Putting In The Garden

About a month ago, my father pulled into my driveway with a rototiller in the back of his truck. He very kindly tilled a nice patch in my backyard so that we could start a veggie garden. I already have numerous perennial flowers and flowering bushes along the side of the house. I also dug up some of the irises from my parents' yard and planted them along my back fence and around a tree. The flowers really take little to no effort to maintain, aside from a bit of weeding here and there. What I really wanted was a nice veggie garden. I love the idea of being able to walk into my backyard and fetch my own fresh produce. I love the idea of knowing what went into growing my veggies and knowing that they were picked only when they were absolutely ready to be plucked. I also like being able to save a lot of money on my grocery bill, while providing nutrient-rich veggies for the family.
We've planted squash, onions, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, swiss chard, kale, cabbage, green beans and sunflowers. I also hope to plant a winter garden, in the fall. We will enjoy many salads, BLT's and a variety of casseroles.  I selected greens that I knew would be plentiful and grow easily. I hope to make pickles and fresh salsa, as I also have a miniature herb garden.

Those coffee canisters are bottomless. They are being used to support the tomato stems, as they grow.

Each morning and each night, my husband checks the garden to monitor its progress. I check in on it, mid-morning and mid-afternoon when I water it. It's amazing to see how quickly everything is growing! I'll be even more excited when I start to see blossoms on the plants. It is very relaxing, spending time in the garden. My mother always told me how much time her father spent tending to his garden when he wasn't at work. I can see now, why he enjoyed it so much. I'll keep you updated on the progress of the veggie patch. Hopefully, I'll be able to share some recipes of the tasty dishes that I make with my garden delights. In the meantime, I have a few craft projects that I've been working on. I'll share more about that at another time. Until next time~ Toodahloo!

The Great Artisan Bread Experiment

I bought this online and neither the seller, nor the online store sponsor me. I just thought I should point that out before there's any sort of confusion. I DID get this discounted for an honest review, but I was not paid to feature this item in my blog. I just happened to use it to make delicious bread. I will admit, that I really liked this and I am glad I got to try it out.

If you've read a few of my posts, you might have observed that I have many hobbies. One of the more obvious of which is baking, but another hobby of mine is reviewing products. I like testing products out; most of which, I get at a discounted rate in exchange for my testing and reviewing the product, honestly and fairly. I have a lot of fun with this, and it allows me to write for an entirely different genre. So, when I have the opportunity to combine hobbies, I'm more than delighted. Recently, I acquired a banneton basket, which is a wicker basket used for proofing bread dough. After searching Pinterest for artisanal bread recipes, and making my own additions to the recipe, I had delicious bread.

When I first found the recipe that I wanted to use, I was very excited. It only had a few ingredients, and it claimed that I didn't need to knead it! However, once I started making the bread, I soon discovered that it was a two-day job, as I had to mix the batter and let it rest overnight, When I finally returned to the dough, it was far runnier than I'd expected. So, I added more flour and kneaded it (I couldn't help myself). Then, I let it rest in the banneton. I lined the basket with a tea towel, to prevent the dough from sticking. After a few hours, it was ready to go into the oven.

According to the recipe, the dough had to be placed in a Dutch oven, with a lid and baked in the oven for 25 minutes. Then, I had to (carefully) remove the lid and bake the bread for an additional 10 minutes. I was very nervous about this. I wondered if my herbed bread would even come out. After all the work that I put into it, would all be wasted? However, once I sliced into the bread, I soon found perfection. It tasted just like the fancy bread at the grocery store. It made fantastic toast and was outstanding with fried eggs for breakfast. When my husband first tried it, he said that it was chewy, but I explained to him that it was meant to be that way. He loved it. So, for my first time baking artisanal bread, I really lucked out with the recipe that I used. It was super basic. I added sage, rosemary and thyme to the mixture. Had I any parsley, I would have added that, too. I think this would be great with Herbs de Province added. I've been dipping this in lovely herbed olive oil and it's dreamy. I think that I might need to make herbed olive oil, this summer, perhaps some herbed vinegar, as well.

The other day, we put in our garden. we're still adding more vegetable plants. As my father plants vegetables in his garden, whatever has left over, he brings to us and we're planting those, as well. I hope the veggie garden works out this summer. Already, our flowers look gorgeous. The lilacs have come and gone, but now the peonies, irises and lilies are blooming. Keep an eye out on my Instagram and Tumblr pages for pictures of my flowers and my latest baking experiments. Until next time~ Toodahloo!