Invitation

Earlier this week Noah handed me a handwritten invitation to a Tea Party hosted by his class.

It's gonna be pretty delicious. There's gonna be HOT & COLD Tea!! And.... we are making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!! OH yeah, and we have to bring our own cups.
Last night before falling asleep, Noah calls me to his room. He claims he has something very important to tell me.
You know you have to dress pretty fancy for our Tea Party Mom. I'm really serious about that. Okay, that is very important! Especially since my wardrobe is in need of a serious overhaul!! I figured he'd forget by morning. No such luck.
This morning as I was getting ready to take him to school, he comes into my bathroom. Are you making yourself stylish? UMMM... Stylish....ummm nope, not really.
MOM!!!! You have to be stylish for the Tea Party!!! OH.... Yeah... Right...Of course! So I ask Noah what I should wear. He goes to my closet and picks out the one skirt that I own. He thinks all girls/women wear dresses. Naturally he picks out my one old work skirt. This is pretty stylish... I think? Bella Baby needs to be stylish too!

Soooo... I'm off to a wonderful Tea Party!



More flowers in the garden have bloomed!

Slug-Fest

In one of my gardening books from the library, I read a tip... to keep slugs at bay, water only in the morning. Slugs will come out at night, when it is cool, and much away at your garden. Soooo... I of course watered only in the morning, because I... UMMM... follow directions ever so carefully, but mostly because this made sense to me.

The past few days we've had some cooler weather and a bit of rain. The garden is oh so happy! Things are growing like mad! This morning, the rain slowed long enough for me to go gallivanting in the garden. DARNING! (darnet)As Noah would say, there were little holes on my lettuce greens! And... I found the culprit, or should I say the culprits??? There were tiny little slugs happily munching away. I didn't have the heart to squash them, they were just too cute, so I put them in my yard waste bin. Then... as I was checking out the radish, I found the Big Bad Momma of the slugs. She was eating my radish!!! The top part that was sticking out of the ground! OHHHH It's on!! Did I squash her? No, I just couldn't. I'm the girl who used to collect huge long earth worms and snails on my way to the bus-stop as a school-girl. So, she got tossed into the yard bin too... to live another day, munching on something other than my greens.

See the big munch marks???

Bella

I just couldn't resist posting another photo of Bella.

She's growing so fast.

First Harvest

Last night we enjoyed our first salad from the lettuce greens planted in the garden. To my surprise, there were tiny little radishes attached to some of the greens. I double checked my seeds and sure enough, the Micro Greens Mix includes Cherry Belle Radish! Those were gobbled before we got any pictures.

Check out this little flower! I have no idea what it is.

Garden Update

Things are (to my surprise) actually growing in the garden! Earlier this week, I thinned out the Red Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower. Very traumatic experience! Snipping all of those perfect little plants. It had to be done, for the good of the remaining plants. The kale, beets, onions and carrots are all doing well and growing!


lettuce name, with heart shape around name with beets (sprouts too tiny to see)


broccoli & red cabbage sprout


Yesterday Jaime purchased two types of potato sets, he didn't get the names. One is a small red, and the other a larger yellow. I will be using old tires (as containers) that we found buried in our backyard. He also purchased some strawberry plants, TriStar & Alpine. He picked the white Alpine, which is supposed to have a sweet pineapple taste, and because it never turns red, the birds will leave it alone, thinking it hasn't ripened yet. I'll believe when I see it! Noah loves strawberries! I keep trying to convert him to raspberries, my favorite, but it hasn't happened yet. =)

On the other side of the yard, I'm still digging... forever digging and weeding and pulling huge blackberry roots. Not to mention I'm still finding more GARBAGE! EWWW This new spot will be home to our pumpkin, watermelon, corn, and rhubarb. I haven't started my tomato seeds yet, and I think it may be too late. Maybe I'll just buy a few plants... (sign) We've also planted our raspberry and blueberry bush from last year, which have lived in pots until last week. They both have flowers! Yippeee!! Last year we had about 5 raspberries, and no blueberries. Thank goodness for the two huge blueberry bushes behind my mailbox across the street!

Strata

Do you have a large family to feed? Breakfast/Brunch guests coming over but you don't have the time to prepare a gourmet feast?
Try Strata. You prepare it the night before, then bake it in the morning.

Never heard of it?
Me either... I was perusing my latest cookbook from the library, 'Sunset 2004 Recipe Annual', and I ran across a recipe for Sicilian-Style Strata.

My version is only slightly altered:

1 (1lb) loaf of bread cut into 1 inch cubes (use whatever you have) I used sour dough
8 ounces of ham or prosciutto (use more or less depending on your taste)

half of a red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup sliced green onion

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 diced tomatoes

1/4 cup chopped olives (I omitted)

1/2 cup shredded cheddar

6 eggs

3 cups milk

1/2-3/4 teaspoon salt (how salty is your ham?)

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

chopped parsley

drained capers

In a lightly oiled 9x13 baking dish, layer:

-half of cubed bread

-ham

-bell pepper

-green onion

-parmesan cheese

Then layer with

-remaining bread

-tomatoes

-olives

-cheddar

Whisk

-eggs

-milk

-salt & pepper

-mustard

pour over layered ingredients, cover and refrigerate till morning.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40-50 minutes.

Garnish with parsley and capers

I love the versatility of this dish! You can use any type of bread, cheese and veggies. Whatever you like, whatever you have on hand.