Are you ready for June's Garden Pics?!

What?!  Another post of garden pictures?  Yup....you better believe it.  It's 0900 and Te-Man is still sleeping.  I can't believe it.  I am here typing with a nice hot cup of coffee and 2 dogs curled up at my feet - flowers blooming, garden growing, birds chirping (but not eating my tomatoes)....a full day of canning ahead of me.  Life is GOOD!!!

I thought this was a post about garden pictures? :)  Here ya go. :)

Sweet corn and sunflowers

1st Bell Pepper of the year!

 Banana Peppers

 Tomatoes! I decided I didn't want to have to buy 40 tomato cages and I procrastinated too long to have time to make my own, so we went with fencing stakes and para cord.  It is working wonderfully! Well, except for the Sun Gold Cherry tomatoes, but nothing can contain those crazy tomato plants, I had them as tall as my garage gutters one year!

 Cauliflower

 Beets and cucumbers

 Jalapenos

 Jalapenos

 Cauliflower

 Limas! and the Okra is still there on the left as well

 Onions!

 Radishes, kale, and carrots

 Lettuce, Kale, and Radishes

 Candy Roaster Pumpkins, lemon balms, sage, lavender, collards

 Tomatoes, jalapenos, cabbage

 Candy Roaster Pumpkins, mint, rosemary, thyme, lettuce

 Candy Roaster

 Peppers, Lettuce

 

 Kale, Basil, Thai Basil, and Chocolate Mint

 A Candy Roaster!!!

 Thank you Mr. Bee

 Lemon Grass (I re-rooted these from some lemon grass I bought at the farmers market.  I just placed them in a glass of water for about 2 weeks, changing the water every other day, then planted them in the pot, kept them moist, and WOW!)

 More Lemon Grass

 A lonely tomato of unknown variety....I just couldn't throw him away.

 I harvested my onions! Not as many as I'd hoped, but still a good showing for my first year and growing in the cruddiest soil ever.  Well, not ever, but compared to what I'm used to, I pretty much just walked up and planted these on sand dune.  

 My garlic...drying on my front porch like I'm all uncivilized and such.  None of the neighbors have complained...maybe that's because I am keeping them steadily supplied with radishes and tomatoes. :)

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my garden! I would like to take a minute and personally thank Wolverine for putting up with my craziness....the constant dirt under my fingernails, the constant weird green hand prints on our back door and muddy footprints in the kitchen, the plants, seeds, and seedlings that always seem to be EVERYWHERE in our house and yard.  For never complaining that I bought another plant or more dirt or more seeds, etc etc etc.  For listening to my constant crazy plans for the garden or what I want to do next year, or fretting over the weather....I think the delicious bowls and bowls of fresh veggies that come in from the garden on a daily basis make it worth it for him, but a good thank you never hurts either. :) 

The long awaited garden pictures from Mid May!

Holy Cow people.  I dropped the ball on this one - big time!

Here are the pictures I've been promising for well....months.

I think these are roma tomatoes, the seedling trays got a little "reorganized" by the Te-Man. haha

 Kale, Basil, Thai Basil, Chocolate Mint

 Miscellaneous not hot peppers (I hope, see above Te-Man helping comment)

 Candy Roaster Pumpkins, Mint, Rosemary, Thyme, Lettuce

 2 tomato plants - Big Rainbow (I think), jalapenos, cabbage

 Candy Roaster Pumpkins, Radishes, Lemon Balm, Sage, Lavender, Collards

 Egyptian Walking Onions

 Walla Walla Onions

 Garlic, Ischium Red and Silver Rose

 Lettuce, Kale, maybe a few radish stragglers on the far right

 Radishes, kale, carrots

 More walla walla onions behind the boxes

 walla walla onions....whoa this patch of soil must be junk!

 Okra

 Lima Beans

 Cauliflower

 Jalapenos

 Beets and cucumbers

 Tomatoes

 Tomatoes and Cauliflower

 Tomatoes

 Guess what....more tomatoes!!!

