Banana Chips

I seriously need to stop eating these. Or do i?

I love banana chips, but i can tell they're bad for me. So, i decided to make my own - more dried that chipped, but very delicious. I may try this again in the back of my car on a cookie sheet - i bet that will make more 'chippy' chips. The flavor of these remind me of these amazing grilled bananas i had when i visited Thailand. I got them from a street vendor the first day i was there and spent the rest of my trip pacing the crazy Bangkok streets looking for them again. I finally did, and may alive - i have no idea how they're made but they're so freakin' deliciuos!

Here's how i did mine:
Toss sliced bananas in a little agave nectar mixed with citric acid. Lay out in the dehydrator and
'cook' for about 1 full day (including night) rotating the trays occasionally. These suckers stuck to the trays really bad, so maybe greasing the tray would be a good idea. I left theme somewhat chewy. Great for dipping in peanut butter. Gee, i don't wonder why i've gained back some of my recently lost weight.

What's your favorite dehydrated snack?

Seen in Simple Lives Thursday.

Halvsies Quesodillas

Just a very very quick note about last night's dinner. I wasn't going to post it, and wish i'd taken some pictures as it was beautiful as well as FREAKIN' DELICIOUS! Andy declared that i MUST make this for guests - so invite yourself over for dinner soon!

The reason i didn't want to post, was the ingredients were declared by what was ripe in the garden: peppers, a few tomatoes, and purple hulled peas. Plus some on sale avocadoes and cheddar in the fridge, miracles were made.

Basically, this is like quesodillas, but instead of sandwiching cheese between two tortillas, i topped one tortilla with cheese then salsa. Like a chalupa but not as crispy - these had the perfect balance of being flexible enough to hold and bite without sharding everywhere, but crispy enough to hold the toppings without any droop.

• Corn tortillas - i used homemade
• 3/4 masa, 1/3 ww flour, sprinkle baking powder and salt, water to mix - mush up and press flat in a tortilleria
• Shredded cheese
• Salsa
• Ripe tomatoes
• Fire roasted jalapenos with some seeds scraped out 
• Just turn on the gas on your stove and flip the peppers over the flame
• Garlic chives and onion greens
• Some purple hulled peas, shelled
• Salt, pepper, tiny splash vinegar, cumin, chilly powder
• One whole avocado diced small

Mix it all up!  I cooked the tortillas and kept them to the side. For dinner, i heated up the pan, toasting three at a time with some butter spread on the underside of the tortilla and cheese sprinkled on top. I toasted until the cheese was melted and there was some browning to the bottom of the tortilla. Top with salsa, side with salsa, get giant grin on face while consuming fresh amazing flavorful YUM.

Perhaps i'll make this again soon and take some shots.
Happy Monday!

Salmon Dog Treats

I'm starting to think i should rename this blog " An Austin Doghouse "
But she's just so darned cute and fun to watch wag her tail. I'll probably stop posting dog treat recipes soon, as really they're mostly the same - mush together ingredients that are good for and tasty to your dog, bake until done. Avoid whole wheat flour, soy, sugar and salt, and you're set! Most of the bickies i make for my dog are just as tasty to me as to her, though perhaps a bit 'pungent' - it's a good rule of thumb, though to only use food ingredients you too would eat. You can use regular human cookie and cracker recipes and sub in dog ingredients, or just mix up random glops of foods that will at least adhere together and bake until firm.

Salmon Treats:

• One can of salmon, with juice and nasty skin/bone chunks
• Some Rye flour (could use rice or potato as well) enough to absorb the liquid
• Brewer's yeast, about 3 Teaspoons or more (repels fleas and is generally good for you)
• 1 Teaspoon baking powder

Mush, spread on a sheet, score for easy baking, bake at 350 for 30 or so minutes. Mine ended up quite soft, i could have baked longer for crispier cookies. I'll be storing these in the freezer to avoid any molding, so that should crisp them up enough and be pleasing on bloody, missing puppy-teeth sockets.
**Tip - for easy spreading, place a sheet of saran wrap on top of the glop in the pan and mush to an even thickness - this salmon mixture will stick to any spoon or roller you may try to use.

