Happy Little Soul

Comfort food is good for the soul. Perhaps not the waistline, but I like my soul to be happy, so I will continue on my comfort food run (truly, the only run I will go on all winter. Heh, heh). Pasta seems to be my food of choice. I made Mac and 5 cheeses a few weeks ago (cheddar, gruyere, parmesan, blue, and velveeta -- seriously, it makes all the difference in texture). Last night I made a Vegetable Lasagna that was insane. The photo is of the lasagna, recipe below.

1 Eggplant
1 bag or head of spinach
1 large yellow onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
16 oz of baby bella shrooms
8 oz lasagna noodles
olive oil
tomato sauce
bechamel/parmesan sauce - (butter, milk, flour, pinch of nutmeg & paprika, salt & pepper) -- add in 1/4 cup grated parmesan too
5 oz goat cheese
shredded mozzarella
salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste

Slice the eggplant in 1/4 inch rounds, salt and leave to drain for about an hour, wipe off and pat dry. Julienne the red and green pepper and the onion, sautee the onion and peppers in olive oil over medium heat until cooked through, but not browned. Remove the onion & pepper mixture from the pan and put a bit more oil in the pan, throw in the shrooms and sautee for 5 minutes or so, until soft but not wimpy. Remove the shrooms and add about 3 T of oil, dredge the eggplant in flour and pan fry both sides until browned, drain on a paper towel. In a separate pan, sautee the spinach in a little oil and drain really well.

While doing all the veggies, bring salted water to a boil, toss in the lasagna noodles when the boil gets rolling and cook until just tender. For the sauce, you can use a jarred sauce if you have one you love, or sautee 4 cloves of sliced garlic, 1/2 sliced onion, 2 diced carrots, 2 pieces of diced celery in olive oil until soft, add in 2 large cans of roma tomatoes, salt and some crushed red pepper and simmer for 45 minutes, then put in a blender and use for your sauce.

Put a small amount of the sauce in the bottom of a 9 1/2 x 13 pan, put down 1/2 of the noodles, layer on the pepper/onion mix, then the shrooms, then the spinach, and finally the eggplant, put 1/2 the bechamel/parmesan sauce over it all, and all of the goat cheese, then cover with tomato sauce. layer on more noodles, more bechamel and cover with tomato sauce, then put shredded mozzarella over it and cover with foil, cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, uncover and cook for 15 minutes more.

Yum.

Leaf me be!

I came back from a short vacation and it seems that every tree in the neighborhood put their leaves in my back yard. From patio edge to garden edge, as far as the eye can see, leaves.

Do I rake and bag?

Do I mow it into mulch?

Do I leave it for the spring?

It's like a choose your own adventure book.

I think I'll go with adventure three.

I like food. A lot.

Fall is amazing. Though I fear I'll become a bit repetitive, I can't help but continue to comment on the beautiful fall we've had here in the midwest. Up until a week ago, we were 68degrees and sunny every single day. Now we're a bit cooler (read: cold) but it's still sunny and lovely. While I have a TON of yardwork to do, I instead lean towards sitting on the patio, drinking a lovely glass of red wine and thinking about food.

Which brings me to my current state of mind: hungry. I think I might be part bear. I'd love to get my self all cozy and fat, sleep for a couple of months, and wake up in the spring. Instead, I've decided to start cooking more regularly.

Tonight, I made baked beets, baked chicken and sweet potatoes. I threw it all in a pyrex pan and shook some olive oil, kosher salt, rosemary and black pepper over it, covered it with foil and stuck it in the oven at 375 for an hour. I then removed the foil, put the oven up to 425 and cooked it for an additional 15 minutes. Finally, I popped the broiler on for 5-10 minutes and got the skin all crispy on the chicken and the potatoes, took it out, and holy cow. Delicious. Seriously. The best part is that it'll be better tomorrow.

Well, if it makes it that long. Grrrr.

Bulbs, bulbs, beautiful bulbs

Bulb season is upon us! It's time to plant your tulips, daffs, and crocus for next spring. You can plant in specific colors or you can go the route that I take, a grab bag. I love bulb grab bags. The joy in this is it's kind of like a floral lottery. You toss these little onion looking things into the ground in the fall and up come beautiful flowers in the spring. But the kicker with the grab bag is that you don't really know what to expect. A lot of gardeners like to plant specific bulbs so their gardens can have one color, I am a mish-mosh gardener. I like to be surprised. OOOO, a red tulip! WOW, a blue crocus!! HEY, a yellow daffodil! You get the picture.

This year I planted a tulip grab bag, which had 20 different bulbs. I have no idea what colors I will have, and I am happier for it. I also planted small and large allium. I absolutely love allium, they are probably my favorite spring flower. They are so energetic. Lots of little star shaped flowers on a tall stem. Love it.

Go forth and plant bulbs. Your neighbors will thank you.

Fall has...fallen?

Fall is the absolute best season to live in the midwest. The trees are changing color, the air smells fresh, and to put it mildly the weather is perfect. Seventy-five degree days and 50 degree nights are a Nebraska specialty. This season allows for many nights spent on the patio with red wine, good food, great friends, and in my case a patio heater because it does get chilly.

