Loki's Kitchen

First off, completely unrelated to anything:

This post is Loki’s Kitchen’s 200th post!!!! It not being a recipe post feels strange, but I’ve been branching out a bit, so I think that’s ok.

Thank you all for being here, and reading my musings, and keeping me in line. I appreciate it very much.

On to the Gardening

So now that we’ve done some research and we’ve gone shopping, it’s time to get gardening!

Of course, I chose the warmest day of the year thus far to get started. It was 80 degrees, full sun, and just afternoon (and after my MMA class). I was exhausted, but so excited to get started that I couldn’t help myself. I went out to the patio, started getting organized, and realized the first downside to gardening – there are wasps. I know these will be fine later, if not helpful, but I don’t like being around them.

And thus, garage gardening was invented:

First, I grabbed a giant bin that our housing complex gave us when we moved it, it was full of cleaning supplies and a few mugs we use to this day. I threw the 2:2:1 mixture of potting soil: top soil: perlite into the bin. If you ever do this, by the way, it is easier to mix as you go rather than throwing it all in there. I got a bit of a workout mixing it up!

Once that was done, I started filling my containers with soil. Since we’re a week out from this actual process, I will tell you this: make sure you fill the containers with soil. It will compact a bit, and soil is cheap enough to not worry about having to get more. My containers are a bit low right now, and I don’t know how to fix it.

Alas, fill your containers with soil.

Now you need to understand your seeds.

On day 1 of gardening, I was planting my frost-resistant and cold-weather plants – spinach, bibb lettuce, and radishes. The back side of the seed packets have a ton of information as to how to grow those seeds best. You’ll find that different sources will tell you different things, and I think that using the info on the back of the packet is best.

Radishes:

Bibb Lettuce:

Spinach:

Now you just follow the directions!

A few definitions I find helpful, and wish I’d know when I was first getting started:

sowing – to plant a seed for growth

sow thinly – there is no exact guide for this, except make sure you don’t place seeds too close to one another; if you look at the second picture, it shows you how far you want your seedlings to be from one another after they start to sprout

Based on thinning distances on each package, I planted my radishes about 2″ apart, 3 seeds in each spot. For the lettuce and spinach, I planted 3 spots in each 24″ pot so I can sow to the wider 8′ distance for each.

Then I placed my containers outside on the table, where they will get about 8 hours of sun right now.

I’ve got more soil and containers for later this summer when I can get my tomatoes going.

Up next: an update! We’ve got seedlings, and we’ll see how they are doing. Plus, I’ve got some plants a friend gave me that I’ve not yet killed! Amazing!

Stay tuned.

What’s the best part of any new hobby?

If you said “the satisfaction of finding a new hobby” you’re almost right! It’s the shopping bit that is the most fun, to get the things for your new hobby.

I exaggerate, a bit, but I was excited to go and pick things up to get started. Here is my shopping list and how I arrived at each of the items on it:

1) Soil – Since we’re working in a container garden, we have to make our own soil. I asked the BFF for some advice here, and she provided the following recipe:

Soil Recipe:
1 part perlite/sand
2 parts top soil
2 parts organic (or regular) potting soil
*may need to water the mix depending on the moisture level of the ingriedents

I would also need a big bucket/bin to mix the soil in, as well as a shovel to do the mixing. I had both of these items.

2) Tools – Hand trowel, maybe a hand rake? I got one, might use it at the end of the season to get roots and stuff out of my soil before winter. You could also probably consider a watering can a tool, so add that to the list.

3) Seeds – Oh the possibilities!

I knew I wanted to grow tomatoes and peppers, but I decided to get plants for those later in the season. They will be delivered the first half of May, to my house. Should be after the last frost by then.

Everything else, I really wanted to do from seeds. That meant learning about seeds, how to pick them, and what all the words on the back of the damn packages mean. I had a small list of things I wanted when I went in, but I really wanted to leave with everything! My list included:

a) spinach – can go into the soil now, easy to grow in containers, spinach is delicious
b) lettuce, preferably bibb – I can’t often find it in the store here, so I decided to grow it… we’ll see how that goes
c) beans – these were for later in the season, but might as well grab them now
d) basil – the shear number of varieties of basil is astounding, so I looked for one that liked small pots and had smallish leaves

I also ended up with:

e) radishes – they seemed so easy and the package made them look so tasty!

