Asian Chicken Salad with Sesame Garlic Dressing

Crisp greens, fresh veggies, crunchy chow mein noodles, grilled chicken, and a knockout homemade dressing. What more could you ask for? This is the best Asian chicken salad I’ve ever had and I made it! I love when I win. I was nervous about making my own dressing but with a few essential tips from my mom I was well on my way. (Thanks Mom!!!) Oh and how I loved the dressing! Honestly I think it may be more important than the salad in this recipe so I listed it first. I knew I wanted garlic, ginger, and soy. I love sesame oil so I used that. Mom suggested adding mayo which, I thought was kind of weird but ended up totally working. It still didn’t have that zip I was looking for though…. Apple cider vinegar! Brilliant! A few more this’ and that’s and I was really onto something. I hope you love it!

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 1/2 tsp shredded ginger
• 2 tbsp seasame oil
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp mayo
• ¼ slice of lime juiced
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Salad:

• 1/2 head cabbage
• 5 oz spring mix salad
• 2 grilled chicken breasts, chopped
• 1/2 cucumber, sliced and quartered
• 1/4 cup red or yellow onion thinly sliced
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 cup chow mein crunchies

Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 2 meal size salads

 Instructions:

To make dressing, add all ingredients in a bowl and beat until smooth.

Chill for 30 minutes.

Chop cabbage into bite-size pieces and toss with spring mix salad. It should be roughly 50/50 mix.

Mix in all other ingredients in, drizzle dressing, toss and serve!

Fun with Annual Flowers

I had plans for the vegetable garden today…. the weather however, had different ones. In typical Northwest fashion the day seems to toggle between sun bursts and black clouds filled with rain and hail. I really, really wanted to plant my cucumbers, carrots, zucchini, and perhaps some herbs today but after standing around staring at the saturated ground, I couldn’t bring myself to plant anything.

With my plans for the morning dashed into hopelessness, I needed to find a way to salvage my itchy green thumb. So I decided to get the annuals together for Grandma Bev’s garden. Grandma Bev was MM’s sweet, lovely grandmother who we lost to a stroke a little over a year ago. After passing she, as so many of our grandmothers do, had a great deal of odds and ends that needed good homes. These included some adorable flower pots and garden art. Pinks and pastels are typically not what I go for in my choice of flowers, but it’s definitely what Bev loved. So for one corner of my gardening world, it is dedicated to her.

I wanted to expand and add to Grandma Bev’s nook in the front of our house during the summer so yesterday I decided to add a few more pots or things that could double as pots to the mix. I went to my nearby vintage store, the Queen’s Ransom, in search of treasure and came home with these:

Isn’t the wheel barrow the cutest!?! I got it for $7! Score!!

These were each $2, again score!! I’m totally going back! Really cool stuff!

They also had these simple wooden crates for cheap. I’ve always wanted to do something with one of these, why not a planter? I decided to paint it in pastels to work with Bev’s style. It looks pretty 80’s if you ask me but once I put flowers in it, I’m kinda really loving it!

I think I might go buy another one it makes me smile so much….

Today I wandered off to Freddy’s to see what they had in the reawakened outdoor gardening section. In typical me fashion, I got a little of everything and probably more than I should have…. When I looked down and saw I filled the cart I figured it was time to stop and run home before I did any more damage to my financial statis. I am a terror at spending when it comes to plants. All bets are off!

The cool thing about choosing flowers for Grandma Bev is that it’s a lot less limiting than my picky and particular tastes. I soon realized I had picked up just about every classic annual out there. Then I thought to myself, this might be a nice post idea to share some of my thoughts on annual flowers and why I plant them. So here we go!

Why plant annuals?

1. They’re friking beautiful! Duh! You can’t beat the color and variety of annuals.
2. They have lots of flowers and can flower for most of the spring and summer. So you can pretty much have a rainbow of bright beautiful blooms during the warmer part of the year.
3. Great plants for beginner gardeners. They’re kind of like the next level up from house plants in my opinion. If you can grow houseplants, try annuals. If you can do that well, maybe it’s time to challenge yourself with vegetables and such.
4. They like it simple: typically flowering annuals want part sun, grow great straight in the ground or in potting soil, don’t need to be fertilized very often. It doesn’t hurt to fertlize though. I usually do once a week.
5. They’ll let you know when they need help. Annuals are pretty fragile plants so when they’re thirsty, hungry, need more light, etc. They’ll tell you in the form of drooping. This is a really nice feature for those of us that can be a little forgetful particularly when it comes to watering.
6. Got kids? Planting annuals is a fantastic way to teach your children about plants and plant care. That’s how I learned. My mom, sister, and I would plant primroses, geraniums, and marigolds all over the house.
7. When they’re done, you’re done. Since they don’t come back, after the frost, just let them die off. You don’t have to do anything else!

