V is for Voyageur Toque, Viking Hat, and Veggie Gardens

Voyageur toque - Picture courtesy Smoke-Fire.com

Creating and Weeding: Originally I was going to post for "V" day about a Voyageur toque that I was planning to knit.  This was to be a donation for the annual silent auction which benefits a high-adventure camp that E is on the board of.  One of the trips they offer is in the huge voyageur canoe on Lake Superior and I thought there might be interest in a handmade voyageur hat.  Unfortunately, I did not get the project completed in time (full disclosure: I did not even start it.) for a variety of reasons/excuses.  So this post will not be about that.

Minnesota Vikings hat

My back-up idea (I may have had an inkling that I would not finish the voyageur toque) was E's Viking hat I made late last year before he went to the football game.  I have blogged this hat before, though, so that is kind of a cheater post.

I could also have written about volunteer plants but have already done that one, too.

So that leaves veggies, specifically veggie gardens.  A few years we built a small (5'x5' I think) raised bed in the backyard to grow vegetables in.  We packed in corn, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and carrots.  Most things grew well and we adjusted our planting (fewer cherry tomato plants for one thing) in the years that followed.  Last year we decided to build an additional bed to give more room for the corn and peppers specifically.  And we actually finished it!  We will plant it probably later next month, when it hopefully will be done freezing at night. 

Some people may think we are a bit crazy planting all those things in such a small space but it works.  The weeds are crowded out, it doesn't take up half the yard and other than the peppers getting shaded too much by the tomatoes which grew as tall as trees (I now know to pinch those back), everything did well.  The first year the corn turned out and we had enough.  One of the next years we kept getting summer storms with high wind, hail, etc., and the corn kept blowing down.  Then another year, the deer ate the corn.  We have since added a fence to help discourage the deer.  And now with the new bed, the corn will have more room.  Fingers crossed for our own fresh sweet corn (though last year we got plenty from our CSA)!

Here are a couple photos of the new raised bed.  I promised these last fall after we built the darn thing.  As I have said before, it is big enough to bury a body in there...


The first layer of timbers is in.  You can see the other bed on the far left.  The compost bins and huge volunteer tomatoes are also in this photo, above the new bed.

The new bed is complete! 

Body to be buried?  Nope - It's me! Just to give some perspective on the size.

Until we weed again,
Hallie

Weeding: Today we planned/designed the new raised veggie bed and purchased the supplies.  Tomorrow is building day. So exciting that we are actually going to get this done so that it is ready to plant next spring!
Also, stopped by the greenhouse for sunflowers, mums and ornamental peppers to spruce up the few planters I have on the front steps.  The pansies in them have been neglected too long and are looking terrible (leggy, sparse, few blooms). 

Reading: Still reading Rhoda.  She is now in her 30s and not very likeable.  It is still good to read, though.  It is one thing when a character is not likeable but you can tell that she doesn't like herself either.  It is another when a character is not likeable and doesn't know it (examples that come to mind are whats-her-name in Eat Pray Love and Julie in Julie and Julia).  Those are characters I don't even care about and don't like to read about.  I am just waiting for Rhoda to hit bottom and turn it all around.  The writing is so good - just love it!

Eating: I made a triple batch of Bolognese sauce this afternoon.  I had planned to use fresh tomatoes for at least part of the tomatoes but after finely chopping 2 onions, 3 stalks of celerey and 4 smallish carrots, I was done chopping for awhile and used canned tomatoes as the recipe calls for.  The other veggies and herbs (rosemary and parsley) were fresh, though.  I puree the sauce instead of leaving it chunky - E would spend too much time picking out the chunks if I served it as is.  This way, he gets all the goodness of the veggies (taste- and nutrition-wise) without the work.  I add the meat (usually just ground beef but maybe Italian sausage or pancetta if I have them) after the blending - pureed meat is not appetizing.  Will freeze this sauce so we have go-to dinners in the freezer.  Just cook up the rigatoni and get a little bread to soak up all the tomatoe-y goodness!  This is a Weight Watchers recipe, from the old point system (4 servings, 6 points as written), the Pure Comfort cookbook.  I have no idea how it translates to the new system. 
Rigatoni Bolognese
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2# lean ground beef or turkey
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
1/4 C. flat-leaf parsley
1/4 C. dry red wine or beef broth
1 fresh rosemary sprig
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
2 C. rigatoni
1/4 C grated parmesan
Fresh basil leaves for garnish

Finely chop onion, celery, carrots and parsley.  Heat oil in large saucepan over med-high.  Add onion and cook, stirring frequently until softened, about 5 mins. Add celery, carrot and garlic; cook until softened, about 5 mins.  Add beef (unless pureeing sauce later) and cook until browned, breaking apart.  Stir in tomatoes (undrained), parsley, wine, rosemary, bay leaf, salt and pepper.  Cook, stirring occasionally until bubbly, about 5 mins. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 45 mins.  Discard rosemary and bay leaf. 
Meanwhile, cook rigatoni per package instructions.  Drain and transfer to large bowl.  Add sauce and toss.  Sprinkle with cheese and basil just before serving.

