Jasmine's Garden and Recipe's

What did I Grow?

2012-09-14T04:09:00.002-07:00

Summer Squash or a Green Pumpkin?

Another Green Pumpkin I think

My Watermelon next to this Green Summer Squash

A baby watermelon growing

I love gardening and this year I purchased Summer Squash seeds and planted them in my garden. What did I grow? This does not look like a summer squash that is pictured on the seed package it looks more like a pumpkin a green pumpkin.

I am letting the other summer squash on the vine to see if it does change color to orange this is wild to see what becomes of it. I really wanted to fry the squash to eat. I did plant pumpkin on the other side of the house where I have a garden with watermelon and the real pumpkin.

Well.......

Be Creative

Enjoy

Mammoth Sunflowers

2012-08-26T04:32:00.003-07:00

Mammoth Sunflower

The one by the mail box

Over 12 feet tall

So Beautiful

This year I planted Mammoth Sunflowers in my front yard. They are beautiful and very tall. I want to harvest the edible seeds. The sunflowers attract bees on the flowers which helps both the flowers and the bees.

I love to Garden and the experience when your plants grow is the most exciting part of gardening.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Black Bean Soup

2012-08-08T14:47:00.003-07:00

Today I am making Black Bean Soup and have no clue of how to make this. My sons girlfriend likes this Black Bean Soup so here I go again to add whatever I like to add from my frig into this pot of soup.

I washed and set aside the Black Beans in Cold Water while I prepared the veggies to add to the pot.

I started with dicing 1/4 onions red or white whatever you have is fine. I diced from my garden 1 Japanese eggplant with the skins on, diced very small 5 small carrots from my garden, diced red peppers.
You can add anything you like into your soup.

I always start out with all my diced veggies adding about two tablespoons of olive oil and I use my wooden spoon to saute them. Then adding 6 to 8 or more cups of water or more if needed , 6 chicken bullion's cubes, two packs of Powder Pollo chicken.

Bring to a boil add the Black Beans and spices like a sprinkle of onion salt, garlic salt, garlic powder, parsley, dill, Mrs. Dash.

I also added after boiling the soup from my garden 5 whole cherry tomatoes and from my garden two slices of cucumbers without the seeds.

You can add a handful of pasta to the soup if you like. I added Ronzoni Acini Di Pepe pasta.

You can add anything you like or can change whatever I put into my soups and I always taste my soup to my liking and so can you.

You can be creative and in your individual bowl add either a little spoonful of sour cream, light cream, sprinkle Parmesan cheese or just leave it plain. It's all up to your very own taste and I never made this before and my Black Bean Soup was the best ever.

Be Creative
Enjoy

My Garden 2012 Produce

2012-07-14T08:32:00.000-07:00

I have been watering my garden often and do have a moisture meter to see how much water the garden is getting. I have already been since June picking tomatoes and tons of them. I have been giving some away to family and they love them and looking for more.

I have picked so far the cherry tomatoes and yesterday I picked a zucchini, baby Japanese egg plants, string beans and sweet peas.

I have added another Garden this year which makes it three Gardens this year which keeps me busy but I love and enjoy gardening.

Assortment of veggies in my garden

Zucchini

Husky Cherry Tomatoes

Butternut squash, cucumbers, peppers, yellow squash and more

Two ladybugs in my garden

Some veggies I picked

Be Creative
Enjoy

Ladybugs for my Garden 2012

2012-07-14T05:44:00.001-07:00

Every year for my Garden I purchase Praying mantis egg cases and hatch them indoors in a brown lunch bag. When they hatch I release them into my Garden in June.

I also ordered 2,000 Live Lady Bugs for my Garden and release them. Ladybugs arrive in a cloth bag ready for release which I sent them out in July.

Both the Ladybug and Praying Mantis are Beneficial for my Garden they eat the Bad Bugs that harms your Garden plants.

Releasing 2,000 Ladybugs

Ladybugs on the cloth bag

Ladybugs are hungry and ready to eat those bad bugs

My baby Praying Mantis I released in my Garden in June

Ladybug is probably the best known beneficial insect available. They feed mainly on aphids (40-50 per day)
but will also attack a wide variety of other soft-bodied pests, including mites, leafhoppers and mealybugs. They will attack all stages of these pest, eggs, larval and adult.