I was able to join my lovely neighbors for a family walk last night, and even being the best of friends, all we could talk about was the weather. It's that beautiful. Seriously. If you don't believe me, come visit. Just make sure it's within the next 3 weeks, otherwise all bets are off. It is, after all, Nebraska.

Photos of the changing trees to come...I'm having technological difficulties.

Orchid love...

I love Orchids. They're kind of like the supermodel of the flower world. They're shockingly pretty, most have skinny stems, and they have the reputation of being high maintenance. However, this isn't always the case. My mom, a.k.a. the orchid whisperer, has 4 or 5 that seem to be in constant bloom. She not only has the magic touch, but the climate is right. Her orchids live in a bathroom that has skylights and a lot of light, orchids love light.

There are many different kinds of orchids. They come in tons of colors and many shapes. I have kind of become obsessed with finding the funkiest looking orchid I can for the restaurant. I was using Phalaenopsis for the first few months because they are easy to find and very pretty. But I stumbled upon a wonderful little shop here in Omaha that specializes in interior tropical plants and have since changed my orchid ways. For the month of September, I had an Oncidium that had 7 spider shaped dark purple blooms with black leopard spots on a 16 inch stem.

But this month. Wow, this month the Plant House out-did themselves. I picked up an orchid yesterday called 'Fangtastic.' Appropriate for October, no? It is unbelievable. Seriously, the stem is nearly 3 feet in length, with 16 blooms. The flowers themselves are chartreuse, burgundy, and pale cream. The blooms are nearly 8 inches in length, and the plant is equal parts creepy and beautiful.

Creepy and beautiful, kind of like supermodels.

Garbage never tasted so good...

I've been experimenting in the kitchen lately. I got some new cookware from my lovely Aunt Nancy (red le creuset, nonetheless) and am learning the joys of cooking in some really amazing and heavy pots and pans. I've made a few pasta dishes with fresh veggies that have been pretty tasty, my favorite being stewed tomatoes and okra with whole wheat linguini, but the best is a dish I fondly refer to as "garbacini."

Garbacini is something that I feel I should trademark, it's old food thrown into pasta. Garba = garbage, Cini=um, pasta (my Italian translation is probably off here). It is essentially any type of left over ingredient, sauteed in olive oil, butter, garlic and onions and then thrown into pasta. Ideally it's a cream sauce, but that's only if there's milk or cream in the fridge.

Anyway, the creation of garbacini was in 2008 during the first family girls trip to Hilton Head Island. I am generally the cook for a week spent with the female portion of my immediate family. During the day, we lie on the beach, read boatloads of books, do yoga, drink a bit and eat a lot. In the evening, I just make whatever I want or whatever is requested, sometimes it's steaks on the grill, sometimes it's nachos, but the last dinner we eat is always garbacini. We take inventory of the stuff we have left over, and I create a custom pasta dish for the evening. Garbage pasta, if you will. And trust me, you would.

My favorite is, of course when we have lots of left over veggies, but you can put anything from chicken to steak to scrambled eggs in it. It's a great way to get rid of cooked leftovers and extras, below is the, well, umm, I don't know if it can be called a recipe because it is just kind of a mish mosh....but here's the basics:

Saute garlic and onions in olive oil.

Add veggies, hard ones first -- ex. broccoli before peppers, carrots before broccoli, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms last...the longer they take to get soft, the sooner you add them. You may have to put in more olive oil, but keep the heat at medium max, and just get them soft enough to keep some crunch, but that they're cooked enough to eat.

Here's where you get creative, left over steak? Sure! Chicken? Yep. Bacon? Why not? If there's a vegetarian in the house, these ingredients may change. :)

While cooking the veggies & other stuff, boil your pasta in salted water, homemade pasta if you have the time!

So, then you add cream, butter, Parmesan, salt and a lot of pepper to the veggie mix, keep it on medium low and stir pretty constantly until the cheesy chunks are melted, we usually have brie (yum) and blue cheese left over too, and I throw it in at his point. I am a firm believer in cheese. Almost to the point of obsession, the more cheese the better. Seriously.

When the pasta is done, throw the cheesy, veggie, meaty or whatever goodness on top and VOILA... you just created Garbacini.

Oh, and the picture above is the most beautiful beagle in all the world. Garbacini doesn't photograph very well. Luigi, however, does.

This is the end, my beautiful friend...for gardening anyway.

The garden is officially dug up, the tomatoes are but a memory, the eggplant eaten, and the stinking non-tomatilloing tomatillo plant has left the neighborhood for good. Below are some details...

This is all that's left of the last haul. Beautifully photographed, then systematically devoured. The green zebra's won the petit jardin challenge. They were tasty, tart, beautiful, and I could ignore them and they rewarded me handsomely. (If only everything could be this easy). The cherokees were a disappointment, I got only 4, they tasted terrific, but left me wanting more. The yellow pears will be a garden staple for the rest of my gardening years (bold statement, I know...I am very young), but they were amazingly prolific and tasty, tasty, tasty. Tomatillos, as subtly alluded to above, were a disappointment. I had the most gorgeous huge plant, that constantly had blooms, and I got 2 tomatillos. Total. 2. This plant was freaking HUGE, you can probably gather that I was a bit annoyed. I will continue with the canopy contraption next year, and I will use the awesome purple cages my mom bought me, but I will prune. A lot. The non-pruning was, I believe, not good for my yield. I knew it was an experimental year, so I chalk it up to learning.

