Bye For Now!

I started my project management class (Contract and Procurement Management) for this semester about six weeks ago. Even though it's an online class, it requires more essay writing and online participation than my previous class so I haven't had much computer time for fun. I'm taking a hiatus from blogging until about mid-May when my class ends and my garden starts showing some signs of life. 

My parting recipe for you is "red beans and rice." I made this a few weeks ago for a Mardi Gras party. Red beans and rice is traditionally served on Mondays in New Orleans because that's when women did their washing. The beans could be started in the morning before tending to the wash and would be ready for dinner. 

Mardi Gras Party

Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice

16 oz dried kidney beans

2 lbs smoked sausage – cut in rounds

1 ½ onions chopped

3 celery stalks finely chopped

1 bell pepper chopped 

½ tsp sage

½ tsp black pepper

½ tsp cayenne pepper

3 to 4 cloves of garlic finely minced

Salt to taste

baking soda for soaking beans

cooked rice

Soak beans in water with some baking soda for a few hours and rinse.

Sauté smoked sausage for a few minutes until brown and drain fat. You can substitute turkey sausage, but I've told it's not as good when I do that. Add all ingredients except for rice to crock pot (slow cooker) and add water about 1 ½ inches above all the ingredients and cook on high for 10 to 12 hours until beans thicken. Serve over rice. Serves 8.

 

There was also yummy gumbo, bread pudding, and king cake served at the party, but my camera phone wasn't cooperating with me and the photos were blurry. 

I'll try to pop by everyone's blog when I have time. See you in a couple of months. Cheers! 

Nursery Hopping

I went nursery hopping with a friend of mine on Saturday. Sort of like bar hopping, but for the middle age crowd and you don't wake up with a hangover.

Sedum and such

There is something ineffable about seeing orderly rows of plants that makes me happy. If I were a painter, I guess I would be Piet Mondrian. Even when I think I'm arranging things randomly they don't look haphazard. I love the chartreuse color of the sedum and might have to go back for some when it's planting time.

Sempervivums as far as the eye can see

Seeing lots of pots of California poppies inspired me to plant some poppy and cosmos seeds. It's my first attempt at starting seeds inside. I have a few cosmos seedlings after a few days.

Pretty in pink, orange and yellow

 I think these are ranunculus. I'm not sure. They look so cute in their pots.

Geraniums and peony

It's too early to plant geraniums and peonies outside. It's hard to get your gardening groove on when the unofficial last frost date in Santa Fe is May 15th. But I did buy a geranium to keep me going until then. 

Almost Wordless Wednesday

“All gardening is landscape painting.” Alexander Pope

Unfortunately, my garden would qualify more as a study in beige and brown than a landscape painting. However, I did have the opportunity to be ensconced in a forested landscape of pines and Douglas firs this weekend. A confluence of weather and driving conditions led my girl posse to the Black Canyon Campground.

Black Canyon Campground is about eight miles north of Santa Fe on the Hyde Park Road and has a one mile hiking loop. It took us about 2 hours to snow shoe the loop. We stopped for food and water, photo breaks, and to step aside for cross country skiers. And of course to lavish attention on any dog who happened our way.

Steel Cut Oats

Do you ever wonder why you do some things? A few weeks ago, I searched high and low on the internet for a steel cut oats recipe.  I used to buy it in the frozen food section at Trader Joe's, but thought I would try to save money by making steel cut oats myself.

I had read that making steel cut oats was time consuming and was looking for a shorter alternative. I had tried making steel cut oats in the crockpot a few times and was satisfied with the results. They weren't great. But I uninstalled the browser I was using and I couldn't find the crockpot recipe. I tried different search engines. I found one recipe that looked promising so I tried it that night. Yuck! It was not tasty at all. Every time, I searched for steel cuts oats, one of the first results was a recipe by Alton Brown on the Food Network website. After wasting more time on the internet than it would have taken to make steel cut oats on the stove, I decided to try to the Alton Brown recipe.

The recipe below is inspired by Alton Brown's steel cut oatmeal recipe. I usually buy the oats in the bulk section at the natural grocery store.  I've added a lot more brown sugar, vanilla and omitted the buttermilk in the original recipe.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups boiling water
2/3 3/4 cup milk ( I use soy)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
pinch of salt (optional)

Directions
In a non-stick pan, melt the butter and add the oats. Stir for 2 minutes to toast.
Boil water in saucepan, add brown sugar and vanilla, and stir.
Add the oats to the boiling water and reduce heat to a simmer.
Simmer low for 25 minutes. Do not stir.

Add the milk to the oats; stir gently to combine and cook for 10 more minutes.
Stir occasionally to keep oats from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
Makes four servings. I like to serve with toasted almonds and fresh fruit on top.

