New Recipies

A challenge every day is..what to feed my family. I want them to have heathy choices, and introduce a large variety to their diet. I could ask my husband at lunch time (or anytime really) what he would like for dinner. I always get the same response..I'm not hungry now, how can I think of dinner???

Well moms no that it must one of the first things we plan. If the meat is frozen, it must be taken out now, if I need a particular ingredient, then I ask what errands do I have that pass 'that supermarket'. $ people to feed with very differnt tastes. yowza!

So, here are a few mix ups to my normal routine. I love to cook, and I experiment alot ( I know, my poor family..)So here is an example of tonights..twist.

Keibasa (polish sausage)
has a nice smoked flavor, but very mild.Kielbasa, kovbasa, klobasa, are common North American[1] anglicizations for a type of Eastern European sausage. Synonyms include Polish sausage, Ukrainian sausage, etc. In English, these words refer to a particular genre of sausage, common to all Eastern European countries but with substantial regional variations. In the Slavic languages, these are the generic words for all types of sausage, local or foreign.


Normally I serve keibasa with cubed potatoes, onions, peppers, in a simple chicken stock, I have a spicy mustard waiting on the side. Sometimes I even treat myself and cook cabbage. ( my husband HATES cabbage and feels anything cooked with/ or near cabbage is contaminated!)

I sliced the keibasa and put it in saute pan on med heat.

I cut onions, carrots,celery and garlic in with meat. I added vegetable stock and packet of dry italian dressing and let simmer.

I cooked radiatore whole wheat pasta with a pinch of salt.

I combined the pasta into the saute pan, added sliced baby cherry tomatoes, and a ton of romano cheese.

Served with a side salad and fresh twig of rosemary and grated Romano.

Yum. It was a bit zesty thanks to the dressing, and different texture because of the pasta. The carrots and tomatoes gave it color and contrast.

Well, everyone ate it so It passed, so I figured I'd pass it on to you!

Brrr..lets rake.

Chores for this Weekend 3-26-11

Rake yard, fertilize garden beds with a slow release granual.

Transplant Rose bush, butterfly bush and Azalia's.

Fix Pond Pumps, change Carbon.

Egg shells & coffee grind mix at rose's base.


Mulch 20 bags in front/20 bags in back.

Seed with peatmoss/grass mixture (30/70%)

Divide Hosta's

Helpful insects

In the garden today I found a few Praying Mantis egg sacks..in a few weeks they swill hatch just in time to gobble up any garden invaders..

Check out my "links" if you do not have any in your yard..you can mail order them!

Mantodea or mantises is an order of insects that contains approximately 2,200 species in nine families^[1] worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae. Historically, the term "mantid" was used to refer to any member of the order because for most of the past century, only one family was recognized within the order; technically, however, the term only refers to this one family, meaning the species in the other eight recently established families are not mantids, by definition (i.e., they are empusids, or hymenopodids, etc.), and the term "mantises" should be used when referring to the entire order.

A colloquial name for the order is "praying mantises", because of the typical "prayer-like" stance, although the term is often misspelled as "preying mantis" since mantises are predatory.^[2] In Europe, the name "praying mantis" refers to Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the orders Isoptera (termites) and Blattodea (cockroaches), and these three groups together are sometimes ranked as an order rather than a superorder. They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets.

Breaking into spring

Do you know your sprouts?

Above: Lilac

Below: Daffodil

 Above: Daylillys

Below: Rodadendrom

 Above:  Forsythia

Below:  Elm

 Above: Scilla

Below: Bleeding heart

 Above: Phlox

Below: Cherry

 Above: Strawberry

Spring fever

I am sometimes overwhelmed with the work I want to accomplish, and how much I can really get done.  It's a combination of learning how to focus on areas that need attention, and run after my very young children.  It's almost mission impossible, but if you really enjoy something, we find the time. I sneak every moment that is offered.

Night time offers quiet, and I am usually contemplating how I need to prune, transplant, fertilize or weed.  It's worth all the effort, to bring a bouquet of flowers to a friend, or find excitement in photographing, and documenting the do's and don't of a particular plant in my region.  I'm new to this type of soil, a heavy clay and sand mixture.  It's been a journey of success and failure. 

March 2011

As soon as the sun coaxed the sprouts from the cold earth,

I put on my brim hat, smiled, streched and picked up a rake.