Au Jardin Potager

Dessert Du Jour

Tonight I decided to make use of a bunch of bananas that up and went spotty on me. I wanted to do something a little different so I modified my favorite banana bread recipe by doubling it, adding a fudge swirl and baking it in an Italian pound cake pan. We all had a slice along with a glass of milk while it was still warm.
And there's ma' Butcher Man licking batter straight from the bowl! He's my biggest fan, what can I say?

Sorry... More Garden Pics.

Can you tell that I like my garden? It has really taken off. The sprouts in the wine barrel are my potatoes. As the leaves sprout through the soil, they are buried with more soil so that only a few leaves are peeking through. When all is said and done, this barrel will be filled to the top with soil. The actual potatoes will grow off the portions of the stem that are buried. I planted five potatoes slips here which should yield around 25 pounds of red and white potatoes. The last picture below is of my Lovage. Lovage is a cousin of celery and one of my favorite herbs to grow. It's a hardy perennial with lovely flowers and leaves that taste like celery. Beyond that, it's a very healthy addition to the diet. I use lovage leaves minced and added anywhere celery flavor is desired, especially in soups, stews and salads. As a fringe benefit, lovage contains Quercetin which is a powerful anti-oxidant.

Bits-N-Pieces

My latest and greatest accomplishment has been losing a total of 16 pounds and dropping two sizes in the process, YAY! I've been steadily working on getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight and although I recognize that I'll never be a size 5 again, I'll happily settle for something in between then and now. I've also adopted a fitness schedule that my family and I can live with which has proven to be very effective. One thing is for sure, you'll never find me on a diet. My experiences in this department have proven that I can simply work out furiously and still enjoy the pleasure of eating a little sinfully now and then.

In the mean time, I hope to lose another 20-30 pounds which should put me at a good weight for my height and hopefully allow me to don... *gulp*... a swimsuit for the first time since giving birth to Michael over 7 years ago. This will all be a pipe dream of course, if it turns out that I'm pregnant *bites finger nails nervously*. I missed my last period and that hasn't happened since, well, since my last pregnancy. And yes, I am taking a pill although I just switched to a "mini pill" which means that it's a very low dosage. I haven't had time to get to a pharmacy or make an appointment to see my doc. yet. If it were the case, it wouldn't be the end of the world as Mauricio and I have always dreamed about having a little girl... although *really bites fingernails* we'd probably end up having another boy *faints*.

Cream Stuffed Devil's Food Cake Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Phew! What a mouthful, literally. I made these for dessert tonight. First I started off with a decadent devil's food cake recipe. I gave these cupcakes a twist once they were cooled by pipping cream in to the center and topping them with a chocolate ganache. I love my cupcake tower - it just seems to add something to the presentation. Anyhow, they were yummy and not unlike a Hostess Cupcake just infinitely better. Recipe to follow...

Radishes!

I'm just now getting around to putting some commentary to these radish pics. but holy Toledo! For some reason, I saw fit to plant dozens upon dozens of these among other things. As usual, I went overboard with my Spring planting and we have way more stuff than we can possibly eat. I've been bringing squash, lettuce, chard, carrots, sugar snap peas and radish in to work all week, trying to coax my co-workers to take them home! I even demonstrated how they can all be used simultaneously in a salad. After a bit of searching, I found a tasty recipe for pickled radishes that may help to use up some of this overabundance.

Ingredients

2 cups sliced radish (8 oz.)
1 small onion, cut into thin wedges and separated
1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

Slice radishes by hand or use the slicing blade of a food processor. Place radish slices and onions in a large bowl or crock. In another bowl stir together vinegar, sugar, and salt until sugar is dissolved. Pour over radish mixture.
Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight before serving. (Radish mixture will have a very pungent aroma.) Makes 2 cups.

Kitty Skulduggery

It's been 6 days since our beloved female kitty Buffy went missing. We've gone to the local shelter, scoured the neighborhood and posted signs with her picture promising a reward. Unfortunately, I know from personal experience, when a cat goes missing for this long it's usually curtains. We adopted Buffy and her biological brother Bingo from the Fairmont Shelter almost 6 years ago. Even though it's far fetched, I always consider certain neighbors to be prime suspects, capable of kitty skulduggery. I know for a fact that on the last street we resided, a certain neighbor admitted to another that she was trying to trap our cats. Lo and behold after a time, they did go missing.

Anyhow, I suppose it's beside the point to speculate. Now I am left dealing with my two teary eyed kids obsessively drawing little reward posters with cute pictures of Buffy on them. Michael asked me how much of a reward we could afford to offer and I simply replied that "we would pay a lot to have her back." Meanwhile, Bingo her brother, is beside himself and trying like mad to remain in our house indefinitely. He's was an outdoor cat but I guess moving forward, he'll be more of an indoor cat if anything.

R.I.P. Buffy

Good Morning Sunshine!

This lovely opened up over night and graced me with its' presence this morning. It's in a pot on my front porch. I did not actually plant it there it grew from seeds that fell in to the flower pot from a plant that had gone to seed near it. I like to call this serendipitous gardening. The other two pictures are of my Rumbalo Pumpkin Vine and a picture of our very first tiny little pumpkin. Our neighbor Vern has graciously agreed to allow the vine to take over as much of his front planter as it would like. This is a good thing as I am out of room and when this thing takes off, it will be massive. We will take all but two pumpkins off of this vine and allow them to become as large as possible. Rumbalo Pumkins are also known as "Fairytale" pumpkins.