Make Do or Do Without
I’m blogging over at Not Dabbling today about my favorite quote:
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Good Growing Guides
I’ve been chatting with Isabel over at Fennel and Fern recently. She made these wonderful quick reference guides to help with your edible gardening pursuits. I don’t know how many of you keep up with the Fennel & Fern blog, so I thought I’d highlight her wonderful “Good Growing Guide” here. You can download these cards for FREE and print them off at home, or you can order them from Zazzle if you want professionally printed copies.
Just look at these lovely cards, how could you not want to plant all these wonderful edible things? These guides would be a perfect addition to your seed box, giving you a quick reference at planting time.
They all come complete with inspiring photos and tips for growing each item. I believe there are 26 total in the set, here’s a small sampling.
Head on over to Fennel & Fern to take advantage of this wonderful resource Isabel has made available.
Any great resources you’ve found recently to share with us?
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Homemade Blueberry Skillet Cake
We spend some time each summer gathering sun ripened berries and stowing them away in the freezer. They’re a delightful reminder of summer during these cold dark winter months. Our freezer is currently stocked full of blueberries, blackberries and wild black raspberries. Yesterday I decided that some blueberries would go perfectly with those lemons I got a while back. I settled on blueberry muffin cake, since it would pair perfectly with our morning coffee on a sub-zero Sunday morning.
I call it a cake because I don’t bake it in muffins tins (I have a strong aversion to all things non-stick). I like baking in a cast iron skillet, so all of my muffins are made in one batch in this cast iron skillet that’s probably twice as old as I am. I find that they bake wonderfully, it takes a little longer, but it’s well worth the extra time. Not to mention there are no muffin tins to wash, which is a big plus in my book!
I prefer my breakfast to be a little less sweet so I have developed this recipe to suit our tastes. It’s a lower sugar recipe, so if you’re looking for those sweet as candy muffins you can buy at the local coffee shop, double the sugar in this recipe. You could also sweeten them up with a crumble topping, sprinkled on top before baking or by drizzling them with some lemon juice mixed with powdered sugar after taking them out of the oven.
LEMON BLUEBERRY SKILLET CAKE
2 2/3 cup of flour (I use half whole wheat flour)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup of sugar (double this for sweeter muffins)
zest and juice from 1 lemon *
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract *
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons of room temperature buttermilk (use regular milk or cream here if desired)
3/4 cup melted coconut oil, unsalted butter,** or cooking oil of your choice (the coconut oil doesn’t impart a “coconut” taste to the muffins, but it seems to add another layer of flavor)
1 1/2 – 2 cups berries (fresh or frozen, allow to thaw a bit if using frozen)
Heat oven to 400. Put cast iron skillet in oven. In large mixing bowl combine: flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and lemon zest. Stir to combine.
In another bowl crack eggs and whisk. Add vanilla extract, buttermilk and lemon juice to eggs and stir to combine. Remove cast iron skillet from oven and melt coconut oil in skillet, swirl oil around to coat skillet. **If using butter make sure to oil skillet with shortening or oil, not butter.
Pour wet ingredients (including coconut oil) into dry ingredients and lightly fold until almost combined. When almost combined add berries and stir to incorporate. If batter is too thick add a little more buttermilk or milk. You want this batter to be too thick to pour, but not too thick to smooth into edges of pan.
Spoon batter into cast iron skillet and put in oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean. Baking time will be longer if eggs/milk were not at room temperature and if berries were not slightly thawed. Keep checking every 5 minutes until done. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes. Slice and enjoy with coffee.
If baking in muffin tins bake for 20 minutes checking after 15.
*Optional flavor combination: cranberry & orange, cranberry & almond, strawberry & lemon, strawberry & vanilla, blackberry & lemon, black raspberry & lemon.
You can use any kind of berry in the muffins. I have used: blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and even cranberries. Strawberries would also be delicious, I think I’ll try those next time, or tomorrow depending on how long this batch lasts. Change the extract or citrus flavor depending on berries used. Cranberries and oranges are a wonderful combination. Almonds compliment cranberries or cherries beautifully and lemon pairs perfectly with blackberries, blueberries and raspberries. Strawberries would be heavenly with lots of vanilla.
So grab some berries from your freezer (or the grocery store freezer) and let you imagination run wild. Heat up that oven and bake up a batch of sunny muffins. Enjoy a delicious taste of summer in the middle of this cold winter weather.
What’s your favorite kind of muffin?
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Free Seeds from Renee’s Garden
Renee’s Garden was kind enough to send me a package filled with all 16 varieties of new seeds they have for this year along with two bonus garden packs.
The box was filled with all kinds of lovely seeds. I love the seed packs from Renee’s because they’re so beautiful.
Here’s a list of seeds that came in the box:
Cosmos, “Rose Bon Bon” – Extra fancy, uniformly double blossoms packed with frilled petals in a rich romantic rose. This exceptionally beautiful and care-free new cosmos produces 3 inch flowers that bloom non-stop on long stems.
Four O’Clocks, “Broken Colors” – A special variety whose starry 2 inch blossoms are beautifully splashed with showy contrasting colors. Their delicious jasmine fragrance floats on summer breezes. Easy to grow and reliable.
Hollyhock, “Apricot-Peach Parfait” – Exclusive – Beautiful new double hollyhocks in luscious colors. Sturdy tall 5 to 7 foot stalks are packed with powder puff blossoms that unfurl in delicious shades of apricot and rosy-peach.
