Garden Post

We've been so fortunate again this year with our garden.  I admit that I don't have much to do with its success.  I have very little technical knowledge when it comes to gardening, yet we still manage to get a surplus of produce and enjoy ourselves.  The only real work we put into it is using the compost I build up over the year, pulling weeds (not often enough!) and harvesting.

This year, we expanded our garden by doubling its size and adding zucchini and cucumber to the mix.  We also have green beans, onions, red bell peppers, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes and Early Girl tomatoes, and sugar snap peas.  Earlier, we had leaf lettuce, spinach and broccoli, but that's passed now. 

Here is one of our first big harvests from July 5th:

We've since pulled off dozens of cherry tomatoes, a couple of regular sized tomatoes, another couple handfuls of green beans, several jalapenos, a few onions and a zucchini that probably weighs 5-6 pounds!

I've got another batch of Chocolate Zucchini Bread in the oven now, and several batches of shredded zucchini in the freezer with more still coming.  Green beans are our favorites and we've eaten a few and I've frozen four bags, moving right along with my 30 Before 30 #6!

We both just really enjoy digging in the garden, and getting to eat the stuff that comes out of it makes it even more worthwhile.

My Sloppy Joe Recipe

Wow, let another couple of days get by since my last post!  Whoops!  In my defense, had a couple health issues going on.  Here's a quick recipe to keep the blog moving, should be back either later today or tomorrow.

A couple of years ago, I came across a great Sloppy Joe recipe, way better than that canned stuff!  Since then, I've tweaked it a bit, added a couple things, and made it spicier.  Let me know if you try it!

1 lb. ground beef or 1.25 lb ground turkey (I usually use turkey)
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1 (or 2!) jalapeno, diced fine
2 cloves garlic
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika (I love the smoked spanish type)
1 tsp. dried oregano
A few shakes of your favorite hot sauce
3 tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tbsp. white vinegar

Brown meat in large skillet, drain fat off if using beef.  Add onion, pepper and jalapeno.  Cook until onion and peppers are slightly softened, about 5 minutes.  Add tomato paste and water, stir and cook until paste is completely dissolved.  (Quick tip: if you don't have tomato paste, a 14 oz. can of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup water is a good substitute, you just have to cook it down for a little longer) 
Add spices and rest of ingredients, let cook down till nice and saucy, 10-15 minutes.  Serve on buns with either shredded cheddar cheese or good old fashioned Kraft American cheese slices!

Requisite Update On My 30 By 30 List

Basically, not much to update:

1. Get my Mandarin fish tattoo - no progress, think I found a good place, but still need to schedule and scrounge up the money, it'll probably get pushed till after my birthday trip.*

2. Sew myself a wearable skirt - have the fabric, have the book, haven't touched the sewing machine...

3. Sell at least 1 of my photographs - working on a plan for an Etsy shop.

4. Paint again (canvas, not walls) - nope, nada

5. Embroider a pillowcase - have some of the materials...

6. Preserve vegetables that I’ve grown in my garden - ooh, worked on this last night!  Froze 4 bags of green beans from the garden.  I have plans to shred some zucchini to freeze and to cook down some of the zillion cherry tomatoes to freeze as well

7. Go to a stitch and bitch or knitting group - not yet

8. Volunteer - have some websites to look at, I would like to do something with animals if possible

9. Run a 5K - this is going to probably be taken off the list.  I just haven't been running.  Running outside makes my legs hurt, and I don't have room in my house for a treadmill or want to spend the money for a gym membership.  Maybe for the 40th birthday...

10. Read at least 5 books on my bookshelves (preferably that I haven’t read before) - I'm still plugging away at 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea on my Kindle. I want to get that done before I start something else, but it is SLOW going!

11. Invest some money for retirement (auto 401K with work does not count)

12. Yarn Diet-knit down my stash - I'm actually doing really well on this one!  I haven't bought any yarn, and I've been finishing projects!  I also want to make a few dishcloths to get rid of some of that cotton yarn that's just sitting there.