I think next year I will have a substantially smaller garden. Space-wise it'll be the same, but I got overwhelmed and drowned out some of the plants by over planting. And the season was a little rough, I thought it was me, but it turns out most of the backyard gardeners I know had challenges with lots of rain/draught/hot/cool/stormy/icky weather to battle. So the plan for petit jardin 2011 is 4 tomato plants, a few peppers, 2 rosa bianco eggplants, an artichoke or 2, a cucumber and some okra. And maybe some spinach. And beets. Oh, and lettuce. And perhaps carrots.

Oh crap.

Ah, fall...Welcome!

Fall is upon us, the weather is changing, days are shortening and gardening is nearly over. Some may assume this would make this gardener sad...some would be wrong. At the end of August, I am always strangely ready to be done with the garden. I kicked around the idea of doing fall crops this year, didn't do it, and am kind of glad. I'm not sure why, but every year after the planting, nurturing, loving and most importantly eating of the crops, I am ready to be done. It is a lot of work, and from May through the middle of August I do it willingly and am excited about it, some may say I even brag about it. But, right now my garden looks like an overgrown mess. Don't judge me, these plants want to be done too, they worked hard for three months and are ready to be done. A horticultural circle of life, if you will.

Below is my eggplant recipe that I use regularly and absolutely love. Of the three types of eggplant I put in the ground this year, Rosa Bianco was by far the fave. Not only was it beautiful, as seen above, but it was tasty and I got about 6 off the plant. Great job Mr. Eggplant!

EGGPLANT ROLANTINI

Eggplant (about 4 lbs - 2 big ones)
32 ounces ricotta cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
8 tablespoons grated Parmesan
20 fresh basil leaves, chopped
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups fresh tomato sauce

Directions
Preheat the grill pan and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place a rack over a large baking sheet. Cut the ends off the eggplant, then cut the eggplants lengthwise, into 1/2-inch thick slices (the outer parts that have a lot of skin can be thrown away or cut into cubes for a stir-fry later, they will be too tough for this). Arrange eggplant slices onto rack. Sprinkle with salt (kosher preferably) to help remove bitterness from the eggplants. Set aside for about 10 minutes. Rinse off the salt from the eggplants and pat dry with a towel. Spray hot grill pan with vegetable spray and then place eggplant slices on the grill until browned on each side and tender, I usually brown them about 4 minutes per side and then put slices aside to cool

In a large bowl, beat eggs until lightly scrambled. Mix the ricotta in with the egg. Add mozzarella, 3 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese and gently combine. Fold in basil just to combine. Don't over mix or else it gets too runny.

Put a tablespoon of the cheese mixture on 1 end of the eggplant and roll up tightly. Place the eggplant rolantini into a greased (with olive oil) 13 by 9-inch baking dish, seam side down. Continue with remaining eggplant. Pour the tomato sauce on top of the eggplant rolantini as evenly as possible. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese and bake for 15 minutes. When cooked, drizzle the top with olive oil. If you like cheese a lot, you can double the Parmesan on the top, or use Romano for a more pungent flavor

For a super easy and delicious tomato sauce:

Buy 2 large cans of crushed tomatoes with basil from any supermarket

Saute 2 carrots, sliced in little circles, 2 pieces of celery (diced), a small yellow onion (chopped), 2 garlic cloves (diced), in a couple tablespoons of olive oil until tender

Pour in the tomatoes and throw in a bay leaf and let cook on low for 45 minutes to an hour

Remove the bayleaf when the sauce is done cooking and then throw the tomato mixture in a blender, blend til smooth. You can freeze or can any left over, frozen will last forever, canned will last in the fridge for a week or two.

Frogs, sunflowers, and vacation. I love summer.

Sorry for the delay in blogging, I have been bogged and therefore, blogging has suffered. It's been a big summer. I finished my first non-traditional student quarter of college with an A average. (Can I get a WOOT! ) My tomatoes are tomatoey, my eggplants are delicious, the jalapenos are so spicy they create steam when opened (a minor exaggeration), and my black eyed susans and elephant ears are so summery they instantly bring a smile to the faces of those who experience my yard. In short, it's been a good summer. I used sunflowers at the restaurant this week and talk about a smile inducer, who can look a sunflower in the face and frown? Who?

Anyway, attached is a photo of a toad that was saved from a window well in Hastings a couple weekends ago, there were about 13 babies and a big daddy (or mommy, how can you tell?) stuck in the window well, the resident 8 year old and I saved them all. It was a shining moment. To the right is a picture of the above frog leaping. I do love leaping.

I've missed writing, I hope you missed me too. Off to vacation...hey beach plants, you better be ready for an A+ horticulture student to be in your mix. Yep, I just bragged.

Flowers make the world prettier. I like pretty.