Pocket still likes the vegetarian pumpkin treats i made her - but these ones REALLY get her attention: excellent training treats.

Speaking of training, just as an update on the goings on of the homestead: we've been raising Pocket to coexist with our chickens, and help herd them into the coop on occasion. She's now going through adolescence, and while she's the most well mannered puppy i've ever had, she has taken to chasing the chickens some when we aren't inviting it. That's no good. We want no dead chickens around here! We've found a great herding instructor north of town and may begin lessons with her - but there comes a point when you have to decide if you want your dog to be a worker or a friend. We want Pocket to be a friend, to us and all our animals. But we'd also like some help encouraging the animals to move in certain places occasionally - i hope the trainer will still consider giving us the skills we'll need to direct her movements, despite not dedicating Pocket's life to separation from all livestock until time to work them, which is the nature of a working herding dog.

In the meantime, i'm revamping my efforts to train to coexist. Pocket has a long line i attach her to in the backyard: any sign of a chicken chase is thwarted instantly and we work on calm training instead. I use the smelly yummy treats to get her focus, call the chickens to me and have her practice her sits and downs and high fives. Once calmed, she's usually fine to not chase them for a while - any raucous play and fetching happens away from the chickens to get the excitement out without involving them. A chased chicken is not a happy chicken, and they're already hot, molting and exhausted in this late summer weather.

I hope to find a balance with our dog: a friend and hiking partner foremost with some helping paws when needed. I think i have the affinity for animals and ability to communicate with Pocket clearly enough that my goals will be met - but she is a predator and i will never take her for granted around such edible pets as my girls.

Laying around in the heat. Yes, chickens do pant.

Do you have livestock or pet chickens? Do you have a family dog that interacts with your animals, if so - does it act as guardian, colleague, or predator?

Chilly Loaf (Turkey Meatloaf with Peppers)

This was scrumptious. Did not take any pictures, but did write down the recipe. I'd like to make it again, so i'll post it despite no pictures.

It's hot pepper season around here, so i've been trying to use my surplus in new and unusual ways. I made a delicious thai curry with homemade yogurt last week, lack tomatoes during the heatwave so no salsa, and made chilly last week also. This time, i'll skip the soup and just make a loaf 'o chilly. You could probably use any meat with this recipe, but don't skimp on the peppers: Firey kick is good for that heart!

• 1 pound meat, i used ground turkey
• 1 heaping cup diced red ripe jalapenos with seeds, plus one habanero with seeds removed
• Tsp smoked paprika
• Drizzle olive oil (the turkey meat has no fat)
• Several splashes worchestershire sauce
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup finely diced jicama
• 1/4 cup frozen corn
• Pinches chilly powder and cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Tomato paste - 2 spoonfulls plus enough to coat the top of the loaf

Mush it all together and bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 for an hour- covered for the first 45 minutes.
The loaf was delicious and spicy, but i was almost more excited about the side dish i made: mashed potatoes.

I'm normally not very good at making mashed potatoes, but i gave it a shot and they turned out AMAZING.

• 2 red potatoes, diced into even chunks
• 1 LARGE garlic clove
• Homemade yogurt - thin and not super duper tangy
• Pinch dill
• Salt and Pepper

Boil the potatoes with the garlic clove. When potatoes are soft and just shy of falling apart, drain well. With a potato masher smush up the potatoes with the dill, salt, pepper and perhaps a pat of butter. Add yogurt last so as not to cook the beneficial bacterias. I probably used about 1/2 cup at the most, probably more like 1/4 cup. The resultant spuds were creamy, soft, and super delicious! Not scary yogurty like some yogurt mashed potatoes i've had. The yogurt complimented while not overpowering.

PS - For leftovers the next night, i took the leftover meat loaf, chopped it up and mixed it with some of the leftover crushed tomatoes i used as i was out of tomato paste, brought to a simmer, served on soft buns: sloppy joes!

This post also found at Simple Lives Thursday.