 Cabbage and Bell Peppers

 Bell Peppers

 Sweet Banana Peppers

 Peas

 Sweet corn - getting drowned by the sand from the hill above my garden :(

 Cilantro

 Oregano

 Cilantro

 Dill

 Chives

Whoa Mama! I LOVE having a garden - I am seriously considering moving somewhere that I can garden year round and if that's not a possibility, I will build myself a hoop-house this winter!

Plant Based Chocolate Chip Cookies

I want my kids to be able to eat all of the fun stuff that other kids eat, but I don't want it badly enough for me to justify filling their little bodies with more salt, sugar, fat, and chemicals than a grown man should eat in 2 days.

What are we to do?  Take matters into our own hands and do something about it.  Nothing hurts processed food companies more than losing money and the best way to show them we are serious about them being held accountable for what goes into our food is to STOP BUYING it!  The convenience they offer right now is costing us all dearly in the long run!

Now, I'll get off of my soap box and bake us all a batch of these super delicious cookies!  It's hard to be upset at me with a mouthful of moist and chocolatey cookie - that is my evil plan. ;)

Plant Based Chocolate Chip Cookies

Original Recipe Here

What's In It:
1/2 c vegetable oil
1/2 c mashed bananas
1/2 c sugar
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour*
3/4 c oat flour*
1 t baking soda
3/4 c chocolate chips or chunks
1/2 c chopped nuts, optional

What To Do With It:
Mix oil, bananas, sugar, salt, and cinnamon together in a pan and heat over low heat for a few minutes while whisking together.  Remove from heat and allow to cool completely or your chocolate chips will melt and the cookies will look.....interesting!

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine flours and baking soda.  Mix in banana mixture.  Add in chocolate and nuts (if using).

Bake 15 minutes.  Allow to cool on the pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

*You could also make these using all purpose flour instead of the wheat or oat, or both.

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Can you believe that I have never had Nutella?  I don't quite know how that's possible, but it is.  And I can not believe what I have been missing out on all these years! :)

I whipped up a batch of this Friday and WOW it is amazing!  It took a little longer than normal because Te-Man was eating the hazelnuts as fast as I could roast them. :)  But once I got a little more focused, it whipped up super fast.  This will be a reoccurring treat around here for sure.  Friday night, Wolverine and I enjoyed a little bit spread on top of a granola bar and Wolverine almost didn't get any. ;)

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Original Recipe Here

What's In It:
5.3oz hazelnuts
5.3oz dark chocolate, melted
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 T powdered dark cocoa
1 T oil
1 t vanilla
pinch salt

What To Do With It:
Toast nuts over medium-low heat for about 10-12 minutes.  Be sure to stir them or shake the pan often to prevent them from burning.  Rub the hazelnuts together in your hands until all (or most if you have my patience) of the skins are removed.  If there are a few with really stubborn skins, toss them back onto the stove for a bit longer.

Process hazelnuts in a food processor, then add oil and melted chocolate.  Process til smooth, then add remaining ingredients and process until mixture resembles a smooth paste.

Add more oil if necessary (I probably had to add another 1/2-1 T of oil, but my food processor is not the strongest).  Do not add water.

Eat it on everything. :)

Plant Based Pad Thai

I am a lot of things.  I'm sure you could ask a ton of people and they would probably all give you slightly different answers, but one that I think would be very rare (or hopefully non-existent) is cheater.  The Super Parents definitely raised us all to be honest, hard working, etc.  Just today at a market, a small business owner gave me the wrong change and I was almost embarrassed that I hadn't noticed.  I have my own small business and I would NEVER want to cheat anyone out of anything!

Well....I'll tell you a secret.  I do cheat.  I cheat when I make Pad Thai. :)  I found this recipe over at Happy Herbivore.  Have you checked her out yet?  Oh. My. Goodness.  I have not found a single dish of hers that I am not in love with.  I think I'm going to be asking for her entire cookbook set for Christmas and I'm kinda anti cookbook (I can't stand the clutter - so I end up putting them away and then I never use them!)