I have been a busy bee! I picked up a couple of new clients this week, one that I deliver a fresh bouquet to weekly, which is exactly what I hope to do when Leap Floral Boutique opens, and my mom! The pics attached are of the arrangement I did for a book signing party she is having at her house on Sunday. I used teddy bear gerbera's, mini pittosporum, trick carnations (the moss looking round balls), safflower, and then grabbed some hosta leaves and blooms, king tut grass and black-eyed susans from my yard to complete it. I think it turned out pretty cool. (Sheesh, pretty cool...please, I'm so proud of it I could burst!)

I also used the teddy bear gerbs for the flowers at Loft 610 this week, they are really pretty, muted colors and almost look antiqued. I used them with the mini pit (variegated green and white leaves) and the combo makes a really neat impact on the tables. Oh yes...I also picked up a new role at the restaurant, I am now helping with the event planning portion, it's super fun and great practice for Leap, who knows, maybe I change the name of the shop to Leap Floral Boutique: event planning, flowers, home decor, stationery, gardening supplies, art, and other cool stuff. Catchy, right?

Cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, Oh My!

I have cucumbers coming out of my ears. Seriously. I have made raita, given dozens away, eaten a couple with salad, made insta-pickles (recipe at end of blog) and used a couple as bats against the mosquito population just for kicks and yet, I still have 3 in the fridge. I've even started adding cucs to the fresh tomato salsa that I raved about last week, (which is especially great, when I make it with two jalapenos so the cucs can cut the heat).

And now...the tomatoes are coming in full force. The above photo is today's harvest. Two Italian Heirlooms (1.4lbs a piece according to the bathroom scale), some green zebras, yellow pears and the ever-present sungolds. My Black from Tula took it's last breath, I had to pull it up along with the zucchini and the roma tomato (moment of silence...RIP). The zuc just didn't have the right soil, it kept on getting great blossoms, but would rot right on the vine. Survey says that calcium is the problem, so I layered the soil with eggshells, no luck. The two tomato plants just didn't have enough sun. I planted them too close (oops). But, I did get the 2lb black from tula before the entire plant died so, ummm...thanks plant, uh...sorry i killed you??!? Ooof.

Soon the brandywine, old german, tomatillo, and eggplants will be ready. Is it weird that I am excited for an old german, mozzarella, and eggplant pasta?

Insta-pickle recipe
Get a couple cucumbers
Slice in half lengthwise, half again (still lenthwise), and then half one more time (keep them pickle length) for 8 slices per cuc
put on a plate and put olive oil, salt, and pepper on the slices
refrigerate until cold, cold, cold.
eat.
Serves 4, or 1 if you really like cucs.

Also, a bartender friend told me that cucumber slices as garnish in gin are a match made in heaven. Are you listening mom?

Hey Nature, nice haircut!

Okay, so as much as I love the garden...weeding overwhelms me, especially major yard weeding. I get completely bajigity when it comes to weeding. Once they're there, I kind of feel like they made their point, survival of the fittest and all. My sister, on the other hand, loves weeding more than gardening. Match made in sister heaven? I think so. She coined a phrase that I love, she says weeding is like "picking nature's split ends." Brilliant.

Now, I do have a reason that I am waxing poetic about my love for my sister and her mad weeding skills. I had this weeks post all written out (it will now be a highlight post later this week) and then came home from a long day at work and found that Anne + fam spent 5 hours in my front yard pulling the weeds...no wait, let me re-phrase, DESTROYING the weeds that infest my front retaining wall. She weeded the ever-living shiznit out of my yard. I am mind-blown, amazed, and... SO FREAKING HAPPY! WOOT! Attached is a photo of what this incredible weeding feat entails...one 15 foot by 3 foot area = 8 bags (2 not pictured) of split ends. Lookin' good, nature. And thank you Jackson's.

Um, teacher? Are we graded on timeliness?

As it turns out, becoming a student after a ten year hiatus is a bit difficult. Not the classes, per se, but the structure and discipline. I've had a career for 10 years, a career that needed me to be at work on time. I've never had an issue with attendance, and in fact, am pretty much psychotically aware of being on time to the places I need to be. But with class...oof, a different story altogether. I am rush, rush, rushing to my morning classes and am still about 10 minutes late each day, and the night class...oy. Part of the issue is that the classes are 4 hours long. I seem to have the attention span of a 2 year old when it comes to a 4 hour class...I wriggle around in my seat, heave exasperated sighs, and doodle in the margins of my notes. But, in truth, I love the classes. I received a perfect score on my first horticulture test (a feat of which I am very proud), and have included photos of the first two arrangements we did in Floral Design. The large triangular one is the symmetrical arrangement (note that we are not able to choose our flowers, we use the ones the school has...so while pretty, not necessarily the pieces I would have chosen myself). And the second is the asymmetrical bouquet. Awfully exciting, no?

The tomato pictured below is the first major heirloom I have picked this summer. While my cherry, yellow pear, and sungold tomatoes have been producing for a while, the big guys are just now coming to the party. This particular specimen is a Black from Tula. I got the seedling from my neighbors Julie and Jay, and I'm glad I chose this varietal. It weighed nearly 2 lbs (I know because I stood on my bathroom scale with it, then without it, and the difference was nearly 2lbs. Scientific, aren't I). Anyway, I have made two jars of salsa and both have been devoured.