My favorite annuals:

Marigolds

Marigolds hold a special place in my heart. This was gardening 101 when I was little. Mom taught me how to properly plant flowers using marigolds. We would plant them all along the front walk way to our house. They come in vibrant hues of red, orange, and yellow. They will keep on flowering until the first frosts. Be careful though, the slugs LOVE these so make sure you are using slug bait if they’re close to the ground.

Mini Dahlias

Well of course I’d pick these, I’m addicted to dahlias. I love everything about them. In mini version, well that’s just fantastic!

Celosia

The fuzzy flower. These are so weird and pretty. They come in spikes and crests generally in hues variying from deep red to sunshine yellow. Not only do you get a variety in the color of blooms but also in the leaves!

Aster

Daisy like flowers in tones of purple that are more on the blue side than the red. I love the vibrance of these beauties. They also come in perennial varieties.

Dianthus

Pinks, red, whites, and combos of these colors all on a single plant! Their round little flowers remind me of coins for some reason… I don’t know, I’m weird.

Cosmos

Tall lanky and frail, yet we love them. It might be the name. It might be the weird goofy leaves, Probably it’s the pale perfection of their fragile petals. Sigh.

Creeping Jenny

My new favorite trailer! They look like a string of green pearls! So pretty! A great complimentary splash of green to go with all these colorful flowers.

Geraniums

Tall, strong, proud. Little poofs of pink, red, or white flowers at the top. This one is a classic! Sorry, only greery for these little guys. I bought the babies, they were so cheap!

Pansies

The colors these flowers produce can be soft and subtle or bold and bright and everything in between. I decided to get one of each!

Lobelia

A great filler for everything! I use them in my beds, pots, and hanging baskets. Some are trailing, some are mounding. Generally colors range from white to deep purply blue. These dainty little flowers can do amazing things to the dynamic of your flower scheme.

Alyssum

Another filler with teeny tiny flowers in white or purple. Perfect for any corner that needs a little something.

As you can see, I bought a ton of flowers today. I think I went a bit over board but I’m happy with the results:

Of course, I still have a bunch left over! Looks like I’m going to have to get more pots!

What are your favorite annual flowers? 

Pico De Gallo Sencillo

What does Pico De Gallo mean? Pico De Gallo, actually means roosters beak! It is named this because a long time ago people used to eat it by pinching little bits between their fingers. Thus making their hands look like a birds beak…. ridiculous but true. A more apt name would probably be salsa fresca and people do call it that too, but I’ve always known it as Pico de gallo.

What does Sencillo mean? Sencillo means simple and this is as simple as it gets. There are lots of variations and preferences to this dish but the basic is easy and has been a go to snack, side, and occasionally meal for me for the past 10+ years. Suffice to say, I love it.

What is the difference between pico de gallo and salsa? Pico is fresh. You chop, dice, mix, and done. Salsa often includes some simmering of vegetables to create a sauce that the chunks sit in. Often when I think of salsa, I think of something with an almost entirely liquid consitency. Pico, in opposition has little liquid since it is mostly chunky.

How do you make your pico de gallo? I do have a few tips I would like to share:

1. Use firm tomatoes. Not under-ripe, but firm. If they are soft, the texture is totally disappointing.
2. Do not seed your tomatoes. That little bit of liquid helps meld flavors
3. There is Pico de Gallo seasoning out there and it’s wonderful! I found it with the authentic Mexican veggies at Winco. I’m betting you can also find it at authentic Mexican grocery stores.
4. Use equal parts onion and tomato. If they look like they are at a 1:1 ratio, that is the sweet spot in my opinion.
5. Yellow onions, not white! White are too sharp, go mellow with yellow.
6. Hand chop everything! Using a food processor give you more of that liquidy salsa and that is not what you’re going for. I’ve also tried the chopper, but I’m too rough with them, I’ve broken 3! I have yet to find a tool that chops it as perfectly as my own two hands… If you know of a secret weapon that helps in the chopping department, please let me know! I would love to find one!!

