Garden progress

Oooooh my aching back, arms, legs.. Oh heck you name it!  Man I never realized a raised bed garden would be so much work!  Ugh.  We started by putting the beds together and carrying them over to the spot I want them.  We plan to put 16 x 16 patio bricks as rows (probably next year).  We actually have these patio blocks as a patio right now, so they are perfect.  I put up some cute little butterfly fences to keep my dogs off the berry bushes.  So we have now filled 8 boxes completely and started filling theothers.  Hopefully I have enough dirt and mixing in the compost and garden soil will give enough fertilizer for this year.  In the past when the garden was in my ‘old spot’ the first year I mixed garden soil right in with my top soil, worked great had good production, etc.  The 2^nd year I mixed in manure in the spring and that too was good production.  So since I’m putting in topsoil in the boxes I figure adding compost and garden soil should be good.  I sure hope so!  We finally went and bought a small tow behind the tractor dump trailer, so worth the $100 versus the wheelbarrow!

Here’s some of our progress we made  For some reason I thought 6 would fit, but it didn’t, no biggie my husband said we’ll just go over, since we are going to move the trampoline over into the old garden corner, it won’t matter anyway.  So, alas I still will get my 17 big boxes and I have enough for a 3x3 box that I plan to use strictly for garlic, which is currently growing in a planter.   He’s such a wonderful man.. he’s doing this for me because as far as he’s concerned he could careless about gardening!

Strawberries are showing some signs of life!

(empty beds)

(waiting to have garden soil mixed in)

This is where we are today.  I went last week and got 20 bags of manure and 20 bags of garden soil to mix into my topsoil.  Got to get another 20 bags each to finish.

Mama, this is exhausting work!

My 8 yr old decided he wants to make some planter boxes for flowers, so my mom gave us some flower seeds and my husband said he would help him build the boxes and we’ll figure out somewhere to put them.  The one thing I almost forgot was moving my hanging planters over to my new area so I can hang flower baskets up.  Got my order in to Gurney’s and can’t wait for all that stuff to come.  Berry bushes, grapevines, potatoes and some more strawberry plants!  I’m so excited about this garden, it darn well better show me some major love and produce good!  And I started some more tomato and pepper seeds, I’ll be curious to see how they do, I won’t be putting them out for atleast another month or so.  I’ve replanted all my tomato plants into other containers and they are thriving!

Jalapenos

Cucumbers and Peppers

Tomatoes

Hoping tonight will allow me to plant my beets, carrots and onions.  It’s been icky, rainy and cooler weather.  But the box I wanted to put these guys in is done, so hopefully it will be atleast not rainy for me to do that!

Until next time!

Ham & Cheese Casserole

So last night was the final day I could take my FINAL final exam.  I am now officially done with school FOREVER!  And believe me I have the student loans to show it!  Ugh.. that will be the death of me.  But I now will have my BS, MBA and a PMP certificate.  Can’t ask for much more then that to help further my career, atleast that is what I tell myself.  J  Especially not knowing what is going to happen with my company come Nov/Dec. when they are splitting the company into two separate companies.  Shall be interesting that’s for sure, never know with these Fortune500 companies.  Anyways…….  What I did for dinner was a simple, quick and easy meal that can be interpreted many different ways. 

I didn’t do a ham for Easter, I have one just didn’t cook it.  I know bad mom, but my family is not your typical, Sunday Church people either so (with all due respect), we all went to lunch instead. 

So, what I did have for this recipe was some ham frozen from Christmas, I used to buy the expensive cubed ham at the store, until it dawned on me, Doh! (light going off here)  I can use my leftover ham, from making a ham.  I normally gave that stuff away!  Yep I’m that lazy.  Still had ham from Christmas to use, go figure.  Well I have been only a little busy (kids, work, school, housework, garden, etc.) you get the picture I’m sure.  Last night knowing I needed a quick and easy meal so I had time for my final and still to watch AI and Survivor (poor Colton!)  I pulled out my frozen ham, pasta, mushroom soup, Velveeta and canned tomatoes. What I really like about this recipe is the versatility.  You can make as much or as little, add veggies or whatever else you want!  Here’s what I put together: 

Ham and Cheese Casserole:

I made this in a skillet but it can easily be made in a casserole pan as well.

