Fruit is Ripening & Flowers are Blooming

Another week has gone by and my garden continues to thrive and amaze me. I love to go outside every day and see all the changes. It's crazy what happens from week to week, and and I'm shocked by what happens from day to day, but what happens from hour to hour is what makes me the most happy and amazed!

The flowers are the most evident of hourly changes. The poppies open in the morning, or when the sun comes out, and then close again every evening when the sun goes down. I loveeeeee to see them change. And the snap peas change quite fast too, just differently than the poppies.  

The tomatoes are another plant that changes fast. It becomes most evident in the ripening stage. So far I've enjoyed a total of FOUR cherry tomatoes. I have many more on the plant waiting to ripen and now I officially have multiple blossoms on my other tomato plant. YAY! :)

Cherry Tomato

Bush Early Girl Tomato 

The jalapenos are doing great too. I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that I transplanted them (after a great friend suggested it) and now they're growing like crazy! I am happy to report that I officially have the first blossom too, but it's far too small to photography clearly.  Jalapenos! Soon! WOO HOO! :)

The shallots and garlic are growing quite a bit too. It seems like their green sprouts really exploded in the last week and I had to do a lot of pruning so they weren't out of control!

Shallots

Garlic

The strawberry plant is really doing great too. I have so many new little berries and tons of new blossoms popping up all the time. Just gimmie bigger berries PLEASE!

The new additions - radishes and green onions are really starting to get big. I see the green onions getting thicker and may have to do one last thinning. The radishes got their first thinning this weekend and you can see before and after below! 

Green Onions

Radishes - Before

Radishes - After

The herbs - like always are doing just dandy! I used multiple fresh herbs that I'm growing in numerous recipes this weekend. I didn't use the mint - which I hardly ever do and I didn't use the chives, but I used EVERY OTHER ONE! 

The basil

The chives

The mint

The rosemary

The flat leaf parsley

The thyme

Andddddd that's all folk! Hope you all have a great week and come back for next week's update.  

Baked Mac 'n Cheese: Revisited!

One of my coworkers once said to me that she would enjoy some blog posts with step by step instructions on how to make my yummy food.  So this post - it's for you my friend! :)

A few months ago I posted about my baked mac n' cheese, including the recipe, but now I'm showing you each step you must take to get to the end result - a ooey gooey four cheese baked mac n' cheese!!!

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9x9 baking dish with butter 

(When using a whole box of macaroni I usually use a 

9X13 dish or two dishes and freeze one for later!)

Step 2

Shred four types of Cheese 

I used:

-8 oz shredded cheddar cheese 

(set 2 oz aside for cheese sauce)

-4 oz shredded jack cheese

-4 oz shredded mozzarella cheese

-4 oz shredded havarti cheese

*You could use as many or as few types of cheese for this, 

just make sure it's a total of 20 oz of shredded cheese.

Step 3

NO PHOTO! :( 

(Sad, but I think we all know what boiling pasta looks like...)

Fill the pot for your pasta about 3/4 of the way full with water and bring to a boil. 

Once boiling, add the pasta and cook for 5 minutes until al dente. 

Step 4

Drain pasta and toss with 2 tablespoons butter.

Step 5

Melt 4 tablespoons butter over low heat.

(This looks like more, but it's not - promise!)

Step 6

Add 4 tablespoons flour. 

Stir to combine and cook about 3 minutes - stirring constantly. 

Step 7

Increase heat to medium heat. 

Whisk in milk little by little and cook until thickened 

(about 4-5 minutes but maybe longer).

Step 8

Remove from heat then add salt, pepper and the reserved cheddar cheese.

Step 9

Add the cooked, drained, buttered pasta to the cheese sauce and stir to combine.

Step 10

Put half of the saucy macaroni mixture into the grease 

baking dish and cover with half of the shredded cheese.

Step 11

Repeat with the rest of the saucy macaroni mixture 

and the rest of the shredded cheese.

Step 12

Sprinkled breadcrumbs on top.

OR

Cover it with foil and then plastic wrap to freeze and bake at a later date! :)

Step 13

If not sent to the freezer,

Bake for about 45 minutes and let sit 5 minutes before serving. 

Step 14

Serve and ENJOY! 

Homemade Loaded Blueberry Muffins

Blueberries were on sale this week at the grocery store so I bought three cases! Not three HUGE case, but each case has a 1 Cup of blueberries.

Once I realized I had so many I thought of ways I can use them.  I orignally thought blueberry pancakes, but I wanted to use them in something can be enjoyed more than once, so I decieded on homemade blueberry muffins!!!

I've made boxed blueberry muffins MANY time, but I'd never made them from scratch, so I went searching online. After just a few minutes I found a recipe that sounded amazing and I HAD to make them! The only change I made to the recipe was to add a couple extra blueberries on top before baking.  That's where the loaded part comes in! :)  

And here's how the oh so tasty muffins are made...

Cream butter and sugar

Mix in an egg

And the sour cream and lemon zest

Now mix in the dry ingredients

And finally fold in the blueberries!!!

The muffins waiting to be baked...

BUT not without extra blueberry love!

Ta-da! 

They're done.

1st Tomato of The Year & More!

Yup! My FIRST Tomato of the Season! I got to enjoy the first tomato from my garden last Friday and boy oh boy was it tasty! I was patient and waited until it was bright red and the wait was completely worth it. The tiny little red tomato was so sweet and juicy. I just can't wait for more cheery tomatoes!

And I won't have to wait long because there are TONS on my cherry tomato plant right now.

The biggest one on the vine started turned to the light yellowish color today, so I should be enjoying that before the end or the week!

The other tomato plant is doing just as great and it officially has it's first blossoms. They're much bigger than the cherry tomato blossoms I'm used to and I can't wait to watch them progress. 

The strawberry plant is doing great too, but not as great as the tomato plants. I just wish the strawberries were there size of ones I get at the store. They're just so tinnnnnny, but are super sweet when I do eat the lil suckers!

The jalapeno plants are thriving too. After taking this picture, I transplanted three of the four plants into different planters. Look for the change in next week's update.

Not much has changed with the shallots and garlic. They keep growing and are nice and green, but I can't tell you what's happenin' below ground!

Shallots

Garlic

Almost as exciting as the first tomato news is the news that I have two new crops! I've grown both before, but hope for better things for both this time around.  They're both in the early stages - but now I am growing green onions and radishes again!

Teeny Tiny Green Onions

Radishes!

Hoping they don't have any accidents this time around...

And finally - my herbs. They are doing AMAZING and I need suggestions on recipes to use them in. I use them all the time already, but would love some new ideas from YOU! :)

Chives

Basil

Mint

Rosemary

Flat Leaf Parsley

Thyme