The 2013 Growing Season has Begun!

I'm so jealous of my friends down south who have already started their gardens!  I am so over this winter and ready to start gardening.  The weather outside is still very wintery and not spring like at all - although it did rain most of the day today.  Even with the rain melting some of the snow, there is still plenty left.  

So I did what every good northerner will do when they can't get outside and garden yet - I started my seedlings inside!  It doesn't look like it will be an early spring, but I will be ready when spring decides to come.  Last year we had an early spring and things just got away from me and I didn't start my own seeds - I didn't want to repeat that this year so I'm starting a little earlier than I normally do. 

I planted tomatoes, bell peppers (mixed colors), mini bell peppers (first time growing these I hope they do well), brussels sprouts, watermelon (this is actually for Andy - he always grows these and this year he picked out a seedless personal size variety), fennel (another first for me - I never knew I liked fennel until a couple of years ago and now I can't get enough of it), and cucumbers (also for Andy - can you believe the little boy that was a preschooler when I started this blog is now a TEENAGER!).

I will probably start more seeds next week or the week after.  I'm happy for now to be started growing!

I even nicely labeled them.  I have the specific variety on the back of the stakes. 

In previous years I have used yogurt cups, egg cartons and such to start my plants.  I think that was part of my problem in getting behind last year was gathering together planting cups and cutting drainage holes in the bottom.  It was a great idea to use them one more time before recycling but honestly, buying square pots is easier - and I got nice plastic covers that fit on top so nicely so I don't have to mess with sheets of plastic on top. 

Have you started your garden yet?  What are you growing?

So excited to have a resident bat!

Isn't he adorable?  He showed up yesterday and attached himself to the side of our garage - doesn't even seem phased by the door opening and closing. 

Why am I so excited to have a bat living on my garage?  Well, truth be told, I'd be happier if he was in my garden - but on my garage is pretty good.  I may have to put up a bat house in the garden to make him more comfortable and to attract some of his friends.  I am excited because bats eat insects - insects that eat my plants.  Heaven knows I have plenty of Japanese Beetles that he can eat! 

Making Raspberry Ice Cubes

One of the many ways I use my raspberries is to make Raspberry Ice Cubes.  I have so many raspberries this year - so many! 

I run my raspberries through my food strainer attachment on my kitchen aide because I don't like seeds in my smoothies or raspberry ice tea.  Then you can just ladle the juice into ice cube trays or you can sweeten it a little first with the sweetener of your choice.  When they are frozen, I just pop them out and store them in a baggie in the freezer. 

They are so easy to use to make smoothies or to add to your ice tea instead of regular ice cubes.  My son likes to suck on them like a Popsicle.

Look what I saw when I opened my curtains this morning!

My plum tree in full bloom! In previous years, it bloomed in Mid-May and Mid-April - so this is the earliest it has ever bloomed! Another sign that Spring is here to stay!

Spring caught me by surprise this year!

It is still March, normally in Minnesota that means spring is still a ways off, but not this year.

I usually start my seedlings indoors the weekend before St. Patrick's Day and then they are the perfect size for my garden when spring does arrive - not this year.

By the time St. Patrick's Day came this year, spring had already sprung and I wasn't ready. So I'm not starting any seedlings this year for the first time in years. Luckily my local food co-op, Mississippi Market Natural Foods, always has a spring plant sale where I know I can get the same kind of plants I would have started myself.

Normally when we have a stretch of warm weather like this I wouldn't call it spring yet - we get plenty of snow here in Minnesota at this time of year - however, in addition to the warm weather, the signs are all there - trees are leafing out, grass is growing (one neighbor actually mowed her lawn today), the tulips and daffodils are in bloom. The Canadian geese are flying through and the robins have returned. Spring has sprung.

Please someone leave a comment and let me know that I'm not the only one who didn't start plants this year.

Happy Spring!

Mrs. Wages Salsa Mix

A friend gave me this package of Mrs. Wages Salsa mix and it has just been sitting in my cupboard. I saw it the other day and thought since I have an overabundance of tomatoes right now it might be a good time to try it out.

I followed the directions exactly on the package - it was super easy to do. I weighed out my tomatoes, skinned them and then cut them up. Then you just have to add the mix, vinegar (I used cider) and cook. If you don't have fresh tomatoes, you can even use canned tomatoes.

There is nothing artificial in the ingredients that I could see - just seems to be dehydrated vegetables and seasonings.

It tastes as good as my own salsa and I didn't have to mess with the seasonings a zillion times and I only had to cut up tomatoes and not onions, peppers and garlic.

This is what the finished salsa looks like.

I will probably continue to make my salsa totally from scratch but if you want to make a batch of "homemade salsa" without using everything from scratch -this will definitely do.

Apple Jam, not Jelly!

I decided that I wanted to make Apple Jam this year instead of Apple Jelly. First of all, for those of you who don't know the difference between the two, jam has bits of fruit in it and jelly is made from strained juice. Some fruits are more popular made into jelly (apple, grape, peach) and others you only think of as jam (strawberry).

So, why jam instead of jelly? Several reasons actually - first of all, the time. It takes a long time for the juice to drip down through the cheese cloth - I usually have to start it the day before I actually want to can it. Second is the waste - it just seems so wasteful to throw all of that apple pulp on the compost heap. I also kind of feel like a jam with bits of fruit in it is probably healthier than jelly and probably (although I haven't researched it) a source of fiber.

Having made the decision to make apple jam instead of jelly, I set out in search of a recipe and couldn't find one I liked. I didn't want one with caramel (kind of negates the health benefit) or one that tastes like apple pie. I also wanted one that uses commercial pectin. I know that apples contain a lot of natural pectin and it really isn't necessary to use pectin but I like to use the smallest amount of sugar I can and still get a good gel and pectin allows me to do that. I also didn't want big chunks of fruit in my jam - I want a smoother consistency that is easy to spread on my toast.

According to my almost 12 year old (how did he get to be this old?) taste tester, I got it right on the first try!


This is how I made it -

First I started out just like I was going to make applesauce. I washed my apples and just cut them into chunks - cores and skins and all. I only cut off the obvious bad spots.

I threw them all in a large stock pot with just enough water on the bottom so they wouldn't burn and cooked them until soft. Then I put them through my food strainer attachment on my kitchen aid.

Using 6 cups of the unsweetened applesauce I had just made and 4 cups of sugar and 1 packet of Sure Jell for Less or No Sugar Pectin, I made jam using the directions in the package.

The pictures above aren't the best, but it turned out just perfect.

Let me know if you have a recipe you like better for Apple Jam or if you try my recipe how it comes out for you.