Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Plants

So over the Labor Day weekend, we finally redid our foundation planting. I was finally able to make up my mind on what to get, thank goodness! As I mentioned before, we tore out all of the old bushes and have replaced them with dwarf varieties. We got a Dwarf Alberta Spruce, 2 Gumpo White Azaleas, 2 China Girl Holly, 1 China Boy Holly and we planted the 2 boxwood that S gave us. I think it turned out really well.



This is the before shot from around Easter this spring.







This is how it looks now. I really think it makes our house look "younger" and I'm so happy to have those big gnarly bushes gone.






We planted the China Boy Holly off to the side of the yard. We'll have to keep up with the pruning of these shrubs so since the boy holly dosesn't have any berries we figured it would be fine over in another part of the yard and we wouldn't have to worry about trimming it as often.

I'm really happy to finally have this project completed.

Now I just need to get my spring bulbs ordered and planted!

Have you done any garden projects lately?

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

A recipe for you

Hello all!

I've been slacking as usual with this blog. Now that summer is just about over, I think I'll be posting on here more.

Today I have a recipe to share that I made this weekend. It's based on a recipe I found in the Desperation Dinners cookbook by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross. I tweaked it a bit and bulked up the veggies a bit more. Here's my version:

Quickie Turkey Chili
Serves 6

1 pound ground turkey
1 can black beans
1 can red kidney beans
1 small can sliced black olives
2 cans Mexican stewed tomatoes with green chiles
1 onion
4 stalks celery hearts
1 green pepper
1 carrot
1 clove garlic, minced
2T chili powder (I like it spicy so I did 3T)
1t cumin
1t garlic powder
Olive Oil

In a large soup pot, heat a couple turns of the pot of olive oil. Chop onion, carrot and celery and add to the pot as you chop. Saute those for a couple minutes then add the minced garlic. Then push the veggies to the side and add the turkey, breaking it up as you brown it. Meanwhile, chop the green pepper and add it to the pot. While the meat is starting to brown, drain and rinse the beans and olives. As the meat continues to brown add the beans, olives, chili powder, cumin and garlic powder. Mix that around and then add the two cans of tomatoes with juice.

Let that come up to a bubble and then simmer for 15 minutes or so. Serve with sour cream, cheese and tortilla chips.

We had this Saturday for supper and had the leftovers with some elbow pasta on Sunday. I had also made some ranch dip for the weekend snacking and it was quite tasty as a topper on this chili.

I hope you like it!