Easy salsa recipe below:

Chop enough tomatoes (different colors if possible) to fill a bell jar nearly full.

Chop 1/2 red onion

Chop 1 jalapeno (mine was from my garden too!) More if you want it hotter

Chop some cilantro (if you like it)

put it all in the bell jar

Add in 3 or 4 pinches of kosher salt

pour in enough white wine vinegar to fill the jar

shake and roll jar to mix up all the colors of tomatoes

Refrigerate and serve with chips (I like multigrain tostitos the best)

Tomatoes as tall as a tree!

The tomatoes did not get the memo about the garden's petite status. I have one plant that is easily 7 feet tall - the sungold and the yellow pear, grape tomato and tomatillo are equally out of control. If the tomatillo sets its fruit in relation to the size of it's branches than I'll have to hire help to pick all the fruit.

A few not-so-great gardening notes, I planted everything too close together (again) but this time I blocked enough sun that my plants are losing leaves at the bottom...but, according to the many many many gardening websites and books I've read, this is no biggie...just makes the garden a little ugly. If you stop by to see it, just look about 12inches above the soil and higher...deal?

Anyway, I have harvested some cucumbers, sungolds, cherry, grape and yellow pear tomatoes, one purple cherokee, some green sausage tomatoes and an artichoke. Pretty good so far. I have been debating planting fall crops too, I pulled out the peas, and I think the zuch is going to die, so I believe I will plant brussels sprouts, carrots and beets for the fall. Thoughts?

I heart flowers.

I got to do some floral for restaurant parties this week, and am really excited about my foray into floral arrangement! The picture above is one of the three "modern patriotic" arrangements I did for a woman who is celebrating her anniversary on the 4th of July, she wanted red, white and blue tones, but didn't want it overly flag-like (her words). I chose deep pink cottage Yarrow, white daisies, blue cornflower, sea thistle, and buplerium. The thistles and bluperium (the green stuff) look so firecracker-y that I thought they worked beautifully. The yarrow is a great deep pink, so I got to use the tones she was looking for, but I modernized it. I really like it. A lot.

The arrangement at the end of the post was for a 5th wedding anniversary and the husband, who planned the party as a surprise, wanted to re-create the wedding bouquet. So, white calla lillies, yellow freesia, white hydrangeas, and white listanthus were used to create a beautiful and classy arrangement. I used a tarnished sterling silver bowl to put the flowers in, I like the play of the dainty freesia and lisanthus, and the modern calla lily, with the traditional, but shabby bowl. The bride LOVED it and said that it was very similar to her actual bouquet.

Woot! Can't get much better than that! So here I am, a month into the birth of Leap floral, and I am loving it. I am actually thinking of getting another client or two. Nervous? Yep. Learning how to profit from this? Trying. So far, I am having trouble gauging how much floral I need for an arrangement, but I am getting better. My eyes are just bigger than my wallet (as usual).

So if you need flowers, for anything, or invitations printed, or just want to chat, reply to my post, email me at leapfloral@gmail.com, or stalk me at Loft 610, I'd love to help!! :)

My how the garden grows!

The petit jardin is out of control. Seriously. I have two tomato plants that are already over 7 feet tall (thanks mother nature, for the rain!). I have snap peas everywhere and half a dozen zucchini's that will be ready in a week or so, if I can beat the blossom end rot (fingers crossed). My cucumbers are growing like weeds and I have a little, tiny artichoke that hopefully will grow in to a big, huge artichoke all growing steadily.

The tomato experiment seems to be going well. The plants that I didn't prune have multiple flowers and many stems, so we will see how the yield goes, the plants that I did on the funky tie up canopy jobber look beautiful and are flowering well, but as always, I planted everything too close together so I have to be careful when pruning and weeding so that I don't knock out an entire plant. And finally, the staked plants look good too. I think I pruned them to heavily at the start though, I believe that I crippled the yield on these guys by being to aggressive with the suckers (the little stems that grow at the apex of the main stem and the leaves that create secondary main stems).

Anyway, the experiment has been fun, at this point I believe that I will probably grow the tomatoes in the same three ways next year. I like the appearance of all the different contraptions in the garden. Maybe next year I'll get the fancy purple tomato cages. Purple is pretty.

Hey there, sweet pea!

Good news! I got my first yield from the petit jardin (I am a wanna-be francophile for those of you that don't know) and (petit jardin=little garden). I got a dozen perfect snap peas. Perfect in that they were delicious when eaten raw (3), amazing when sauteed in butter (3), and fantastic when thrown in a stir-fry (the remaining 6). Thus, 12 snaps were devoured. Oh yeah, in one day. Give a girl a day off and a garden, and she will eat...a lot.

Anyway, I am well on my way to a bountiful season. I have two Sungold tomatoes that are also ready. They are perfectly orange, perfectly round, and will be perfectly delicious...tomorrow...in an omelet. I have also enjoyed a few strawberries, and will have a couple good looking cucumbers in about a week. Geez, gardening is so healthy.

Here is my omelet recipe (to be honest, it's not an omelet, it's scrambled eggs with stuff; a veggie scramble, if you will).

