Todays Harvest

I pulled the first beets and carrots from the garden today, just in time for Terry's birthday dinner. The beets are Chiogia--this is the first time I have grown them and I am impressed! They are pink and they don't bleed like red beets do, thus eliminating staining. The flavor is mild and sweet, without the dark earthiness a lot of beets have. They are exquisitely beautiful when cooked and sliced. Terry doesn't normally comment on the appearance of food, but he did on this vegetable "What is that?" he exclaimed when he say the plate. "It looks like jewels!"

I prepared these the way I most often prepare young beets. I wash the beets and about half the beet greens. I boil the beets until tender, then peel and slice them, add a clove of crushed garlic, some olive oil, and vinegar, then set aside. Then I steam the greens until tender, drain off any water, and add the sliced beets and warm until the "bite" is gone from the garlic. Can be served warm or cold. Here I presented them warm on the bed of beet greens next to a blue cheese porterhouse steak.

Also from the garden...Nantes Half Long carrots and Sugar Ann and Mega snap peas.....a crunchy addition to the meal!

Self sown petunia

I found this little plant while weeding the front flower garden this morning. I didn't know petunias reseeded themselves. It looks healthier than the ones I've bought in the years past. Petunias will be added to the list of flowers I am going to winter sow next year! (I'm sure you will be hearing about winter sowing in this blog at some point).

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I got up this morning and did something useful for a change, instead of going out and spending the morning admiring my flowers or wasting time on the internet. =) I cooked enough food for a couple of meals all before 9:30 am. Then I went and did my 40 minute workout (my fitness trainer will be proud of me!) I made baked tahini chicken, chicken noodle soup, and roasted cauliflower soup. I have been making a fair amount of soup lately, and this Cauliflower soup is one of my favorites--and I like it even more because it is one that Terry will eat (he even occasionally requests that I make it!). I'm alway trying to find ways to get my husband to eat more vegetables without him thinking I'm trying to force him into a totally healthy diet!


It is really a simple recipe. You need:
1 small cauliflower (separate florets)
3 potatoes (diced in small pieces)
1 big onion (cut in chunks)
2 T olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Approximately 4 cups milk

Place the prepared vegetables in a broiler pan, toss with the olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place pan on the lowest rack in the oven and roast until everything is tender (I set my oven at 375 this morning, and the vegetables were done in 20 minutes). You may need to stir the vegetables occasionally.



This is what they looked like when they came out the oven.

Puree the roasted vegetables in a blender with enough milk to give the soup the consistency you like( I used soy milk this morning because that is what I had in the fridge). I like my soup to be a bit chunky, so I only put in the blender for a few seconds, but if you like it smoother, leave it in longer.


Reheat before serving. Sometimes I add cheese or little cream to it while reheating.

One of my favorite things...

Falling in Love Poppies in full bloom on June 24th.

It's a great big scary world out there....

At least if you are only a week and a half old and you are a California White chicken!

Terry and I picked up our baby chicks on Sunday. For now we are keeping them safe inside in a wire cage. When they get a little bigger they will go outside in an animal proof coop. They are very active little birds, constantly running, jumping, and trying out there wings. When they are in their cage, they want to be in the highest spot possible. I took them outside today when I was working the in the garden and opened the door of the cage. I expected a mad rush to freedom. Instead they all turned around and huddled in their shoe box nest with their backs to the world. The funny thing is they never even use their nest when they are inside. I think this is the first time they 've been inside the box. It took a while, but finally one mustered up the courage to step outside...but she didn't stay out for long. After a few minutes she went back inside and rejoined her friends in the shoe box. And here I had been worrying about chasing them through the neighborhood trying to catch them after I let them out!

Mother love

This little lady managed to hold on to her egg sack through three washings of spinach...got to admire her tenacity in holding on to her babies! When I finally discovered her I gently put her outside, but not before getting her portrait.

Monster in the bedroom

I did something today that I hoped I never would when I had my own home. I had invited someone for dinner and between cooking and running errands, I didn't get the house cleaned like I had intended. So 45 minutes before my friend arrived, I took all the clutter that has been collecting around the house for the past month and threw it in the bedroom and shut the door. I immediately felt ashamed. Growing up, that was how we "cleaned" the house whenever we had visitors---I always hated it and vowed many times I would never do that when I grew up.

It made me realize I really need to do something about my housekeeping. After my guest left, I forced myself to clean the bedroom, and put everything away in it's proper place. I also did some thinking on how to motivate myself to clean. I'm not looking to keep my home immaculately scrubbed. All I want is it to look tidy and comfortable. A little dirt is okay. I don't want to spend my life cleaning. I'm sure you've all heard the saying: "No one has ever said on their death bed: 'I really regret not keeping my house cleaner. If I could live my life over, I'd do more housework.'" I know on my death bed I won't care a bit whether or not my house was clean at all times. But I do know that constant clutter and grime weigh me down and make me depressed. At times the house is so dirty that the thought of cleaning it is overwhelming and I can't seem to get up the energy to even start. I just give up and go outside and do something I like to do.

I hope want my home to be a quiet peaceful place. I want it to be full of love and beauty. A dirty house does not reflect peace and quiet and it certainly doesn't seem like a place where love abides. It most definitely is not beautiful. Terry did a lot of hard work making this little house nice for me. It certainly would be a gesture of appreciation to keep it reasonably clean. (Lately he has been doing far more housekeeping than I have been.) It is a very attractive little house on the inside and deserves to be cared for well.

To get me inspired this evening I went and looked up what Catherine Doherty (founder of Madonna House) had to say about cleaning. She has written about just every practical mundane part of everyday living and is usually pretty good. I've pulled out a quote from her chapter on cleaning and posted it below. I also picked a little bouquet of roses and lavender and place them on the window sill next to my little statue of Our Lady and asked her to inspire me. Mary certainly would not have been a sloppy homemaker!

"Have you ever thought of the song of the cleaning materials? How symbolic all this is! So here I am dusting. I am dusting a chair well. You just hear a swish. But if I am putting my soul, my heart, my love for God into this action, not missing any corner or any place, I am disciplining myself. I am beginning to die to self. I am really singing a song of love with each movement.

There are two songs today: there is hate and denial of God (or at least indifference to God), and there is our little song that starts in the morning, making the corners of the bed because you love. No other reason in the world could make you do them so well. You want to mortify that body of yours, discipline that mind of yours, make your will strong. Because you were faithful in little things, you can be faithful in big things.

You must begin at the bottom where Christ began, at the feet of his apostles: Hear the song of polishing, of elbow grease, of dusting, of cleaning, and of doing everything well for the love of God!

Place yourself in Nazareth with Our Lady during her time of waiting to give birth when she had no one but Joseph. Nobody paid any attention to her. You pay that attention. You sweep for those who never swept the cobwebs and the dirt from their souls — and still don't. Sweep in the Nazareth of human minds and hearts. Prepare that inn eternally, every day, for the Child to be born, the Child who was denied the inn and still is denied the inn of our hearts.

Narrower and narrower is the group of people who believe; still narrower those who will believe and lay down their lives for the Lord. Begin to lay your life down now — in the exacting, routine, monotonous, repetitious work of cleaning. Do it well. Offer it up. Pray. Don't pray with words; pray with your hands. Your movement is a prayer.

You see, give concentration and thoughtfulness to things today, and tomorrow you will give thoughtfulness to people. There is so much beauty in the action itself, in concentration, and in its results."