Tag: tomatoes

2021 March Gardening Update Zone 6A

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Starting my garden is always something I get super excited for and plan for months. If you would like to see my last post about what I planned to do in the garden this year, you can check it out here. I have only made a few alterations at this point, so that post is still mostly accurate. I’ve also gone through and made a calendar of when to start seeds, when to plant things outside, and when to pull plants for the next crop to come in. I live in zone 6A, so March is about as early as I can start planting.

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I guess the first thing I’ll do is go through my timeline a bit. The first thing I did this year was start growing a sweet potato. I bought an organic sweet potato at the store about three weeks ago, covered it half way with water and now have is half submerged on the top of a mason jar. Within about 10 days, roots began to grow, and now at about 20 days, I’m beginning to get my first sprout off the top. I would like to get at least 6 slips, but I’d be even happier with 9 to 10. Sweet potatoes get planted after all my chance of frost is gone, so I still have until early June for more growth.

Next, I started some broccoli seeds. I kept them moist, and within 2 days, most of my seeds had sprouted. I started my broccoli seeds about 2 weeks ago, and they should be ready to transplant out the first weekend of April. These seedlings are now about 1 inch tall and are starting to form their fist set of true leaves.

This weekend was very busy. Friday we bought four 2″ by 10″ by 8′ to make another raised bed. With that we bought six 2″ by 2″ by 8′ boards to make two trellis, six bags of Black Kow Manure, and one 3 cubic foot bag of peat moss. Saturday morning we assembled the raised bed, and went to get 7 full wheelbarrow loads of dirt. We filled the bed half way with dirt before we dug a trench to bury hay down the length of the bed. We then covered the hay, added a bit more dirt, then added half the manure and peat moss and mixed the top layer all together leaving the hay untouched.

The hay we pulled from the covering the garlic and is used as a way to help regulate moisture in the bed and hopefully help keep it from drying out too much. Once the bed was filled and mixed, we added the remaining manure and peat moss to the remaining dirt. We also had some chicken waste and bedding, so we mixed it all together in the bed of a truck before filling the wheelbarrow and then filling the fabric pots. That was the last thing we did in the garden on Saturday.

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Sunday, I planted some daffodils in the garden along the garage, and I added some mulch to the tulips I planted near my old raised beds. I’m glad to see they were coming up. I planted a horseradish crown in the fabric pot by itself, and I checked my garlic. I was very very happy to see that all my garlic did come up and that two cloves even split so I should be getting about 37 cloves of garlic this summer! After that, I checked my potatoes, and I planted 4 rows of peas. I then made two trellis out of 2″ by 2″ boards and attached them to the bed between each set of pea plants.

What’s left for March? Still lots! Today I will be going out to add some spinach in between the peas and soon to be broccoli. Next weekend, I should get to plant my potatoes. I have 13 potatoes that should be good enough to plant, so I will be planting them between 3 fabric pots. At that time, I will also be able to start my peppers and tomato plants. I also only have about a week to figure out how I’m going to make the trellis roping. I’m going to be looking for some 100% cotton string/yarn, then I need to decide between nails, brad nails, screws, staples, etc. for attaching the string.

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Overall my plans haven’t changed too much. We decided to place the new bed to be towards the front of the peach tree, and we decided on only one bed instead of two. The larger beds are a bit harder to work around, but I also didn’t want to have to play with spacing two beds and limiting lumber use is also important to me. Also, we decided to do only one fabric pot of sweet potatoes and three for normal potatoes. I wasn’t expecting so many potatoes to be good to plant, but we eat them enough that we found it justified to plant as many potatoes as we have. We’ll also try planting some sweet potatoes in the ground and see how that goes. Finally, I also managed to get my hands on a good large chunk of horseradish root I found on Etsy from Daylilynursery.

For those wondering, that means I now have three types of garlic: Chesnok Red-Purple Stripe, Amish Rocamble, and Inchelium Red (softneck). I started eighteen Waltham 29 broccoli seeds. I planted a bareroot horseradish root. I planted thirty-four Golden Sweet Pea seeds. And today, I’ll be planting 1-2 rows of American spinach.

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Pan-Fried Meatballs and Spaghetti

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Spaghetti and meatballs is such a classic and easy meal, but sometimes we just don’t have the time to wait the 50 minutes it would take to bake them in the oven. So, why not make your meatballs like you would make a burger? Cook it in a frying pan with some oil for 4 minutes a side, and bam! You’ve got yourself and your family a delicious and easy topping for your spaghetti. Most spaghetti takes 6-10 minutes to cook, which give you plenty of time to make these meat balls. I liked the recipe that I used below, but feel free to use your own meatball recipe with this pan-frying method. This dinner was made with just under 1 lb of meat, so by following the directions, you should get about 11-12 meatballs. The recipe below made 4-5 adult sized portions.

Pan-Fried Meatballs and Spaghetti Recipe CardDownload
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What You Will Need

  • 1 lb Ground Beef/Venison
  • 1 Egg
  • 1/4 Cup Panko Breadcrumbs
  • 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
  • 1 Tbsp A1
  • 5 Tbsp Oil
  • 12 Oz Spaghetti
  • 1 Jar Pasta Sauce
  • Medium Mixing Bowl
  • Large Frying Pan
  • 2 Medium to Large Sauce Pans
  • A Colander

Directions

1. In the mixing bowl, add meat, egg, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, and A1. Mix by hand until combined. Roll out about 3 Tbsp into a ball and add to the frying pan. Once done, add the oil to the frying pan and place over medium heat. Cook meatballs 4 minutes on each side.