This is so much fun and if you have small children this is a beneficial educational project for them to experience.

Be Creative
Enjoy

My Garden I started in April 2012

2012-07-02T07:31:00.001-07:00

My Garden at the Jersey Shore NJ

Cherry tomatoes turning red in June 2012

More Tomatoes

Swallowtail Caterpillar on my parsley

Swallowtail Butterfly on my tomatoes

One side of my large Garden

Another side of my large garden Zucchini

My little garden with 7 cherry tomatoes dill and the parsley

Asparagus plant first year turns into a fern and can harvest next summer

This year I started my garden early in April a few of my plants I started indoors and was able to plant them outside. I started Butternut Squash, Cherry vine Tomato's and Red peppers. When the plants were too big to keep inside I planted them outside in April to see if they would take and they did.

I have on the west side of my house two Gardens. My little garden has 7 Cherry Husky Tomatoes plus I planted at the end of this little Garden Curled Parsley, Italian Flat Leaf Parsley and Fern Dill. The parsley attracts the Swallowtail Butterfly they lay their eggs on the parsley and the caterpillar's eat the parsley until they are ready to turn into a butterfly.

On the west side of my house I have a Large Garden and here is the list of what is in my Large Garden.

Butternut squash, Cucumbers, Zucchini, 9 Yellow straight neck Squash, New Mexico hot pepper, Cayenne hot pepper, Red peppers, Gypsy peppers, 12 Asparagus plants, Cherry 101 tomato, 7 Cherry Husky tomatoes, 1 Chocolate cherry tomato, 2 Ichiban Japanese Eggplant's, 1 Sweet and Nasty cherry tomato.

And my two plants I grew indoors the Cherry vine tomato and Red pepper.

I love tomato's and I always always plant a Lot of them every year.This year I am already getting ripe ones off the vine and this is June. I also release Baby Praying Mantis in my Garden when they hatch indoors they are beneficial bugs that eat the bad bugs in my garden.

Plus this year I started an New additional Garden on the East side of my house. I planted 4 Sweet Watermelons and 2 Pumpkins. On the East side of my house I planted String Beans, Corn, and a Blue Hubbard Squash.

I water both Garden very early in the morning before the sun comes up. I am so surprised that I am picking my red cherry tomatoes so early this year in June. My other plants have flowers on them and my New Mexico hot pepper already has a pepper on it.

On my front porch I have planters not only with flowers for color but I have String Beans, Sweet Peas,

Snow Bird Peas, Mixed beans white, lentil, chickpeas growing.

I have a ton of Veggies growing all over my home plus Strawberries, Figs even Mammoth Sunflowers from seed. Carrots, Mesclun Salad Mix Lettuce, Sweet long pepper mixed colors and more corn.

Love Gardening and Remember.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Fried thin chicken breast two different ways

2012-06-14T09:43:00.000-07:00

Today I had a package of thin chicken breast and wanted to do something different with it. So I wanted to use my two cooking sauces from Kraft which comes with a dressing to dip your chicken in.

I sliced the chicken into strips and mixed half of the chicken portion into the remainder of my teriyaki ginger cooking sauce (Asian chicken cooking sauce).

Let it soak for in a small bowl a few minutes then sprinkle a coat of flour on top and mix. I mixed the second half of my chicken strips into the Southwest chicken Zesty Fajita cooking sauce.

In a fry pay with olive oil heated add your chicken strips and fry each side that's it and easy.

I tasted the teriyaki ginger chicken strip as is and tasted very good and then I took the Barbecue Ranch dressing (southwest chicken dressing) and the (Asian chicken dressing) Toasted sesame dressing that comes with the package and dipped the chicken into the dressing.

Both dressing tasted great with the teriyaki ginger chicken strips.