Wholesome Wednesdays: Shea Butter

Learn all sorts of great information about Shea Butter at the Nude Soap blog, Bathtime!

Both photos in this post were sourced online.

Second Batch of Soap

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you'll know that i don't always succeed and am happy (sad) to write about my failures as well as my successes. After the great success of my first batch of soap: happy friends, happy me-skin, happy customers - i got a little too confident and decided to add some goat milk powder to the recipe. I'm not sure if the milk messed up the recipe, if i didn't blend long enough, or if i started mixing at the wrong temperature or what. Whatever i did, it was not right, and the soap is not good. I'm very hopeful that in a day or so it will firm up and the ph will lower - but i'm not optimistic.

2 hours and $20 in supplies later, i sure hope it becomes usable.

My husband was nice enough to take pictures of "Beeker at work," so at least i have some documentation of the soap making attempt.

I'll give it another day to dry out, then i'll slice it and retest the PH. Right now the PH is at a high end of the safe zone, so i hope it gets a bit milder and firms up. We may have to wait the full 3 month curing time to get a good lather though - so hold your orders for this batch of soap until i'm sure it's ready to go.

Farmer's Market Day

Pocket and I paid a visit to two of our local farmer's markets today in search of cucumbers. Alas, all the other farmers are experiencing the same oppressive heat and dying cucumbers that i am - none to be found. Our little 'puppy in training' had some great exposure to the public, though.

She did pretty well after the initial 'omigod i'm in public' excitement. Her loose lead skills are improving, she's jumping up on children less and slowly starting to understand 'sit to be petted.'

Pasta Salad - with Kaffir Lime and Tangy Spice

I headed up to Lake Buchanan this past weekend to spend some time with my second cousins at their lake house and share a picnic lunch. One of my cousins is vegan, so i thought it would be fun to pick some garden goodies and blend them up for a nice pasta salad seasoning and add some grilled tofu and seeds. I ripped off my own trout marinade from a week or so ago, skipped the tequila (i'm out) and added some fresh jalapenos. Yum!

For the tofu:

Freeze the tofu before hand to get a better texture.
Cut into chunks and scatter in a pan with some olive oil (spray) on med/high: tofu takes much longer to brown than meat, so leave it a while.
Sprinkle with salt, smoked paprika, cumin.
Cook until all sides are good and browned. Turn off the heat and add some:

• hemp seeds
• sunflower seeds
• flax seeds
• pecans

Plus a little sesame oil and more salt and turn turn turn until the pan cools. Don't let those little seeds burn!

In the meantime, boil some water and cook your pasta. While you're waiting for the water to boil, assemble your sauce:

• White wine vinegar
• Olive oil (maybe a half cup each? i just poured the amount i wanted - more vinegar than oil)
• Splash mirin
• 3 large kaffir lime leaves
• 2 large garlic cloves
• 2 large multiplying onions with greens, or scallions, or bulb onions
• Tablespoon or so of peaches, diced
• Splash worchestershire sauce
• 3 large jalapenos, ripe, de-seeded (i de-seeded one and left the rest with seeds)
• salt, pepper, cumin, sweet smoked paprika

Blend all up, taste, add more vinegar or hot peppers as needed to balance the sweetness. Shouldn't be sweet, but shouldn't be puckery tangy either.

Cook and drain the pasta, add the sauce, add the tofu - voila! Into the fridge to be enjoyed tomorrow, or serve right away. If waiting, the pasta will absorb the sauce - which is either good or bad depending on how you look at it.

Pasta salad is one of my favorite things to make for going camping, as long as i have a well fitted lid to go on this here Pyrex dish (cooler water likes to invade my camping food). It's an easy 'pick as you go' snack to have around, and also a filling and satisfying sit down picnic lunch. If you can't get kaffir lime leaves, you could use the juice of a key lime or some lemongrass - but get the kaffir leaves, they're so awesome!

What's your favorite potluck/picnic dish?

Identifying Butterflies

Firstly - can i just say that i really hate it when i don't take a picture of something really awesome and regret it later? I hate that. There, i said it.