13. Bake and frost a layer cake from scratch - done!

14. Sell or give away 50 things that I currently own - 34 down, 16 to go

15. Paint the hutch in the dining room - this I've been planning to do for years, but now I'm wondering if I want to even keep it.  It's soooo big for our tiny little house, but we need the storage...

*Have I mentioned my birthday trip? 

Anyway, not too exciting, but I'm going to crack down on it, I'm down to less than 3 months!

Rustic Tomato Sauce with Zucchini and Sausage

I made this recipe a couple of weeks ago when I had a few fingerling zucchini to get rid of and wanted some spicy pasta.

Rustic Tomato Sauce with Zucchini and Sausage
1 lb. bulk sausage (I use spicy)
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
3 small or 1 large clove of garlic, pressed or minced
1 medium or 2 small zucchini, 1/2 inch dice
14 oz. can crushed tomatoes
28 oz. can whole tomatoes with juice
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 tbsp. sugar (to counteract some of the acidic, canned-tomato flavor)
10-12 leaves fresh basil chopped or 1 tbsp dried
1 lb. pasta of your choice cooked according to box directions

Brown sausage, drain off fat and set aside.

In large skillet, heat oil on medium.  Add onion, garlic and zucchini.  Cook until onion is translucent and zucchini starts to soften, about 5 minutes. Add both cans of tomatoes, sugar, oregano and basil (if using dried, if using fresh, wait till the end).

Start pasta water. 

While waiting for water to boil and pasta to cook, bring sauce up to a simmer.  As the sauce cooks, break up the whole tomatoes with your spoon.  This keeps larger chunks of tomatoes and gives it a more chunky, rustic consistency.  If you have more time, you can add the sausage and let the sauce simmer on the stove for an hour or so to let all the flavors meld together.  If not, you can just throw in the sausage and fresh basil and serve as soon as your pasta is finished!

Serve with lots of grated parmesan cheese (fresh if you have it!) and a green salad.  Easy, delicious and filling!

The Baby of the Family

As I mentioned yesterday, we have a new furry family member!  Internet, meet Gilboa (otherwise known as Gil):

 She is a teeny, tiny, 10 week old kitten that according to the vet, only weighs 1 pound, 5 ounces.  She is a sweet and wild little snuggle-bunny, and we just love her to death.  She's easy to lose though!  When she is running around the house, if you take your eyes off of her for a minute she's gone!  She likes to hide under the recliner, behind the tv, in the coat closet, and apparently, in the broiler.  That's where we found her last night.  She was going into the space between the refrigerator and stove, and since we have the cheapest stove you can buy, the broiler has some open space in the back.  So, we opened the broiler drawer to find her hanging out there!  Needless to say, the space is now blocked off.

You may be wondering where the name Gilboa came from; we snagged her from Gilboa Quarry, a place where we dive fairly frequently, including this past weekend (which is a story in itself, I'll tell that soon).  The owner, Mike, always has cats running around there and she was this tiny little thing that was always nearby and wanting attention.  And we had been talking about getting a kitten on and off lately, so, she came home with us!  Plus the name kinda suits her personality! 

Murphy wants desperately to be friends with her, but Gil isn't quite sure yet.  Gil is interested in Murphy, but still a little afraid of her. Who could blame her?  Murphy is almost 75 times her size!  I predict that they will be best buds within the next week or so.  I'll keep you posted!

Coming Soon To This Space:

Blogging.  Actual blogging!  I mean it this time!  I have so much to write about!  Recipes, a new furry family member, some diving, some knitting, some pictures and an upcoming trip.  I promise, July will have some posts.  See you tomorrow!

Mother's Day Cake and Changes

As you can see, the blog has a new header and a new background color.  What do you think?  I'm going to try and change the header on a more regular basis, now that I'm starting to get Picasa figured out!  I'm also probably going to be investing in Photoshop Elements soon.  IPhoto does a pretty good job with my photo post production, but I'd really like to have PSE.  (Actually, I'd really like to have full Photoshop, but I'm not ready for that splurge!)

