Seriously?

I haven't forgotten about this blog. But ya know....

Did you know that if you hit the delete key too many times in a row, it will exit the post you're working on, dump what work you've gotten done and go back to the main blog page or dashboard?

I blame the sleep deprivation and mommy-brain.

Upside Down Tomato Planters

As I mentioned in my bean skillet post, I tend to be a bit enthusiastic about tomatoes. When I started picking up seedlings, I ended up with EIGHT types of tomato, as well as a tomatillo plant. I ran out planting space pretty quickly and started belly-aching about it on Facebook. A very brilliant friend, SquareDonut, was kind enough to send me a link she found on homemade upside down planters. After checking out how a few others made their planters, I set off to the hardware store to grab what I needed. I struck out. I was at Target grabbing some other things when I ran across this beauty in the kid's beach toys section: a 2 gallon sand bucket. 

 Nerd that I am, I was really excited about scoring 4 planters for under $10. I dug out an old roll of landscaping paper and commenced work.

The drill bit pictured there was something I'd not used before, so GI Joe was kind enough to drill the first one for me and show me the finer points.  The results were as tidy as the planters with the punch out drain holes I'd originally searched for:

 You could use coffee filters, but since I had no coffee filters and landscape fabric, I used the fabric. It holds the soil and the plants in, but allows the excess water to drain out. I cut a few squares and put holes in the center of each.

I very carefully shook the tomato seedling loose from the soil and planters (reserving soil to go in the pot) and feed the seedling, root up, into the hole. I then added some soil to help secure them, and then hung the whole pot on an awaiting hook.  In addition to the extra seedlings, I had some lovely trailing flowering plants. Instead of trying to find another spot for the plants, I figured they'd be helpful in attracting pollinators. I coordinated color of the tomato to color of the flowers on the plant and finished out adding soil and the flowers to the pots. Plants were watered in and hung on their hooks.

Not too shabby if I might say so myself.

West Coast Bean Skillet

I have this irrational love of tomatillos. I just planted a tomatillo plant and six varieties of tomato in my garden that I can't wait to get some fruit from. Anyway, I have this great, easy Betty Crocker recipe from years ago that I thought would be fun to change up a bit with some salsa verde. The results were oh so ugly, but oh. so. yummy...

This concoction made me think of the sunny coasts of California. Husband G.I. Joe loved it, with the exception of the flat leaf parsley I threw on the to make it pretty (I love cilantro, but am in a minority). The kids took quite a bit of coaxing to get the first bite in, but LOVED it once they got going.  The only other thing I think I would change to up the yum factor is to cut  the sour cream I used by half and add pureed avocado.
West Coast Bean Skillet
1 small onion, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 1/2 cup salsa verde (fresh or jarred)
2/3 cup of favorite elbow macaroni
3/4 cup water
2 tsp chili powder
1 15 oz or 16 oz can pinto beans
1/2 cup sour cream
juice of lime
1/2 cup shredded cheese
Heat a skillet on med high heat and add 1 turn of oil. Once its hot, add the onion and garlic and saute til soft. Add salsa, macaroni, water, chili powder and beans. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer until pasta is just shy of al dente, 10-15 minutes. Add lime juice to sour cream and stir really well, then add to the pasta. It *might* look curdled at this point. You can then add some or all the cheese (I'd only do part though if it looks curdled).  Remove from heat, plate and add any remaining cheese. Hit it with a bit of cilantro or flat-leaf parsley if you like and serve.

Not the expert

I'm pretty blessed when it comes to the people in my life. Its amazing how I've managed to be surrounded by some very fabulous and talented folks who are always sharing how they pull off the great things that they do. This blog is birthed out of a desire to acknowledge that I am merely hijacking their ideas and tweaking them a bit to make them work for my family and me. Recipes, home-keeping stuff, training stuff, and shenanigans to follow...