Ingredients:

Chopped or cubed ham

4 oz Velveeta cheese

Pasta shells (or other noodles) (I used ½ box)

1 Can canned tomatoes – any flavor

1 can cream of mushroom soup

½ cup Milk

Shredded cheese.

Salt

Pepper

Italian seasoning

Garlic powder

1. Boil pasta as per directions. Drain and mix into either casserole dish or skillet
2. Pour in soup and ½ can milk, mix good.
3. Mix in chunks of ham
4. Cut in chunks of Velveeta (easier for melting if they are small)
5. Mix in canned tomatoes & all seasonings
6. If cooking in oven, cover and heat 20 min, uncover and top with cheese.  If cooking in skillet, cover and let simmer about 10-15 min.  Stirring occasionally to mix in cheese.
7. Top with shredded cheese and let melt.

I topped mine with mozzarella cheese, it’s all I had, and some additional pepper to the top.  I used Hunt’s spicy red pepper tomatoes this time.  They gave it a little kick but nothing too much.  Did I mention I hate spicy?

See quick and easy and so yummy!  I served with brown n serve dinner rolls.

And as always checkout many more wonderful recipes over at Dishing It Up.

Beefy Baked Ravioli

Beefy Baked Ravioli!
This recipe is awesome, so quick, easy & everything I have in the stockpile already.

1lb. ground beef
1 pkg frozen ravioli
1 Jar pasta sauce
1 pkg. shredded mozzarella cheese (or cheese of choice)

Brown ground beef (can add garlic or onion if you'd like) mix in half pasta sauce.
Pour remaining pasta sauce in 13x9 baking dish
Layer frozen ravioli on bottom of pan in sauce, layer next with 1/2 the ground beef, 1/2 cup cheese, layer with 2nd layer of ravioli, rest of ground beef and top with cheese.
Cover with foil and bake at 425 for 20 minute or until bubbly and done.

For mine I used Target brand ravioli, it's only $2.87 a pkg. And
I used Colby Jack cheese as that is all I had on hand, normally I use mozzarella.

Voila.. there's dinner! Serve with garlic bread or breadsticks. Cheap and easy meal. We usually have enough leftover for someone's lunch the next day. This feeds my entire family of 5 with leftovers as well. :)

Be sure to check out http://dishingituprecipehop.blogspot.com/ for more great casserole recipes!

~Quick & Easy Chicken Enchiladas~

The following recipe was my tweaking/concoction from one I found on allrecipes.com.  My 3 yr old asks for this everynight and it’s so simple, quick and easy!  I usually have a stash of chicken in the freezer just for these type of purposes.  A month ago I made a whole chicken and for the 1^st time I actually sat there and picked all the chicken pieces off!  I then froze what I had.  What I had leftover has now made 2 meals, last nights I beefed it up some with a little bit of turkey and nobody knew the difference!

You could also make this with Beef, Turkey or beans even!  The possibilities are endless…

Ingredients

• 3 cups shredded Cheddar cheese, divided
• 2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 cups chopped cooked chicken (more if you prefer)
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
• 2 tbsp of taco seasoning recipe Here…
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 medium size tortilla shells

Directions

1.                      Combine soup and 1 cup sour cream in a bowl until well blended, set aside.

2.                      Cook Chicken in olive oil until no longer pink, add taco seasoning or chili powder (your preference) and mix/heat well.  Add about 3 tbsp of soup mixture to chicken and cook for about 5 minutes.

3.                      Scoop about half the soup mixture into the bottom of the baking dish and spread evenly.

4.                      Spoon about 1/2 cup of chicken down the center on each tortilla; sprinkle with about ¼ cup of cheese, roll up. Place seam side down in 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish. Continue until no chicken left.

5.                      Top dish with remaining soup mixture and sprinkle with shredded cheese & tomatoes

6.                      Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Uncover, switch oven to broil and broil for about 5 minutes.  You don’t have to broil it if you don’t want, you can just let it cook another 5 minutes, I broil it so the top has that brown crispy texture to it.

7.                      Serve with sour cream and any other desired toppings such as jalapenos, hot sauce, green chiles, onions etc. 

I have also made this and topped it with a "10 minute" enchilada sauce that I got from allrecipes.com as well. 

Enjoy!

Now of course I forgot to take a picture, so I have borrowed the one from allrecipes.com:

(photo credit: allrecipes.com)

Make sure and check out alot more chicken recipes at Dishingitup

What do you do with your browning bananas???????

