Happy St. Pat's

OK, I'm not Irish, and I'm late by a few days, but we do like corned beef and cabbage once a year.  Today was the day. I had purchased a nice hunk of corned beef; it's always on sale this week. Carrots freshly dug from the garden, potatoes, and cabbage are a must. I used my crock pot to slow cook it all day. It was hard to wait for dinner because it smelled so good as it simmered away. And we weren't disappointed.  It turned out great; very flavorful and fall-apart tender.

I used the recipe Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage from Allrecipes.com with a few modifications. I started in the crock pot with just the meat + 1/2 bottle of beer and water to cover, on high for about 3 hours. Then I removed the meat and discarded the liquid. (This helps cut down on the fat and salt.)  Next I put the meat back in the crock pot + the rest of the beer + carrots and potatoes. I added water to cover and 2 beef bullion cubes. It continued to cook the rest of the day. About an hour before dinner time, I added wedges of cabbage. (You don't want the cabbage to be overcooked.)  I took the meat out 10 minutes before we ate to let it rest. That makes the slicing so much easier, and I was careful to slice it across the grain.  It was perfect; even DH agreed. The meat was tender, flavorful, but not too salty. The potatoes and carrots were soft and flavored from the meat. The cabbage was softened, but not limp. Yum!

Knock, knock.

Who's there?

Irish

Irish who?

Irish you a happy St. Pat's Day!

Waiting for Spring

The sun came out on Tuesday... then again on Thursday. Oh, welcome, welcome, friend! It's been too long. Yes, I'm starting to see a robin or two, geese have been flying overhead, sap is running, and even a couple brave flower sprouts have peeked up from the earth. But it's the sunshine that I crave the most.  Well, milder temps would be awfully nice also, but if the sun will just shine, my whole attitude brightens.

And so, I headed to the garage. It's time to make some progress on our greenhouse project. I bought stain to match the house; my plan is to stain all the pieces before construction. The first step was to arrange some staining stations in the garage. That meant moving a few things around. Two old sawhorses work great for long pieces. A couple large boxes could serve to hold small pieces. And finally, I moved the lawn wagon into the center and put part of the crating box across it to create another stain station.

Carry the pieces to their stations and wipe them clean of dust with an old sock. OK, now what? Turn on the radio, stir the stain, and get at it. I started with a disposable sponge brush. It worked fine, but disintegrated before too long. I then went to my own method of staining. I put disposable latex gloves on both hands, and an old sock on my right hand. I dip the sock lightly in the stain and rub it onto and into the wood.  This may seem strange to some, but it works for me. Good coverage, and no drips. 

I worked at this project for about 3 hours and felt pretty good until I really looked at how many pieces of wood there are.  It will take me a week or more of staining to get them all done. Oh well, the garage door was open, the sun was streaming in, the radio was playing...  I was soaking in the SPRING!

Staining in the sun - Felt Great!

Many more pieces to go... but at least it's started.

Digging for Gold

March is a month of planning. What shall we grow this year? Which seed catalog has the best deals? Which vegetables and flowers did well last year?   Do we want to add new beds, new plants? These questions keep us busy dreaming and planning for the upcoming season.

Meanwhile, it's time to check on what's left from last year that we should eat up? I just used the last of the spaghetti sauce; it was good too! I have a few jars of pickled beets left, and the freezer still has green beans, spinach, corn and red peppers.  I see red pepper bisque, corn chowder, and minestrone soups in our near future.

The snow pack is receding, so DH went out to the garden with his shovel. Winter blessings - carrots and parsnips!  It's a real treat in March to get produce straight from the garden. He always mulches them in the fall, and then we forget about them. They are too hard to dig in the midst of winter, but come now... it's like digging for gold.

Parsnips and carrots freshly dug from the garden.

 

Carrots and parsnips - looking good now that they're scrubbed!

I decided the carrots were a great reason to get out my new food processor (Christmas present!). Zip, zip, zip and I had 4 cups of shredded carrot for carrot cake. I used a recipe from Allrecipes.com - Carrot Cake XI.  I liked this recipe because it calls for oil instead of shortening similar to my good zucchini cake recipe. I substituted pecans from Texas for the walnuts, and 1/2 cup orange sauce (juice + pulp pureed) for 1/2 cup of the oil. (Normally I would have substituted crushed pineapple instead of the orange sauce, but I had oranges from Texas that needed to be used.) The cake needed longer than the recipe stated to bake, but other than that, it was fantastic. So moist and flavorful - didn't even need frosting, but it sure tasted good with a dollop of ice cream.

DH is the cooker of parsnips. He introduced this vegetable to me, and the way he prepares them, they taste as good as candy. Now remember, I said tasty, not necessarily healthy.  First, he peels and juliennes them to french fry size. Then he parboils them until just barely soft.  Lastly, he finishes them by sauteing them in butter until golden brown. The butter is the secret! Yu-um!

Amaryllis Morning

There were a couple of nice surprises waiting for us on our return from Texas and Alabama. First of all, the grandchildren had made us a very nice welcome home poster with balloons to greet us when we walked in the door. Thanks, kids! As we looked around, the house was spotless; we thought our daughter-in-law must have really gone above and beyond. The kids said, "Yes we cleaned", but she laughed and said, "No, you left it this way. I just told the kids not to mess it up."  The truth might be somewhere in the middle; thanks so much for tending to our house!

Then we checked our plants. They all looked great - thanks again, C. The orchid that bloomed just before we left was now in full bloom; and the amaryllis had grown 2 feet. One is in full bloom. See Anticipation.  The blooming amaryllis has 2 blossom stalks. One stalk has 3 blossoms; the other has two. The blossoms are a variagated red/white - just lovely. The second amaryllis is poised to blossom soon - can't yet tell what color it might be. 

The only problem the amaryllis seemed to be having was that they were both too top heavy for their small pots. Without leaning on something, the whole pots just want to tip over. I went to the garage in search of a larger pot that might help them stay upright. Instead of a pot, I spotted 2 plastic tubular containers. I believe they were part of the supplies used in creating the footer for our greenhouse. Concrete containers, maybe? Anyway, they worked perfectly! All I did was carefully drop each amaryllis plant - pot and all - into the tubular containers. Problem solved!

I also checked the internet for amaryllis care directions. They seem to be very happy with their location. All I need do is keep them slightly moist and enjoy. When both the blossoms and leaves have died back, I'll the trim them back to the bulb, and put them away for next winter. I did find, on the web, a beautiful photo story showing the whole amaryllis process from bulb to die back. It's worth checking out. Amaryllis Photo Journal