2019/2020 Garden update #6 ~ First lettuce harvest!

 The "Farm" and transplants, as of today, January 15th. 

 

Here is the lettuce and herb side on the 13th.

And the tomatoes on the 13th. Looking lively.

 

I decided to try light reflectors to get light to the lower leaves of the transplants. We'll see how that goes.

You can just barely see the little sprouts peeking out on the lavender, sage, and cilantro.

Lavender - 2020.01.13

Sage - 2020.01.13

Cilantro - 2020.01.13

 
And the PGSC is ALREADY sprouting on day 2!

Platinum Girl Scout Cookies - 2020.01.13

 
 The rosemary sprout is a little taller.


 And the tarragon and oregano are going to town. :D

Tarragon - 2020.01.13

Oregano - 2020.01.13

Still nothing on the new Thai basil. Hope springs eternal.

New Thai Basil (started 2020.01.07) - 2020.01.13

 
Here's my tower o' sprouts. The lowest tier is actually ready to harvest at the next watering in this pic.

The microgreens are more than ready for another "haircut" too.

SO excited about my first lettuce harvest!! 
Here, you can see the harvested lettuce, a little bit of basil, thyme, and dill, and some microgreens, all ready to go into a salad. 

Here's a closer look at the microgreens.

 
And the lettuce. It's not a lot, but enough for a decent sized salad, once I put other fixin's in it.

 
And my beautiful dill, basil, and thyme. They are SOOO aromatic! Even just those tiny bits.

And here's the salad, with leeks, lettuce, sprouts, herbs, and microgreens. The leeks in there are the ones that were originally the ones I'm currently regrowing. Everything else in the bowl, I grew myself.

I didn't grow the tomatoes or avocado that are also going in. Those are from Imperfect Foods, which is an AWESOME place to get massively discounted, fresh farmed produce, as well as other foods now. They buy up the stuff direct from farms and other places that is not pretty enough to grace the displays in the supermarkets and groceries, and then give a crap-ton away to food banks and meal programs and whatnot, and sell the rest for really cheap. 

If you click my link and sign up, we'll both get $10 credit there, which buys a LOT of produce.

 
Here's the lettuce after the harvesting.

Gardens update #5

Above, my "Farm" garden, transplants, and one container of microgreens, as of today, January 11th. 

Here are the lettuces yesterday, along with the thyme, dill, and one of the basils that I moved from the smaller garden, cause they got too tall for the lights at the level they need to be for the tinier plants.

And tomatoes yesterday. All but one have sprouted now, and most are growing nicely. 

Only one day later,  the lettuce is almost doubled in size!

The tomatoes are taller too, but not nearly as dramatic as the lettuce.

 Here is one of my containers of microgreens. Crazy growth! And that is after a couple times harvesting.

Microgreens, 2020.01.10 before harvest

Here it is after the 10th's harvest.

Microgreens, 2020.01.10 after harvest

 And the other container on the 10th, before and after harvesting, respectively.

Microgreens, 2020.01.10 before harvest

Microgreens, 2020.01.10 after harvest

The basil cuttings are coming along nicely. they are much healthier than the original plant, actually.

Cuttings from Winco "living basil. 2020.01.10

 Here are the small gardens, regrowing scraps, and cuttings. 
The leeks and green onions are really taking off, and the original, remaining Winco basil stem is already looking healthier from being just in the water with a small amount of nutrients.

The first garden is doing well. It's already about time to prune the basils again, have the first mint cuttings in water, the chives are starting to look like chives, and the parsley is getting there.  Plus the second dill is peeking up above the label there. We're just not going to discuss the Thai basil.

 Here's a closer look at that little dill sprout.

  
Meanwhile, the new, DIY oregano and tarragon seed pods are sprouting now.

The oregano just barely, but it's VERY green and lush looking, so I think it will do well.

The other thing I did today is use one of the grow anything pods to plant Sammy's Platinum Girl Scout Cookies seed. So there wil be regular updates forthcoming on that as well.

Platinum Girl Scout Cookies - Started 2020.01.11

That's all for today! Stay tuned for the next instalment.

Aerogarden & kitchen scrap regrowing update #4

The new to me, "used" Aerogarden arrived, and I planted oregano, tarragon, cilantro, and rosemary right away.

Also, as you can see, the scrap regrows are doing quite nicely as well!

 And here are some close ups of the freshly "planted" pods.
The rosemary is an AG pod. The others are DIY with separately bought seeds.

2020.01.06 Classic 6

I had to wait an extra day for the lavender and sage seeds to get delivered, but they are now started as well. 
Can;t wait ti see if they take off!

2020.01.08 Classic 6

Here's a good shot of the Harvest.

The new Thai basil  doesn't seem to be doing anything. We'll see.

I also cut down the stem and put the Winco basil directly into water, to see if it would root better.

And, speaking of roots, this basil cutting is going to be ready to transplant soon.

These little basil cuttings are starting to root.

And, last, but not least, we have things happening in the tomato garden!

Save those stale baked goods for the world's best bread pudding!

Fresh baked... well, anything is so wonderful! The problem is, it never stays fresh for long, and stale breads, cakes, cookies, etc just aren't the same. Don't throw them out though! 
You can give them a new life and look like a culinary deity at the same time, by turning them all into a divine dessert (or breakfast, or snack, or lunch, or... whatever. No judgement here) fit for the gods themselves that will have everyone begging for more. 

Best of all, the recipe is cheap, easy, and wildly versatile!

Here are just a few options for variations on the basic recipe.

• Classic, Worlds Best Bread Pudding
• Kitchen Scrap Stratarole v1.0
• French toast casserole
• Breakfast in Bread
• Full English Bake Up 
• Toasted Cheese Breadwich
• Savoury Garlic Parmesan
• Holiday cranberry, pecan, candied orange bread pudding
• Curry cauliflower "souffle" 

Look for all these variations to be added and linked up here eventually!