Also, number 13 checked off the 30 Before 30 list!  

This is the amazing Strawberry Shortcake Cake from the Pioneer Woman.  This was the dessert I chose to take to my MIL for Mother's Day.  I have to say that it wasn't hard to make and split, but icing it was a little tricky.  Okay, so I cheated a little bit, and Jeff helped.  He helped me split and ice it, but, I'm still counting it, because it broke the ice!  I won't be afraid to attempt a layer cake again!

Happy June!

Wow, didn't mean to let this much time get away from me without posting.  Been busy, but, not THAT busy!  Short update for now, I'm wanting to make some major changes to the blog so it doesn't jump around so much.  Maybe different sections for diving, knitting, photography, and "everything else"?  Still trying to decide what I want.  I just feel like "Knit N' Diver" doesn't cover everything, that I talk to much about other stuff, for the title to be appropriate.  I'm just not quite sure what to do.  I want to start promoting and selling my photos, but don't want it to be a promotional only website, but don't really have the time to maintain another one.  I'm thinking about opening an Etsy shop for that, but still working on a name for that as well.  Sorry for the rambling post, but just wanted to put it out there that I'm still around, just figuring out which direction to go.  Any suggestions are greatly welcomed!

Pies and Drama

Ok, I have a confession to make.  I'm afraid of pie crusts.  Not eating them (for the most part, but man, I've had some BAD ones!), but making them.  This weekend for Mother's Day, I threw out the idea that I make some sort of baked good and buy a plant for Jeff's mom.  He agreed, but suggested a pie of some sort.  "But I've never made a pie crust!" I told him.
"So, just make one, it's easy," he tells me.
"No it's not! Have you ever made one?"
"Yeah, it wasn't that hard."
"When did you make a pie crust?"
"I don't know, I was still living at home and we didn't have any pie crusts, so I called my mom, and she said, 'Just make one', so I did."
"..." (this is my reaction of shock and disbelief)
"What?"
"Um, nothing, I'm just surprised is all," I said.

So, I'm still not convince that pie is a good idea.  I'm not sure I like the idea of my first pie crust being for a person who makes excellent pie crusts.  Oh, I didn't mention that?  Yeah, my MIL makes probably the best homemade pie crusts that I've ever eaten.
Now, I know I'm a good cook, and my baking skills are improving, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a pie crust.  Maybe I can convince Jeff to do the crust, then if it goes wrong, I can blame him!  Is that wrong?

The Fruits our Our Labor

I love having a garden.  This is our second year and we decided to double the size because we enjoyed it so much last year.  About a month ago I put in lettuce and spinach, and a whole bunch of onions.  There was also an "incident" involving 3 broccoli plants and a small rodent.  One plant disappeared, one was eaten all the way to the ground, and one was completely stripped of all of its leaves.  Thankfully, the one that got stripped, actually survived, so we're going to get a little broccoli this year.  Then this past weekend, we got 2 tomato plants, 1 bell pepper, 1 jalepeno, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans and sugar snap peas.  We also put some parsley, basil and "lime" thyme in a container.  The lime thyme smells fantastic, I can't wait to use it!  I've also thrown some fancy mint in one of my flower beds, since they're perennials, candy mint and chocolate mint, these will be great for teas!  We're also trying out a watermelon plant and some strawberries.  My husband picked out the watermelon, we'll see how that goes, it's supposed to grow 20 pound melons!  Knowing our luck, which, usually tends to be good when it comes to the garden, we'll have a dozen watermelons and not know what to do with them!!

We're already starting to get lettuce and spinach for salads.  There is just nothing better in a salad than fresh baby lettuces and spinach.  Look how pretty that is!

Just a simple salad with grape tomatoes and blue cheese, I could eat this every day!

I'm also about a week into trying to be more active and eating less.  I'm doing pretty well.  I've walked 3 times and we went diving this weekend, which counts for swimming.  I'm also trying to eat smaller portions.  I've tried eating better and eating less, but I don't have the willpower to do both, apparently.  I just don't do well with being hungry!