Watching the Garden Grow

Yin Yang Salad Bed Kale Yea! We were able to pick some of our first radishes.

Square Foot Garden Meets Sheet Mulching

Last month we continued our process of building our vegetable garden. We wanted to continue with our square foot garden beds because the raised bed is beneficial for so many reasons, but we had to get a handle on all the weeds in the area. In addition, it is necessary to amend this clay soil. We are going two routes with the garden. We are sheet mulching the remainder. After this we will build terraces in the back section. I think that strawberries will be very happy up there, and I will be even happier to eat them.

We put the dairy based compost under neath the cardboard and the brewery based compost on top of the cardboard. Then we placed a few inches of mulch on top.

Earth Laughs in Flowers

When I first learned of Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote from his poem Hamatreya, I thought it was a feel-good line. I prefer to keep it that way in my head and take it out of context. After all, it does seem that the earth laughs in flowers. There is nothing like a good laugh. We are certainly developing a nice place for some earthly mirth in our front garden. My partner and I exchanged roses for our anniversary this year.

We even have some jonquils blooming late in the season because we didn't plant them until this Spring.

Phatveggie's front perennial garden in progress

Last year I started working on the shade perennial garden in the front yard. I worked up the soil and added compost. A few days later, we had a big wind storm, and the large ash tree kept breaking off large limbs. There was irreparable damage to the poor thing so we had all the ash trees in that cluster cut down. I was saddened because I had picked out all these wonderful shade plants for the area. It is now full sun to partial shade.

At the end of summer we planted a crabapple tree. It has beautiful red bark and lovely red flowers. The crabapples are very small berry-like fruits that stay on the tree into winter. The tree will eventually add to each season with color. It is Scott’s birthday tree, and it is very exciting to see this Spring. We planted bulbs during the Fall, and they have delighted us with color in the front garden this Spring. A new selection of plants has been selected to add to the perennial garden in the coming days.

Gardening 2012

Last year we had our garden raised off the ground because we were doing earth moving on our property to get the area ready for our new garden home. We are very excited to start our work this spring.

We had the earth leveled on the side of our garage. It had a significant slope to it, and the water did not drain properly around the building as well.

We have taken the legs off the planters and made them double so that more soil can be inside of them. Last year the soil was not deep enough. In Colorado it cools off so much at night that it affected the soil temperature. This year we are hoping for better results with them on the ground. The soil should retain its heat. We are doing the lasagna gardening or sheet mulching to create our area underneath the gardens. We are using tons of cardboard to layer the areas underneath and in the walkways. We will later add mulch to the walkways to further aid in keeping out the weeds.

This year I would make my Mom Ray proud because we are following the Farmers Almanac planter's guide. We have already planted our root vegetables in two of the boxes.

We are using plenty of organic compost that we have from dairy farm waste and brewery (i.e., Coors) waste.

Phatveggie's Big Balls

When I first became a vegetarian, I did not try to have meat substitutes. It was simple to provide enough protein in my diet with beans, nuts, cheese, and eggs (ovo-lacto vegetarian that is). During these last couple weeks at our house, we have tried out “meat” ball recipes for spaghetti. It has become somewhat of a contest to see which recipe will be the best. At the end we will declare our winner.
The first contestant is from an old book that I found at a used bookstore called Tofu Cookery by Louise Hagler. It has recently been republished in a 25th anniversary issue. The recipe is for Tofu Spaghetti Balls.

Tofu Spaghetti Balls

Mix together well:
¾ lb. tofu, mashed (we used the hold pound)
½ cup flour, bread crumbs, rolled oats, or corn flakes ( we mixed bread crumbs and oats)
1 ½ Tbsp. peanut butter
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped fine
1 small onion, chopped fine
½ tsp dry mustard (we didn’t have any so we used prepared)
1/8 tsp. black pepper


Roll into 1 ½ inch balls. Roll balls in flour and fry in ½ inch oil over medium heat until browned all over. Turn each ball about every 3 minutes.

Serve with hot spaghetti and Italian style tomato sauce.
Makes 24 1 ½ inch balls (my balls are bigger)

Valentine's Day Eve Breakfast

Since I have to go to work tomorrow morning, today was a great day to make my sweetheart pancakes for breakfast. The recipe comes from a lovely photographed book called Biscuits, Pancakes & Quick Breads by Beverly Cox (photography by Martin Jacobs). Breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day. This book will inspire you to makes some wonderful creations. Since my partner wanted banana nut pancakes, I decided on Easy Whole-Wheat Griddle Cakes, and I just added those two ingredients at the end.