The pic shows the spinach, lettuce, and radishes I picked out. No organic option for bibb lettuce, sadly. Aren’t those radishes amazing!

The packets come with lots of information on the back (this is the spinach):

4) Containers – These were the hardest decisions to make. Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail taught me that while anything can be used as a container for growing things, some materials are better than others. Plastic helps maintain water better, but it isn’t as pretty as, say, terra cotta. Glazed ceramic, etc are breakable and expensive, but they sure are pretty. Metal is good for moisture but those get hot.

Wooden containers are rarely discussed, but… so pretty. So I got those. Damn my stubborn aesthetics.

I also would need deeper pots for tomatoes and peppers later in the season. I got 2, I don’t love them. I’ll choose something else when the plants actually arrive, since I need 4 total. I went with plastic, cheap ones, which I am fine with, but when I went to poke holes in them for drainage, they cracked!

Finally, I wanted to get a small indoor greenhouse setup for growing the basil and trying to start beans inside. I got a 36-hole greenhouse from Burpee.
It came with little pods of dirt and fertilizer that you rehydrate and shove seeds in to. I can do that.

5) Fertilizer – Organic food for vegetables, which one I chose I already forgot. It had the words organic, vegetable and tomato, and fertilizer. Check.

Let’s summarize:

Potting soil
Top soil
Perlite or sand
Hand trowel
Hand rake
Watering can
Seeds (spinach, lettuce, beans, basil, and radishes)
Plants (ordered them now for delivery later in the season)
Containers for aforementioned plants
Mini greenhouse
Fertilizer

The good news is that a lot of this is re-useable year after year. I think you can re-energize the soil a few times, and obviously the tools and containers can be re-used. You just need new seeds and plants every year!

I spent a total of about $140 on the list above, including the plants. Next year I imagine I’ll spend <20 on new stuff!

Next up, getting started, and after that… an update! Here’s a hint, we’ve spotted green inside and out!

As much as I wanted to leave work early, hop in the car, and drive directly to Home Depot, I resisted that instant gratification urge. I wanted to make sure I was making the right decisions for the space that I had to work with, climate, and how to start a container garden.

The Space

First, I wanted to look very closely about the space I’m working with. My husband and I own a townhouse-style condo. We share walls but have a small yard that we don’t have to take care of. As a result, I am not allowed to plant anything in the ground. This is not a huge bummer for me, the ground contains bugs. And worms. Ick.

Fortunately for us, our condo is on the south east corner of the building, which means we have great sun exposure all day long. My living room in the morning is fantastic, so much light coming in through the windows and skylights. I love it!

Outside, conveniently placed on the front of the house is a patio. It is 10×10, cement, and accessed either by skipping across a short patch of grass (dodging some seriously gigantic hydrangeas I have no control over) or through the third bedroom downstairs. On it right now is a grill, a completely rusted and gross glass table about 4′ in diameter (I should really measure it), 4 plastic stacked chairs, and the garbage bin (which will be moving shortly).

When the sun comes up in the east, the overhang over the front door creates a bit of a shadow on the porch, but only just reaching over the hydrangeas for a bit, then it is gone. I have the grill up against the house at the moment. Surrounding the west and south faces of the porch is a 5′ tall fence. What’s outside the fence is completely out of my control. Which, again, fine. Worms.

So that’s the space I have to work with. Right now, the table is sunlit from about 8am to 4:30 pm, only to get longer as the days grow longer. I can get some late morning-evening shade by putting plants up against the fence (horizontally), or even under the glass table. Of course, almost everything I am growing requires full sun. I will likely only use that if the spinach and lettuce get too warm, so they can keep a bit cooler.

I can probably get away with putting some plants on the little area outside the front door too, which gets even more sun, and maybe even outside the fence (no man zone!), at least temporarily. But I’m not worried about that at the moment, only when I have super sun-loving tomatoes growing.

The Climate

The first thing my BFF asked me was “what zone are you in.” Zone? Like, zip code? “No, hardiness zone. Go ask google.” So, I googled and found the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map.

