How does my garden grow?

Grilled Cedar-wrapped Fish

2011-11-14T04:49:00.001-06:00

We, my husband and I, have grilled on cedar planks before. Using cedar on the grill imparts such a fabulous flavor into food! But when we saw Cedar Papers, we gave into our curiosity and...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Norway Maple Tree

2011-11-12T07:04:00.000-06:00

The Norway Maple in my backyard has a long history. My mom and mother-in-law got together to get me and my husband this tree many years ago. It took coupons and some cash and we picked out a tall,...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Sweet Delicate Lavender

2011-05-01T15:49:00.000-05:00

For over 20 years, we've had roses growing in a garden surrounding our deck. For the past 3 years, we've been overwhelmed with Japanese beetles, where all we seem to be doing is applying...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Starting my 2011 Garden - Peppers - jalapenos & cubanelles - Tomatoes

2011-05-01T13:22:00.001-05:00

It's been a long time coming this year. But finally, it's almost planting time, here in a suburb of Chicago! The search words that usually make it to this blog is cubanelles or cubanelle peppers. I...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Full of Love Valentine's Day Cookies

2011-02-11T17:46:00.000-06:00

I make these cookies for Valentine's Day, and my family just loves them! Enjoy!

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Autumn Spiced Apple Cider Pumpkin Can Chicken and Grilled Red Potatoes with Fall Harvest Sauce

2010-09-26T13:08:00.000-05:00

Apple cider, pumpkin, poblano peppers, onions, potatoes, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, the scents of autumn cooking. Put them all together and you've got my Autumn Spiced Apple Cider Pumpkin Can...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Tatertot Chili Casserole

2010-09-15T17:20:00.000-05:00

This is a hearty, hot meal that my boys just love. It's easy, and leftovers freeze well. And is also great football fare. Actually, I used to throw onions in the casserole, until my son declared...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Grilled Stuffed Italian Tomatoes

2010-09-15T13:56:00.003-05:00

If you grow tomatoes like I do, then you are wondering what more you can make than sauce and salsa. What I like to do with the smaller ones, 1-1/2" to 2" tomatoes, is stuff them with Italian...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Autumn is coming.... and my Jalapeno Popper Recipe

2010-09-12T09:19:00.000-05:00

Absolute tender crunch walking through leaf mountains. Ubiquitous scent of fall in the crisp, cool, hardy breeze. Teasing drizzle of rain, sprinkling down on our soon to be harvest....

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Autumn Pasta

2010-09-05T14:04:00.007-05:00

During the fall, I make a very filling, fairly spicy pasta dish. Made with much of the fall harvest: pumpkin, onions, jalapeno and sage. Even sausage is considered a "fall" food. What I make actually...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Back to gardening

2010-08-18T06:15:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile, and I'm hopefully here to stay. Been doing a lot of gardening, a lot of social networking, a lot of marketing for my husband's business. But ready to go with gardening, recipes and...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Growing stevia in a pot

2009-06-04T07:28:00.004-05:00

My sister who works at Lowes, bought me a stevia plant, mostly because I have a son by the name of Steven, but also that I love herbs. I never grew a stevia plant before, and have heard about the...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Chives and Marjoram

2009-06-03T16:41:00.004-05:00

My deck this year is very full of potted herbs. The one that grew back for me was the chives in the terra cotta pot on the right side of the picture. A friend I found on Twitter- Kudoskookies told...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

My tomato seeds are growing

2009-03-21T06:02:00.003-05:00

I had bought Big Mama Tomato (large roma type) seeds from Burpee. From over at Lowes, I bought another growing kit. It had 16 large pellets and of course, a cover. It wasn't as elaborate a setup as...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Starting seeds indoors

2009-03-15T10:12:00.004-05:00

Started my pepper seeds taken from my own peppers last year. Decided to try out the ultimate growing kit from Burpee. You can grow 72 plants with this thing. The little pellets were a pain in the...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Planning a garden for spring

2009-02-19T11:52:00.002-06:00

Planning my garden this year will be a little more time consuming and more thought out than last year. I saved seeds from my wonderful poblanos, as well as my jalapenos, cubanelles, and also those...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Growing Cilantro Indoors in the Winter

2008-11-24T06:35:00.002-06:00

Before the first frost of the season, I had some herbs growing in pots on my deck. I harvested all of them, except my cilantro, which was just beginning to grow. So I replanted those two cilantro...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

3 lasagnas

2008-11-17T08:10:00.002-06:00

I've decided to make life a lot easier on myself and make 3 different lasagnas for my daughter's graduation party. Original lasagna made with homemade canned spaghetti sauceMexican lasagna made with...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Party Planning with Food from my Garden

2008-11-12T06:20:00.002-06:00

I'm going to make a a hot little snack for the graduation party. I mix plain sausage and lots of my jalapenos up and fry them together until the sausage is nicely browned. Then I mix some pumpkin and...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Planning a party with things grown from garden

2008-11-11T05:31:00.002-06:00

I definitely will be making some of my dragon bites, as well as some of my stuffed poblanos. I'm thinking of maybe half of them I will baste in pumpkin butter before cooking. That hint of sweetness...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Planning a graduation party

2008-11-10T06:09:00.002-06:00

My daughter is graduating tomorrow. She just earned her BSBA! Well now I'm planning a graduation party quickly, so that I can fit it in before the holidays! My mom and mother-in-law live in a senior...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Cooking with vegetables from the garden

2008-11-08T05:59:00.002-06:00

I had cut some Holy Mole peppers in half and stuffed them with a mixture of cream cheese, chives from my garden, and cojack What a wonderful fall treat! cheese. Then wrapped two long strips of bacon,...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Pumpkin Trifle

2008-11-03T06:03:00.003-06:00

I made a pumpkin trifle that came out of the Better Homes & Gardens magazine. We had a family gathering yesterday at my mother-in-law's house - and everyone just loved the trifle! Basically, it...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Using herbs from my garden

2008-11-02T07:34:00.003-06:00

I have so many herbs from my garden to use! Last night, I made a beer can chicken on the grill. I used my rosemary, thyme, marjoram and tarragon (chopped of course) with some seasalt from Hawaii on...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.

Autumn recipe for crockpot

2008-10-31T05:57:00.002-05:00

I had gotten some nice pork chops from Sam's Club this past weekend. They were 1-1/2 inches thick! Nine came in the package, so I repackaged and froze them in packages of three, as there are only 3...

Trials and triumphs of growing a suburban vegetable garden.