What are you growing and cooking?

[DeniseM]

My son and I made Keto gingerbread cookies today: They tasted good and looked ugly because the Keto sprinkles melted in the oven:

Keto Gingerbread Cookies {2g carbs} - The Big Man's World ®

My keto gingerbread cookie recipe yields crisp, chewy, dunk-worthy cookies. They’re full of delicate gingerbread flavor. 2 grams net carbs.

thebigmansworld.com

 

[DeniseM]

Cooking: I made five different kinds of homemade chili beans from dried beans I got through my CSA. In individual batches in my InstaPot

I love using the instant pot for beans! I always make a double batch of unseasoned plain beans and freeze half for later, before I add the seasonings.

 

[DeniseM]

Do you have Christmas ham to use up? Or any kind of Christmas meat?

RECIPE: Rustic Cheesy Ham & Potatoes

1 large onion, diced
8 med. potatoes, cubed, but not peeled
2 c. cooked ham, cubed
1 c. cream of mushroom soup (or whatever cream soup you have on hand)
1/2 c. milk - any kind
2 c. shredded cheese, divided - any kind
1 t. each: parsley, seasoning salt, and pepper

- Add potatoes, onion, ham & 1 c. cheese to a large bowl and fold together well.
- Mix together 1/2 c. milk, cream of mushroom soup and seasonings, add to potato mixture and fold well.
- Pour potato mixture into a greased 9x13 pan
- Spray one side of a piece of foil with vegetable spray and lay it over the casserole dish with the sprayed side down to keep foil from sticking to the cheese - secure foil.
- Bake for 1 hr. & 15 min. at 375º
- When time is up, check potatoes to see if they are fork tender. When the potatoes are tender, remove the foil sprinkle on the other 1 c. of cheese, and bake 15 min. more.

 

[slip]

All of a sudden, my tomatoes have taken off again. I have a few tomatoes growing and at least a dozen blossoms. Basil and onions are always good. I'm going to plant more tomatoes and some parsley. Feels weird planting and checking tomatoes in February. Lol

 

[TheHolleys87]

@slip, I see some of your basil has bolted (flowered). Do you still use leaves from those stalks, or only from stalks that haven’t flowered?

 

[slip]

@slip, I see some of your basil has bolted (flowered). Do you still use leaves from those stalks, or only from stalks that haven’t flowered?

I usually don't use those. When I get some I will trim those back and thin everything out. I haven't done that in a few weeks though. I should try them and see if there is a difference.

I produce much mor Basil and Sage than I can use and I give a lot away too. Lol

 

[DeniseM]

It was 75º today and we started planting our tomatoes. We're planting 6 big pots in a sunny bed which they share with the flowers. This will provide all the tomatoes we can use. Last year, we were picking tomatoes in late May/early June, and we're hoping for an early crop again. With our pots and raised beds, every year we replace 1/2 the soil with fresh new bagged garden soil and add about a cup of organic fertilizer. We're trying something new this year: Our tomatoes are calcium junkies, so I have been saving my egg shells all year, and today I pulverized them in the food processor and added a cup of pulverized egg shells to each pot.

 

[DeniseM]

We had an early St. Patrick's Day Dinner tonight: Instant Pot Corned Beef w/cabbage, potatoes, carrots & onions.

I used this IP recipe from Mary's Nest, except I used broth instead of water:

Quicker, Easy & Delicious:

 

[slip]

We had an early St. Patrick's Day Dinner tonight: Instant Pot Corned Beef w/cabbage, potatoes, carrots & onions.

I used this IP recipe from Mary's Nest, except I used broth instead of water:

Quicker, Easy & Delicious:

View attachment 107709View attachment 107710View attachment 107711

We're having our Corned Beef and Cabbage on Monday.

 

[DeniseM]

We usually have it for St. Paddy's Day too, but my son was here for dinner, so I moved it up a few days.

 

[amycurl]

I do mine in the crock pot and we’ll have it tomorrow, with leftover meat in Reubens on Monday. My mom is coming over, but Mon is a late-dinner night for us, so we decided tomorrow works.


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[Marsbar]

I would so love to grow my own food, unfortunately, when it comes to taking care of plants I could kill a plastic one!

 

[DrQ]

I used this IP recipe from Mary's Nest, except I used broth instead of water:

I've used a pressure cooker for corned beef and cabbage and potatoes for the last 8 years or so.