The helpful look-up gave me the information I was seeking – I am located in zone 6A, though by looking even more closely on the map, there is a large section of 5B right near my house. So I’m a bit borderline, which is fine. I can work with borders.

More googling and I found this extrodinarily helpful chart on Veggie Harvest, for zone 6 growing season information.

Well, there you go! Now I know when to start seedlings indoors if necessary, when to start plants outside, and when to expect a harvest. I also know what plants I can expect to do well in my climate.

But now of course, I needed to understand container gardening and how my climate and space would allow me to grow edibles.

Container Gardening 101

Honestly, I can’t even tell you how much googling I did here. I have probably read 40 sites on container gardening. Most say the same things, so here is a summary of what I have found:

1) The larger the container, the better
2) Anything can be a container for a plant, just make sure it drains – and you can add holes to do that too (examples: Old sinks, butter containers, plastic storage bins, garbage cans, tires, you name it!)
3) Obviously, plants have different needs – tomatoes want a deeper soil base, radishes and lettuce like it more shallow
4) Some vegetables grow well in containers, others do not (asparagus, sadly, doesn’t do well at all)
5) Some vegetables are easier to grow from seeds, others you really want plants, especially as a beginner
6) Fellow gardeners love to share, so if you can, get clippings from their crops to grow your own, which works well with herbs

There are more lessons, which we’ll get into. We’re learning together a bit as well.

This book is my source of truth at the moment, Grow Great Grub by Gayla Trail. Her books are very popular in the home-gardening realm. I’ll keep you posted with what I learn, or you can follow along with your own copy!

Up next, making decisions and going shopping!

Good afternoon, readers! I hope you are well, all 12 of you!

I kid. I totally get random bots here all the time.

Same Old, Same Old

I do apologize for the lack of posts, specifically meal planning. Last week was primarily leftovers and whatever sounded good, this week has been super wacky. Seriously, dinner Monday consisted of leftovers again, tuesday I had a peanut butter sandwich and a banana, and last night I had a fresco taco from taco bell, followed by a handful of cheese puffs when I got home. I swear I’m making real food tonight, I have ground beef defrosting in the fridge. Just don’t ask me what it will be, I have no idea.

I have not had idle hands, however. I made a stuffed acorn squash recipe found in Clean Eating Magazine (submitted by Guy Fieri, for those of you that are lucky enough to have Food Network), and I plan to get that up here shortly. The husband and I made Ben and Jerry’s Orange Dream Cream ice cream in the ice cream maker last week, and let me tell you, it was heaven. I have kept up on the organized freezer as well, which has been so very helpful to my sanity.

Something New and Different

I have in the past said I have a black thumb. There is a plant on my desk at work I have managed to keep alive for 8 months, which is only because it requires nothing but water and mostly shade. I can totally do that. This year, I have decided to conquer my fear of Growing Things and decided to embark upon gardening. That’s right, you read it here. Growing stuff in the ground.

Except, I live in a condo, and I can’t grow things in the ground.

This suits me just fine, because I love the idea of container gardening. I find that it has all of the advantages one needs to break into home-farming:

1) I don’t have to deal with whatever soil is in my area, which I hear is super dense anyway.
2) Zero worm encounters.
3) I can make most things work well in a container and in my space, with the added bonus of making it kinda pretty
4) I can move my entire project into the garage if the sun (or wasps) are too intimidating

My inspiration came from my friend Sheryl, who started her garden last weekend. She made growing things up out of the ground and then eating them to be like magic. And magical things are very enticing to me. This may come as a disappointment to my best friend, who has been growing a garden for endless years, never inspiring me to join her. I guess I was intimidated by her gardening skills. The good news is that she has become a nearly invaluable counselor. Thanks BFF!

This post could grow very long, so I have decided to break this up into a series of posts, so I can share what I have learned and maybe inspire one of you to pick up a hand trowel.

Yes, I thought it was called a shovel too. Oh the things we can learn together!

How to Grow a Container Garden – The Miniseries

1) Research and Decision Making, aka bugging your friends for more information
2) The Shopping List
3) Getting Started, alternatively titled Garage Gardening

Should my garden grow, there will be more posts. If it does not grow, I will post an epic failure and give away all of my gardening supplies.

