First Asparagus

The first meal of freshly picked asparagus is cause for celebration at our house. After a winter of eating canned, frozen, or store bought vegetables - nothing beats that first taste of spring!

Asparagus is so easy to prepare. No shelling or peeling required.

After a quick rinse, I trim off the bottom inch or two, if it is tough then cut it up for the pan.
Ed and I both grew up with asparagus served the same way. Though we now have other favorite recipes, this one is still a comfort food favorite.
After briefly cooking the asparagus just until tender. Then drain and place on a bed of toasted bread.
Pour over a simple white sauce.
Sprinkle chopped hard cooked eggs. Our chickens are laying well right now so I was generous with the eggs.
Sprinkle on some grated cheese and dig in!

Artisan Breads Every Day - Wild Rice and Onion Bread

More recipe reviews from Peter Reinhart's book.

This is a soft bread that reminds me of the soft cheese bread, except it lacks the golden color. The wild rice adds little dark flecks and the onions gave a great flavor. We liked this bread toasted lightly for sandwiches.
I replaced 3 cups of flour with whole wheat flour. I also added 2 T vital gluten. I increased the milk by 1/4 cup.

Since this bread follows the same basic directions and formula as the other loaves in this book, it was quite simple. Another fool-proof recipe from a great book.

First Birthday!

Look who turns one today!
You would think, as a mother of four, I'd be accustomed to this by now, but I can just hardly believe that my infant is now a toddler. She has grown so fast!
We love our sunny little girl!
Thank you, Lord!

Planting Strawberries

Strawberries are one of my favorite things to grow. They are easy to care for and freshly picked berries beat anything purchased at the store.

In our area, now is the right time to plant out new strawberry plants. If you ordered plants, they should be arriving now. If you can't plant them right away, place the plants in the refrigerator until you are ready to plant. We planted our strawberry patch five years ago. It has done well and doesn't owe us a thing (last year we picked over 60 quart) but we decided to replace it with a new patch this year.
Strawberry plants don't look very impressive. Just some scraggly roots with maybe a tiny green sprout. Don't worry. As long as they have a well developed root system, they will do well. Before planting, soak the plants in water for one hour or up to twenty four hours.

Prepare your soil by removing weeds, tilling well and adding any amendments. My husband dug a shallow trench and filled it with compost to give the plants a good boost.
When planting strawberries, the goal is for the roots to be planted horizontal, instead of straight down in the hole. With one hand I held the plant, with the other I spread the roots out over the soil like a fan. Then I firmed the soil around the plant. You want to cover all the roots without burying the crown of the plant. Hope that made some sense! It is easier then it sounds.

Plants should be about 18 inches apart, though ours are closer then that since I didn't want to make another row and had extra plants. If some die, I'll have a few to use as replacements.

(By the way, I love these gloves. I usually hate gardening gloves because they get wet and soggy but my nails are in shambles all summer. Ed bought me this pair. They are comfortable, waterproof, and only cost a few dollars. The palm and fingers are nitrile coated and the back is a woven poly of some sort that helps them "breathe". They have been my constant companion this spring!)

Frugal Gardening -Cultivate Friendships with Experienced Gardeners

Gardening is an inexpensive hobby. There is not many activities or exercise programs that actually can help you cut your grocery bill. But before I married, I worked at a greenhouse and know that some people lay down a good chunk of cash on their gardening hobby.

I've been wanting to write a series on frugal gardening. But right now, the garden is calling me louder than the computer. We had some 80 degree weather this week! Unusual for April and I know it won't last, but for now, we are living outside!

This week we planted some raspberries, and I thought I'd just share one quick hint.

Frugal Gardening Tip #1 - Cultivate friendships with experienced gardeners.

Especially is you are a new gardener, an experienced gardening friend is invaluable. I have one friend that I call frequently with my gardening questions. Gardening books and the web have their place but nothing beats talking to someone in your own area with years of gardening experience. If I'm experiencing a problem, chances are great that they have also, or at least have some idea of where to start for a solution. They can also warn you of the mistakes they have made.

And, if you hang around a gardener, you may be offered free plants!

We wanted to plant a row of raspberries this spring. Two of my gardening friends offered us plants. One friend gave us red raspberries, and the other friend, blackberries. We bought three yellow raspberries but the rest of our 50 foot row is thanks to the generosity of friends!
My husband tilled in some compost (another frugal gardening tip) before planting the berries. Hopefully, they will soon take off and supply our table with fresh berries.

Want to save some money on gardening? Go find a gardening friend! We love to share, both gardening knowledge as well as plants.

And someday, you can return the favor by sharing with another gardener friend!

Artisan Breads Every Day - 100% Whole Wheat Hearth Bread

Still working through Peter Reinhart's Artisan Breads Every Day.

Since we usually eat whole wheat bread, I was looking forward to trying this recipe. I made this recipe exactly as written.
The flavor was excellent. The texture was also good. My only problem was that it flattened into very short loaf. I don't know if the picture shows it, but this loaf was barely an inch high!

I think my mistake lay in how I formed the loaf. I would prefer a loaf that would hold together better and raise up instead of out! The taste of this bread was good enough to deserve a retry.

Artisan Breads Every Day - Hoagie Rolls

And still more recipe reviews from Peter Reinhart's cookbook.

This recipe makes a great chewy sandwich roll. My greatest difficulty was the shaping. My hoagie rolls looked like a distorted hotdog rolls. But my mom used this recipe and made some great looking rolls. So it is probably me and not the recipe!

Since I was having such shaping difficulties, I gave up and finished the batch with simple round rolls. These turned out beautifully. My husband loved them for hamburger rolls and I think this may be the recipe we turn to this summer for our summer picnics.

The recipe was simple to follow. As usual, I made some substitutions to add whole grains. I replaced three cups of the white flour with whole wheat and added 3 T vital gluten. I also increased the water by 1/4 cup. I should have increased the liquid slightly more and that may have helped my roll forming issues.

Try these rolls for your next sandwich and you'll find yourself staying light on the sandwich fillings so you can appreciate the bread!