Square Foot Gardening

Spring is here, which means that pretty soon we will be able to plant, yeeaaahh! Last summer I tried out Square Foot Gardening and I loved it. This is a picture of my garden from last summer. It is great because you can control your soil 100% which means it can be 100% organic, and if you have sandy or poor soil for growing it doesn't matter. Also it is great at preventing weeds naturally. Plus I always got complimented on it by the neighbors. I used the book Square Foot Gardening to get started, which I would recommend - I am just outlining the basic principles on this post. However they also have a great website you can use to save yourself some cash.

Building your box:

• The boxes are 4' x 4' - you can either make them yourselves (which we did) or you can use a recylced pallet from a grocery store that they would otherwise be throwing away.
• The bottom is covered with weed cloth (we just nailed it to our boards)
• Then you divide your 4' x 4' square into 16 one square foot sections.
• The sections are important because in the book they tell you exactly how many vegetables/herbs can fit it one square foot. For example you can put one tomato plant per one square foot section.

Making your own soil - you need enough to fill the box to the rim so you need to buy quite a bit of the following ingredients. ( I use organic compost/soil etc - but it is not necessary). Then mix them all evenly together before placing in the square foot garden.

• 1/3 compost
• 1/3 peat moss
• 1/3 top soil -- make sure it includes vermiculite (the book recommends 1/3 coarse vermiculite but i used top soil with vermiculite because it was easier to find)

Planting - yeaah!!! This was one of my favorite parts. Here are a couple of guidelines:

• Tomato - one per square
• Peppers (hot and sweet) - one per square
• Carrots - 8 - 10 per square
• Cilantro - one per square
• Basil - one per square
• Chives 2 - 3 per square

Watering guidelines

• Cold water can shock plants, it is good to water them with water close to the air temperature. If you notice in the picutre I have a large bin that i keep filled with water (on a side note it also is great for collecting rain water) that I use to water the plants.
• When watering don't spray with a hose, dip a cup into your water bucket and water the plant right at its base to ensure the plant gets all the water.
• Don't water in the hottest part of the day - if you get drops of water on the plant leaves the sun can burn a whole in them.
• I watered almost daily, unless we got rain or the soil seemed very damp.

I hope you found this post useful, and enjoy square foot gardening as much as I did. Feel free to ask me questions and I can try and answer them.

-

Coconut Curry Squash Soup

This week we had a final farewell snowstorm, giving us more snow than we have had all season. While some people's thoughts turned to snowboarding, mine turned to soup. Lucky for me we had some squash hiding in the basement from our CSA. I decided to make this recipe in Monika's slow cooker because I have been reading about how it is a good green appliance to use, it only uses the energy of a light bulb. Plus, it makes your house smell really good. Of course you could make this on the stove, too, your choice.

Coconut Curry Squash Soup

1 T olive oil
1 small onion
2 stalks of celery
3 carrots
1 butternut squash
2 apples
4 t curry
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 t Celtic salt
1/4 t garlic
5-6 c vegetable stock/broth/water
2 t white wine vinegar
1 c coconut milk

Chop the onion, celery, carrots, squash, and apples. Add olive oil to your pot or slow cooker, throw in all your veggies, fruit, curry, cinnamon, salt, and garlic. Next, add the vegetable stock. Allow everything to simmer until the squash is tender. Puree soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the vinegar and coconut milk.

As for garnishes, I have a lot of thoughts. You could top it with a dollop of coconut milk, yogurt, balsamic vinegar, a little grated apple, toasted pumpkin seeds, crusty bread, greens, whatever you have laying around. I drizzled some balsamic vinegar on top because I am an addict. I also threw some greens on top, too, because greens are good for you.

Feel free to adjust the spice to your taste preference, perhaps leave out the red pepper flakes if you don't like too much heat, or even add more coconut milk. Speaking of coconut milk, what will you do with the rest of it? I personally like to use it as part of my liquid when I make quinoa, a big hit with Jack, or even in pancakes. Never fear there a tons of things you can put the remaining can of coconut milk in, it does not have to go bad. Now go enjoy a bowl of steamy soup, before spring is truly here.

Another One Bites the Dust

Cue the Queen soundtrack for this one. Yet another independent natural product start-up has been swallowed by a corporate giant. Nestlé announced today that it has invested in Sweet Leaf Tea, and has the option to buy the company outright in three years at a preset price. I know there are arguments on both sides of corporate acquisitions, and while I can see some of the potential benefits - such as making it easier to reach a bigger, main-stream audience - mostly, it just makes me sad. I'll always be rooting for the little guy with the big heart. Details here.