My notes: after sauce has cooked, transfer to blender in small batches (no more than half a blender-ful at a time - ask me how I know) and puree until desired consistency. Stir in browned beef (or turkey sausage or whatever meat you like) and continue with instructions above.  Or, let it cool and freeze in freezer bags in smaller batches.  I always mark mine with contents, date, and instructions ("add to 1 C rigatoni" if it is a half batch, for example). 

A tasty way to get some of your daily veggies in.  Enjoy!

Until we eat again,
Hallie

Eating: The ratatouille was good.  I ate a bunch of it and froze 3 quart bags of it for later when I am craving summer veggies in the fall or winter.  I have another 1/2 an eggplant this week from the CSA (the other 1/2 goes to my in-laws) so am looking for another good eggplant recipe.
This is the recipe I used last week.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/ratatouille/detail.aspx  The chopping took a while but I like to chop, so that was okay.  Left out the 'shrooms because I am not a huge fan and also because they didn't speak "summer" to me.  And I used fresh parsley instead of dried because I have some growing on the deck.

We are on a pizza kick this month.  I have made home-made pizza (or 'Ho-made' as we call it, after a sign we saw in Door County advertising ho-made jams) for a number of years.  Simple Betty Crocker crust and sauce recipe, to which we usually add Canadian bacon and sometimes peppers if we have some.  Bake on the pizza stone from Pampered Chef (of course!) until the cheese is brown and bubbly.  A couple weeks ago, we made the pizza and E added red pepper slices from the pepper he grew, harvested and sliced thin (he has mad knife skilz).  It was perfection.  The next week (happened to be a Thursday again), we decided to try a BBQ chicken 'za since we had some leftover rotisserie chicken.  I made the BBQ sauce (with a little help from Pampered Chef for recipe and the BBQ rub) while E shredded the chicken.  A little green pepper, some red onion (on my half) and then fresh cilantro (added after it came out of the oven - otherwise it is just little burnt leaves - ask me how I know).  So tasty!  The best one yet.  This week was a Mexican pizza - instead of the red sauce we used E's fresh blender salsa, topped it with leftover taco meat, "Mexican-blend" cheese, and peppers. Fresh cilantro and crushed tortilla chips on top after baking.  Also very tasty, but not quite up there with the BBQ chicken.  Thinking of more creative ideas for the next pizza - suggestions??

Reading: I finished A Wrinkle in Time. I didn't like it as much as I remembered liking it before.  I need to think about it a little more before I discuss it.  Good thing bookclub isn't coming up real soon. 
Now I am reading Rhoda: A Life in Stories by Ellen Gilchrist.  It is a good sized volume of short stories, some of which are autobiographical, starting when Rhoda is about 7 or 8, in the '40s.  Love Rhoda's attitude and spunk.  And Gilchrist's writing style is engaging and descriptive.  I really feel like I am getting to know this character and her family.
I still need to pick a book for the Saturday bookclub.  What shall I pick for a bookclub that doesn't usually read the selection? Hmmmm....

Weeding: Date for the plant swap has been set.  I am very excited for this!  Swapping plants with my friends, snacks and beverages (of course! Can there be a gathering with out food??), tours of my garden.  I am enjoying the planning stages for that.  Also in the planning stages: E and I are hoping to build the second raised veggie garden bed on Labor Day weekend, get it filled with compost and then leaves to "cook" over the winter and be ready for spring planting.  And the gi-normous stump will hopefully be getting removed soon so we can get going on that area behing the house (plans percolating in my brain, not yet on paper though - a hedge for privacy, a fire pit, seating in the secluded area in addition to the half-log bench E made from the trunk of the tree, expanding the plants to all sides of the area, maybe a small water feature like one of those fountains that bubbles up out of a large rock, etc., etc.).  I have dubbed this "stump garden". 

Time to go cut back some of those tall flower stems on the daylilies and tie back some flopping plants. 

Until next time, happy reading, eating and weeding!