Easy Whole-Wheat Griddle Cakes

Cottage cheese and eggs give these cakes a lightness and fluffiness not usually associated with whole-wheat griddle cakes.

Preparation time 10 minutes Cooking time 15 minutes Yield 4-6 servings

Ingredients
 4 eggs
 1 cup creamed cottage cheese
 1 tablespoon brown sugar
 1/8 teaspoon salt
 ½ cup whole-wheat flour
 1 tablespoon melted butter mixed with 1 tablespoon mild cooking oil
 Butter and honey or warm maple syrup for serving

With an electric mixer, beat the eggs, cottage cheese, brown sugar, and salt together at medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually add the flour, and continue to mix until the flour is incorporated.

Lightly grease a griddle with the butter and oil mixture and heat the griddle until medium-hot. Ladle the batter by scant ¼ cupfuls onto the griddle. When small bubbles form on the top, after 1 ½ - 2 minutes, turn the cakes and cook until browned on the other side, about 1 minute. Serve with butter and honey or warm maple syrup.
Today I added a mashed ripened banana and about 1 cup chopped pecans to the batter.
Enjoy!

Cookbooks Galore

Over the years I have collected numerous cookbooks. I bow my head in shame that there may be some that I have never used. This year I have set a goal to cook a recipe from each of my cookbooks and blog about it.

The first book that I would like to use is called The American Vegetarian Cookbook from the Fit for Life Kitchen by Marilyn Diamond. When I first became a vegetarian Fit for Life and Diet for a Small Planet were great resources for me. When Marilyn Diamond came out with this cookbook, I ran to the Tattered Cover Bookstore right away to pick it up. The recipes are fairly simple and not overly time consuming. More importantly they are delicious. This week I have selected Vegetable Lasagna to go with our Vegan Wednesday theme (heavy on the Swedish accent there). Enjoy!



Vegetable Lasagna
1 (10 – ounce) box lasagna noodles
Tofu Ricotta
1 pound firm tofu (we used 1.5 pounds but will use 2 pounds the next time)
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (or ½ teaspoon ground)
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
Vegetable Filling
2 garlic cloves, crushed in 4 tablespoons olive oil
1 large, 2 medium, or 4 small zucchini, cut in 1/8-inch-thick lengthwise slices (3 cups)
1 ½ teaspoons dried basil
1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
½ teaspoon sweet Hungarian paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cups mushrooms, stems removed, caps thinly sliced
1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach
To Assemble
Olive oil
¾ cup prepared tomato sauce (phatveggie kitchen used a store bought jar)
Dried basil, oregano, sweet Hungarian paprika, salt, and freshly ground pepper.
1. Prepare lasagna noodles. We like to use the non boil type.
2. Prepare ricotta. Crumble three-fourths of the tofu (12 oz) in a food processor or blender. Add oil, salt, and nutmeg. Process only until mixture is slightly lumpy. Finely crumble remaining tofu into mixture and set aside.
3. Using 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil for each batch, cook zucchini in a single layer, n several batches, in a large skillet. Sprinkle each batch of zucchini generously with basil, oregano, paprika, salt, and pepper. If the slices are thin enough, you will not need to turn them. Sauté until bright green and tender-crisp. Remove from skillet and set aside.
4. Add remaining 1 tablespoon garlic oil to skillet. Toss in mushrooms and sauté until tender and slightly brown on edges. Remove from skillet and set aside.





5. Steam spinach until defrosted. Squeeze to remove excess water and set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly brush a shallow 9 X 13-inch baking dish with olive oil. Place a scant ladle of tomato sauce in dish and spread over bottom. Put a layer of 3 noodles on top of sauce. Cover with a thick masking ricotta. Top with layers of zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste. Repeat layers of tomato sauce, pasta, ricotta, zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, seasonings twice more, reserving 3 lasagna noodles, ½ to ¾ cup ricotta, and 2 tablespoons tomato sauce for final layer.


7. End with final pasta layer, a masking of ricotta, and a thin brushing of tomato sauce. Dust with basil, oregano, paprika. Cover with foil lined with parchment. (Parchment prevents leaching of aluminum into the food). Bake 45 minutes, then cool a few minutes before cutting. Serve hot.

Lady Gaga never sounded so good!