Ingredients:

• 4-6 tomatoes
• 1 small yellow onion
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1/2 jalapeno seeded
• 1/2 juice of lime
• 1 dash pico de gallo seasoning
• 1 dash salt

Instructions

Dice tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro.

Add to a bowl and season with lime, pico de gallo seasoning, and salt.

Toss and chill for 30 minutes.

Basket Case

For a fantastic tutorial on how to make your own Hanging Flower Baskets for Spring and Summer, follow the link below:

DIY Hanging Flower Baskets

Spring fever has hit me! I woke up and all I wanted to do was play with flowers. There were other things, of course, I should be doing,\: cleaning house, laundry, planting vegetables, etc. But flowers! I want flowers! “Want” always beats out “should” in every competition, which is how I found myself at my favorite local garden center.

I knew what I wanted to get accomplished: A mother’s day hanging basket for my mom and MM’s mom, and 3 for me. So in my head I figured on about 25-30 plants and some coco basket refills. Usually I come with a bit more focused plan that includes a written list of about how many verbenas, calibrachoas, fuscias, etc. I don’t know what came over me today, but i just started grabbing what looked pretty from the “basket stuffers” aisle. A little of this, a little of that, no theme colors, just whatever was withing reach. In about 10 minutes, my cart looked like this:

It may be time to head home…. Since the backyard is under construction, I decided to get the foldy table out and work in the sunny front yard.

Step 1 organize! I like to put them together by breed and how they grow: trailing, clumping, or upright.

Now what goes in which basket?? Again, I was feeling very random today so I just grabbed a basket and started putting stuff in it. Red, purple, yellow, orange, white, it didn’t matter to me today! I was just happy for flowers! Sometime the most random combinations can be the most beautiful… or so I hope.

My big basket always gets an array of calibrachoa (million bells). I bought too many to put in the top so I cut holes in the sides and stuffed them there too! I’ve seen posts on Pinterest for this but I’ve never tried it. Yay experiments!

I always like to mix the potting soil with some quality locally made compost.

The one part I did slow down for was placement. That is important. For more on this, picking the right flowers, and care, check out this link:

DIY Hanging Flower Baskets

For now, they will have a nice home on the ground in the unused part of the veggie garden where they can get a ton of sun and rain before they are moved to their permanent partially shaded and covered home under our front oning.

Anyone else playing with flowers yet? 

How do you cool down your Spring fever?

Swedish Meat-Bombs

Classic Swedish meatballs stuffed with cheese aside a creamy sauce and pasta. These meatballs have all the classic ingredients: nutmeg, allspice, and cream. Stuffed with a sharp white cheddar can only take it up a notch right?? Oh man this was so tasty! I loved making Swedish meatballs the traditional way with bread soaked in cream. Who would have thunk allspice and nutmeg would go so well in a meatball? I have to toot my own horn about the sauce too, I could have drank it in a glass! I started with the basics: beef broth, cream, butter, etc. But, to rev it up I added oregano and thyme. Ya gotta have herbs in the sauce! Ya just gotta! To satisfy the kick I was craving, I tossed in some Worcestershire and A1. Yep, that’ll do! I can’t wait to make this for friends and family again and again and again!

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 2 slices white bread
• 1/2 cup whipping cream
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup dice yellow onion
• 1/2 lb groud beef
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• extra sharp cheddar cut in the 1 inch pieces.  – Might I recommend Beecher’s Flagship or Kerrygold Dubliner.

Sauce:

• 1/4 cup Butter
• 3 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 tbsp flour
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tbsp cream cheese
• 1 cup light sour cream
• 1 tbsp worsteschire sauce
• 1 tbsp A1 steak sauce
• 1/4 tsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• fresh parsley – garnish

Pasta: Traditionally served with egg noodles, but I chose to use tortellini this time.

Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Servings: 4

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Toast bread and tear into pieces.

In a small bowl add whipping cream and bread and allow the bread to soak for 10 minutes.

Using the food processor, pulse bread and garlic.

In a mixing bowl, add the bread mixture, onion, beef, pork, egg, alspice, nutmeg, thyme, and pepper.

Mix until well combined.

