Tag: Garlic

Slow-Cooker Pigs in a Blanket using Cabbage

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Old fashioned pigs in a blanket is a common meal that many people used to make about 100 years ago. This recipe was most commonly made by those who had family stemming from eastern Europe. Today, pigs in a blanket is typically something very different, usually a hot dog or mini dog wrapped in a puff pastry. These pigs in a blanket taste very different than the new version. The older version was savory flavored meat wrapped in a wilted and tender cabbage leaf and coated in a slightly sweet tomato sauce. Though this dish can be very messy to eat, it is filling and very delicious. This recipe makes 12 pigs and 4-5 adult sized servings. This recipe can also easily be doubled and frozen in a freezer container or casserole dish.

Slow-Cooker Pigs in a Blanket using Cabbage Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 6 Large Cabbage Leaves, Halved with Middle Stem Removed
  • 1 Lb of Ground Beef
  • 1 Medium Diced Onion
  • 2 10.5 Oz Cans of Tomato Soup
  • 1 6 Oz can of Tomato Paste
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
  • 2 tsp Paprika
  • Slow-Cooker
  • Strainer
  • Mixing Bowl
  • Large Dutch Oven of Water
  • Thongs and Wooden Spoon

Directions

  1. Bring dutch oven of water to a boil. Add Prepared cabbage leaves and boil for 1-2 minutes until soft. Transfer to strainer and let cool. Place burger in a mixing bowl, add 1/2 onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and paprika. Mix by hand. Add 1 can of tomato soup to bottom of slow cooker and stir in 1/2 can of tomato paste.

2. Once cabbage is cooled, form about 1/3 cup of meat mixture into a patty. Place patty on cabbage leaf and roll, tuck under ends, then place into slow-cooker. Repeat for remaining leaves, or until out of filling. Place down first layer of pigs, then spoon each with a layer of soup from a new can. mix remaining tomato paste with remaining soup. Place your second layer of pigs, then top with remaining sauce. Add 1 can of water and remaining onion, carefully stir and place on high and cover.

3. Check every hour and spoon with hot sauce. Once they begin to shrink, push more into hot sauce. Cook pigs for at least 2.5 hours on high before serving, making sure they are thoroughly cooked first. Plate and let cool 10 minutes before serving.

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Shrimp Lo Mein

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I am always in the mood for Chinese food. Their cuisine is so rich in savory flavors with vegetables and carbs. Lo mein is one of my favorite easy Chinese recipes. The only thing you will need is fish oil and oyster sauce, then you can make any kind of lo mein there is! For this recipe, I used zucchini as my green vegetable. You could also use a spinach, a bok choy, or some broccoli, to name a few. I also added about 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes for a subtle hint of heat to the dish. I would recommend adding some for more depth of flavor, or more if you’d like some extra spice in your dish! This recipe makes 5-6 adult sized servings.

Shrimp Lo Mein Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • Wok/Large Dutch Oven
  • 1/3 Cup Oil
  • 1 Medium Onion, sliced
  • 1 Green Vegetable
  • 12 Oz Frozen shrimp
  • 12 Oz Vermicelli/spaghetti
  • 2 Tbsp Oyster Sauce
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp Fish Oil
  • 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1/2 Tbsp Garlic powder
  • 1/2 Tbsp Ground Ginger
  • (Optional) 1/4+ tsp Red Pepper Flakes

Directions

  1. Add your oil to your pan and heat over medium heat until hot. Also begin boiling your spaghetti, cook until al dente, then strain.

2. Add your onion and green vegetable to the oil and cook until onion is translucent. Add your oyster sauce, fish oil, soy sauce, and spices. Stir until combined.

3. Place frozen shrimp into luke warm water. Let sit for 2-3 minutes. Remove tails if applicable. Add shrimp and pasta to wok/dutch oven, stir over medium heat until thoroughly mixed.

4. Remove from heat. Let cool 5 minutes and serve.

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Garden Amending and Planting Garlic

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If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen the post I added yesterday about planting garlic. This is the first year I am seriously trying to grow garlic, and so I’ve done a lot of research and I’m very excited to see what I can get. But, isn’t this garlic gorgeous! I bought these three varieties, all three are organic, disease free, and heirloom varieties. These varieties cam from MIGardener.com. They are not a sponsor, and many varieties are sold out or selling out fast. With that out of the way, before I could plant my garlic, I first had to pull my remaining plants from my raised beds and fabric bags. With this, I was able to save several Parris Island lettuce seeds. I will include those steps at the bottom of this post. I then amended my raised beds, then I planted my garlic.

My first frost day is only 2 weeks away when I planted the garlic yesterday. It is recommended planting garlic at least 3 weeks before first frost, but we just got over a cold snap yesterday where we had 4 nights of frost. The weather is calling for warm temperatures for the next week, so I’m taking a gamble that we won’t be getting another frost for a couple more weeks.

To amend my beds, I first pulled all my plants, but my marigolds. It was just a personal choice to keep them. I think they are beautiful and have a lot of life left in them, so it didn’t feel right pulling them yet, so I just worked around them. To make up for this, I will add some fertilizer in their place next spring to add more nutrients in those spots. Once I pulled the plants, I then pulled down all my netting. This made it easier to move the soil around. Our beds are 8 ft by 4 ft and pressure treated. We added in one fabric bag to one bed and two fabric bags to the other bed. We then split a bag of peat moss between the two beds. We also added 2 bags of aged cow manure into each bed and mixed it all into the top 4 inches of each bed. The reason we added the fabric bags was because the dirt in them had a lot of clay and dried out very quickly. We added 2 bags to one bed because the soil in that second bed was very poor, so we wanted more organic matter in the bed, so we added more dirt. You could also add potting soil if you needed to fill your beds more, but potting soil is expensive, so if top soil were an option, it would be better. I aim for a ratio of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 compost/manure, and 1/3 top soil for a healthy and balanced soil.

