Two Years Today!!

I can't believe that it's been two years since I started this blog! It all started as a way for me to document my gardening. I never imagined that I would meet such a great bunch of people! You have taught me a lot, given me encouragement and really opened my eyes to more then I ever imagined!

Thanks so much for hanging around!

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard........10/20/2011

This post went up early since we are on an airplane headed for New Orleans! I will check in and respond later today after we are settled in. Due to our vacation, next Thursday Jody at Spring Garden Acre will be hosting Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard.

 I will try to post a couple of times this week with some happenings and great food from New Orleans!

This past week I confiscated some nice green tomatoes from next door. I used those tomatoes along with some green tomatoes that I had to make this Green Tomato Salsa. Diana at Voice in the Garden, gave me this recipe. Thanks's Diana!! I only made about a 1/4 recipe since I didn't have enough green tomatoes for a whole batch. We were also out of fresh cilantro. So we will just add some when we open a jar.

This Salsa is very good and a nice change from the traditional salsa that I make!

Green Tomato Salsa to Can from Diana's kitchen

•  3 TB Extra Virgin olive oil
• 11 lbs green tomatoes, chopped
• 3 extra large sweet onions, chopped
• 3 sweet red peppers, chopped
• 3 sweet green peppers, chopped
• 4 jalapeño peppers, seeds removed, finely chopped (+/- according to personal taste)
• 8 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 TB sea salt
• 1/2 TB black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
• 1 tsp Cumin
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 1 TB raw honey

1. Add olive oil to an extra large kettle and heat on medium.
2. Add tomatoes, onions, peppers and stir.
3. Add and combine the remainder of the ingredients. Mix well, heat slowly to simmer, and cook uncovered for 25-30 minutes or until it reaches the consistency you prefer. Stir frequently and be careful of the temperature so as not to burn the mixture.
4. Ladle the hot simmering salsa into hot sterilized pint jars (or quarts), and fill to within 1/2 inch from top.
5. Wipe jar rims with a clean cloth.
6. Place sterilized flat lid on the jar and adjust the ring.
7. Place in a boiling water bath; water should cover the lids by about an inch. Bring the water back to boiling and process for 15-20 minutes.

 I hope that I get to see a lot of goodies posted later today!

Liebster Blog Award

The Apple Pie Girl and Jody at Spring Garden Acre have been so kind to award me the "Liebster" Blog Award! APG is a fine gal who also has some nice boots! Jody, his wife Belle and the little guys, who we recently visited, have a great garden and some chickens too! Stop by their blogs and see what they have been up to!

"Liebster" is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

The Liebster is awarded to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers.

Here are the rules:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have fun!

I had a really hard time picking just 5 blogs to list...so, here are just a few of some great blogs that I really enjoy reading. They are listed in alphabetical order.

At Home on Paradise Cove - Deb is a great Lady. She is relatively new to gardening and loves to experiment with her garden. Her and her husband Fitzgiver live on a small lake in Western Washington. She is also a wonderful artist!

GrafixMuse - Rachel is a Graphic Designer who lives on a few acres in Maine with K. She has an amazing garden and does a lot of preserving.

Greens and Jeans - Emily has a great garden in New Hampshire. I met her mother Marcia, who stopped by recently to see the plots. Emily also has some new chickens and makes some really beautiful quilts.

Life as I Live It - Patricia is a wonderful lady with many stories to tell. I have to say that "The Italian" and I always enjoy reading her blog.

Mrs. Pickles Garden - Mrs. P lives in Saskatchewan, zone 2a. She does an impressive job of growing veggies living in a zone with a very short growing season. She also makes a lot of pickles!

I hope that you give these great blogs a visit and enjoy them as much as we do!

Visiting with a fellow Garden Blogger

"The Italian" and I spent the day with Jody, Belle & the two little guys at Spring Garden Acre.

We had a great time!

You can see their main garden, the chicken coop in the middle back, meat chickens to the left and the empty hill in the front is where the wonderful tasting watermelons and cantaloupe where planted.

Here are some of their fall crops in the side garden.

Look at these beautiful broccoli starts that were germinated inside and ready to be planted!

There was a lot going on!!

There were chickens.....and

a cat.....and

some great entertainment!!! and...

lots of great food! Belle made a wonderful salad of fresh lettuce and tomatoes from the garden. We also had some home grown Bar-BQ Chicken and I brought some home made baked beans. Everything was so good that I was too worried about eating it and didn't take any pictures...except for the best watermelon we have had all summer...fresh from their garden! We ended the meal with home baked shortbread, cookies and coffee!

We came home with these wonderful gifts! Two bottles of wine that they made. One bottle is Peach Wine and the other bottle is Apple Wine. We were also blessed with a jar of Belle's Cold Packed Dill Pickles and 5 hand knitted dish clothes! I don't know how she knew that I was in desperate need of dish clothes!

Thanks Jody, Belle and the boys for a Wonderful Day!