Take 2/3rds of mixture and roll into 2 inch balls (makes about 18). Set in a greased pan. I ended up having to use two.

Press 1 piece of cheese into each ball.

Use the other 1/3rd of the meat mixture to cover cheese and reform into balls.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile start working on the pasta and sauce:

Cook pasta according to package instructions.

Melt butter in a large sauce pan on medium heat.

Add garlic and flour. Whisk until just incorporated.

Stir in beef broth, whipping cream, cream cheese, sour cream, worsteserschire sauce, A1, oregano, and thyme. Whisk until cheese is melted.

Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.

When time is up on the meatballs, Take the pans out and carefully spoon in as much of the drippings as you can into the sauce.

Bake the meatballs for another 10 minutes.

Serve meatballs over pasta and sauce 🙂

Gettin After It!!

Do you ever get sick for a week and then wake up one day refreshed and ready to rumble? That was today for Mountain Man and I. Damn, we were productive! It was great! We have been fighting the head cold from hell all week. Coming home each night and faceplanting into the bed well before 8pm only to whimper and whine all the way to work the next morning. I finally gave in and took Friday off and am thankful for it. I could barely get off the couch!

To boot, I had tickets for Mamma Mia on Saturday. I had to go! Those tickets were expensive and I got them in November! Sniffles and all I scurried out to the big bad city to meet up with my girls. It was awesome! I loved every minute of it! After the show we enjoyed a lovely dinner at Ristorante Machiavelli. It’s the ultimate in tiny hole-in-the-wall Italian eateries with a line out the door before they  even open. It’s that good! I was sad to part after dinner but knew I needed to go home and rest rather than gallivant around the city with my girls. God, I so wanted to gallivant! But home I went and was very happy to see my man, dog, cat, and bed.

Sunday began with MM and I wide awake before the sun was even up! Apparently after a week of doing nothing, our bodies were ready to work. So we got after it!

After breakfast and coffee, I got inspired to plant my dahlias. It’s a little early but the winter was practically non existent and spring has been remarkably warm, so why not? Meanwhile MM thached the front yard. Still in disbelief of how good I felt, I put on my boots and tromped out into our muddy back yard. I thought, for sure, I’d get maybe 2 plants in the ground, get dizzy, and give up…Nope, next thing I knew, they were all planted and I was ready for more!

MM and I headed to Home Depot for supplies for our (his) next project, fixing the mud pit of a back yard. Without a word or a request to help, he set up the fence, laid out fresh top soil, reseeded, and watered. Stella is less than thrilled.

I was not about to stand Idly by, so I picked away at the veggie garden maintenance. At first I was innocently mulching around the peas and onions….And I ran out of mulch! So I figured I’d give the old rototiller a try. Go figure, it decided to run like it was brand new!! So I happily tilled and weeded the area for squash and carrots.

   

I was so jazzed to find it was only 2:30! Victory beer!!

After an hour of enjoying our handiwork, I came in and made this work of art for dinner! It was epic! Swedish Meatballs with a little twist… recipe coming soon.

I love Sundays like this! Not a second wasted and spending it at home with my little family in our small town 🙂

How was your Sunday? 

Are you doing any spring gardening or matinence?

The Best Damn French Dip Sandwich on Earth!

The french dip, in my opinion, is the crowning jewel of sandwiches. The savory roast beef, the mild cheese,  with the perfect bakery fresh bun conquers the tastebuds. And don’t forget the au jus for dipping! There is just something about a french dip
that puts all other sandwiches to shame. Often, when I go to restaurants and am not sure what to get, this is my go to. You can actually tell a lot about a restaurant by the quality of their french dip… and vice versa! If the french dip is delicious,
then the rest of the menu is probably delicious. On the other side of the spectrum, if you go to a dive bar, don’t order a french dip. You will be disappointed.

When I make sandwiches at home, I probably take it a little more seriously than most people do. Sure there are days when I just throw a bunch of stuff on bread and call it food. Ah but to perfect the art of sandwich is a very fulfilling endeavor indeed.

It begins with the ingredients. Quality quality quality people! When it comes to roast beef, you want red, rare, and tender. I would much rather spend $20 on a pound of freshly cut deli meat than $3 on some pre packaged nonsense in vacuum sealed plastic. Trust me, top shelf is best. I know what you’re thinking, why don’t I just make my own? Well, I’m a busy girl! Ain’t nobody got time for that! In truth, I love roast beef dinner but for french dip, I just prefer the super thin, rare, stuff I can pick up at the deli.