Serves about 4

4 large eggs, yolk and all

6 egg whites

splash of milk

pat of butter

pinch of salt

couple turns of fresh cracked pepper

(mix this all really good...maybe use a whisk, maybe use a fork, you decide)

chop up the following

a tomato (the fresher the better)...my sungolds are the size of grape tomatoes, so I hopefully will have 4 or 5. Otherwise, use one regular sized tomato, or 1/2 a big ass tomato

one half a bell pepper -- pick your color, I prefer red, but green is good too, so is yellow...and orange, so just pick a color... sheesh.

one half of a small onion, a vidalia if you have it, otherwise lean towards yellow

one half avocado

I like to put jalapeno in my veggie scramble, and if you don't like heat, take the seeds out. Either way, dice up 1/4 to 1/2 of a jalapeno...the flavor is really almost better than the heat. If you like the heat, leave the seeds in...and chop close to the stem, heat you will have

Then, saute the onion, pepper and jalapeno in olive oil until soft. Add the egg/milk mixture and keep the heat at medium low, continuously move the eggs so that the cooked part intermingles with the uncooked runny bits. When the eggs are nearly done, throw in the tomatoes and the avocado. Continue to move the eggs around until they are all cooked just so (don't over cook! Rubbery eggs are kinda gross). Throw some cheddar cheese on top and if you have an oven safe pan, throw it in the broiler for a minute until the cheese melts. Serve with toast, salsa and some sour cream. Man I love breakfast.

Here's a shot of the first Sungold Tomatoes of the season!

Dear Fate, thanks for everything, please tell Karma hello!

Today's thoughts are based around my good friend Karma and her best friend Fate. I will be the first to say that I have great luck, an amazing family, and have basically had a charmed life (a couple scraped knees, sure, but charmed nonetheless). But sometimes these crafty girls can surprise even me. A twist that came straight from Fate (or is it Karma?) happened on Wednesday. I emailed a floral wholesaler to see how to become a client on Tuesday of this past week. ((Last weeks flowers are featured on this post...soooo preppy, so cute, right?!?!?)) Well, I received a call back from a gal named Sylvia on Wednesday morning. Turns out, she and her husband Damon are friends from my high school days. They worked at a florist in Nebraska City and Damon made all my flowers for the dances. He did a ring and a bracelet made from Freesia for prom my Junior year, bands that tied around the top of my opera length gloves made of orchids for my Senior year prom, shoe-clips of some kind of purple flower for the holiday dance where I was crowned Queen (oooo, I love me a crown) and basically just did some crazy-beautiful stuff every dance I went to. He is freaky talented and I got to act has his temporary muse for three years (sheesh, I am a lucky girl). Anyway, they are creative, amazing and wonderful peeps, and Fate led me to them again. Not only do I get to be back in contact, but I also get to pick the brains of some serious flower people and I have a wholesaler! WOOT!

I also started school this week. Floral Design (I am gonna LOVE THIS!!! homework is to make a color wheel and practice bows), Horticulture (can't wait to learn more about gardening), and Entrepreneurship 1050 (leap floral boutique, here I come!!!)

Please remember, comments are welcome!!! :)

Gardening Experiments

And so the gardening begins. This year, because we had such a warm spring in Omaha, I planted way early...like two weeks before mother's day, which most would say is at least 2 weeks early. I got lucky and my garden seems to be thriving. I already have little baby tomatoes on two of my plants (ooooo, I can't wait!!).

I am approaching the garden differently this year. I am testing different ways to grow my 12, yep, twelve different tomato plants. I've read a couple books that suggest different ways to prune and different growing methods, so I am trying three different ways. I have 4 of the plants staked, a Yellow Pear - which are cherry sized yellow tomatoes, a Sun Gold - which are cherry sized orange tomatoes, a Purple Cherokee - a large dark burgundy, almost purple tomato with an amazing flavor, and a cherry tomato plant. These I am pruning pretty hard taking all the suckers (new stems that grow at the axis of the main stem and the leaves) from below the first flowering point. I am aiming for these to have two or three main stems, this supposedly brings bigger fruit sooner, but yields won't be as high. I have 4 tomato plants in cages, and I am barely pruning these at all. Rumor has it (from the book The New Victory Garden) that this will produce large yields, of smaller fruit. The caged tomatoes are 2 Green Zebra's - sweet yellow and green striped tomatoes that are great for salsa verde, a Brandywine - which is a pinkish red tomato that is large and really tasty, and a Green Sausage tomato - which I've never planted before but looks just like it sounds, it is about 3 inches long and sausage shaped. Finally, I have 4 that have a string tied around the stem and tossed over a canopy (the bamboo stakes in the photo) wrapped around the top stake and tied to a rock in order to have stability. The logic behind this is that the wind can move through the plant easily and all the leaves are open toward the sun in order to photosynthesize and produce more sugar to make bigger fruit. These experimental tomatoes are: an Old German - which are yellow and red striped and get to be 1 to 2 lbs, a Black from Tula - which is a dark purple medium sized tomato, an Italian Heirloom - which is large, red, and great for canning, and a Big Boy - which is the run of the mill, dark red, juicy slicing tomato. These I am pruning, but not as hard as the staked tomatoes. I also planted a tomatillo, five different peppers, sugar snap peas, spinach, butterhead lettuce, random salad greens, 3 different kinds of eggplant, squash, beans, an artichoke, asparagus and cucumbers. No kidding. Sheesh.