2. Cook Pasta as directed, then strain. Add sauce to second saucepan and place over medium heat until beginning to simmer. Add the meatballs once they are done and coat in sauce. Plate noodles, then top with sauce, meatballs, and grated Parmesan.

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Homemade Pasta and Pizza Sauce

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This homemade pizza/pasta sauce is a great way to use up any veggies you may have while also making a hearty and delicious sauce. Below is how I made my sauce, but substitute in what you have! Add some blended beans or spinach, or just stick with meat, tomatoes, and season with salt and soy sauce. I used 1 quart of diced tomatoes, and one can of fire roasted tomatoes to add extra flavor. The mushrooms add extra savory elements to the dish, and if you want to have some diced in the sauce it adds great pockets of flavor. I ended up boiling my sauce for 1 hour to thicken it a bit, but it could still be considered too thin to your taste. The recipe below makes about enough sauce for 5-6 pizzas, or enough sauce for 8-10 servings of pasta.

Homemade Pasta and Pizza Sauce Recipe CardDownload
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What You Will Need

  • 1 lb Sausage
  • 2 Carrots, Finely Shredded
  • 2 Celery Stalks, Finely Shredded
  • 12 Oz Mushrooms
  • 1 Cup Water
  • 1/2 Onion, Finely Diced
  • 1/2 Bell Pepper, Finely Diced
  • 6 Cups Diced Tomatoes
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
  • 1 Clove Garlic, Minced
  • Blender and Grater
  • Dutch Oven

Directions

1. Add sausage to a dutch oven over medium heat. Prepare the veggies, and add mushrooms and water to blender and blend. Once sausage is browned, add the onion and pepper and cook until onion is translucent. Add the carrot, celery, and mushrooms and cook until hot. Add tomatoes, salt, soy sauce, and garlic, and simmer over medium heat until sauce begins to become thick.

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Homemade Pasta – Spaghetti

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Spaghetti can be made by hand like fettuccine, however the quality of your pasta will not be as good if you don’t use a pasta maker. This was my first time using a pasta maker and it is shocking how thin you can get your dough and how uniform the pasta ends up coming out. If you would like to make spaghetti without a pasta maker, follow the directions for fettuccine however cut your dough thinner for smaller pasta. You can find these instructions here. So below I’ll be giving you instructions for how to make pasta with a pasta maker.

I did make some mistakes in this, but I have corrected them down below. My biggest mistake was not flouring my dough before I ran it through the cutting roller. The noodles immediately began to stick together and though some detached during cooking, there were still several stuck together by the time it was plated. The only other thing I changed was that I had rolled and cut the dough in halves instead of quarters. This made for a very long roll of pasta that I had to cut in half before running through the cutting roller. This recipe made 6 adult sized portions of pasta. I cooked this pasta in half batches, using half in this spaghetti dish, and using the other half in my recipe for tomorrow, ramen.

Homemade Pasta Spaghetti Recipe CardDownload
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What You Will Need

  • 2 Cups Flour
  • 2 Eggs
  • 2 Tbsp Oil
  • Pasta roller
  • Flour to dust
  • Saran Wrap
  • Optional Freezer Bag

Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, add flour, eggs, and oil, and mix until it becomes a shaggy dough. Switch to a dough hook, and knead the dough until it comes together. It is a drier dough that should not be sticky or wet, you may add a bit of warm water if it won’t come together. Divide the dough into quarters and wrap 3 of the sections in saran wrap.

2. Using a pasta roller, begin rolling out your pasta starting at the thickest setting. Fold the dough in half and place the ends of the dough through the roller first on the next pass. Continue to fold and roll until the dough is consistent in appearance and there are no holes in the dough. Then, begin making the dough thinner one setting at a time until the pasta is as thin as you desire. (I stopped at 5 for a standard spaghetti thickness). Dust both sides of the pasta sheet with a layer of flour, send through the cutting roller, then transfer to a clean and dry counter space. Repeat this step for remaining quarters.

3. Form pasta into nests to place in freezer bags and freeze, or place into boiling water and cook for 2-3 minutes before straining. Serve as desired.

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Spicy Bean Curry with Rice

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Curry is an easy and warming meal. Not only does is have great depth in flavor, but it is often times very healthy and a very filling dish. So I figured, why not add some beans to my curry. I took inspiration from southern rice and beans, but I added some leftover cooked sausage for a bit more protein. The only note I have with this dish is to add the spices a bit at a time if you are nervous of flavor. You can easily taste it as you add them, and also, the earlier you add them, the more the heat from the cayenne and hot sauce will cook out. This recipe maked 7 adult sized servings.

Spicy Bean Curry with Rice Recipe CardDownload
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What You Will Need

  • 1 Pint Diced Tomatoes
  • 1 Can Northern Beans
  • 1/2 Onion, Sliced
  • 1 Tbsp Ground Cumin, Curry powder, Ground Mustard, Cayenne Powder, Ground Paprika, and Ground Cinnamon, Alter to taste
  • 1/2 Tbsp Hot sauce, Optional
  • 1/2 lb Cooked Ground Sausage
  • 2 cups Beef Broth
  • Large Saucepan
  • 6 Cups Cooked Rice

Directions

1. Add all your ingredients but the broth, sausage and rice to the large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer. Add your broth and cook until sauce becomes thick, about 30 minutes.

2. Once sauce is thick, add your sausage, stir and cook until heated through. Serve over cooked rice.

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