Unless you want some killer window boxes, your positive thoughts are appreciated.

I had some goat cheese that I got from Zingerman’s via Door to Door Organics and I wanted to use it up before it went bad. I love goat cheese, especially on salad, so the fact that the remaining 4oz was sitting in my fridge still was almost a tragedy.

I also had a new brand of black beans (well, new to me) that I also wanted to try. A little birdie told me that goat cheese and black beans might work well together.

That was one smart bird.

I did Google a few recipes, took some pointers, and came up with the following delicious recipe.

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Ingredients:

4 normal sized tortillas or 8 corn tortillas
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup salsa
1/2 red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, sliced thin
4oz goat cheese
Salt, pepper to taste
Olive oil (spray, preferably)

Directions:

Heat a tbsp olive oil in a pan, add garlic and cook for 30 seconds, then add the onion and cook for 3-4 min or until softened. Then add the black beans, salsa, and red peppers. Cook for 5 minutes, then using a potato masher, mash up some of the black beans. You don’t need to obliterate them.

Pull out of the pan and set aside.

Add about 1/4 of the mixture to one half of a tortilla, then add 1/4 of the goat cheese, about 1 oz. Fold the top of the tortilla over and spray with olive oil.

Heat on medium for 3-4 min, spray the other side, then flip it. Heat for 2-3 more minutes, then remove and serve.

Here we are, Sunday again and we are faced with the task of meal planning.

I have found that going home every night knowing what to make is so helpful, especially to my mood. No stress after an already long day! I have some other friends that do a similar thing. They spend their Sunday evening cooking for the week. They invited me to their house on Thursday for dinner because I was husband less for a few days, and I got to see the fruits of their planning efforts.

Upon arriving at their house after work, they turned the oven on to preheat, along with a cast iron Dutch oven inside. They also pulled a salad out of the fridge to allow it to come up to room temperature (a white bean and tofu salad, which I will log soon). Once the oven was preheated, a no-knead loaf went into the dutch oven (the dough was prepped ahed of time and was stored in the fridge) They fed their son dinner and we read him stories and he went to bed, then the dinner prep continued.

They had made a batch of beer cheese soup during Sunday cooking, which we heated in the microwave. There was also a batch of sweet and red potatoes, pre-cut and stored in water. Those were placed on a baking pan and heated alongside the bread while it finished baking.

So with fairly minimal evening prep work, we feasted on the bean salad, beer cheese soup, fresh bread, and roast potatoes. Fascinating!

And now on to the less pre work and more thinking version of meal planning!

Step 1: The Schedule

Monday – work, games with friends
Tuesday – work, boxing class
Wednesday – work from home day
Thursday – work, boxing class
Friday – off work to prepare for some friends coming in from out of town!
Saturday – friends will have departed, and some alone time with hubby sounds grand

Step 2: What to Use

Goat cheese, tortillas, and pretty much anything from the freezer

Step 3: The Plan

Monday – goat cheese and black bean quesadillas
Tuesday – seared lamb chops (!) and roast asparagus
Wednesday – pork tokatsu over brown rice with a veggie
Thursday – roast pork loin with potato and carrots
Friday – probably order pizza and host a games night

Step 4: Prep Work

Just nabbing some lamb chops and a pork loin from the freezer.

I am short on time and short on brain power this evening, so this is how I am meal planing on the fly tonight. Quick and dirty.

Sunday – we were both busy tonight hanging out with friends, I had pizza and the husband had the leftover barbacoa pork

Monday – on Saturday I made grandma’s spaghetti sauce and we will enjoy that leftovers for dinner

Tuesday – taco night, I already threw the frozen ground beef into the fridge (and updated the inventory!) and we have some delicious new tortillas to try we found at the store this weekend, only 6 net carbs!

Wednesday – hot dogs, a local brand grilled served with an exotic vegetable of some unknown type

Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday – I am aalllllllll byyyyyyy mmyyyyyyyseeeeeelf for a few days, to I plan to eat good healthy things like I like and spend entirely too much time at the gym, as it is free classes weekend!