A few weeks ago my sunflowers were COVERED in caterpillars. Grossly covered. I'm talking more than you can count PER LEAF. It was nasty. But i left the wormies alone, as they were only eating the sunflowers - which are only in my yard to feed birds and bugs anyway. We pulled out most of the sunflowers recently, and most of those caterpillars were gone. i had noticed one chrysallis on my tomato stake, but no others.

Black Swallowtail caterpillar chomping on some dill. Above: A caterpillar emerges from its previous instar.

Now? My yard is full of butterflies! Little ones - dainty little black and orange butterflies. I was having a devil of a time IDing them as they rarely hold still - but one politely 'retired' right on a tomato leaf where i plucked it up and pinned it to my wall, along with 2 other specimens i've found in the yard. I did some online pondering and found this: Closyne lacinia adjutrix, Bordered Patch Butterfly.

Here's my little Bordered Patch, isn't she (he?) a cutey. Setting along side a Western Gulf Fritilly and the very common to my yard especially, Black Swallowtail (they're the pretty caterpillars that decimate my dill every Spring/Summer - pictured above).

The Bordered Patch caterpillars were black, not fuzzy so much as spiny looking, slender and gross. The butterfly is much prettier. Another caterpillar i noticed about the sunflowers and garden was what i think is a 'saltmarsh caterpillar.' They grow up to be big white nasty moths - so i haven't seen any of those to sing about. It's great to learn all the different life cycles of butterflies and moths, so that you can make an educated decision about the fate of certain potentially nasty caterpillars that may be chomping down on your crops. Some are definitely worth leaving alone! At least in moderation - or at least in an area of the garden with 'extras' planted just for them.

Do you have a favorite garden insect?

Wholesome Wednesdays: Lavender

This week i'm focusing on an ingredient i use in soaps, verses food stuffs: Lavender! You can eat it, but i'm more inclined to sniff it and slather it on my body. After the success of my last batch of castile soap, I'm making another batch tomorrow, chock full of lavender essential oil. (**Note: i've since changed my mind and plan on batching a tea tree/ sandalwood castile soap. Next will be a shea butter lavender soap - place your orders now!)

One of many websites that have great information on the benefits of lavender is this one.
In summation:
Lavender is commonly used to calm the nerves and please the senses - the soothing aroma soothes one to sleep and calms an anxious mind. Plus it just smells really darn good. Lavender isn't just relaxing and yummy smelling, however - lavender is antiseptic, great to use on insect bites or other abrasions and cuts. Lavender can help sooth headaches and is a great addition to massage oil, relieving pain in joints and muscles. When inhaled, lavender can help relieve breathing issues (make a hot water bowl, add some lavender, breath in: voila!) and calm bronchitis and other related cold symptoms. Lavender is great for your skin, relieving eczema, acne, burns and healing scar tissue. Eczema is particularly healed when lavender is combined with chamomile (i think that's what i'll make this next batch of soap with!). Finally, lavender is also great to help blood circulation and digestion.

Well, boy howdy - lavender is just great. Plus it's gorgeous in the garden and bees just love it! I sadly lost my lavender bush in this winter's freeze - but it was always covered with the most bees and butterflies than any of my other perennials. It tends to be hardy, love the hot, dry weather, and can be cut back to the nubbins every year to grow back anew. Simply dry the flower heads and use them as you wish. The essential oil needs to be distilled out - i'm not that advanced yet, but the flowers (ground or whole) are a lovely addition to soaps and potpourris.

Lavender is also really fun to throw at a new bride and groom at their wedding: the whole place smelled great, and my dress and hair were full of little aromatic lavender flowers for hours (right down to my underthings!)

This post appears at Simple Lives Thursday.

A Winner Has Been Chosen!

Ready,

Set,

Go!

I decided to have my hens do the choosing. I laid out the numbers, somewhat randomized in chalk on the 'porch' and let the hens go at it. Pocket stayed inside to observe.

There was one near hit:

Not close enough to call - i want CONTACT

And then Soot named the winner:

LUCKY NUMBER 40! THAT'S YOU, allisonsbj3!