What do you do with your ‘extra’ bananas?

So I totally don’t like bananas.. Actually I despise them.  I think they are gross, the taste, texture everything there is about them.  BUT my family loves them so.. I buy them.  And there they sit.. going brown as usual.. So years ago I dug around until I found a recipe for the bread that I actually liked and better yet had my husband’s approval.  So be it.. whoever eats bananas great, if they go brown, I’ll either make bread or freeze them. 

So here’s what I did.. and yes I will eat banana bread, if it’s nice warm and slathered in butter.. ;)  I’m a little wreckless what can I say!

My husband loves when I make this bread.. I become his new best friend.. as well as the guys at his shop.. You'd think I'm the wife to them all!  Men I tell ya..

And I suppose it would be nice if I gave you the recipe eh?  Well I'll have to find it again and post it up, I of course forgot it at home today. :)

The 2012 Garden plan!

This is the 3^rd year of having my own garden and each year it evolves and I try new things.  I’ve learned various methods different ideas, etc.   So as of now I have officially decided on my garden!! I think…… J  It is going to take a little work this year but I have a design to start and I’ve already done my mapping out and measurements for space. 

Based on my Uncle’s suggestion last summer when he was here I decided to try raised beds this year.  Course this will be a lot of work as I don’t have any currently but that’s ok I’ll survive.  Just got to bribe my hubby to help me with it! 

I checked my strawberry patch the other day; the leaves are starting to green!  YAY...  We are toward the end of February and still have not had any major snow.  Our largest snowfall this winter was like 6 inches... I think we’ve totaled maybe 10 inches which is unusual for us.  And it has been relatively warm.  So I’m hoping to get a head start on getting the garden prepped.  I’ll need more dirt, I’m sure, plus some fertilizer to spread and mix in. 

I’ve bought some seeds to start indoors, which I’m trying 3 methods this year.  1. The Burpee’s self watering system.  2.  The regular traditional with a heat mat.  3. Egg shells in egg carton.  Figure if I start these relatively soon, I will know how they do and whether or not I need to buy plants if mine don’t work.  So here’s my plan to start indoors:

-         Tomatoes

-         Green Peppers

-         Hot peppers

-         Cucumbers

I also may start some watermelon and cantaloupe indoors as well depending on how my above start out. 

So now the key thing will be to get the beds set up and filled with the appropriate dirt, move my berry bushes over to my ‘berry patch’.  And hope that I can get some good yields out of this garden this year!  Last year I had lettuce, good tomatoes, green peppers and cucumbers.  Peas died (too hot), the beans did so-so, carrots washed away and I didn’t plant the melons. 

So what do you all think of my ‘plan’:

2011 Garden

*New* berry patch

Chicken Italiano from my stockpile!

Needed a quick and easy dinner the other day.. So to my stockpile I went.. and recipe searching based on that.  Worked out perfect!

Cheesy Chicken Italiano (adapted from Kraft.com)

Photo Credit: Kraft.com

3 cups pasta

4 boneless chicken breast halves

1 Jar spaghetti sauce (I used chunky garden variety)

6 oz. velveeta cheese – cutup

1 cup mozzarella cheese

Italian dressing

½ diced Onion

Salt

Pepper

1 diced Garlic glove

1 tbsp Olive Oil

*you can marinate the chicken in Italian dressing or marinade prior for more flavor*

1. Make pasta as per package. 
2. Heat 1 tbsp. oil, sauté onion and garlic and about 2 tablespoon Italian dressing
3. Add chicken and cook about 3-4 min each side (depending on thickness)
4. Add spaghetti sauce, salt/pepper, cover and simmer for about 10 min.
5. Check to ensure chicken cooked thoroughly. 
6. Add velveeta cheese, stirring until melted.
7. Drain pasta and stir into sauce/chicken mix, add additional seasonings/veggies as desired
8. Top with Mozzarella cheese and any additional seasonings, you may want

You can play with this.. add veggies or chop the chicken up, add additional seasonings, etc..  I didn’t marinate the chicken, though I think next time I will as it will add more flavor to the chicken.  Everyone scarfed this down (including my 3 yr old) and loved it!   It was YUMMY!!!!!!!  Nice comfort food!

This post is being linked up to the Dishing It Up recipe hop!