Garden 2011 Plan

I broke down this morning and sketched out my garden for next summer. I've already received four seed catalogs (two of them came before Thanksgiving). Seed catalogs are kind of like Christmas decorations at Hobby Lobby: they come earlier every year!

When I say I "sketched" my garden, it really means I drew it in AutoCAD. I'm a nerd. But it's easier than drawing it on graph paper. I already have my 2009 and 2010 garden in CAD so it's just a matter of copying over the bed layouts and rearranging the plant spread circles.

According to the drawing, next year I will have:
8 tomatoes (so hard to only have 8!)
18 peppers and eggplant (This is difficult too!)

So now I have to decide which varieties to plant.... I have leftover seed from last year that I will re-use. Black Cherry, Amish Paste, Thessaloniki and Cour di Bue tomatoes. Several types of peppers and eggplant. Before I know it I will need to start my seeds!

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Christmas Cookie Baking

I thought I should make some notes about cookie baking as I think this is what I will do for the menfolk presents unless I hear they dislike cookies.
This year I bought cookie boxes instead of the bags I used last year and decided to give everyone an assortment instead of all one type of cookie.
I made one batch each of chocolate toffee shortbread (from Farmgirl Fare's blog), chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin (both from Grandma Ettling) and chocolate crinkles. This was for six boxes of cookies (Gabe, Dad, Daniel, Troylee, Collin, Tom).

I used:
butter (2 boxes)
leftover bag of powdered sugar
flour (about half a bag)
white sugar (about half a bag)
brown sugar (about half a bag)
quick oats (about half a canister)
eggs (a dozen)
vanilla (about 1 oz.)
bag of toffee bits
baking chocolate (half a box)
raisins (about half a bag)
Plus the other odds and ends necessary for baking such as baking powder, baking soda and salt, but I always have those on hand and didn't feel the need to count them.
I was prepared to make white chocolate chip/pecan and peanut butter cookies but had enough.

For future reference,
Chocolate chip 6 dozen
shortbread 2 dozen
oatmeal raisin 3 dozen
chocolate crinkles 3 dozen
It should also be noted that I use a cookie scooper that is 1 1/2 Tbsp so I have consistently sized cookies.

There are about 2 dozen cookies in each box.

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Heaven and Hell

I went to a lecture today, given by one of my professors from Greece. He spent the last three years in Dubai teaching at the University there, and also on sabbatical. At one point he was speaking about the desert and about the gardens that are in the desert, that are like mirages. He compared the desert to hell.
His lecture got me thinking about whether Heaven and Hell are literal. The Tigris-Euphrates is often referred to as the cradle of civilization, one of the few places where life began on this earth. Some historians believe this area is where the biblical Garden of Eden was located. The area around the Tigris-Euphrates region is desert, current day Iraq.
Gardens in the desert have a paradise quality. I experienced first hand some beautiful gardens located in Alexandria, Egypt, also a desert area. They did seem to come out of nothing, and were miraculous in the fact that they could even grow in such an extreme environment.
This website gives the origin of the word "eden" as meaning luxurious or pleasure: http://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Eden.html
Essentially, the Garden of Eden was a place where a person would not suffer. In the desert a person suffers.

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Poet

I wrote a poem last Saturday while shivering in the deer stand. The Hubs and I were up before the crack of dawn to trek through the field to our deer stand. Not long after dawn there was a gun shot very close and then I caught glimpse of a hunter up the hill, running. Turned out it was Bucky's step-dad.
Anywho, the poem is only a four liner, and the first poem I've written since high school (7 years ago).

I saw another hunter
through the trees,
Hunter safety orange
against the autumn leaves.

And yes, the explanation of the poem was longer than the poem.

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Crockpot Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

This is another recipe from the "Fix it and Forget it" cookbook.

Scalloped Potatoes with Ham

6 cups sliced potatoes (I used new potatoes, red and yukon gold, that I purchased from the farmer's market)
salt and pepper to taste
1 can cream of mushroom soup, mixed with 1-1/2 c. milk
1 lb ham, cooked and cubed

Layer the potatoes in the crockpot, salting and peppering each layer. Pour the soup/milk mixture over the potatoes, and place the ham on top. Cook for 3-1/2 to 4 hours on high, until potatoes are tender.

Note:
I used cured ham steak and could have cut back on the salt.
There doesn't appear to be much liquid in the crockpot, but the soup doesn't really soak in to the potatoes.
I stirred the mixture a couple times, probably at the 1 and 2 hour cooking mark.

I ate this for breakfast this morning. It would have been good paired with over medium eggs.

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Bucket List

I decided it was time I wrote down my bucket list, so I could start crossing places off of it.

Requiring passport:
Paris
London (and the surrounding area: old castles)
Dubai
Italy (Vatican City, Rome, Venice)
Spain (Barcelona, Grenada)
China (Beijing, Great Wall)
India (New Delhi, Taj Mahal)
Turkey (Istanbul)
Cuzco, Peru (Machu Picchu)
Australia (Great Barrier Reef)

Not requiring passport:
Hawaii
New York City
Colorado - skiing with the hubs
Washington DC
North Carolina (Biltmore Estate)
Grand Canyon
Yosemite
Yellowstone
Sequoia National Park

I'm sure there are more places; I'll update the list as I think of them.

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Tamale Pie

Another slow cooker recipe! I asked the Hubs to go through the cookbook and put sticky notes on the recipes he wants to try.

Tamale Pie

3/4 c cornmeal
1 1/2 c milk
1 egg, beaten
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained (I used ground pork since we just bought half a hog)
1 envelope dry chili seasoning (I didn't have this, so I used a mixture of chili powder, salt, cumin, garlic powder)
16 oz can diced tomatoes (I used a pint of home-canned tomatoes)
16 oz can corn, drained
1 c shredded cheddar

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with non-stick spray.
Mix together cornmeal, milk and egg in crockpot. Mix in meat, tomatoes, seasoning and corn.
Cook, covered, on high for 1 hour, then on low 3 hours. (I forgot to turn it down after an hour, so I cooked it 3 hours on high)
Sprinkle with cheese and cook about 5 minutes for cheese to melt. (I sprinkled the cheese, put the lid back on and then turned off the slow cooker.)

Note:
I doubled the cornmeal, milk, egg and meat.
I still had fresh peppers from the garden so I added about 6 diced anaheim and poblano.

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