Chicken strips coated with Asian Teriyaki ginger cooking sauce and dipped in dressing

Barbecue Ranch Southwest dressing or Toasted Sesame Asian dressing

Then I took the other half of the thin chicken breast and sliced it and mixed it with Zesty Fajita (Southwest) cooking sauce in a bowl and added flour. I then fried the chicken in a pan using olive oil both sides.

This flavor of chicken tasted so good and I decided to taste it as is and tried a little of the Dressings that comes in the package made by Kraft. Both dressings taste good with both types of my chicken Teryaki and Zesty Fajita.

Cooking Sauce and Dressing by Kraft comes in a set

Both the chicken with and without the dressings were great and I did mix and match the dressings.

You can make a wrap or add the chicken on top of your mixed veggie salad and top with the dressing.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Garden Flowers 2012

2012-06-13T12:22:00.001-07:00

Why strolling in my yard today I was checking out which flowers are in bloom the mid of June.

I found Lillie's, day Lillie's yellow and orange, my pink cone flower and my pansy's are still in bloom.

I also have my petunias that I potted in containers for this summer and a few I planted into the flower bed next to the pansy's plus my marigolds.

Yellow Lilly

Orange Day Lilly

Yellow Lilly

cone flower

pansy

Assorted pansy and petunias

Colorful garden flowers

Mixed Marigolds

Potted petunias and cosmo flowers

Such a colorful yard plus the butterflies and tiny bees love the flowers.

Be Creative
Enjoy

My Strawberry Patch

2012-06-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

I have been growing strawberries under my flag pole for many years. They get full sun so they love that spot in my yard.

This year I did add a few new types of strawberry plants. I added Roman Strawberry (fragaria roman) which has a pink flower unlike the original white flower and I added an Allstar.

There are a number of different types of strawberry plants and if you decide to plant them check out the variety and when they will bloom. You can have strawberries all season long so do your homework.

They are a hardy plant in New Jersey and you have nothing to do they are perennial and come back every year.

After a few number of years if they get over crowded you can thin them out and start another patch in your yard.
I have given some of my plants to family and friends who never grew them before and they love them.

To pick them is easy you just put your two fingers on top of the strawberry and pull, they will snap off the little vine that holds them into your hand. (Hey be gentle)

Strawberry Patch under my Flag Pole

Roman Strawberry mixed into my patch

Love those berries

Roman Strawberry I have on my porch in a container

A few I just picked today

Happy Gardening
Be Creative
Enjoy

Growing plants from Soup Beans

2012-06-12T08:07:00.000-07:00

I have made a bean soup using Goya 16 Bean Soup Mix and made a wonderful bean soup which this recipe is on my blog under 16 Bean Soup.

But I did push the limits and decided to take one chickpea bean out of the Goya dried bean mix and planted a chickpea outdoors in my planter next to my string beans.

That little baby grew into a little cute chickpea plant.

Now I am trying out again in my outdoor planter a few bean mixture. I took out 4 seeds of each bean I selected. Lential, Small white beans, Chickpeas and Split green pea.

I am looking forward to see what will sprout from those beans.

Hey live off the land I tell my sons.

Goya 16 Bean Soup Mix

Here is the cute chickpea plant that I experimented and grew.

Chickpea plant

Chickpea I grew from Goya dried bean soup mix

Be Creative

Enjoy

Easy Way Growing a Avocado House plant from the seed

2012-06-11T14:39:00.001-07:00

Easy way to grow Avocado House plants from the pit or seed.

I love to eat Avocados and also put them into my mixture of veggie salad. So being a Gardner that I love to do and do not want to toss out the seeds of anything. I decided to Grow a Avocado house plant and here is what really happened.

I did look up on the Internet and many sites said to take the seed (which is a huge pit) wash it and put
toothpicks on four sides of this pit. Place the pit into a glass of water half way just enough to get the root of
the pit into the water.

I tried this one and if you do not remember to change the water in this glass will get nasty.

So being ME I decided that I will Experiment on my own and Remember Mother Nature did not own toothpicks to root any of her seeds.

Again being ME I took the Avocado seed and JUST Planted Into my Garden and Marked it.