Thank you to all who commented, especially my new readers. I hope you stick around for many more recipes, gardening tips, and other factoids pulled from my brain, research and experiences. I love my loyal readers too: thank you for joining me during this first year and i hope you'll stick around for another. Today is my first blogversary, i hope to have many more!

  I think Soot is a bit shy, having her 'unmentionables' caught on camera!

Nutrition and Your Dog

Well, gosh - i must admit i'm a bit embarrassed.
I posted a recipe for dog biscuits a few weeks ago and now feel like i need to mention some changes many of us may need to make in how we feed our doggies.

As a disclosure: i grew up feeding our golden retreivers Nutra Max. I don't know of the ingredients, but my girl made it to the age of 14, so some combination of that food and her rigorous lifestyle of horsey romping helped her stick around. My husband's last dog, Tela was fed cheap chow. Cheap. I felt bad, but we're poor and she was old and didn't care what she ate and she wasn't really mine. Yes, i can be an awful person. Miss Pocket Muffington Rommel, however will be fed the best food that we can afford (i don't even want to say how much i've spent on silly toys and treats - she's just so cute and fun to buy things for!) because we want a smart, well balanced, teachable, willing, happy and healthy dog to hike with us and herd our (near future) goats for many years to come.

Mealtime can be a puzzle - kibbles in a Kong = puppies who have to think a lot get very tired!

Here in Austin we are so lucky to have the Lee Mannix Center for Canine Development, minus Lee himself who passed away this spring in an automobile accident. The center is not cheap - but i can already tell (after just one class with little Pocket) that it is so worth it. They teach us to be the best dog-leaders we can be, using pack dynamics, proper nutrition, and of course positive reinforcement.

I knew when purchasing our first bag of puppy food to avoid those generic or even brand name foods with colors, grain as a first ingredient, or other fillers. I chose Loyalle puppy kibble at the recommendation of my feed store.  No one, including my trainer and vet has heard of Loyalle (made by Nutrena, maker of horse and poultry diets, etc) I'm wondering if i went astray! Pocket does not love her kibble, but that's most likely because she gets delicious peanut butter and natural treats during training and would rather leave that boring kibble for the turtle to scavenge (yes, Holly has in fact eaten up dropped kibble, much to Pocket's confusion). Reading the ingredients closely i see this: the first ingredient is poultry by product. The second is brewer's rice. 4th or 5th is wheat and there is corn in there somewhere. Not ideal.

Puppies and turtles, living together.

Pocket has since moved off lead around the turtle and is so far polite and reliably calm.

I don't want to cross any lines with LMCCD or divulge any of their 'secrets' but i will mention this one note on nutrition as i feel it is so important. Like kids on candy, puppies and dogs who eat trash will act stupid. These are the ingredients to avoid:
Corn, Wheat, Soy, Sugar, Egg, and Dyes.

My dog biscuits are made with whole wheat. Whoops. I originally got that recipe when i was in elementary school - i guess understanding of dog nutrition has advanced a little since then? I'd hope so. I'm not certain WHY wheat is bad for dogs - it may just be that some dogs have wheat allergies (just like people) so it's best to avoid? In any case - i'll still be making some biscuits with wheat flour, but i'll try and mix it up with other flours, or flourless (jerky type).

It's a hard life to be a dog with so many toys to choose from!

The ideal diet to feed your dog is a raw diet. This will keep their teeth and skin healthy, their bones spry, and their demeanor top notch. I can't afford to feed raw (meat and veg) but i'll do my best to choose a dog chow that fits more closely with LMCCD's recommendations once Pocket has finished this bag of puppy chow. Another note of interest: puppy, senior, active, weight management: all  marketing ploys that are unnecessary if you're feeding high quality food.

Good quality fish is a great protein to use in treats. This one was thrown back.