Arizona vegetation is pretty amazing. I can't believe that the Arizonians get to live with bougainvillea growing so wild that it probably is considered weedy at this point, the color is so intense it seems to glow in the dark. Mexican heather is so plentiful that the entire resort smells beautiful, and there is this really funky orange and yellow flower that is envy inducing for a flower lover such as myself. But, my favorite (right now, at 5:48pm on Tuesday) is the crazy purple cactus that my sister and I are photographed with above. It looks like it's been watercolored. Love it. The yellow and orange plant is the photo below, don't know what it is, but it sure is pretty.

Just another day in the life.

Another beautiful day in Omaha...hot, humid, and it rained in the afternoon (so I didn't have to water, WOOT!). I worked all afternoon, came home and my house smelled like a peony bomb. Love it. Walked the pooch through the hood, had a beer with my dear neighbor Megan, and came home to relax. The pic is my fave shot of the week. It encompasses the perfect Wednesday night, Glee on Hulu (seriously, holy crap, the Gaga episode was awesome, I laughed, I cried!!), an incredible card (made into wall art; it reads...She went out on a limb, had it break off behind her, and discovered she could fly. (thanks, mom)), and the most perfect coral rose from the rose bush that refuses to die (for real, three people on three different occasions helped me "rid" myself of my cursed rose bushes, my neighbor Dick, who hacked them out with an ax, my mom, who helped me pull them out by the roots, and my dad who dug some out and poured round-up on the others (in my defense, they didn't bloom, they just stabbed me when I weeded, which is why they had to die)). But, alas and now thankfully, the rose bush lives...and I have a perfect specimen (and a thorn stab) to prove it.

I am headed to Arizona for a week with my siblings, hoping to see some good desert plants while I am there. Thank you for reading the Leap blog, please let me know what you think!!

P.S. I took before pics of the veggie garden for the next post, which probably won't be until next week (foreshadowing anyone??). The tomatoes grew a solid inch in the last two days. OOOOO, I love humidity and gardening. What a great combo. Kinda like red wine and...well, anything (see Matt, wine is always involved).

And so it begins...hopefully.

I am proud and excited to announce that I am officially the florist for Loft 610 restaurant. Now, to be honest, it's mostly because I am cheap and I work there, but it's still my first official flower job. I am doing the table bud vases once a week, bouquets at the host stand when needed, and other odd jobs as they come up. I have done 2 weeks of flowers, and need to get hooked up with a wholesaler quick, or else I may actually lose money on the deal (I may have under-estimated my costs, oops). Last week I used orange tulips and a really dark green leafy guy that I found at Whole Foods. This week it is orange and yellow gerbera daisies with this really cool limey/chartreuse green filler. I forgot to take a pic of the tulip, but I hope you agree that the daisy is pretty great. I also got to do flowers for a bridal shower, the host wanted a couple small lime green arrangements, and I happened to have these really great black vases, so I made three small bouquets using verbena and spider mums, it looked pretty swell. I start my horticulture classes in two weeks and am really excited. It's been 10 years since my last college class, but I think I'll enjoy going back.

Oh, and on the bunny war front, I bought some liquid fence at Lowes that seems to be working. It smells absoutely awful when you spray it, but I have had no additional damage and the smell goes away after it dries. Luigi seems to want to mark his territory everywhere I spray it, but as long as he is not trampling the flora and the fauna are staying away, I'll be happy.

Anybody want rabbit for dinner?

I have a beagle. A pure-bred and handsome beagle. I also have a yard full of bunnies. Does this compute? I woke this morning to find that during the night, the bunnies had eaten one of my lilies, 2 liatris, and pretty much an entire something that I can't remember the name of. The something that I can't remember is a real loss. It has these great artichoke looking leaves and when it blooms it's bright purple. I guess I can't complain too heartily though, I had really good luck for the first 3 years that I gardened, but last year...luck ended. Such is the life of a gardener.

Luigi is not a very good rabbit hunter. I actually think he would be willing to have a cross-species relationship with the momma bunny that has called my yard home for the past couple years if he were to be given the opportunity. Maybe I should encourage that, I wonder if Bun-gles would be a hit in the pet community. I digress, this is supposed to be about my garden.

Many rabbit proofing ideas can be found, the most popular ones are: cayenne pepper spray, blood meal, bone meal, fox pee, human hair, dogs and pellet guns. Blood meal may get the bunnies away from the plants, but dogs love it so I think Luigi would then probably eat it and the plants making the solve the same as the problem. Cayenne pepper spray would have an adverse effect on the beagle if he were to get into it (and I'd probably somehow get it in my eyes). Fox pee seems kind of gross, and I don't have a fox. I usually prefer my hair on my head, the beagle thing hasn't worked out in terms of bunnies, and I am not a shooter. So I am going to Lowes to get some ugly-ass chicken wire and am going to hope that once the plants get big enough, I can remove the wire and the plants will no longer be considered food.

Wish me luck.

Sniffing ants and other signs of spring...

