Our Garden is In

It's such a good feeling to be able to say that. I've been "gardening" since I could walk and the promise contained in a handful of seeds, dirt, sunshine and water is as much of a thrill to me as it was when I was 5 years old.

Gardening is an awful lot like life. Every year you learn more about what works, what doesn't work and develop ideas of new things you would like to try. Trust me on this, my mom has been gardening for over 50 years and she is still trying new things!

Last year was our first year using black plastic to cut down on the weeding. It surely did that, for which we are very, very, very grateful :) But, we realized that it also created some problems with water run off and pooling. Basically the water went everywhere but where it needed to go -- the roots. We started planning how to do things better this year.

What's New In the Garden

Early this last week George created a tool that would make a furrow, mounted it to his tractor and plowed a deep furrow for every row. We then laid down the black plastic so it dipped down into each furrow. All of our seeds and plants went into these furrows. Then we laid a length of soaker hose in each furrow and tried out our idea. So far it's working quite well. We're not getting much evaporation and each little cutout where the seeds and plants are is getting nice and moist.

A lot of new gardeners feel intimidated because they think they have to plant 25 varieties of vegetables to "qualify" as a gardener. Not so! I'm a big believer in only planting only the things we know we like, and one or two new items to try out.

Here's what we've planted for this year

Sweet Corn
Beets
Bibb Lettuce
Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers
Carrots
Cantaloupe
Butternut Squash
Sweet Yellow Onions
Green Onions
Peas

Menu Plan Monday

This last week's grocery shopping trips consisted of stocking up on great sales on toilet paper, mayo and crystal light. Not much there to make a meal of in my opinion. So this week I'll be pulling from our pantry and freezer for meals. We are expecting a heat wave this week so no oven dishes! Now you southern readers are not allowed to laugh. We Michigan folks think 70's and 80's this time of year is a major heat wave.

Monday

Roast Pork Loin (crock pot), potatoes and broccoli

Tuesday

If there's any pork left, we will have bbq pork sandwiches, and potato salad. If not, we will have sloppy joes -- the meat is all ready made up in the freezer, just thaw and heat.

Wednesday

Grilled Bratwursts, Potato Salad, 5 Minute Baked Beans

Thursday

Southwest Chicken Salad

Friday

Pizza Night

My Secret to 5 Minute Baked Beans

Who doesn't love baked beans in all their rich, gooyness? Baked beans are the perfect crowd pleaser side dish for Summer. Just about everyone has their own special recipe. However,  the one drawback with baked beans is that you have to bake them. You know, heat up the house on a hot summer's day and wait for an hour, or two or even three until those beans are the right consistency of rich gooyness. Or do you?

My husband loves baked beans and he loves to have them on weeknights where dinner prep time is limited at our house. I simply don't have hours to wait for beans to bake, nor do I want to use the oven on hot days. Here's what I do instead:

Take my favorite precooked beans (could be the ones you cook up ahead of time and store in the freezer, or any variety of canned beans work just as well)

Empty the beans and liquid into a non stick saucepan (If you don't use a non stick pan, just grease your pan well). Add all of your favorite seasonings and any other ingredients such as chopped onions, ham, bacon and the like. Note, it's best if the bacon is precooked. Then I turn the heat up on high and cook and stir and cook and stir until most of the liquid is evaporated.

Voila! Now you've got "baked" beans that taste like they've baked all day. 

This post is linked to WFMW.

Menu Plan Monday

Here's our menu for this week.

Monday

Lemon, Dill Fish, Coleslaw, Sweet Corn on the Cob

Tuesday

BLT's and Roasted Asparagus (yum!)

Wednesday

Chicken Pot Pie, Garden Salad

Thursday

Tacos with all the fixin's

Friday

Cheeseburger Pizza

Keeping Busy is the Secret

I hope all you moms had a wonderful Mother's Day. We had a lovely time celebrating with my Mom on Saturday.

Early this morning George left for the lake to visit his folks and do some work at their house for a couple of days.  He seemed a lot more concerned about loading up his fishing gear than his tools so I think he's hoping to get a chance to do some fishing too. : )  Yesterday we picked up an orchid for George's mom, because as excited as she is about having new medicine cabinets and bathroom lighting, she might also enjoy a beautiful flower. I tried to pack it well so that it won't fall over on the way there, hope it makes it okay.