All you have to do is start putting those bread ends, leftover rolls, cookies, toast, English muffins, the last slice of cake, old doughnuts or bagels, the fortune cookies no one ever eats,  the "test" pancakes, bread that didn't rise properly, pastries, etc, into the freezer before they get mouldy. I use gallon size Ziploc bags. 

If you want to do savoury as well as sweet, put the sweets in separate freezer bags.

 The one "rule" is that you want to have at least about half of the things be more "bready" than sweet (bagels, rolls, bread, pizza crusts, etc) to get the right texture. If most of your leftovers are sweets and you don't bake your own bread, grab a loaf of cheap, day old artisan bread from the grocery to supplement. I really love having a good amount of sourdough in mine, but any bread will do, really. 

Once you've got a full bag or two, you're ready to whip up a batch of awesome. 

 Want to know what's even more awesome?
Not only is the flavour and add-ins variety practically endless, but there are several different cooking methods as well!

Besides the traditional, oven method, you can also make this delicious dish in your Instant pot/electric pressure cooker, regular (stovetop) pressure cooker, slow cooker, BBQ grill, campfire (cast iron Dutch oven needed), regular skillet on the stove, and even the microwave!!
 

Save those seeds! It's not just pumpkin seeds that make great roasting!

It's Thrifty Food Tip time again, and since it's a classic fall morning here at the Wolf Den, I figured this would be the perfect thing for the season.

Roasted pumpkin seeds are definitely one of those things we associate with autumn. Their warm, toasty, nutty, slightly salty flavour makes for a great, healthy snack. While the pre-packaged ones are ok, nothing beats having them fresh, just as soon as they're cooled off enough from the oven! 

(Hmm.. Speaking of which, now I've got a craving! That's a hazard of writing the food-related portions of this blog. LOL)

As tasty as they are, what's even better is a medley of roasted/toasted seeds. You can roast up the seeds from cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, butternut squash, and pretty much any other gourd, squash, or melon you can think of, with delicious and nutritious results. 

That's right; I said nutritious!

Squash and melon seeds are simply teeming with health benefits.

Cantaloupe, honeydew, and other "muskmelon" seeds are super high in antioxidant vitamins, minerals, amino acids, as well as being a great source of fibre and healthy fats. 

Watermelon seeds contain all those too, in addition to a good dose of folate (AKA vitamin B9), iron, and the plant protein, lycopene, which, in addition to being a great protein source, is another heart health booster.

Not to be outdone, squash seeds contain all the above vitamins and minerals, plus zinc, which is another immune system benefactor. Zinc also promotes healthy cell growth and division, sleep, mood, senses of taste and smell, eye and skin health, insulin regulation, and increases prostate health.

 Vitamins A, C, and E can improve and preserve your vision by helping to prevent macular degeneration, and, of course, we all know that vitamin C gives us a great boost to our immune system, which, considering that fall also marks the start of cold and flu season, is an especially good thing.
 

Important minerals contained in the seeds, like magnesium, phosphorous, iron, calcium, and potassium help control cholesterol, regulate blood pressure and cardiovascular function, improve bone density, immunity, metabolism, and brain function, and decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cancer

The heart healthy omega-3 fatty acids help reduce the risk of stroke, heart attack, and other cardiovascular diseases by lowering the levels of "bad" (LDL) cholesterol in the blood.

Finally, a diet high in fibre adds its own cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood glucose lowering properties, as well as promoting bowel health, for the prevention of things like IBS, diverticulosis, and diverticulitis. 

SO...

With all those health perks, great taste, and a FREE price tag, what's not to love?

Oh! And did I mention that it's mega simple to roast them, you can give them just about any flavour profile you want, and it's a great, fun activity to do with kids? 

Ingredients: 

• seeds
• enough oil (coconut, olive, grapeseed, peanut, etc.. whatever you want) to lightly coat the seeds
• salt, pepper, and/or whatever spices/seasonings you like

Directions:

1. separate seeds from the bulk of the pulp and give them a quick rinse. Don't worry about removing all of the pulp/flesh. It will roast up nicely and add the flavour and fibre content.
2. Preheat oven to 300°F. (you can use a higher temp, however, keeping it at or below
   300°F will retain most of the nutrients which high heat will destroy.)
3. Toss together all ingredients until seeds are coated evenly with oil and seasonings
4. Spread seeds in a single layer in a cast iron skillet, stoneware, or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake, checking and stirring every 15 minutes, until seeds are crisp and pulp is caramelized, probably about 20-40 minutes. 
5. Let cool completely before serving/eating (OK.. Who am I kidding? At least let them cool enough to avoid burning yourself or others!)

Seasoning suggestions:

• Olive oil, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper medley
• Peanut oil, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Add extra flavour and texture with some dried seaweed flakes and/or kick it up a notch with some hot chilli oil. 
• More savoury seasoning ideas: curry, cumin, chilli powder, garlic powder, onion powder, ranch dressing powdered mix, other dry soup or dip mixes
• coconut oil, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Add a little sweetness with a drizzle of honey
• coconut oil, cocoa powder and cinnamon
• coconut oil, ground cloves and cardamom

What to do with roasted seeds:

• Use as a coating for fried chicken
• Add to home made granola
• Bake into granola bars
• Top your yogurt
• Mix into your oatmeal
• Add to dry cereal
• Put them in trail mix
• Add to smoothies
• Use in whole grain and seed breads
• Add to muffins, coffee cake, and other baked goods
• Add to salads
• Use them in pesto
• And, of course, you can just munch on them by themselves!