Spring Harvest

It is never common to harvest a crop in the spring, unless you are in my garden. I had a very busy fall. After spending the summer here with Reggie, I had to return to Ottawa where I still had an apartment. The plan was to stay in Ottawa until February, and then once while travelling back here for a visit there was a bad car accident. I decided then and there that was the end of the weekend commute. I was moving in with Reggie permanently. So with all the moving back and forth, accidents and changing jobs, I kind of neglected the garden. I completely forgot to harvest the remaining carrots, and chives, and I never had time to put all the gardens to bed. Needless to say there is a lot of work out there this year! And yesterday while I was raking leaves, cutting down dead matter and collecting fallen sticks, look what I found:

Baby carrots tucked away nicely in the earth, underneath fallen leaves. I heard that if they remain in the ground they can still be eaten in the spring. Sounds good, let's harvest!

And then to sort through, and see which ones were actually still good after a winter's sleep.

I had to get rid of a lot of them. they were partly eaten by little critters or Jack Frost managed to nip at the top, making them soft and inedible. But I have a few, and they are pretty good - especially after 5 months of frost, snow and cold.

Have you found anything fun in your garden yet? Stay tuned to see what else I found in my spring cleaning garden adventure!

Spring Cleaning: Freezer (Part II)

As a continuation to last Sunday's post about cleaning out the freezer I have a few more recipes this week. You will see I have lots of goodies in my freezer/fridge that need attention. And especially since things are starting to come in already! Thanks Reggie! I hope you enjoy these tasty meals:

20 Minute Spicy Leftover Soup

2-3        hot Italian sausages

4 tsp     chicken stock powder

3 cups   water

1 cup    pumpkin purée

1           onion, chopped

1 tsp     minced garlic

2           celery stocks, chopped

3           medium carrots, peeled and chopped

¼ cup   red lentils

1½ cup cooked rice

1 tbsp   chopped fresh cilantro

Pan cook the sausages, remove from heat, slice thinly and set aside. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil, add chicken stock powder and pumpkin purée. Meanwhile, in the pan used for the sausages cook the onion until they are soft and becoming clear, add the garlic and stir until fragrant. Add the carrots and celery and cook until they begin to soften, 3-4 minutes. Add the sausages, veggies and lentils to the stock, and reduce heat to medium. When lentils are almost cooked (about 6 minutes) add the rice. Allow soup to simmer for 5-10 minutes (depending on how much time you have), and finally add the cilantro and simmer for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and serve immediately with bread and cheese (it helps reduce the heat from the sausages). Store leftovers in the fridge for up to one week.

When opening a can of something, like tomatoes or tomato paste I always put any extra in the freezer, and this recipe is a great way to use up these little bits of things.

 

Enchiladas

6          tortillas

1-2 cup cooked rice

500g    ground bear (feel free to use beef or anything else)

½ tsp   minced garlic

½         onion, diced

1 cup   diced tomatoes

½ cup  tomato paste

¼ tsp   chipotle chilli powder

1 can    mixed beans

¾ cup  frozen corn, thawed

½ cup  grated Monterey Jack cheese

½ cup  grated old cheddar cheese

2 tbsp  chopped fresh cilantro

Cook the ground meat (in my case I used bear, because we have lots) with the garlic and onions. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and chipotle chilli powder. Reduce for about 5 minutes. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly grease a cookie sheet and lay out tortilla shells. In each tortilla spoon equal amounts rice, meat mixture, beans and corn. Sprinkle cheese (reserving ¼ cup) and cilantro (reserving about 1 tsp), over the open tortillas. Close each tortilla with a toothpick, sprinkle remaining cheese and cilantro over all six tortillas and bake for 20-25 minutes, until tortilla edges are brown and cheese is melted. Store leftovers in an airtight containers in the fridge for up to three days.

And finally, my favourite, dessert:

Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Cake

1¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup  unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp    baking powder

¾ tsp   baking soda

½ tsp   salt

½ tsp   cinnamon

¼ tsp   ground cloves

⅓ cup  butter, margarine

1 cup   granulated sugar

1          large egg

¼ cup  milk

1½ cup pumpkin purée

½ cup  chopped pecans/walnuts/chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Sift all dry ingredients together in a small bowl, set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar; add egg, beat well. Stir in milk pumpkin* and nuts (or chocolate chips). Finally, add dry ingredients and blend well, do not over mix. Pour batter into a greased bundt** pan and bake for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out of pan. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream! Store leftovers (if there are any) in an airtight container for up to five days.

* You can use any veggie you have stored away in your freezer, grated zucchini, squash purée, sweet potato purée, etc.

** If you do not have a bundt pan use a loaf pan, and cook for 60mins, or until toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs

 I hope your weekend is going well. I'm about to head outside, and get some sun! Write you soon!

Weekend Workshop - Kids Craft (Painting)

This is a fun and easy craft you can do with your kids, and if you don't have kids you can borrow your niece, nephew (as I did), or other children close to you; or just do it yourself.

Using the materials pictured below, you and your little one can make a super cute piece of art that you and s/he will be proud to display anywhere in the house. To find out how to complete this craft go to the tutorials page and follow the appropriate link.

This one was created by a collaborative effort between myself, Crystal and Loo from Crafty Ave, it is a whole crafty family over there! Did you hear, Mr. Crafty Ave is going to be doing a guest post tomorrow? teehee

Have a fun weekend, and check back tomorrow for some more spring cleaning - freezer style!