Early Summer Garden Tour

It is definitely spring, and the garden is loving the weather! Last weekend we were able to clean up the backyard, and my wonderful hubcap even fixed our garden shed (which was falling down). I love when "spring cleaning" finds its way outdoors. The grass is green, and the plants are all budding. 

The summer garden is taking off!

I stuck to the plan for the most part, but we decided to add more okra rather than grow any eggplants. The okra and corn plants are tiny right now (it's still a little chilly for them), but everything else is off to a strong start. 

Pictured, you'll see squash and zucchini blossoms (I tried to start these from seed, but the cold snap we got a few weeks ago wrecked that attempt). Next up, tiny figs on the tree — followed by little peaches. We're hoping to have a respectable crop of fruit on our trees this summer!

Keep scrolling, and you'll see the pepper plants, which are six different varieties from Johnson Backyard Garden. They range from hot to sweet, and I can't wait to taste the rainbow of peppers we'll have!

The strawberry patch is doing well, and tiny berries are beginning to redden on the vine. Sadly, though, the local fauna (cats and birds) have been getting to them before I can. 

Tiny cherry tomatoes are already on the vine, nice and green for now. I'm looking forward to sumptuous salads comprised only of these sweet bite-sized morsels. 

The beans and cucumbers are beginning to start their journeys up the trellises. I planted French climbing beans and two varieties of cucumber this year, Diva (which I had great success with last year) and the National Pickling variety. Both promise wonderful yields, so I'm hoping for the best. 

What's growing in your garden?

Cooking Again!

A sneak peek at the finished kitchen!

It only took three weeks (and then a plumbing hiccup), and we're back in our kitchen! I don't want to spoil it just yet; I will have some lovely photos to show soon for a full "reveal." We are still putting the final touches on it, too—I may or may not have splurged on some hand-crafted shelves to go on our empty wall. Oops!  

Meanwhile, I'm getting back into the groove of cooking. It's amazing what a bigger countertop means for meal prep. It is so exciting to envision what all we'll be doing in this kitchen soon. I'm thinking cinnamon rolls, pizzas, and dog treats; I have to make the most of my enormous countertop so I plan on doing lots of rolling.

Easy Vegetarian Pad Thai

At the moment, though, as I continue to transition my routines with my new job and our updated kitchen, cooking just means simple stuff, like this Easy Pad Thai recipe.

Currently Kitchenless

What a month it's been! Here is the last thing I cooked in our kitchen, about two weeks ago, which corresponded nicely with the very last of the winter garden harvest:

Sauteed kale, black beans, and peppers on multigrain tortillas, topped with cheese, Greek yogurt, and Cholula.

Kale and black bean tacos. Though they were nothing fancy, they were delicious and filling and healthy and wonderful. Oh, how I miss my kitchen. And the winter garden.

But fear not. 

The spring garden is almost planted—though a hard freeze the other night meant that we lost a couple of tomatoes and one pepper plant. My tent city in the backyard (Hubcap approved, mind you) meant that most of the tender vegetation emerged from the late freeze unscathed.

The trellises came in handy to shield peppers and okra from the cold.

As for the kitchen, we've spent the last few weeks preparing for this to happen:

Phase one: remove upper cabinets, remove countertop. Make a mess, basically.

Remember when it looked like this? I am so excited to share the official "after" photos once it's all said and done, and hopefully that won't be too long from now. We are getting new quartz countertops, and they've already taken out one set of cabinets and demolished the bar.

Oh, and there was one minor problem: a vital pipe extended above the countertop level—meaning we'll have to raise the countertops an inch and a half. For two tall cooks, there could have been no better problem to have! (Hubcap and I are excited that we'll have more prep room—meaning more opportunity to cook together.)

Patched ceiling, and the leveled countertop. Now we'll have a peninsula to work on, and floating shelves...

Oh, and in the midst of all of this I've started a new job AND went on a self-imposed social media diet, hence the radio silence from yours truly. Once we get back into a good groove (hopefully that means fewer frozen waffles for breakfast), I can't wait to bring you some fresh new meals from our kitchen and show you how the spring garden is progressing.

Stay tuned!

Kale and Sweet Potato Pizza

Somehow, I wound up home from work early. The kitchen beckoned, and without a real plan in place, I grabbed the food processor and my handy How to Cook Everything kitchen Bible. A few minutes later, a recipe of pizza dough (I jazz it up by using 2 cups of spelt flour) was rising on the counter.

The farmer's market trip I'd taken earlier in the week yielded a small bag of organic sweet potatoes (some of them may have been garnet yams). I had kale in the garden, and enough parsley to do something with. Oh, and the broccoli is still producing a little bit at a time.

