plant did quite well, after being staked up, with the amount of sunlight and temperatures it received, it even began to bloom. However, the plant had a spider mite problem. I didn't have many tomatillo seeds to begin with and have started most of the seeds I do have. We had one start going for awhile that died, and as of today, now have another couple of starts going. A note to all indoor gardeners out there: if you notice spider mites, take care of them immediately, they are hard to rid the plant of - but at least that is all they are interested in.

One Ball Squash will not survive in an apartment without some artificial supplementation in light and perhaps even temperature. Since they were transplanted, the starts essentially began to slowly die. We lost two starts pretty quick and the others just slowly withered away. I started some bushing cucumbers in the container the One Balls were in, I read that those can do fairly well, but I don't have very high hopes. I had the seed, and the soil was already there, so I figured it would be worth a try.

The outdoor pepper plants that were brought inside are not doing well at all. We had to get rid of our second-year serrano as it was about 80% dead and the remaining 20% had aphids, which we didn't want to spread to the other plants. This was pretty hard for us, as we both consider ourselves "brown thumbs" and novices at best, and we were able to get it to produce, keep it alive over a winter, and get it to produce again for a second year. We were hoping to be able to retire it as a houseplant, but that was not to be, I suppose. The other container plants from outdoors are hanging on, but not looking so hot. Over the weekend, I am going to have Brett prune the dead limbs off the plants, and I am going to try feeding them.

Here are this month's garden pictures. Some of them I was able to get pictures of, singly, each week, so I will show them in a progression.

Basil:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Catnip:

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

One of the two Cayenne plants (known from here on out as "cayenne in light container"):

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

The second of the two cayenne plants (known from here on out as "cayenne in green container"):

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

One of the two jalapeno plants (known from here on out as "the droopy jalapeno"):

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

The second of the two jalapeno plants (known from here on out as "jalapeno in green container"):

Week One

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Cherry bomb in green container:

Week Two

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Cherry Bomb in light container:

Week Two

Week Four

Week Five

Newly started basil:

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Window box salad greens:

Week Three

Week Four

Week Five

Cucumbers:

Week Four

Week Five

Cilantro:

Week Five

Kale - second try:

Week Four

Week Five - looking gnarly

Chard - take two:

Week Four

Week Five

I thought I'd end this post with the little bit of good news coming from the container garden plants we brought indoors for the winter - a cayenne pepper trying to ripen.

I apologize that this update is a little more lackluster than usual. My family sent Brett and I home with a flu that is going around down there. I stayed home from work today so I could shiver, sweat, and hack my lungs up. I am trying to get this post published so I can go to bed and hopefully go to work tomorrow. And to think, Brett feels just as bad as I do and is working on a term paper. Ick.

'Til next time.