While George is away, my natural tendency is to forgo my usual busy-can't-wait-to-move-on-to-the-next-thing self and lay around all lonely and mopey. Strikingly similar to our beagle, I am. We all know that's not a productive way to spend a day and it simply drives me nuts that I don't accomplish much. Soooooo, today I've been keeping extra busy.

Keeping busy even when you don't feel like it is the real secret to staying on top of things around the house and making everyday count. Even though you may have a day where you just don't feel like doing anything, if you force yourself to do it anyway you start to feel so much more energized and motivated! Then you don't have to sit there in the evening and mentally beat yourself up for not doing anything all day. You can sit there and be thankful for a productive day.

So far, I've washed and hung out all the odds and ends around our house that don't get washed as often as they should: rugs for the mudroom, bathroom and kitchen, the dog blankets and shower curtain. I've also sorted out all the free samples I plan to donate to our local shelter and sorted and organized all of our magazines. Now I'm off to mop the floors and clean the stove.

Menu Plan Monday

Our grocery store had some pretty good specials on meat this week so I did a big stock up trip and picked up several packages of chicken thighs, ground chuck and one package of steaks. I de-skinned the chicken thighs and divided them up into meal sized portions and wrapped them in them in freezer paper and stashed them away for some easy weeknight suppers. The ground chuck transformed into 2 big batches of Italian meatballs, 2 meatloaves and some cooked, crumbles for the freezer. It's always such a relief to have the meat portion of our suppers ready and waiting in the freezer. It sure makes for some easy meals on busy weeknights!

Here's what we are eating this week:

Those of you that are interested keeping up with my weight loss surgery blog,  can pop over to my other blog to see how these meals are easily modified for me.

Sunday: Grilled Steaks, Oven Roasted Potatoes, Brussel Sprouts, Rolls

Monday: Salmon and Broccoli with Lemon Pepper Butter

Tuesday: Meatball Subs, Broccoli Salad, Corn on the Cob

Wednesday:  Ham & Swiss Sandwiches, Broccoli Salad

Thursday: BLT's, Baked Beans, Fruit Salad

Friday: Homemade Pizza Night

Yummy Spring Recipes

You can go here to get a little mini cookbok with several new spring recipes. They've got 5 yummy salad recipes, 5 sandwiches, 5 desserts and several drink recipes.

Menu Plan Monday: Yard Bird Special

Chicken was on a fabulous sale this week so we are eating a lot of it this week. George prefers beef and pork so I'm trying to be pretty creative with the chicken recipes and space it out a little bit. The only reason we are having it twice in a row (Sunday and Monday) is because I precooked the chicken thighs for the bbq chicken yesterday and he saw me take them out of the oven all hot and good smelling. He smacked his lips and excitedly asked "what are good looking little Yard Birds for?!"  I could tell he wanted to eat the whole pan right then. He totally cracks me up! 

I get such a kick out of him calling chickens Yard Birds. Before hearing him say it; I'd never heard the term. But it makes a lot of sense.  Growing up our chickens were Yard Birds -- all over the yard - step- in - the chicken - poop --- or worse fall into it and stain your best blouse. Not that I have done that. Ahem.




Sunday

Chicken Fajitas topped with all the standard yummy fixin's

Monday

BBQ chicken, Homemade Pasta Salad

Tuesday

Lemon & Dill Walleye, Brussel Sprouts, Roasted Seasoned Potatoes

Wednesday

Cheeseburger Stromboli (This will be a new creation for me, we will see how it goes. If it's good there will be pics and a recipe, cross your fingers for me!)

Thursday

Peanut Chicken Stir fry served over rice (This is also a new recipe for me. I don't know how much of a "recipe" you can call it. Basically I'm using pre cooked sliced chicken (cooked up a whole batch of this Sunday, so less work this week!), and variety of fresh veggies and a bottle of almost free Asian Peanut Sauce. I'll put up some pics this week

Friday

Hawaiian Pizza Night

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