Bread is equally important. Oh and bread can be a doozy, let me tell ya. Decisions decisions! Bakery for sure, but what kind? Kaiser? French? Panini? I firmly believe that there is a specific type of sandwich that goes with each. In the case of
the french dip…. it’s a baguette. The crunch of the outside and soft on the inside is ideal for texture as well as soaking up that delicious au jus.

When it comes to cheese, I’m a little less picky. Swiss or provolone are ideal matches for roast beef. Any sliced variety works well.

The rest…. well, read on 🙂

Ingredients

• 1 lb fresh cut roast beef deli cuts
• 1 bakery fresh baguette
• Johnny’s Au jus liquid
• Sliced swiss or provolone cheese
• Horseradish mayo
• Garlic olive oil (dice 3 garlic cloves and add to 1/3 cup of olive oil)
• Garlic salt

Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 3

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Prepare au jus according to package directions.

Slice the baguette into thirds and then cut each piece sandwich style.

Brush the bread with the garlic olive oil.

Cook the bread open faced in the oven for 5 minutes. This will lightly brown the bread and give that great crunch.

Spread horseradish mayo over bread on both sides.

Layer lots of roast beef on the bottom piece of bread. Thick bread needs a thick layer of meat!

Lightly brush the meat with garlic olive oil.

Layer cheese on the top side of bread and sprinkle a little garlic salt over the cheese.

Bake at 350 for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Enjoy with au jus and fries! Yum!

Sinful Chicken Alfredo Lasagna

Bless me health gods, for I have sinned. It’s been a few days since my last confession. I’ve had impure thoughts about chicken, swimming in cheese sauce with carb filled pasta and more cheese. I tried to repent by adding tomatoes and mushrooms, but oh the pesto. I know it may be a sin to swoon over such wanton combinations of delectable savory flavor, but how can I deny such exquisite divinity?

Oh yeah, I went there! This is so rich and decadent I will only make it twice a year at max! After a few bites, you will find yourself overcome with the pure ecstacy of this dish. It’s that good. Chicken fettuccine Alfredo times 10! If you want to rock on your feet and practically pass out from creamy, garlicky, cheesy goodness, give it a whirl. You’re hips may regret it, but your taste buds will not!

Ingredients:

Alfredo Sauce follow the link to my recipe. It’s one of my proudest achievements. It took over 10 years to perfect.

• 1 container shredded 3 cheese blend (asagio, romano, parm) or just parm if you can’t find that.
• 16 oz container whipping cream (heavy if you want to go super rich)
• 1/2 cup cream cheese
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• garlic salt
• pepper

Everything else:

• Lasagna
• 3-4 Chicken breasts
• Garlic salt
• Italian herb seasonings
• Pepper
• 15 oz ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup pesto sauce, divided
• 1 egg
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 1 cup shredded parmesan
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella or Italian blend cheeses
• 2 cups mushrooms (optional)
• 2/3 cup diced sun dried tomatoes (optional)

Time: 2 hours – 1 for prep, 1 for cooking

Servings: 6-8

Instructions

I like to get the fillers done first so I can focus all my attention on the sauce right before the assembling.

Grill and dice chicken. I season the chicken with garlic salt, pepper,  and Italian herb seasonings. Then I use my George Foreman to grill.

 If you choose to use mushrooms – slice finely, add 3 tbsp of pesto, and toss.

In another bowl, add ricotta, egg, 3 tbsp of pesto, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and parmesan. Toss and set aside.

Make alfredo sauce.

Cook and rinse lasagna according to box directions. 3 layers in a 9×13 pan about 10-12 noodles.

Preheat oven to 350. 

How to assemble:

Add a thin layer of alfredo sauce in the bottom of the pan.

Next add a layer noodles.

Spread about 2/3rd’s of the ricotta mixture.

Sprinkle layer with mozzerella.

Cover with the second layer of noodles.

Sprinkle about 2/3rd’s of the chicken and mushrooms over the noodles.

Pour Alfredo sauce over meat and mushrooms.

Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over sauce.

Add the third layer of noodles.

Spread the rest of the ricotta mixture and cover with the remaining chicken and mushrooms.