I love using this recipe to use up all the odds and ends from the fridge or when I get a ton of veggies in the reclaimed produce box.  Both of the pictures in this post are filled with free veggies (except for the water chestnuts in the first pictures - those were a special request from Ze-Ra)! :)  I think I can handle a meal that costs less than $1 for 4 people!!! :)

CHECK HAPPY HERBIVORE OUT!!!!

Cheater Pad Thai

Original Recipe Here

What's In It:
1/4 c soy sauce
2 T sweet soy sauce (or additional regular soy sauce)
2 T peanut butter
2 T sweet chili sauce*
1 t siracha sauce
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t ginger powder

8 oz rice noodles, prepared

What To Do With It:
Whisk all ingredients except for noodles together.  I sometimes do this earlier in the day and keep it in the fridge if I know I'm going to be rushed later - how can you be too rushed to whisk something together in 2 minutes?  I don't know, but it happens.  :)

Pour over rice noodles as soon as they are ready.

Serve with bean sprouts, green onions, veggie stir fry - or just enjoy the noodley goodness. :)

*I use a sweet chili sauce for spring rolls.  I just saw that you can make your own....I smell a project! :)

Plant Based Spinach Artichoke Dip

*Insert your best whiny voice here*
But Melissa....I don't want to go Plant Based....there's never anything delicious to eat!
*Insert my best mom voice*
You clearly haven't been eating over at the Hive.

:-)

Give me a holler and we'll set an extra place at the table with your name on it!  I'm not promising that there will be any food left over for you - especially if I make this dip.  I made it yesterday on a whim and I seriously ate 3/4 of it myself.  I'm not sure if I should be proud or embarrassed.  Maybe both? :-)

I think it's even better than this Spinach Dip I made last year.  Last year's was great too, but you know how when you eat a bunch of rich, cheesy food you feel just - ugh?  Well, after eating all that I did yesterday the only feeling I had was gratitude. :)

Give this one a try - as a favor to me!  I want to hear what you think! I LOVE that I can actually taste all of the vegetables yet it has that creamy comfort food feeling!

Plant Based Spinach Artichoke Dip

Original Recipe Here

What's In It:
3/4c raw cashews (not soaked)
3/4 c almond milk
3 T lemon juice
1/2 T minced garlic
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1/2 t yellow mustard
1 can artichokes, drained
1 jar roasted red peppers, drained
3 c spinach leaves

What To Do With It:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Blend cashews, milk, juice, garlic, mustard, and seasonings in a high powered blender.

In a food processor, pulse artichokes, peppers, and spinach (my spinach wasn't pulsing the way I wanted, so I just tore my spinach into smaller pieces by hand).  Do not completely puree!

Mix milk mixture with veggies.  Bake in an 8x8 (or equivalent) baking dish for 17-20 minutes or until it is bubbly and the edges are getting a little browned.

Serve with bread, veggies, or crackers.

Check In

I posted this picture on Facebook last night and it is just really near to my heart right now.

If you'd like to read about our decision to switch from primal to plant based you can check out this post from the beginning of April.   Once my (typical and yet ridiculous) concerns about protein were addressed, I was 100% on board.  I mean how can eating more plants be bad? :)

I would say that we stick to eating plant based about 85-90% of the time.  There have been a few occasions where we've made some meat from our freezer, ordered a pizza, or went out for ice cream - but definitely less frequently than the 1x per week we were planning on when we started.

It has now been 2 1/2 months since we started and I have lost over 15 pounds and my blood pressure has gone from 130/80 to 102/70.  I feel fantastic, my skin looks fantastic, I am never hungry and this is by no means a "diet".  We eat AMAZING foods!  The reclaimed produce definitely helps to make it a cheaper way of eating, but we are so blessed that we actually get more produce than we can eat and share it with not one but at least two different families! :)

I guess what I'm trying to say is that we are still living Plant Strong here at the Hive and LOVING IT!!!

Now...I'm out to the garden to take some pics for all of you beautiful people!!! :)