GOOD TASTE: Sautéed Beet Greens

My beet obsession continues. If you follow along, you may recall, I posted a round up of beet inspiration and then made some yummy and healthy Beet & Apple Salsa. But did you know that originally it was the beet greens that were eaten not the beet root – makes sense I think.

WEEKEND INSPIRATION: Natural Plant & Flower Dye

TGIF everyone! Here in the U.S. we have a 3-day weekend! I can’t wait to have that extra day so I can get caught up. What are you planning for the weekend? I’m thinking about trying some natural plant dye. I’ll probably start with beets. I just love the deep rich color a beets and can’t wait to try my hand at dying some fabric or paper. I’ve been checking out some ideas and gathered up some of my favorites to share with you. Enjoy these fantastic projects while I get ready to boil some beets.

WEEKEND INSPIRATION: Beet It

Happy Friday and weekend everyone. What do you have planned for the weekend? I hope something fun, maybe some relaxation time and of course a little creativity. I’ve been so inspired by all the beautiful beet recipes I’ve been seeing lately. I’m thinking about picking up some beets and experimenting this weekend. Be on the lookout for something beet-related from me. In the meantime, be inspired by these gorgeous beet recipes.

Enjoy and I’ll see you back here on Monday!

LITTLE CRAFT: Recycled Container Scare Cat

Here’s a fun little craft for little crafters just in time for your spring vegetable garden. Make a scare cat out of recycled plastic containers to keep the critters away from your vegetables. Or that’s the idea anyway.

GOOD TASTE: Japanese Eggplant, Shitake Mushroom & Bok Choy Stir Fry

Today I’m sharing a delicious and nutritious recipe with you. If you like stir fry and Szechwan flavoring, you’ll love this vegetable stir fry.

GOOD TASTE: 30 Second Egg White, Mushroom & Spinach English Muffin

Friends, I have a new breakfast obsession! And it’s so fast and easy. I’ve discovered that you can microwave an egg white and it’s perfection. Add in some fresh veggies and you have a healthy breakfast sandwich in 30 seconds.

GOOD TASTE: Purple Potato Vegetable Medley

I was so excited to see these little purple potatoes at my regular market. It’s always fun to try new things. And these little guys exceeded my expectation with their incredible burst of color.

THE DIRT: THE GRO PROJECT

This post brought to you by Miracle-Gro. All opinions are 100% mine.


Last week I showed you my little Japanese Spring Garden Seedlings. I’ve been taking really good care of them and I’m so excited about the possibility of actually harvesting these yummy veggies. The seedlings are Kabocha, Japanese Eggplant and Japanese Cucumber. You can read more about these vegetables here.

GOOD TASTE: A ZESTY GRILLED ASPARAGUS SANDWICH

Kraft sent me a bottle of the product to review, but they haven’t reviewed or approved what I wrote below. All opinions are mine. Enjoy!

Do I have a treat for you today. I made the most delicious sandwich the other day with the complimentary bottle of Kraft Zesty Italian Anything Dressing I received. When I was chosen to review this product, I wanted to create something outside of my normal cooking box. Something that I wouldn’t usually cook at home but I would order at a restaurant. I came up with a grilled asparagus sandwich that was out of this world good.

The Dirt: spring japanese vegetable garden

I’m so excited to get my vegetable garden going. My mom brought over these little seedlings the other day. Her neighbor gave them to her and my mom passed them along to me.

The Dirt: spring planting and diy tomato cages

 
I’ve mentioned here before that my neighbor generously gives us fresh produce from his garden every year. Vine ripened tomatoes, bell peppers in assorted colors, fresh zucchini, beans and more.



Once you’ve been spoiled with home grown produce it’s hard to go back to store bought vegetables. I’ve also always put off growing my own vegetables because bags of my neighbor’s harvest would show up on my doorstep.




Sadly, my neighbor is quite elderly and his health is failing. It’s hard to see him so frail and I’m sure he won’t be able to tend to his garden this year.




So for the first time in a long time, I'm planting my own small vegetable garden. I’m growing the tomatoes in pots but I couldn’t find a tomato cage that worked. Plus, why spend money on a flimsy green cage when you can make your own.




The cage looks pretty primitive but I think it will work. I started with four bamboo stakes and used sticks that I had for the cross bars. A dab of hot glue kept them in place while I secured them with twine. 




I made some plant markers out of a paint stick and small resin alphabet tiles. This tomato plant is called Better Bush Hybrid but I didn’t have enough tiles to spell that out. I had just enough tiles to spell out "Bush" and "Roma".

I’m anxious to see how my tomatoes do. Next up for my garden – fresh herbs. I have a nice galvanized tub that I plan to use. I’ll keep you posted on the harvest.

 Thanks for visiting.

 Carolyn

I happily link at the parties listed here and 

    

Good Taste: caprese sticks

I mentioned last week that my neighbor delivered a bushel of fresh veggies from his garden. He’s quite elderly and yet he manages to tend his garden and grow the most amazing produce. And, he gets my vote for best neighbor for sharing his harvest.

Here’s what I made with the cherry tomatoes.

These little caprese sticks are the perfect summer food. Little bite sized servings of a caprese salad. Did you know…because I just found this out - caprese salad is also referred to as insalata tricolore (the three colors representing the red, white and green of the Italian flag).

These are skewered and ready to go. Add the dressing right before servings. If you need a quick and easy appetizer, that tastes great, this is the ticket.

Caprese (tricolore) sticks - recipe is in the goodie bag tab.

The Inspiration Board: brookies, chicks and other good stuff

I recently had a birthday and boy, was I spoiled. I had to share all the goodies with you.

Brookies from my friend Vicky. These aren’t cupcakes. The bottom is a brownie, the middle is a cookie and the top is frosting. So good. I’m pretty sure the word “brookie” can be used in the same sentence as “devil” and “temptation”. Check out the recipe here on Martha Stewart.
 

My friend Linda let me scavenge her beautiful garden. Lookie what I got. I’m especially excited about the “chicks” from her Hens and Chicks plant. I can’t wait for my chicks to grow up and have chicks of their own.

The plant is called Hens and Chicks because the main plant, the hen, will produce little baby plants or chicks all around her. Here’s a nice blog article on Hens and Chicks.

Veggies from my neighbor’s garden. I will be posting up something made from these very soon.

The most beautiful flowers from my friends, C, J & B. Such good friends. I was overwhelmed.

My birthday cake. OK, I made this because it was also my son’s birthday. Cake decorating isn’t my forte but with my family the cake is gone so fast it would almost be a shame to spend too much time making it perfect.

I hope your weekend is filled with things as good as brookies, chicks, flowers and cake.