Many apologies for steering you wrong. My next dog biscuits will be adapted from one of these or these recipes or some other experiement with meat, veggies, yogurt and non corn/wheat/soy grains. Why no eggs? I don't know, but i guess she won't be getting any of those either. Doggies are herbivores and love their roots and fruits - Pocket is partial to tiny cherry tomatoes. Yogurt up to a tablespoon a day is also great, especially if it's organic or homemade. Keep variety in your pup's food - just like a child, he/she needs to develop a good immune system to handle random 'snacks' (aka horse manure or squirrel carcasses). If fed the same thing constantly (just like protecting your child from all germs and having them grow up sickly with no immune systems) they won't be able to handle it.
Treat your pup with raw veggies (in moderation and avoiding the toxic ones), high quality meat, human grade ingredients (but never human scraps) and stay away from those preservatives, dyes, and other addictive nasties you'd avoid in your children's foods.

Here's to your health, and your dog's (and your turtle's!)

Some good sounding dog recipes can be found here. Please don't use the wheat flour they recommend though - try potato, rye, or oat.

****Update from the original posting: Lee Mannix recommends no eggs, but i've found that very high quality food (including Nature's Variety Kibble and Raw, which i've started feeding Pocket despite the expense) includes eggs. Since my girls lay organic, free range eggs - i say they're as good for Pocket as they are for us. I'll still try and replace the wheat flour in my recipes with oats, rice or some other flour, and make my treats with fresh veggies and organic meats (including yogurt, pumpkin, and fish oils). Just use common sense, don't feed them anything that isn't high enough quality for you to eat, and avoid addictive ingredients or those that could have antibiotics or additives in them.

****** Second update: just a quick note. We all wonder how much to feed and how much this will really cost? Nature's Variety has a great feeding guide to use when feeding their products. I've found it very helpful. Right now Pocket is about 12 pounds, a growing puppy, and being fed 1 and 1/4 cups kibble with 2 oz raw. Once she's grown, about 20 pounds, and averagely active, she'll be fed 7/8 cup kibble and 1.5 oz raw (or 1 ounce raw and a whole cup kibble, give or take training treats, etc). That's not so bad! The food is expensive, yes - but the quality allows for lower quantities fed.

This post was seen in Simple Lives Thursday - Join the hop!

Don't Forget To Enter the Giveaway!

Judging ends tonight! Get your comment posted before i hit the sack tonight and i'll put you in the drawing for a $50 giftcard for CSN stores! I think i'll have the chickens do the choosing for me. Stay tuned til tomorrow for the results!

The Anticipation Builds!

Chicken Salad

As an elaboration to my earlier post on using all the bits and pieces from a cooked chicken, here is the chicken salad i made. Super delicious, and a great way to use those not-so-pretty chunks and shreds of chicken salvaged from a boiled carcass. This blend was super simple, relying mostly on the great flavor of my recent batch of homemade mayonnaise.

First, for the mayonnaise:

• 1 freshly laid egg, one fresh egg yolk
• Pinch salt
• Half a spoonful of dijon mustard
• 1 ice cube whey
• 1 ice cube meyer lemon juice
• Olive oil

If your egg is freshly laid, it's warm and ready to be processed. Never try and use a cold egg from the fridge. One of my eggs wasn't just laid, so i placed it in the hot water left in the bottom of my canner - also placing the bowl of the food processor in the same water to warm it.
Drop in all the ingredients except the oil and process until froth, about 30 seconds or so. With the attachment that lets you process and add stuff at the same time, slowly add the olive oil. SLOWLY! Start with a drop - ONE DROP. Then slowly pour the skinniest stream you can. The slow addition is the key to good mayo. My mayos of the past have been delicious, but dark yellow. This mayo has been properly emulsified and is a lighter color, more reminiscent of store mayo. I leave my mayo out for the rest of the night and then store in the fridge (as per the instructions in Nourishing Traditions). I find there is still always some seperation of oil at the bottom of the jar - i'm unphased by this. This mayo is super delicious and makes me want to make french fries to dip in it, evil nom nom nom nom.