I know, right. Gross.

I started hearing about these a few years ago, but pushed them out of my mind as a completely foul creation of the low-carb world. I mean, seriously… black beans as brownies? NO!

But then I thought about it some more. Japanese desserts are often made with a bean paste, using beans as a basis for a sweet custard to go into pastries. It is delicious, and very interesting in texture and overall sweetness.

This recipe is pretty basic, and really really easy to do. I recommend using a wax paper ‘sling’ in your baking dish for ease of removal… these things are sticky! They bake up nice and quick and have a nice, gentle mocha flavor.

Enjoy!

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients:
1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional – I completely forgot them!)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix all of the ingredients – except the chocolate chips – in your blender or a bowl if you have an immersion blender.

Blend.

Pour into a greased baking pan and put the chocolate chips on top, bake 30 min.

Sometimes, even the best laid plans fall to the wayside.

Nothing I planned last week happened. The sauces were both freezer burned beyond edibility (note to self, use frozen sauces faster next time, and get better containers).

Dead Sea Tupperware (From Disney’s Aladdin)

The ricotta gnocchi just didn’t sound good. This is mostly because we’ve got an ongoing argument as to what sauce goes best on gnocchi. I love tomato-based ones, but the husband prefers cream-based ones. I categorically refuse to make creamy sauces at home, so we find ourselves at a stand still. Any suggestions?

One product I did discover this past week turned out to be a true gem. In our semi-monthly trip to the local Natural Food Local Express store (I love this place!) we picked up some chicken sausages randomly from one of the freezers. They were Miller’s Cheese and Jalapeno Chicken Sausages. And they were to die for. They had a great kick to them, not too heavy handed but certainly not “were these supposed to be spicey?” We ate them on toasted whole wheat hot dog buns with grilled onions and a touch of honey mustard. The sausages themselves were not at all dry, like most chicken sausages I get elsewhere. I will be picking these up again, along with the other flavors ASAP.

Miller Jalapeno and Cheese Chicken Sausages

Oh, and we also discovered smashed potatoes. I’ll blog these soon!

On to this week.

Step 1: The Schedule

Sunday – I was home this afternoon and had a bit of time, so I made mini turkey meatloaves and baked potatoes. The leftover mini turkey meatloaves will be great for lunches this week too!

Monday – Work, gaming with friends at 8pm, so about 2 hours to make and serve dinner

Tuesday – Work, gym, free evening

Wednesday – Work, gym during the day, then a free evening again!

Thursday – Work, gym, free evening

Friday – Out on friday-night-dinner-date

Saturday – Whatever!

Step 2: What to use up

*A bit of goat cheese (Door to Door Organics now offers cheese among it’s delivery products!)

*1 remaining chicken sausage (we shall fight to the death!)
*A few peppers, some broccoli
*Keep working on the 113 items in the freezer….

Step 3: The Plan

Monday – Tomato, butter, and onion pasta (mine over broccoli too!)
Tuesday – Sweet barbacoa pork!
Wednesday – Ricotta gnocchi, if it kills me, with some kind of agreeable sauce and broccoli
Thursday – Chicken or pork with caramelized onions and goat cheese

Step 4: What to buy

If I don’t go get english muffins, I might end up single.

I’m always looking for uses for bananas, and I love a good protein muffin. Of course, this often involves lots of googling until you find a recipe for which you have all of the ingredients.

I found this recipe on www.homebeccanomics.com, which I’ll have to spend some more time investigating. I wish the author had listed the nutritional information, but I went ahead and calculated it. Just for you guys.

You’re welcome.

Chocolate Banana Protein Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, white or wheat
1/2 cup chocolate protein powder
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 medium Banana
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup chocolate chips, dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375.

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, protein powder, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda) in a bowl, set aside.

In your stand mixer, mix the bananas, eggs, yogurt, oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients partially, then add the chocolate chips and walnuts, finish mixing.

Partially fill muffin tins (greased with cooking spray) and bake for 15-18 min. I used a muffin top pan instead of a traditional muffin pan, because that’s how I roll.

Nutritional Info:
Each muffin contains -
330 cal
16g fat
34g carbs
15g protein