Guess what I Grew a Avocado Plant. I do have good Garden soil so this pit or seed loved my garden soil and I did not have to do anything extra, say like spiking it with toothpicks or changing a glass of water.
(Who thought of that idea)

I did transplant the plant into a house container in Miracle Grow Potting Soil. Then placing it next to my sunny side window and that Baby Grew during the winter.

Then I took an Avocado pit or seed and just placed it into Miracle Grow Potting soil indoors and Guess what that Avocado Plant Grew.

So here are a few pictures of my Avocado plants that I grew.
( The toothpick thing is not worth your trouble.)
Just have good soil Garden soil or indoor potting soil.

This is the Avacado plant I grew outside and brought inside

The little guy on the left is the one I planted inside with potting soil

The Avocado plant is very easy to grow just put the pit seed into good soil and your good to go.Just do what Mother Nature would do plant them in good fertile soil.

Forget that toothpick thing I hope I have been helpful with all you Gardner's and remember.

Be Creative
Enjoy

Chicken Caesar Wrap

2012-06-11T12:40:00.002-07:00

Today I made chicken caesar wrap and this comes in a kit by Mission.
This box contains 12 flour tortillas, caesar dressing and caesar seasoning.

I dices 1 package of thin chicken breast put into a fry pan with a little coating of olive oil.
Fry the chicken until white then add the caesar seasoning with 1/4 cups of water mix and bring to a boil until
the water is almost evaporated.

The box has the 3 Easy steps to prepare this Quick and Easy Wrap.

You can add anything you love like lettuce, tomatoes, corn, avocado's, peppers. red onions your favorites. Then add your favorite toppings like sour cream, taco sauce, cheddar cheese sauce or salsa sauce anything.

If you like to kick it up to HOT add a little crushed red pepper spice or add a few HOT peppers.
Remember this is up to your own taste.

This is a fast a quick chicken caesar wrap kit by mission and if you have a Casadia maker. You can make the same recipe using your Casadia maker if you have one give it a try.

Casadia Maker

Try it this way in the Maker

Finished Wrap

Be Creative
Enjoy

Chicken Wraps Asian and SouthWest

2012-06-07T10:32:00.000-07:00

Today I am making two types of Chicken Wraps.

One Asian chicken with the cooking sauce of Teriyaki Ginger and adding Toasted Sesame dressing on the finished wrap.

The second is Southwest chicken using a cooking sauce of Zesty Fajita and adding the topping of the wrap using Barbecue Ranch dressing.

This cooking sauce for chicken with a dressing for salad is new and the brand is from Kraft. So I like to try new and different things and experiment the new taste and flavors on my boys.

I diced the chicken breast up in tiny pieces and fried them in olive oil until they were white and then added the Asian cooking sauce teriyaki and continued to cook the sauce into the chicken.

I took a tortilla wrap and put the chicken in it with lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, diced tomatoes and added the toasted sesame dressing on top. If you have the hard taco shells will work out too.

You can add anything you like different veggies or kick it up a bit adding sour cream on top. Hey mix the sour cream together with the toasted sesame dressing. Think of that one experiment.

Two new sauces and dressing from Kraft they come together in a pack

Diced chicken using the teriyaki sauce

Finished Dish

You can even take the same recipe and use a casadia maker like this one I have.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Bean Pasta and Fruit Soup

2012-05-31T08:03:00.000-07:00

Cooking the Soup

Finished bowl of Bean Pasta and Fruit Soup

Today I went a little wild with soup I really was not in the mood to cook but when I get started there is no stopping me.

So here is a crazy soup I made today and called it a Bean Pasta and Fruit Soup and watch out what crazy things I added into this one so here we go.

I always start out in my soup pot dicing onions, red peppers, garlic, carrots, french string beans and anything I have in my frig plus you can add whatever you have in your frig too.

I add to the diced veggies into my soup pot with two tablespoons of olive oil and saute the veggies with a wooden spoon until a little tender.

Add 6 or more cups of water and bring the saute veggies to a boil.

Then I added 1 small can of tomato sauce 2 tablespoons of pasta sauce.
1 can of Cannellini Beans white kidney (do not drain add the whole can)
Bring to a boil then add 1 cup of Penne Rigate Pasta to the soup and stir.