Larkspur, “Singing the Blues” – Exclusive – Our premium mix features tall flowers with double blossoms in royal blue, violet, blushed blue and soft white. Early blooming for casual bouquets that arrange themselves in the vase.
Morning Glory, “Dawn Star”– This treasured heirloom is a vigorous midsummer climber and has scarlet trumpets blossoms with dainty white throats that lure hungry hummingbirds.
Poppy, Shirley, “Falling in Love” – Satiny blossoms in entrancing Valentine shades to light up the spring garden. Includes singles and doubles in glowing crimson, rose-red, white rimmed rose and the occasional peach, many with picotee petals.
Sweet Peas, Knee High, “Jack & Jill” – Blooming in dainty salmon-rose and soft mid-blue, our perfumed duet grows just 3 feet tall. These nostalgic and charming flowers bloom early offering heat tolerance and strong garden performance.
Celery, “Amsterdam Seasoning” – A Continental favorite resembling Italian parsley. Grown for its sprays of glossy green, intensely celery-flavored leaves; it does not form thick stalks. Adds a rich, mellow undercurrent to cooked dishes.
Beans, Pole, “Rattlesnake & Purple” – Heirloom mix: the pretty patterned Rattlesnake beans are delicious as fresh pods or for dried beans. Purple pods are renowned for tenderness, flavor and reliability and their color stands out from vines.
Beans, Pole, Filet, “Emerite” – Elegant, classic French “haricot verts” pole beans with especially slim, long rounded pods. Flavor is beany-sweet, delicate, and Emerite’s tall vines are vigorous and high yielding. Perfect for gourmet gardeners.
Beans, Pole, Filet, “French Gold” – These hard-to-find, handsome yellow beans are true “haricot verts:” classically slim, round 7 to 9 inch pods with delicate, sweet flavor and a crispy snap. Especially choice eating. Heavy bearing, vigorous vines.
Beet, “Golden” – Golden beets are a beautiful golden-orange color throughout. They stay tender-fleshed and particularly sweet and mild in taste, whether pulled very young or allowed to size up. Cooks love them.
Kohlrabi, “Crispy Colors Duo” – Our fast-growing purple and green-skinned Kohlrabi mix makes a pretty picture in garden beds. These extra-fancy hybrids rapidly size up into crispy bulbs with thin skins and crunchy, sweet, white flesh.
Lettuce, “Sea of Red” – Exclusive – Beautiful new lettuce whose sword shaped leaves are an intense deep, mahogany-red that doesn’t fade in the sun. This richly-colored lettuce is a true showstopper in both garden and kitchen.
Lettuce, “Sweetie Baby Romaine” – Exclusive – New baby romaine bred to be compact, juicy and delicious. Petite vase-shaped heads are heavy for their size with a wonderful, sweet flavor and crisp texture. Long-lasting, slow bolting, heat tolerant.
Peppers, Tapas, “Spanish Padron” – Exclusive – Gourmet gardeners will love these hard-to-find, authentic little peppers, for easy, “pop in your mouth”, delicious sizzling “Tapas” appetizers. The tapered fruits grow abundantly on early bearing, vigorous plants.
Of course I couldn’t keep all these lovely seeds to myself so I’ll be giving away two bonus packs, one each to two of my lucky readers. I have a Butterfly Garden Bonus Pack and a Three Sister Garden Bonus Pack to give away. All you have to do to have a chance to win is to comment below and let me know which one of these two you’d like. I’ll choose one winner from the pool of readers for each pack on Friday. *Winner Chosen* While you wait to see if you won head on over to Renee’s Garden and check out all the wonderful seeds they have. They specialize in seeds for the home gardener so you know what you get will do beautifully in your garden.
Seeds for a Butterfly Garden – Attract “the flowers of the air”. Our 4″x 6″ bonus pack contains three inner packets of easy to grow butterfly flowers whose ample nectar will bring butterflies to the garden all summer long. Includes complete planting and growing instructions and garden design information. Includes: Heirloom Zinnia “Persian Carpet”, White Cosmos “Purity”, Red Sunflower “Red Sun”.
Native American Three Sisters Garden, A Living History Trio – This handsome 4″x 6″ bonus pack contains three inner packets of heirloom seeds with complete growing instructions. Includes: multi-colored Earth Tones Dent Corn, Rattlesnake Beans to twine up the corn stalks and Sugar Pie Pumpkins to cover the ground.
So what would you like in your garden; a butterfly garden or a three sisters garden?
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Winter Storms = Migraine
We had a big storm move through, it started Thursday afternoon and it’s still here today. It dumped 8 inches of snow or more and closed almost every school yesterday.
Unfortunately big weather changes occasionally give me a migraine – ugh. I seem to be a rather sensitive person when it comes to the weather. So I spent the day squinting at all the bright light, thanks to so much snow and some sun. Everything looks like an overexposed picture when you have a migraine.
You find yourself squinting at every light, even the Christmas lights on the porch.
I did enjoy a few cups of ginger tea (made with freshly diced ginger with some honey) and some chamomile tea (helps with the upset stomach that’s inevitable with a migraine). Thankfully it was getting better by evening. I’m looking forward to today so I can enjoy all this lovely snow. Hopefully we get some nice light and I can get out and get a few good photos.
Does the weather ever affect your health or mood?
