Bread Baking!

The smell of baking bread will warm up the mood in any kitchen. In my scurry to make a quick and easy dinner (eggs, potato, onion, turkey bacon), I got caught up in bread baking. Top quality bread baking requires quite a bit of wait time, which might be frustrating but I find it soothing. While I wait on the bread to rise or proof or bake, I'm off working on some other task and feeling double-y productive.

Meal Plan Time!

Meal Planning on Sunday! I always check for items I didn't make last week and keep those on the list for this week.

Mini Meatloafs for Freezing

Today dinner featured mini meatloaf. I used a recipe from America's Test kitchen that involves browning the "meatloaf" and then baking it in the oven. The results were quite tasty. I tripled the recipe and reduced the serving size slightly. So with a bit more than 3 pounds of meat I will have a main dish for 5 more meals after tonight. As my husband said, "Thank goodness for carrots and ranch." They are my go to side dish. What's your go to side dish?

Spaghetti Squash and Meatballs in under 20 minutes!

Spaghetti squash makes for a great (semi) guilt free comfort food dinner. I make mine with a cream sauce which increases both the comfort and the calorie count. We eat this meal often enough that I have it down to 20 minutes from turning the stovetop on to food on the table. Hooray!

Crock Pot Success!!

Today, I made "Chicken Pot Pie" in the crock pot that I linked in my meal plan for this week. (In quotes, because it's just the filling part.) It turned out exceptionally well. I used a campbell's boxed sauce rather than that cream of chicken soup and I reduced the water down to a cup. The part worked best was adding the frozen veggies 30 minutes before serving. They turned out cooked but (for once) still full of flavor. Definitely, a trick to keep on hand for future use.

Meal Plan - March 21 - Green Smoothies and

Meal Planning for this week! The grocery bill was pretty large $125. Not my best week but I haven't been to the store in a few weeks because we've been eating out of the pantry and on trips. As a result, I had several staple items to stock up on.

Narrowing The Topics List

Limits. I do have a limited amount of time. I teach full time and I care for myself and my husband. To have a truly successful blog, I need to be able to provide quality content and IMAGES. Every time, I make an attempt at a serious commitment to the blogging venture, I find myself hung up on finding easily accessible subjects that I am willing to show to the world.

Choosing Topics

Yesterday,  I did say that I would choose one of those subjects and write on it. I had some additional thoughts today. Instead, I am going to continue forming my post genres. Perhaps, this will allow my to tie in any loose ends.

Committing to Writing

Today, I was paying more attention to my students than to what I was doing and managed to staple myself in the finger. The bandaid that is on my finger now make the experience of typing much less uniform.... Anyhow... back to topic

Yesterday, I made a list of various subjects that would be beneficial to a reader. The end of the list felt as though it had more potential than the beginning. Today, I am aiming to decide on a small set of post topics or genres that have a specific reader purpose.

What vegetables do I plant early in spring?

This weekend I put my first round of seeds in the ground. You may be wondering how I did that since the ground is still frozen in many places. I use raised beds. The ground at the far end of my garden were the beds were not raised and the ground has more mud were still frozen in some spots. Fortunately, the areas that I "plowed" and mulched in the fall were well completely defrosted. There are a few advantages to planting this early.

Cool weather crops take time.

Succession Planting

First, I can do more succession planting. I enjoy being able to harvest just enough for the week and leaving the rest of my crops in the ground. The sooner I start planting, the fewer seeds I have to put in the ground each time in order to achieve high yields. Second, I want to give my crops that loose quality after summer heat hits them enough time to reach maturity. In Wisconsin we have a rather short "cool" weather period. So, crops like parsnips and broccoli that prefer "cool" weather but need more than a month (unlike radishes) to mature are better off enduring the cold at first than wilting in the heat of June/July. Third, last year my neighbors planted early and they had full heads of lettuce before I even had seedlings. This made me jealous and I am determined to be ahead of the game this year.



Now, what to plant? I planted broccoli, kohlrabi, cilantro, carrots, radishes, parsnips and potatoes. The broccoli, kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, and cilantro were all planted together in rows. I put the potatoes and the parsnips towards the back of the garden. Both of those plants put up tall leafy stalks and will be in the garden for a longer period of time. I put them out of the way where I won't have to disturb them when I'm pulling up the other crops. This way they also won't shade other crops.

The Gist:

• Raised beds allow an earlier start to your gardening season.
• Planting early gives you a longer harvest, even with the risk of loosing some plants to frost.
• Plant tall vegetables out of the way. 

Are you planting this early? What is your earliest crop?

Protecting Overwintered Spinach from Frost

Finally all of the snow has melted and I am beginning to prepare my garden for spring planting. I have a few spinach plants that have made it through the winter. Last fall, I piled leaf mulch around each of the plants. Despite the frigid temperature, I have green plants in my garden. I am experimenting with methods to keep the spinach alive long enough to grow to an edible size. Do spinach plants need protection from spring frost?

My over-wintered spinach! Some new leaves are sprouting.

My goal is to create a mini-greenhouse effect which will allow warmth to build up and encourage growth. I went to my local thrift shop and bought 2 large glass bowls and 1 large plastic bowl. My husband commented that the glass may block UV rays which would inhibit growth. I am testing out both and we will see if the UV rays make a difference. I have also left one spinach plant completely uncovered. 

So far, this method shows no advantage over just leaving the spinach to fend for itself. On the upside, the covered plants are still surviving. Here are some thoughts on flaws and improvements. First, lots of condensation form on the inside of these bowls. You can see that below. In general, wet leaves are a bad thing for plants. The moisture, among other things, prevents the plant cells from breathing. I also need to add materials that have a higher heat capacity under my bowls. Having a high heat capacity means that a material can store lots of heat during the day and then release heat at night. This mitigates the temperature drop at night. Water is the best option here but rocks can work well too. The verdict?

Check out that condensation. It's not good for the plants.

Spinach plants that made it through winter probably don't need the extra layer of protection. The seeds I just put in the ground need the heat more. I may transfer the bowls over key patches of seeds. Perhaps that will heat enough during the day to stimulate germination.

The Gist:

• Using leaf mulch to protect spinach plants over the winter: Totally worth it
• Using glass bowls to protect overwintered spinach plants during spring: More problematic than not

Do you protect your overwintered vegetables in the spring? Also, I had some carrot plants that made it but they were too young by the time winter hit. Have you successfully overwintered mature carrots? What time of the year did you plant them?