Pineapple Fried Rice

So lately I have been craving the sweet spicy combination. My two favorite pizza toppings are currently pineapple and jalapeno. So when I saw this at a Thai restaurant I thought it would be the perfect thing to try and recreate. I am not a huge onion fan so i did not include all the onions that would normally come with it, so if you love onions I would recommend adding shallots or another onion depending on your taste.

Along with the help of a few websites here is what I came up with:

3 cups cooked white rice - Chill for at least one hour before using (It also helps if you mix in some olive oil right after you cook it and then chill so it isn't as sticky)

3 green onions chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

1/2 - 1 bell pepper chopped (depending on how much you like)

2 carrots diced

1 egg

1 red chili minced (if you like extra spiciness include the seeds - otherwise de-seed it first)

1/2 cup pineapple chunks

1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 tsp curry powder

2 TBSP Soy Sauce (or fish sauce if you are a non veg head)

1/2 fresh coriander/cilantro (depending on what you prefer to call it :) )

3 Tbs veggie stock (for stir-frying)

2 Tbs olive oil (for stir-frying)

• In a small bowl mix together the curry powder and the soy sauce, then set aside.
• Place 1-2 Tbsp. oil in a wok/large frying pan and turn heat to medium-high. Add garlic, and chili, stir-frying until fragrant (1 minute). Whenever the wok/pan becomes dry, add a little stock (1/2 to 1 Tbsp. at a time).
• Crack egg (if using) into wok and stir quickly to cook Add the carrot, peas, cashews, plus the soy sauce mixed with curry powder. Stir-fry 1 minute.
• Now add the rice, and pineapple chunks.
• Gently stir-fry to combine over medium-high to high heat until the rice "dances" (begins to make popping sounds) - about 3 minutes. Tip: Avoid adding any more stock from here on, or your rice will turn out soggy. The wok/pan should be fairly dry.
• Top with green onions and cilantro, and ENJOY!

Now in the Thai restaurants they would serve this in a hollowed out pineapple. I am not quite that fancy, but for dinenr parties I bet that would look quite pretty.

Fabulous First Lady

Here's an inspiring NYT article about Michelle Obama's championing of fresh, local, whole foods, woo hoo! We've had the ketchup president, the broccoli president, and well, Obama's already got his arugula association... I love to see what Michelle is doing - I bet 'locavore' will land in Webster's any day now!

Respite from the Giant Scary Blue Horsey

Of late I've been making a few trips to Denver International Airport. I've been there four times already since temporarily relocating to Boulder, and I have another two trips there this week.

Most of these trips involve getting up at the ass-crack of dawn to drive the 45 minutes it takes to get from NoBo to the Big Giant Scary Blue Horsey. Yikes!

For situations like those, you're going to need the Bodum Travel Press ($16, Boulder's socialist-level-sales-tax-rate included), available at the Brewing Market.

Fill this bad boy up with your favorite cup of joe and by the time you get to the oversized, pissed-off bronco you'll be bright eyed and bushy tailed!

The Travel Press gives its users all the fabulous flavor of a full-sized french press in a tall, sippy-cup style to-go mug.

Yum. yum.

Initially, I had a lot of reservations about a mobile french press. Will it keep the grounds separate? How/where do I put my coffee enhancements? Will it be unbearably hot to the touch at first, only to cool down quicker than a Montana spring night as soon as the sun goes down?

But this little bad boy delivers, in all areas.

Nothing turns off your frazzled airport guests more than a corse coffee ground stuck between your otherwise beautiful (and pearly white) incisors. You might as well be sporting some snuze in your lower lip! Hello, and welcome to Denver!

Worry not: With the Travel Press there is little, if any, escape of coffee grounds into the drinking chamber -- which as you can imagine was a major concern of mine given my frequent galavanting to DIA.

I found that adding my favorite hippie coffee dilutions to the Bodum -- vanilla hemp milk and agave syrup -- was easier than you’d think using the Travel Press’s wide-mouth hole in the lid.

Mentally, I only needed to check myself the first and second time to make sure I hadn’t added the dilutions before adding the hot water. Easy to do when your synapses fire like a half burnt-out neon "open" sign first thing in the morning like mine. But generally not a good idea.

Bodum and I have a sordid past, so I was also worried about investing in yet another product. In the past year, I’ve already broken the glass beakers in two Bodum full-size french presses -- neither of them technically mine. Sorry, Mike!