For the salad:

• Chicken salvaged from a boiled carcass - could also use rotisserie chicken, but it'll be greasier to begin with
• Homemade mayo - i used all that wouldn't fit into the little jar i keep the mayo in. Maybe a full half cup. I wasn't skimping!
• 1/2 cup or so of finely diced jicama
• 3 cloves roasted garlic
• Pinches salt and basil
• Pinch diced fresh garlic chives

Just mush together and enjoy! I served mine on a cabbage coleslaw (with no mayo, just vinegar and mirin) and served the husband a nice, fat sandwich with a side of carrots and cheese.

Here's to using every last bit!

And don't forget! The winner of my $50 GIVEAWAY will be announced this coming Tuesday, my blogversary. Check out the post and enter for your chance to win a giftcard to CSN stores. I will choose the winner Monday night, so you have until I fall asleep to post a comment and i'll announce the winner Tuesday afternoon! Yay!

Deep Summer Frustrations

This time of year is a time of hiding in the AC, paddling in a lake or river, and throwing copious amounts of water on the vegetables i try to eek through the summer. Sadly, sometimes water just doesn't do the trick! Earlier in the year i was watering about once a week. As the temps increased i bumped it to twice. This week? it's been about 100 degrees every day with lows only in the high 70s: i've been watering every other day!  Granted - i have really crappy, old, not-very-well-functioning soaker hoses in my gardens. One day i'll have a more permanent setup that works more efficiently.

Wilty habanero. Perks back in the mornings usually, but hates the afternoon.

I seem to be having a problem with peppers this year. A pepper problem. My cayenne curse continues - the 'not cayenne' plant that was supposed to be a cayenne plant just bit the dust. Rot? Wilt? General malaise? In one day it went from productive perky pepper to sad wilted dead pepper. I plucked off the remaining fruits and pulled it up - sure enough the roots were not extensive, and the stem at the soil line showed a bit of black with a hollow/chalky/rotty looking center. I'm not positive what ailed it - but i am praying whatever IT was IT doesn't spread to my other happy peppers. My habanero is closest in the bed, and hasn't even close come to fulfilling my habanero hankering - so it better not bite the dust!

In my other circular bed, more malaise. My big thai pepper which has yet to bear a single fruit is perpetually wilty. Just today the delicious Mucho Nacho Jalapeno started to show signs of wilt as well. It may be 103 outside, but those peppers should perk back in the morning regardless of water. I probed the soil and came up with 'wet' so no more watering from me - too much water is just as bad or worse as too little. Nasty diseases like the moist environment and spread more quickly, and rot is eager to grab its hold. Not 2 days after that initial crash, the jalapeno is a goner. Again - picked the fruits off the dying plant and pulled it up. Wah!

Sad Mucho Nacho Jalapeno, or is it a Concho - need to check my labels

I took a bit of a laison fair attitude (no idea how to spell that, by the way) to my garden this year. I guess it's getting back at me. I'm not one to folior feed often with seaweed or anything else. I fertilize at planting. I fertilize at flower. I fertilizer every month or so - but i don't overly coddle my plants: perhaps i should.  I read about certain treatments you can baby your veggies with in the hot summer. I guess i'd better employ a few of those, starting with compost tea. Compost: the cure all! I may make my own or purchase a gallon from the Natural Gardener, i still have my gallon bucket from my employee-discount days  somewhere.

So, say a little prayer for my pepper friends. I'm not about to give up on them yet! At least the 3 new little transplants i put in the other garden seem to be chugging along.
For now.

What do you do for your garden in the Summer heat?

(ps, i'm so jealous of all of you in prime tomato season! I just can't stand this August 'too hot to even go out and turn the compost much less flower and set fruit' weather!)

Wholesome Wednesdays: Basil

Basil is delicious. Basil loves the sun. Basil goes well with just about everything, and there is just about every variety/flavor of basil you can imagine (from reading this blog you know that lemon basil is my second favorite to straight up Genovese or other Sweet basil varieties).
 
We've probably all heard the claims that the Mediterranean holds some secret for human longevity and the folks who live there are mighty healthy - could basil be a factor in this? Let's check it out.