This is the recipe I've settled on as my go to:

☘ EASY Instant Pot Corned Beef & Cabbage ☘

Your family NEEDS this St. Patrick's Day dinner, made EASY in your Instant Pot. Corned Beef and Cabbage features tender corned beef, potatoes, and carrots!

www.pressurecookingtoday.com

 

[DrQ]

I'm planning on making lamb stew this weekend. I bought some lamb shanks and stew meat from Wild Fork.

My nutritionist, who is South Asian, talked about making goat with cinnamon, mace, cardamom pods, stone flower and turmeric spice in the cooking broth. It sounded yummy, so I'm going to try it with lamb. If it turns out well, I might go to the Mexican meat market to buy some fresh goat next.

 

[DeniseM]

We've had a good mix of rain & sun the last 2 weeks, and my tomatoes are growing like crazy! They are even setting blossoms, but I'm pinching them off, because you don't want blossoms until the plant is at least a couple of feet tall. I also have seeds coming up: lettuce, spinach & radishes. This is the same tomato (pictured above in post 182) that we planted Feb. 28th:

 

[slip]

We had two tomatoes plants come out of nowhere and really come on strong for the last month. We have already picked many tomatoes and we have 22 more growing plus many more blossom starting. It's really nice getting these fresh tomatoes in February and March.

 

[DrQ]

I may try some fall tomatoes this year. It just gets too hot in the summer here for the plants to set fruit.

 

[geekette]

I would so love to grow my own food, unfortunately, when it comes to taking care of plants I could kill a plastic one!

I have two very understanding house plants, a philodendron and wandering Jew. I was given a Christmas Cactus that sits in the dark and is so far surviving neglect.

 

[geekette]

I started some seeds for cool season crops. They are in pots that are in low cardboard boxes. Weather has been wacky so it’s been on again, off again with their plastic greenhouse “coats”. Woke up to snow the other day which disappeared quickly in the sun. This is first year trying to grow anything in the mountains so I am prepared for a lot of failure. I did bring home 4 blueberry bushes today and will probably bring them inside until it seems safe to plant. Helene wiped out the berry hill and the unidentified fruit tree. Almost bought plum tree but will wait on that. Do I want plum or lemon or …? Will have to research as the climate with harsh wind needs to be factored in. Would have peaches but I don’t think it gets hot enough up here.

 

[amycurl]

Lemon trees can’t be planted outdoors in the NC mountains, but I do know folx that have citrus in pots in sunny windows and outside in the summer. Peaches would probably work, depending on the elevation (we do have mountain peaches at our farmer’s market in the Piedmont.) Berries and rhubarb would thrive.

#unsolicitedadvice


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[geekette]

Lemon trees can’t be planted outdoors in the NC mountains, but I do know folx that have citrus in pots in sunny windows and outside in the summer. Peaches would probably work, depending on the elevation (we do have mountain peaches at our farmer’s market in the Piedmont.) Berries and rhubarb would thrive.

#unsolicitedadvice


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Wow, thank you! I’m at 3500’, right where forecasts go to “higher elevations” so I’m low for the highlands. It’s not mountain breeze anymore but lately scary fierce wind so I think I have to consider that kind of stress on a young tree and rig some protection. Kinda figured citrus is out but I have seen the cute potted lemons and might try that as indoor could be more successful. There were a lot of plum trees for sale but I sure would prefer peaches. Thank you for the encouragement.

Rhubarb isn’t something I’ve eaten much although rhubarb pies were a big deal when I was a kid. If the little market near me takes off I could see growing rhubarb to sell the plants and plant the unsolds. I have rhubarb seeds in an heirloom survival pack someone gave me. I can give homegrown rhubarb a try, give some to neighbors and take excess to market. Unlikely to make a pie, though.

Blueberry plants seem to be happy with their sunny indoor spot and I’m happy with the blueberries I’m buying from Walmart while I wait to plant, nurture and ransack. An exciting day for me, I now have fiber optic internet and celebrated with a big blueberry pancake. Tonight I plan to research homemade granola, I can’t stomach store price and do a lot of yogurt with fruit and want some crunch again. There is a grocery a bit of a hike from me but they sell awesome bulk nuts, very fresh. I might consider a nut tree of some kind but zero experience with those and not terribly patient at nut cracking. I processed walnuts one year and would never do that again but they are messier than most and keeping the squirrels out was horrendous although I told them to go get all they want from the front yard.