Start adding your spices, sprinkle garlic powder, minced onion spice, onion salt, Mrs. Dash original spice, 2 packs of Goya Chicken Powder Broth called Pollo.
I also added from my Garden Fresh Parsley and Dill.

So here is where I went a little crazy and I added 1/2 peeled avocado diced and a few diced fresh strawberries from my Garden.

You can add anything you love into your soup and remember.

Be Creative
Enjoy

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

2012-05-25T09:18:00.001-07:00

We are Celebrating Memorial Day this weekend with Burgers, Hot Dogs, Corn on the cob, French Fries, Garden Salad and Drinks.

I am taking chopped meat and taking it to a new level adding Spicy Garlic Steak & Pork Rub. This spice is from Sebastian Spice Co. and it's Great for Grilling or Cooking.

So I mix this Spicy steak and pork rub spice into my chopped meat and made Burgers to place onto the Grill.

Everyone can add their favorite toppings, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles any type of cheese to melt on the burger. My son likes Muenster cheese add anything you love to create your favorite Burger.

My kids love to add dressings on top, Honey Mustard, Hidden Valley Ranch even Blue Cheese. It's all up to your taste.

Sebastian Spice Company Spicy Garlic Steak & Pork Rub

God Bless America

Our Home Sweet Home

United We Stand Together

Happy Memorial Day

Have a Happy Memorial Day.
Be Creative
Enjoy

Feed the wild birds

2012-05-24T07:15:00.004-07:00

I am always feeding the wild life I do buy a 20 pound bag of bird seed and also give them bread and bagels.

I do not like to toss any food out so I do like to share with the wild life if there are leftovers or to much food that nobody is going to eat.

So I have been ordering out Chinese food and they give you bags of noodles. My sons only eat so much of the noodles and we had 6 bags of noodles that were not opened.

My experiment was to take a bag by the bird feeder crush the noodles and placed on the ground.

Well the birds did take the pieces of noodles to fly back home to feed their babies.

This was a fun and cool experience and now if I have to much of the bags of noodles I know that the noodles will not go to waste.

Chinese Noodles

Sparrow eating the Chinese Noodles

Be Creative
Enjoy

Clouds and look a likes

2012-05-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

It has been a very cloudy rain week at the Jersey Shore. I love it this helps me water my plants and garden.
So when it was a very cloudy day I took a picture of a cloud and was thinking of what image this cloud looked like and this is what I saw. This cloud looked a lot like my cream golden retriever. Just take a look and you tell me.

Cool looking cloud

Looks like my golden retriever

Be Creative

Enjoy

Backyard Birds

2012-05-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of bird houses in my backyard and it is so much fun watching them to start nesting. They gather any type of material to put into the birdhouse.

While brushing my white golden retriever,her fur was blowing around the yard. So I watched what the birds were doing, they were gathering her fur to put into their house.I was able to take a picture of the house with the white fur in their house. Even the birds can be creative.

One of many birdhouses

My dogs fur after brushing her

Her white fur inside for nesting material

One baby bird that fell out of a birdhouse

I did place the baby back inside the house using a plastic spoon maybe they did not notice he was missing.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Garden Flowers

2012-05-20T04:52:00.002-07:00

rhododendrons are blooming

rhododendrons

allium flowers in bloom

Purple allium

Beneficial Bugs for my Garden 2012

2012-05-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Beneficial Bug for my Garden

10 praying mantis egg cases into each bag with a paper clip next to the sunny window

Every year I purchase Praying Mantis Egg Cases and place each one in a small lunch
paper bag. I do this for my garden they are a Beneficial Bug that eat the bad bugs in my Garden.

I placed each egg case in the bag and put a paper clip on top of the bag. Put them next to my sunny side of a window to hatch. So this year I purchased 10 egg cases and placed each one in the brown paper bag.

I am always in a hurry to plant veggies in my Garden before the Mantis hatch. I am still planting in my large garden and my small garden is finished. This year I am expanding my garden on the east side of my yard.