The idea of pizza with all of these goodies on it became more and more appealing as the hour grew later. The result? A tasty, healthy pizza that wowed even the toughest critic: my husband. His glowing review? "Wow. I did not expect it to be this good."

That's right, the bar is that high.

I loosely based this on a couple of recipes I'd Pinned recently, including this one for sweet potato kale pesto pizza. Here's my spin on it. And really, this is a delightful dinner pizza; I like to use spelt flour to add a slightly sweet, nutty flavor to the crust... And that plays very well with the tangy kale pesto and deep flavors of the roasted vegetables. I'd venture to say this is small-dinner-party worthy, accompanied by a salad topped with a balsamic dressing and a nice wine.

Sweet Potato and Broccoli Pizza with Kale Pesto

If you're making your own crust, be sure to prepare it at least one hour ahead of time. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, then set to making the pesto.

For the pesto:
2 cups kale, tough stems removed
1 cup fresh parsley, stems removed
juice from 1/2 lemon
4 cloves garlic
extra virgin olive oil (to create your desired consistency; less than 1/2 cup)

In a food processor, combine kale, parsley, lemon juice, and garlic. Process for a minute or two. While the machine is running, slowly pour in the olive oil. Start with 1/4 cup; stop the machine and check the consistency of the pesto. Add more olive oil, a tablespoon at a time, until it is spreadable but not too thin. Set pesto aside.

For the pizza:
1 recipe pizza dough or 1 store-bought crust
1 large or 3 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed clean and cut into very thin slices
2 cups broccoli florets
1/2 onion, sliced thin
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon fresh sage
2 tablespoons olive oil
shredded Parmesan cheese

On a baking sheet, toss the vegetables and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and herbs. Roast at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables have caramelized slightly. Remove from the oven and set aside. If you're looking to use fewer dishes, set the veggies on a plate and clean the baking sheet for the pizza.

Increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Sprinkle cornmeal on the baking sheet, and stretch the dough out until it's about 1/4 inch thick (or thinner, depending on how you like your pizza crust!). Prick it all over with a fork. Spread the pesto on the dough, and top with the roasted vegetables. Sprinkle shredded Parmesan over the top (liberally or not), and bake 10 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

Quiche for Dinner

Here's dinner: quiche with caramelized onions and fresh broccoli.

Until recently, we weren't "quiche for dinner" people. I don't know why; I love breakfast in pretty much any format, and quiche is one of the tastier ways to enjoy eggs. So how come I never cook it for a meal?

Because quiche seemed like such a venture. The pie crust, the vegetables, the eggs. The recipes. The never being able to decide what's better: leeks? Spinach? How many eggs? So much cheese!

A few weeks ago, all of that changed. Life as I know it came to a screeching... wait, no, that's not what happened. I simply made a good quiche and it made me think, "Oh, that was easy. Let's do it again." Ryan agreed; it was a success and we should have quiche more often.

Sometimes these things are SO EASY.

It started with an easy-to-follow, hard-to-screw-up pie crust recipe from my favorite cookbook author Mark Bittman. I love a straightforward recipe that's been tested and adapted, and his book (How to Cook Everything) has nothing but. Do yourself a favor and get a copy. It will be oft-referenced, complete with dog-eared pages and tomato sauce stains. Mine even has cornmeal sprinkled between a few pages.

Quiche is such an adaptable dish. I have made two lately that start with caramelized onions (again, following Bittman's instructions) and mushrooms and fresh garden broccoli. I love that quiche is a catchall; whatever is sitting in the fridge or on the counter can make an appearance. (Except garlic: I am not a fan of garlic with eggs. Why is that? Am I weird?)

Lately, I've been picking up fresh eggs at the farmers' market. They are unbelievably tasty, and it's how I'll buy eggs until we have our own backyard hens. (Who's dropping hints? Certainly not me.)

Really, there is no recipe here. I blind-bake a pie crust (instead of AP flour I like to use spelt, and I've subbed half of the butter for vegan margarine), saute some vegetables, and mix together about 5 eggs with a cup of 1% milk. There's usually some cheese involved, and a little salt and pepper.

These are the kinds of recipes I love—those that can be adapted endlessly. Having a technique down allows me more room for creativity and spontaneity. I'm gradually expanding the techniques I keep in my back pocket, from stir fry to tacos and now to quiche. It's liberating to shoot from the hip, to be freed from a recipe. It's like improv, or performance art. Except you can eat it.

What are your favorite kitchen improvs?