Anyhow, glad to be able to use the internet any time again and get on with researching! Thanks again for pointing me in the right direction!

 

[amycurl]

i'll be happy to take any excess rhubarb off your hands, LOL! I've made homemade granola in the past; it's very good, but it contains way more oil than you think it will. But it is very, very delicious!
Nut trees are very water-intensive, and, as you say, they take a lot of time to harvest and process. Plus, you'll have squirrels planting pecan trees *everywhere*, says the woman who has a pecan tree in the common area behind her house.

Congrats on the fiber! That's a very big deal, post-Helene. I hear that Good Morning America will be in Asheville for the 6 month anniversary....it's hard to imagine that it's been that long. The recovery continues...

 

[sue1947]

Tonight I plan to research homemade granola,

Many, many years ago, I used to make my own granola. Got away from it, but it was pretty easy and kept well. The original recipe had a cup of brown sugar and a cup of oil which I thought was excessive. Instead, I used a half a cup of honey, warmed up on the stove (very carefully because it will boil over and you really don't want to clean that mess up) to a thin liquid and then spread throughout the dry ingredients and stirred together. It clumps up to make it chunky. The more honey, the chunkier, but I don't like it very sweet.
3 cups old fashioned oatmeal + 1 c sesame seeds and 1 c unsweetened shredded coconut and 3/4 c sunflower seeds. Bake it in a shallow pan on 350 stirring until it browns. Take it out and cool. Then add raisins or nuts etc. if you cook the raisins they become little rocks. Use whatever you like for the dry ingredients. The original had wheat germ but that doesn't agree with me.

 

[geekette]

i'll be happy to take any excess rhubarb off your hands, LOL! I've made homemade granola in the past; it's very good, but it contains way more oil than you think it will. But it is very, very delicious!
Nut trees are very water-intensive, and, as you say, they take a lot of time to harvest and process. Plus, you'll have squirrels planting pecan trees *everywhere*, says the woman who has a pecan tree in the common area behind her house.

Congrats on the fiber! That's a very big deal, post-Helene. I hear that Good Morning America will be in Asheville for the 6 month anniversary....it's hard to imagine that it's been that long. The recovery continues...

Yes, it’s weird that it has been that long but some of the reminders either aren’t going away or not soon. The winds we’ve been having recently have been creepy reminders of that seemingly endless stretch of storm time, night into day into afternoon… and the howling. I just have to make it to “on or about” April 11 when my new heavy metal roof gets installed to feel a bit safer. May the shanty hold till then…

Squirrels…. in the foothills it seemed there were a ton of those anorexic grey squirrels but I don’t see any kind of squirrel up here often. Seems odd since the hill behind me is natural forest, the playground I’d want if I were a tree rodent. But without the bushy coats like northern squirrels have, maybe they can’t take the climate? Don’t see snakes or lizards, either, and I’m fine with that.

I do want nuts with the berries, plus I need some trees to help hold my hill and replace lost wind block. will probably try to grow peanuts (yeah, legume pretending to be a nut). Grind my own fresh peanut butter, enjoy fresh roasted… Took me a long time to get to be the hippie I’ve probably always been but I look forward to munching on my own granola while enjoying Blueridge Parkway.

 

[geekette]

Many, many years ago, I used to make my own granola. Got away from it, but it was pretty easy and kept well. The original recipe had a cup of brown sugar and a cup of oil which I thought was excessive. Instead, I used a half a cup of honey, warmed up on the stove (very carefully because it will boil over and you really don't want to clean that mess up) to a thin liquid and then spread throughout the dry ingredients and stirred together. It clumps up to make it chunky. The more honey, the chunkier, but I don't like it very sweet.
3 cups old fashioned oatmeal + 1 c sesame seeds and 1 c unsweetened shredded coconut and 3/4 c sunflower seeds. Bake it in a shallow pan on 350 stirring until it browns. Take it out and cool. Then add raisins or nuts etc. if you cook the raisins they become little rocks. Use whatever you like for the dry ingredients. The original had wheat germ but that doesn't agree with me.

I did plan to use local honey, have definitely had my share of disastrous burnt sugar episodes so thank you for that reminder. Might have to buy the first sunflower seeds but should be adding my own come fall. If there were a Costco near I’d be buying their yummy version but no such luck.