Steel cuts oats takes about 35 to make, but most of the time is simmering so I can do other things like putting dishes away or cleaning the kitchen counters. I love this recipe. The oats are al dente. I could probably add more water if I wanted them softer since I live in a high altitude. I put the oats in one cup storage containers so they're ready to take to work and I have something nutritious for breakfast.

Lesson learned - sometimes you don't save any time by trying to save time. Oh well! 

I Won, I Won!

I hardly ever win anything. I did win $10 on the first lottery scratcher ticket I purchased and a raffle for a two night stay at a chi-chi hotel in Taos, New Mexico. I gave the Taos trip to some friends who had been very kind to me when I was having some tough times.

This week I won twice. Donna at Garden's Eye View and Bumble Lush Kitchen Garden both awarded me the versatile blogger award.

The rules are as follows:

• Post the Versatile Blogger Award to your post/blog.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you with a link back to his/her blog.
• Share seven random pieces of information about yourself.
• Include this set of rules, and
• Forward this award to fellow bloggers and inform them with a comment on their blogs.

Random Detritus

1. My penultimate favorite word is ramekin. It's a foodie word and it's also a bingo in the game Scrabble because it has seven letters. 
2. I'm a social networking Luddite. I have a Twitter, Facebook and Google+ accounts, but rarely use them. 
3. When I first started blogging I had a hard time thinking of comments for other blogger's posts. I've gotten better, but sometimes I still struggle especially when lots of people have already made thoughtful and insightful comments. 
4. This year I'm trying to learn one new recipe a week. I tired of making the same handful of recipes every few weeks. 
5. I learned to use an SLR camera when I was 14, when cameras still used film. 
6. I used to call my previous dog Max, Boo Boos. I call my dog Aster, Baby Boo even though she's got about ten pounds on Max. 
7. I'm making a concerted effort to eat more fruits and vegetables. 

I've met so many great bloggers this past year and feel kindred with everyone whom I've met. I've met bloggers who share my interests in gardening, photography and food. And share with me a slice of life that I would not otherwise experience. I tried to nominate bloggers who have not already won this award. 

Drum roll please! The winners are: 

• Cher at Sunray Gardens
• Giga at MÓJ KAWAŁEK PRZYRODY (My Piece of Nature)
• Susan at Ink and Penstemon
• Daniela at MIMI A JEJ SVET (Mimi and Her World)
• Patricia at Picturing Plants and Flowers
• Masha at A Rose is a Rose
• Sissy at got serenity?
• Donna at Garden Walk, Garden Talk
• Lee at Lee May's Gardening Life
• Karin at Southern Meadows

The Best and Worst - January 2012

I'm joining Bumble Lush Kitchen Garden's new meme: the Best and Worst of my garden for January. It's a post that is published on the last day of the month to summarize your monthly garden triumphs and tribulations

The Best of January or Surprise!
I’m cavalier about planting my bulbs after the first hard frost. I usually put them in a crisper drawer in the fridge until I’m ready to plant. Two weekends ago, it was warm and I thought I would plant the bulbs that I had neglected. I pulled out the crisper drawer to see my bulb purchases from fall. Surprise! I found some fall blooming crocuses in the drawer that needed to be planted immediately. Tender shoots had sprouted.

Fall Blooming Crocuses

I saw some beautiful photographs of a fall blooming crocus on Stacy’s blog, Microcosm and thought I had to have some. Well, I did go get some last fall, but you know the rest of the story.

10 Days Later

I planted them like you would paper whites instead of the more traditional method for forcing bulbs. After the fact, I did find an article and video for next year on forcing bulbs. I also managed to get some drumstick allium (allium sphaerocephalon) bulbs planted in the backyard around my spiral.


The Worst
Alas, the grape hyacinths are still in the crisper drawer. 

No More Picnik

I didn't misspell picnic. Picnik is the online software that I use for my photo editing and collages. However as of April 19, 2012, Picnik will be defunct and a ghost of software past.

Roses at Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida

I mostly don't do much photo editing. I usually forego the auto-correct option that is available in Picnik so that you can see my photos warts and all. Most of the cropping that I do is prior to taking the photo or by moving photos around in a collage frame. Within a collage frame, you can slide the photos side to side and sometimes up and down for limited cropping.

Aster Before and After Auto-Correct

Picnik has a lot of free functions or you could pay $24.95 to use the premium features, which will now be refunded in its entirety. It has an easy interface and it has fun effects like sepia tone and touching up that I didn't use, but I did like the different frame features - especially the drop shadow.

Harry P. Leu Gardens

Some of the Picnik features will be available via the Creative Kit in Google+, but not the collages that were so easy in Picnik. I can download Picasa and try the collage feature in it and Donna at Garden Walk, Garden Talk recently posted a tutorial on creating collages in Photoshop.

Spanish moss on an oak tree at Harry P. Leu Gardens

Anyone can use the premium features of Picnik until its expiration date April 19, 2012 without having to pay. Check it out if you have a chance. (One caveat, Picnik has been a little sluggish since all the premium features are now free.)