I think this one will last longer. Here’s why: 1) it’s made of plastic; 2) it has a closable sippy-cup top, which so far has completely withstood the tight corners I often turn in the MINI Cooper.

Cha-ching.

Photo by How3ird

Calzones

I went through a period of making calzones a lot....I remember a lot of late dinners waiting for the dough to rise after a last minute inspiration! Fortunately, you only need to let it rise once, so if you plan ahead, you don't have to be waiting all night for them to be coming out of the oven. As usual, I throw in whatever veggies I have on hand, with eggplant being one of my favorites. I didn't have any this time, so it is just my standard mix of what I always have around. I was bummed that my whole wheat flour apparently had been in the fridge too long, so I used regular bread flour mixed with amaranth. I have to say, the texture was great! It was a bit tough when I was trying to knead it, so I wasn't sure how it would be. But even Craig commented on how good the crust was. And just as a little plug for amaranth, it is second highest only to quinoa for the amount of protein in a grain, and is high in lysine. It is also an excellent source of iron and magnesium. This recipe makes 6-8 calzones, depending how big you like them. They also freeze well, making a quick dinner for another night.

Dough:

1 tsp active yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp agave, or other sweetner of choice
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
4 T olive oil

Combine the yeast, water, and sugar. Stir and let sit for about 10 minutes, or until nice and bubbly. Beat in the flours, salt, and olive oil. Knead until smooth. Let rise, covered, in a warm place for about an hour.

Filling:
Do what you like! I used broccoli, zucchini, red pepper, carrots, onions, and pineapple in mine. I probably do about 4 cups of veggies, chopped, and sauteed in a little tomato sauce (not too much as it will all leak out when it's baking, just enough to bind it together a bit) and garlic.

To assemble:
Preheat oven to 425. Break the dough in half, and divide each half into three or four equal sized balls. Sprinkle the counter with flour and roll out each ball into a circle. Spoon a couple of tablespoons of your filling onto one side (judge depending on the size of your circles, you want to put the filling so it's on one half with about a half of inch to spare so you can fold the edge of the dough over). I normally pour some nutritional yeast sauce over the top, but we had some Follow Your Heart cheese that needed to be finished off, so I sprinkled some of that on this time. Fold over the top half of the dough and either use your fingers or a fork to seal. Repeat with remaining circles. Brush the tops with olive oil before putting in the oven. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden.

I always like having some extra tomato sauce to pour on top, or some garlic olive oil to dip the edges in. This time, I was feeling the need for a little protein, but we were out of Tofurky Italian Sausage, my usual pizza topping. I put in some onions, garlic, and Lightlife Smart Ground into some sauce instead and dished that over the calzones before eating.

Vegetable Barley Soup

Nothing like a good bowl of soup! This soup is an inspiration from in a dish I made with Anna up in Connecticut one time. With black-eyed peas and barley, it is a hearty meal. Especially with some delicious garlic bread! We love the convenience of garlic-infused olive oil. Yum! Craig had gotten some bread from a Jamaican bakery, so he had that while I had my millet bread. End it all with a slice of sweet potato pie and enjoy the last days of winter food!

Vegetable Barley Soup

1/2 cup dried black-eyed peas
2-3 inch piece kombu
2/3 cup barley
32 oz vegetable broth
5 cloves garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
whatever veggies you have on hand - I used cauliflower, broccoli, red pepper, zucchini, tomatoes, celery, and some left over sweet potato from the pie. Amount? Depends how much veggies you want! I probably had over 3 cups worth total.
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 - 3/4 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 handfuls of nutritional yeast

Put black-eyed peas in pressure cooker with kombu and 2 cups of water. Once it starts steaming, cook for 6-8 minutes. They don't need to be cooked all the way since they will have a chance to cook some more as you add the other ingredients. Discard kombu if it is starting to disintegrate....or chop up into small pieces and leave in soup.
Add vegetable broth and barley. Let cook for 5-7 minutes. Add garlic and onion. Cook another five minutes. Add the rest of the veggies, except tomatoes, and the spices. Cook another 5-7 minutes. As barley cooks, you may need to add some more water if you want more broth. Depending on the veggies you use, you may need to cook it a little longer, but don't worry about getting them too soft as they will continue to cook as the soup cools.
This made a pretty good amount of soup! I'd say enough for five or six people probably. Also, I had some for breakfast and noticed that the barley seemed to have soaked up some more of the broth. So if you're reheating, you may need to add some more water or broth.