VITAMIN K! There's a whole lot of vitamin K in basil. 60% of your daily value, in fact! Vitamin K is very excellent for your blood: helps it to clot, keeps your arteries clean, etc. You may need to avoid vitamin K if you are on blood clotting medication.
The real secret to basil's healthfulness is found in its flavonoids and volatile oils. Basil is known to be anti-bacterial and has been found to protect us own to our very DNA!

The unique array of active constituents called flavonoids found in basil provide protection at the cellular level. Orientin and vicenin are two water-soluble flavonoids that have been of particular interest in basil, and in studies on human white blood cells; these components of basil protect cell structures as well as chromosomes from radiation and oxygen-based damage.
In addition, basil has been shown to provide protection against unwanted bacterial growth. These "anti-bacterial" properties of basil are not associated with its unique flavonoids, but instead with its volatile oils, which contain estragole, linalool, cineole, eugenol, sabinene, myrcene, and limonene. -WHFoods

The essential oils drawn from the leaves of basil can combat certain bacterias that have become resistant to antibiotic drugs. Adding essential oils of basil or thyme to water used to wash produce can remove certain harmful bacterias that cause diarrhea and other unpleasantness. This is also true when using basil in a vinegrette or other topping to a salad (i prefer fresh chopped leaves right in with the salad greens), the basil will help ensure the produce in your salad is safe for you to eat.

Basil is also anti-inflammatory and good for cardiovascular health. There are too many benefits for me to list here - check out the WHFoods article for elaboration. Needless to say - basil is nothing but good for you, so pile on the pesto! Be vigorous with your vinegrettes! Stock up on sauce! Okay, enough aliteration - but you get the idea: put basil in every dish!

Basil is relatively easy to grow, as well. It likes sun. It likes water. It doesn't not like the addition of fertilizer. I've had a difficult time growing mine this year as i planted it in pots that drain too quickly. Dry basil is sad basil. Keep pinching the flowering tops off to keep the best flavor in the leaves - but allow some to go to seed to ensure you'll get plenty of basil next year (be self reseeding or by saving the seeds to plant next year).

Use Every Last Bit

I bought a chicken this weekend (a butchered one this time, though we were accosted by some heavy persuasion to purchase a young pullet on Saturday - we resisted). I was almost out of stock in the cupboard, so it was time to 'stock' up again. (har har har). Last stock was turkey - a nice rich golden color, this time around it was chicken - a yellower broth, but just as full of nutrition and goodness.

I boiled the chicken whole, after removing the breasts and thigh meat which i cooked up for dinner with some lovely roasted veggies and a white wine sauce. I simmered that bird along with a carrot, some celery, some malabar spinach, onions and garlic from the garden plus some salt, peppercorns, and bay leaves right off the tree. The aroma was mag nee feek! I simmered it all evening only turning the heat off when it was time for bed. I left the pot out over night and stuck it in the fridge in the am, skimming the fat once it hardened. By this late afternoon i seperated the bones and other bits out and brought the stock back up to a boil to condense down before canning. The meat and veg chunks were separated out in this way, allowing me to use up EVERY part of that bird:

Good meat for us - mixed up with some fresh, homemade mayo to be a delicious and decadent chicken salad.

Bones cleaned to dry (in my car) until brittle, at which point i'll grind them up to make bone meal for feeding the plants (Thanks, Susy at Chiot's Run for the brilliant idea of drying and grinding the bones!).

Nasty meat, questionable skin and fatty chunks, sad vegetable parts all go to the chooks. No, it is not gross, morbid, cannibalistic, or unhealthful for the chickens to eat cooked chicken. It may be DISTURBING,  but it's actually good for them. And they enjoy it. A LOT.

Belina says "This is delicious. Give me more. MORE."

So here i have 8 lovely pints of homemade chicken stock, plus 2 ice cube trays in the freezer. Not a bit of the bird was wasted, and everyone in the household from myself to my chickens to the plants in the garden will benefit from the nutrients taken from that fryer.

Do you clean your plate? Do you compost what you don't finish? What tips do you have for using up every last bit of something?

This post was also seen in Simple Lives Thursday - check it out!