As I mentioned in Wednesday's post, I love peonies. I think they are perhaps the most perfect flower (I will say this a lot, and about many different flowers...just wanted to warn you). Peonies are crazy colorful, have an amazing scent, and last well in just a bell jar full of water (they're thirsty, so make sure to refill regularly). But, the turn-off most people have about peonies is that they are what some consider "ant plants." Ants and peonies have a long and sordid history. The truth is, ants eat the small amounts of nectar that the buds put off, but most importantly, peonies do not attract ants, they are just a sweet treat for the ones already there. So, do not spray insecticides! Insecticides are evil. Yep, evil. Ants are good for your garden, therefore...let them eat peony. Once the bud blooms, the ants will disappear...(give the bloom a good shake, and dunk it in cold water for 30 seconds just to be sure). Trust me, I took a big inhale of a vase of peonies near my computer on Monday, and ended up sniffing an ant that just about brained me. Don't forget the shake and dunk.

If you, like me, love having peonies in the house, here are a couple tips to make them happy, and most importantly, make them last. Make sure to perform the shake and dunk technique mentioned above, (grasp the peony as close to the bloom as possible and give it a couple good shakes), then dunk in cold water for 20-30 seconds to make sure the ants have moved out. Now, be sure to replenish the water daily, and as with any fresh flower, snip a little off the stems every couple days. Make sure 2/3 of the stem is submerged and your peonies will last up to a week. Another tip: when your peony bushes are showing color but haven't fully bloomed yet, cut off 10-12 buds, rinse them, wrap them in tissue paper and put them in your fridge. They will last about 3 weeks, and you'll be able to periodically pull them out for fresh blooms. When you take the buds out, put them in room temp water, they will bloom in a day or two and last for about 5 days. Now you get to enjoy indoor peonies longer.

You're welcome, peony lovers.

Hey Nature, great job.

Spring is by far the loveliest season (maybe until fall, but bear with me). It never ceases to amaze me how well nature planned the blooming of spring flowers. At the very beginning, still actually winter, the crocus bloom. Tiny bursts of color coming out of snow covered soil. Then come the lilacs. Perhaps my favorite week of spring is when the lilacs are in bloom and the ENTIRE neighborhood smells sweet and beautiful. About this time the magnolia, dogwood and crabapple trees start to bloom, I am lucky enough to have a Tulip Magnolia in my backyard and it's really beautiful. After it sheds its pink petals, it's a complete mess, but I am more than happy to put up with it in order to see it in its glory. After the lilacs, the tulips and daffs start to peak. I recently ordered a boatload of bulbs to plant in the fall, I feel such tulip envy whenever I see the masses of them in neighboring yards (soooo much more on garden envy later) that I realized I needed to step up my spring bulb game. Another favorite that blooms shortly after the other spring bulbs is the allium (photographed above). Oh, how I love the allium. My mom has a dozen in her yard that are the gladiator variety. They stand at least 3 feet high and have a softball sized purple bloom on top. After the bloom dies, she cuts it off and then spray paints the dried bloom. She gave me a set of gold, but I think that red, white, and blue, would be great for 4th of July decorations. And then finally, the poppies and peonies come out. My love for the peony will have to be spouted in its own, personal entry.

I went all paparazzi on some poor unsuspecting flowers today so I could share the beauty with you all.

Veggies, veggies, everywhere

Here are a couple shots from the veggie garden of 2009. It was a stellar year for salsa! There were 6 kinds of tomatoes and 4 kinds of hot peppers, with 2 mild peppers thrown in for good measure. I also had a great year with both Golden Squash and Eggplant. I planted regular old eggplant, Listada di Gandia eggplant - which were not only beautiful, but delicious for eggplant parmesan, Rosa Bianca eggplant - great for stirfry and mixed in veggie pasta dishes, and Japanese eggplant, good for grilling, frying, everything...yum!

Also included, but not photographed were okra, cucumbers, asparagus, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, artichokes (more on that later), and various lettuce greens. As a carnivore with vegetarian tendencies, this was the perfect garden. I had tomatoes that could rival the thickness and flavor of beef (kind of), eggplant for grilling, lettuce for salads, I was able to pickle my okra (not well, but I tried), and as I mentioned before, I salsa'd my entire circle of friends and family.

I made four salsas:

* Multi-colored chunky tomato salsa - delicious tastes of summer

* Serrano salsa - crazy spicy, but beautifully green

* Salsa Verde - I used green zebra tomatoes mixed with tomatillos, (courtesy of my lovely neighbors the Hitchcocks)

AND * Habanero salsa (more of a sauce) - made with hab's and carrots.

The habanero hot sauce was insane. I tried to mimic Marie Sharps, it was pretty delish but I want to try again this year. The Salsa Verde won the most votes, with a close second being the chunky multi colored salsa.

FYI: I had Purple Cherokee, Yellow Pear, Green Zebra, Italian Heirloom, Brandywine and 2 x Cherry tomatoes last year. The pepper varieties were Serrano, Chili peppers (which I dried and crushed), Jalapeno, Habanero, Gypsy and deep purple bell's. I had problems with the bell peppers last year, they grew very slowly and didn't produce very much. But the rest gave off bumper crops!!