new hat for david

The reversible Christopher hat, using Cascade yarn. Double thickness and two looks to keep David warm these cold months. As an aside, I really like Jane Richmond's patterns; I've also made her oatmeal pullover.

ginormous carrots!

colors of autumn

straw bale cold frame

We are trying out a winter garden this year. This cold frame was put together with 6 bales of straw and four repurposed windows. I've started some arugula, cabbage, and mustard greens in this little garden; there is also a squash in the corner that was growing right in the spot that I wanted to put the straw bale garden and I could not bring myself to dig it up. I'm hoping that we'll be picking fresh green vegetables when it is cold outside

now harvesting

carrots!

so I decided to make...
carrot cupcakes with cream cheese frosting!

yum!

use-up-random-garden-veggies torte

This recipe was adapted from Smitten Kitchen and it is delicious - - plus it is a great way to use up a random veggies from the garden.

From our garden: 1 squash, 2 cloves of garlic, two carrots, two tomatoes, four kale leaves, and thyme.

Saute 1/2 onion in some butter in skillet

add four chopped kale leaves and chopped carrots

Simmer on low

Combine in a bowl:

1 c. of shredded pecorino romano

1/2 tsp of pepper

2 tsp of salt

2T of flour

1T lemon juice

2 cloves of chopped garlic

2T of freshly chopped thyme

Butter a cake pan and layer like a lasagna:

thinly sliced squash

onion/kale/carrot mixture

cheese mixture

sliced tomato

repeat until you've used all of the ingredients

Top the layers with freshly grated pecorino romano (at least 1/2 c.)

Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 30 minutes

Take off the foil and bake for another 10 minutes

Slice and enjoy!

I ate mine with a slice of French bread covered in almond butter.

now harvesting

I don't think we'll be picking 316lbs of tomatoes this year, but we are enjoying what we've got!

Recently, we've enjoyed tomato, basil and mozzarella salad.

Also, I made pasta with pesto, using our homegrown garlic and basil -- along with easy peasy alfredo sauce (thanks, Dorothy!). Right before we were about to eat, David went out and picked some tomatoes, which we sliced up to have with the pasta and the taste was heavenly!