  • Plant garlic rows 6 inches apart
  • Plant garlic cloves 6 inches apart in a row
  • Place garlic cloves 2-3 inches under ground
  • Cover garlic with 4-6 inches of hay or mulch before your first frost
  • Plant garlic at least 3 weeks before your first frost to allow time for root development before they go into dormancy
  • Place chicken wire/hardware cloth over your beds to prevent animals from digging
  • Uncover garlic once risk of frost has passed
  • Water garlic often in the fall and spring and fertilize often in the spring and summer; garlic is a heavy feeder
  • Garlic is ready once the outer 1-2 leafs are dead and dry, any more than that and the garlic won’t dry and will just rot instead

Parris Island lettuce makes yellow flowers, that once fertilized become white fluffs with seeds attached. To get the seed, simply remove the heads that have already gone to seed, remove the stem, then remove the fluff from the seed. You only need a few flowers to get lots of seeds.

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Slow Cooker Ziti

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Slow cooker meals are convenient and an important option as the fall busyness begins. Slow cooker ziti is one of my favorite recipes. This recipe makes lots of servings and is very filling! This recipe makes 10-12 adult sized servings. When I made this dish, I cooked everything in the slow cooker, and I cooked everything on high. Once I added the noodles and broth, my slow cooker only needed to cook for 20 minutes before the noodles were Al dente. And, once I added the cheese and let it melt for about 5 minutes, the noodles were perfectly done. You can easily make this recipe vegetarian by adding eggplant instead of meat, veggie broth or water instead of beef broth, and a cheese substitute instead of mozzarella.

Slow Cooker Ziti Recipe CardDownload

What You Will Need

  • 1 Lb Ground Beef
  • 1 Diced Onion (1 Cup)
  • 1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 Tbsp Basil
  • 1/2 Tbsp Oregano
  • 1 Jar Spaghetti Sauce
  • 1 can (14.5 oz) of Diced Tomatoes
  • 1 Box (16 oz) of Ziti or Penne Pasta
  • 2 1/2 Cups Beef Broth
  • 1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
  • Large Slow Cooker

Directions

  1. Brown your burger quickly in a skillet, or by placing in your slow cooker on high and stirring occasionally for 30 minutes. Place in slow cooker. Add onion, spices, spaghetti sauce, and diced tomatoes.
  2. Cook on low for 4-6 hours, or on high for 2-3 hours.
  3. Add beef broth and pasta about 30 minutes before serving. Make pasta as submerged as possible and cook on high. Taste pasta firmness after 15 minutes, and again every 5 minutes until desired texture is reached. Top with cheese and cover for 5 minutes to melt the cheese. Serve, but wait 10 minutes before eating, very hot!
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Mid-September Garden Update

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As a first year gardener, I don’t know much about gardening. As a result, I do lots of research and planning, and even still it seems with gardening you just have to learn from your mistakes. The first frost is coming this weekend and I’ve already retired most of my garden. There are a few radishes in the ground still forming, green tomatoes sitting on the vine, and the lettuce flowers beginning to open. The only color that remains in my garden is three marigolds that are still thriving despite the temperatures. My house plants will be coming inside tonight to prepare for the frost, and soon my husband and will be struggling to find enough room to keep them for another winter.

There are so many things I wanted to do in the garden still, but yet the first frost is nearly here. I was able to amend one raised bed. I added manure and peat moss. I mixed it into the top few inches, and covered it with another thin layer of mulch. I had planned to plant garlic this fall, but with the first frost among us, it is likely too late. I may still try to get it in the ground, but we will have to see if it will warm back up at night after this frost. And to protect it from the frost, we’ll likely use hay bales to protect from frost. We’ll have to see when it comes.

I have a small patch of dill growing that I planted this fall. My tomatoes and lettuce will also be adversely affected by the frost. Once they are done, we will amend that bed too with more manure and peat moss. My biggest lesson this year was to keep healthy soil. My tomatoes performed poorly in comparison to most everyone, and though I want to blame the very dry and hot summer, I am sure the poor quality soil played the largest part in that. We also learned our lesson with netting, and that chicken wire is superior to a plastic net that can still let in all sorts of critters.

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Much thought has been going into a garden for next growing season as well. I am researching when to pull crops and when to plant new, when to start seedlings inside, and what crops do well in the spot of another crop. The plans have become more finalized, and I think I found a setup I prefer. Researching, I found a new way to string up beans/peas. It includes making a wooden frame, then using 100% cotton string as the trellis. This is a huge improvement from the plastic and metal my beans grew through this year. Pulling my beans took so long because of all the tangling and growing into the plastic. So this way of trellising will be an improvement and pulling the plants will be way easier too, and the string 100% cotton can be composted, unlike plastics or other artificial materials.

If I do get my garlic soon, I will do a post about that, but otherwise, my garden is just about done for the year. Thank you to everyone who has been seeing and checking up on my progress. Gardening has been a lot of fun and I am very excited to see what next year holds!

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