Tons of f*ing sequins

Tis the season to shop till you drop. So glad my friend shared this so I could have a good laugh.

Dance Me To The End Of Love

Smile Maker

It is a sad day in Denver

Final Edition from Matthew Roberts on Vimeo.

After 149 years and 311 days, the Rocky Mountain News published its final edition on February 27, 2009.

Happy Valentine's Day

This has been a beautiful Valentine's Day morning. Scott and I had brunch at Bistro Vendome on Larimer Square.

Below I have shared a beautiful, romantic video. It is magical.

Phatveggie is back in the Kitchen

During a cold winter day, there is nothing better than a soup and panini. Today we had our new favorite soup. It is a mix of potato soup, butternut squash soup and corn chowder. It is called "New World Corn Chowder" from Dairy Hollow House Soup & Bread cookbook by my favorite Crescent Dragonwagon. Here is the recipe:

New World Corn Chowder
2 quarts vegetable stock
4 fist-sized all-purpose potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 3/4-inch dice
2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch dice
1 bag (16 ounces) frozen corn kernels (although fresh is better)
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons Pickapeppa or vegetarian Worcestershire sauce, or to taste
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and diced
3 ribs celery with leaves, finely diced
1 tablespoon good-quality chili powder (or to taste)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 cloves garlic, peeled and put through a garlic press or finely chopped
3 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 cup heavy (whipping) cream
1 Morga vegetarian bouillon cube
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and sliced
Crumbed corn tortilla chips, sour cream or plain yogurt; salsa; and/or fresh cilantro sprigs; or green chili and red pepper purees for garnish

1) In a large heavy soup pot, bring the stock to a boil. Lower the heat slightly and add the potatoes. Let simmer, covered, about 10 minutes. Add the squash and continue to simmer until both the squash and potatoes are barely tender, about 8 minutes more. Stir in the corn, honey, and Pickapeppa. Turn down the heat to very low and simmer, covered, about 20 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, in a 10-inch skilled, heat the butter and oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and celery with leaves and saute 5 minutes more. Sprinkle the chili powder, cumin, and garlic over the vegetables. Turn down the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and cook, stirring another minute. Gradually add the milk, stirring to smooth the lumps, and cook until thickened, about 1 minute. Transfer about one-third of this mixture to a food processor and set the remaining mixture aside.

3) Transfer about half the potatoes and squash from the soup pot to the food processor. I prefer using hand mixer stick in the pot and then I don't have to dirty more dishes. Add the cream and puree. If using the processor, stir the puree back into the soup in the pot and add the remaining sauteed vegetables. Add the bouillon cube, salt, plenty of black pepper, the jalapeno and the jalapeno juice.

4) Heat the soup over medium-low heat until very hot, stirring frequently. Do not allow it to boil. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Ladle into soup bowls and add your choice of garnish.

Serves 6 to 8 as a generous entree

This was a big hit when we had it for Christmas Eve this year. Enjoy!

I love Jesus but I drink a little

Yellow Pages Goes Green

Yellow Pages Goes Green.org is a website dedicated to the movement against the printing of phone books. I don't know if you are like me, but I hate it when I come home to find stacks of phone books on my doorstep, and they end up in the trash. I have signed up to have them stop the delivery. One of my goals this year is to be more GREEN.

Slumdog Millionaire

Long Live Bollywood Dance

Today was such a beautiful day. We went to have brunch with an old friend of Scott's. What a delight. After fasting or cleansing for a day yesterday, it was nice to eat some solid food. Of course we choose the healthiest restaurant in the city - Watercourse Cafe. It was the first time to eat out since we started our cleansing program with Isagenix.
For some crazy reason we do not go to movies very often, but today we decided to go see Slumdog Millionaire. It is a wonderful story. I was going to cry at the end, but they broke out into Bollywood choreographed dance for the credits and that made me laugh. Long live the Bollywood dance!

New Year, New Time

It is a very exciting time in our lives. Yes we are experiencing a economic depression that has not been seen in many years. It is also a good time. It is a time when we focus less on consumerism and more on our personal budgets to our federal budget. It is a time for change. We saw the powerful force of change in this election. I can not be happier for and of the American people right now. I can relate to what Michelle Obama said during the campaign about being proud to be American. It has been a long time since I have been proud to be an American. January 20th will be great day when Barack Obama is sworn in as President of the United States of America.

I am looking forward to posting to the blog again during 2009. Have a great year!