Pour the rest of the alfredo sauce over the top… and don’t put the last cheese layer on yet! You heard me! You are going to cook the lasagna without the epic top cheese layer first!! Cover it with foil, cut a few vents and bake for 30 minutes.

Take the pan out and remove the foil.

Now put on that epic last layer of mozzerella cheese! I like to add a little garlic salt and parmesan to the top for extra flavor.

Bake for another 20-30 minutes until cheese is browned and bubbly.

Slice into sumptuous squares of awesomeness and enjoy!!

My How You’ve Grown!

Yes, my friends, these are my tomatoes from seed. Can you feel me glowing with pride from behind the screen?? How did I get them to grow so healthy? Honestly I don’t know, lol. I used plain old incandescent lights, cheap potting soil, and no fertilizer! Sometimes, less is more I suppose. I’m just over the moon at how successful they’ve been so far. Please please please keep going, little guys! If I can take this all the way to fruit then I might feel confident in claiming I have a green thumb. I truly feel like this is my gardener’s right of passage.

If you would like to read the previous posts, here are the links:

Part 1     Part 2    Part 3

So Sunday I found a little time to re-pot my babies since they had certainly outgrown their peat pots…. I always wondered why I had a compulsion to save all these silly plastic pots, now I know!

When I pulled most of them out of the bin they were sitting in, I found that the roots had begun to blow out the bottom.

I love peat pots for stuff like this, they are so easy to cut and peel without hurting the seedlings.

Yay root ball!

Have you ever seen these velcro ties? Best thing ever!! Just cut off what you need and snap the ends together. These are super useful with the dahlias since they tend to get bigger and bigger as the summer rolls on. I cut an extra large piece and then adjust they expand. Cool right?

Here we are in our new home complete with support ties and label. Doesn’t Mr. Beefmaster look happy?

Of course nothing goes to waste. Everything in the compost bin!

Now back up to the sunny ledge with you! I’m thinking they’ll be ready to go in the garden in the beginning of May.

In related news, the onions I’ve grown from seed are doing well. They’re not quite ready to be put with their brethren starts in the ground but I’m optimistic they will be our last round of ripe onions before the fall freeze.

I also found my paperbush! I’m super excited about this. They were all over the Northwest Flower and Garden Show and I’ve been on the prowl for one ever since. After a few discouraging inquiries at a few local nurseries, I tracked it down at the Portland Nursery while visiting Caliente.

The herbs I planted at the time of the tomatoes have certainly been interesting. They seem to sit atop my kitchen sill, smirk, and say, “Whateva! I grow how I want!” Sigh, very well. Do your thang. I bet they’ll improve with the increase in sun.

       

How are things going in your garden? 

What seeds have you started indoors? 

Veggie Plotting: Phase 1

Friday marked the first day I set foot in my veggie plot since fall. The weather has been abnormally warm all winter so I felt fairly confident in starting up a little early. I couldn’t be happier that garden season has begun!!

The first step was to go get onion starts from my local fancy nursery.

Then I made sure I had all my provisions squared away for the day: Water, seeds, starts, a great playlist, bandanna (I always need a bandanna) and victory beers for when I’m ready to sit back and enjoy my handiwork.

Oh and I almost forgot! Gotta have a dog and a frisbee for break time! Yes there is a drift boat in my yard, rednecks…sigh.

Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into?

Ah, that’s better!

Tilling was a complete pain! My tiller is on the fritz so I was only able to till the areas that I was planting today rather than the whole place. I’m thinking a shiny new on may be in my near future purchases.

Freshly tilled, weeded, leveled, and ready to plant!

Frisbee break!!

I’m trying something new this year with my snap peas: tee-pee trellis. One of my biggest veggie garden dramas is the ongoing struggle to find an adequate support for my snap peas. They tend to bend, twist, and warp and it drives me crazy! They still grow great but the asymmetrical depravity grates on my OCD tenancies. I’m hopeful that the sturdiness of this design might be the sweet spot I’ve been looking for.  Time will tell.

In the ground and ready to grow!

Frisbee break!!

Next was the Walla Walla sweet onion starts….

And finally the lettuce plot. I’m trying a new thing this year where I just scatter a whole bunch of different types in the same area and not worry about it. I find the less I concentrate on my greens the better they grow lol.

That’s all for phase 1. Next up: mulching and carrots!