But I had no choice right now 3 bags of mantis eggs hatched and I needed to find a release spot for them.

You know when they hatch in the brown paper bag. It sounds like popcorn you hear them walking around inside the bag and if you lift the bag up to the sunny window you will see their little shadows. Oh so cute (at lease for a little alien praying mantis)

I did place some into my flower beds, into my small garden, my larger garden, strawberry patch and also in a hidden spot my hydrangea so the birds do not find and eat them.

Open the bag and this is the army of mantis

Egg case on the right you can hatch over 100 in an egg case

I placed the egg case on my cherry tomato

This is so much fun and if you have small children this is a beneficial educational project for them to experience.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Taking the Peels off Fresh Garlic

2012-05-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

This is an easy way to peel your Garlic Cloves.

I am always cooking and I use Garlic all the time. This can be in the form of minced, powder and fresh garlic.

So I showed my son how to peel the fresh garlic in a different way.

My son works out at the Gym and is a personal trainer plus he is cute and a big silly guy.

So I had Mr. Flex do this trick for me which is very easy for everyone even without the muscle power.

Here we go I took a few cloves of garlic and cut off both ends and put into my small pot and place a lid on it.

Then you Shake, Shake, Shake side to side, top to bottom. Hey you can play music and dance with your musical shake.

Place a few Garlic Cloves in a pot

Place a lid on top of your pot

Then shake up and down

Shake side to side

Shake Flex

I told you he was cute and silly

Garlic Peeled

Open the pot and you have your Garlic Clove peeled.

Be Creative
Enjoy

About Me My Bio Adventures in the Kitchen

2012-05-09T11:28:00.001-07:00

About Me
My Bio
Adventures in the Kitchen

My sister decided to create a recipe booklet.
Adventures in the Kitchen.

She wanted to put down all recipes that we Create to pass down to our next generation. She also added pictures to see what you can create.

She would ask me about our Dad and Mom's recipe's which during that time they did not write down their recipe in a booklet.

We both would try hard to think of how they cooked and what ingredients were in their creation. We tried to recreate their work.

So this is why I started Jasmine's Garden and Recipe's .
This blog not only sends out different ways to cook and gardening but also educates everyone how to enjoy nature's gifts.

Well here is what my sister wrote about me in her Adventures in the Kitchen.

Bio About Me.....

My sister has had a menagerie of pets over the years from feathered friends to fuzzy dogs and the occasional iguana. She has an awesome garden every year and has the biggest squash you've ever seen! We all want to know her secret. Maybe she was a farmer in a previous life...

Grandma is the chief tomato picker of my sisters summer garden.

My sister has an eclectic style of cooking, you never know what will end up in the recipe. She is a free form chef who will add things here and there. You will never have the same dish the same way twice but they all come out fabulous. Getting a recipe from my sister can be rather difficult though.

My sister did the best to profile me. Yes I had many many different animals from bunnies, chickens which I gathered fresh eggs, dogs of my own and a few I raised for the blind, cats and kittens, birds, turtles, Iguana's, fish, even two ferrets you name it.

Everything except a tiny pig and cow and wow I would love those.

With my Garden she is right again yes I grow everything I can fit into my garden and especially love my tomatoes. My yard filled with flowering plants, strawberries, trees that bloom flowers which holds my 12 birdhouses, trees that give fruit like my fig you can eat.

My Garden and yard is full of life with the morning songs of the birds and the chirping of the babies that just hatched.

I also have the beautiful butterflies around my bloomed flowers. They like parsley and dill plants to lay eggs for them to hatch and feed on while the life cycle continues.

Plus when my praying mantis egg cases hatch I will release into my Garden. My list goes on and on with all the living creatures that make my yard alive with life.

With my cooking well she is right again I am creative when I am in the Kitchen and can change my recipe anytime.

I love my best friend she is a cream golden retriever and she is with me all the time from the Kitchen and into the Garden.

So I hope this little bio of me will live on to my family, children and all you readers to Be Creative in the Kitchen and Enjoy.

Adventures in the Kitchen
Be Creative
Enjoy

Cream Vegetable Bean Soup

2012-05-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

Cream Vegetable Bean Soup

Ingredients give or take

Making Vegetable Bean Soup

Dice 1/4 red pepper
Dice 5 small carrots
Dice 1/4 red onion
Add to a Soup pot with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil stir frequently with a wooden and lightly saute.

Add ten cups of water and bring to a boil.

Dice a small hand full of frozen string beans
A small pinch of minced garlic
3 chicken flavor bouillon cubes
Sprinkle a little garlic powder
Sprinkle a little Mrs.Dash

Add to the soup pot.

I have been growing fresh curled parsley, Italian flat leaf parsley and dill, in my Garden.
I am adding a handful of all three Fresh spices into my soup pot.

Parsley and Dill in my Garden

In the soup pot add 12 oz. frozen Mixed Vegetables and return to a boil.

I added 1 8oz can of tomato sauce. (you can add tomato paste or even two tablespoons of pasta red sauce)

I did not have any chicken broth or stock so I add in 2 Goya Pollo chicken powder packs to give it the flavor.

Next add the can of of Goya Small white beans (Habichuelas Blancas) 15.5 oz. do not drain. Simmer until tender.

Remember everything is up to your taste. I taste my creations to see if I need to add more spices.

Put your finished soup into a blender and puree it then I added to my bowl of soup

some light cream. Hey if you want to use milk, half n half or even be creative add a spoon of sour cream.

I garnished with a little of my garden parsley and dill

Cream of Vegetable Bean Soup

Oh So Good

Be Creative

Enjoy

Vegetable Bean Soup

2012-05-09T09:18:00.001-07:00

Ingredients give or take

It's raining today so I decided to make Vegetable Bean Soup with whatever I have in my Kitchen.

Dice 1/4 red pepper
Dice 5 small carrots
Dice 1/4 red onion
Add to a Soup pot with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil stir frequently with a wooden and lightly saute.

Add ten cups of water and bring to a boil.

Dice a small hand full of frozen string beans
A small pinch of minced garlic
3 chicken flavor bouillon cubes
Sprinkle a little garlic powder
Sprinkle a little Mrs.Dash

Add to the soup pot.

I have been growing fresh curled parsley, Italian flat leaf parsley and dill, in my Garden.
I am adding a handful of all three Fresh spices into my soup pot.

Parsley and Dill in my Garden

In the soup pot add 12 oz. frozen Mixed Vegetables and return to a boil.

I added 1 8oz can of tomato sauce. (you can add a two tablespoons of pasta sauce, tomato paste

or even a small can of diced tomatoes) everything is up to your taste and what you have around the kitchen.

I did not have any chicken broth or stock so I add in 2 Goya Pollo chicken powder packs to give it the flavor.

Next add the can of of Goya Small white beans (Habichuelas Blancas) 15.5 oz. do not drain. Simmer until tender.

Optional

You can add a small hand full of pastina, mini pasta shells, thin egg noodles if you like.

Remember everything is up to your taste. I taste my creations to see if I need to add more spices.

If you like Your Bowl of Soup a little hot add a little red crushed pepper spice.

Vegetable Bean Soup

Be Creative

Enjoy

Nature in the Spring

2012-05-04T12:10:00.003-07:00

Ducks, Quack, Quack, Quack.

Every year around this time we have Mallard Ducks visit the Jersey Shore. They love to swim in our pool covered or an open pool. Well they love the water and the Female loves to eat any insects in the water while the beautiful male just watches over her and swims by her side. (boy I wish my man would do that for me)

Beautiful Mallard Ducks on my Pool Cover May 4th 2012

This Beautiful Male looks after Her

Nice View

Anyway here we are watching the Ducks for over 3 days in my pool. Male looks over women and women just forage to eat. They are so cool and I do not bother them plus they are getting use to me especially taking their pictures.

Smile your beak for the camera.

I give all the living wild life creatures food anything from bread, seed, scrap food and give them water.

Love Nature, Plants, Wildlife everything that God has put on this Earth to Enjoy. The Moments given to everyone on this planet are precious.

Be Creative
Enjoy