I recommend using small to medium eggs in this recipe. This allows you to keep most of the avocado fruit intact. Using larger eggs means that you will have to scoop out more fruit to hold the larger volume. If you have to do that, just serve the scooped out avocado on the side with the tomato.

Eggs Baked in Avocado

Yield: Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 avocados
• 8 small to medium sized eggs
• Chopped flat leaf parsley
• Chopped chives
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
• Toasted bread

Preparation

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 450°F.
2. Cut each avocado in half and remove the pit. Using a small spoon, scrape out the center of each halved avocado so that it is large enough to accommodate an egg (about 1 tablespoon).
3. Place halved avocados on a foil-lined baking sheet. Break an egg into the center of each avocado, keeping the yolk intact (some egg whites may spill over).
4. Bake in the oven until whites are set and yolk is runny, about 10 to 18 minutes. Cooking time will vary depending on size of egg and whether it is at refrigerator or room temperature. Check every two minutes after the 10-minute mark. Cook longer for stiffer yolks.
5. Remove from oven and garnish with parsley, chives, salt and pepper and serve with toast and sliced tomatoes.

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Now I’m no couch potato – I’m active and regularly hike with my 13-year-old son. And I do engage in a lot of garden work in my back yard. I love to do these activities and they keep me healthy, fit and strong.

Due to knee pain, I started using garden kneeling pads years ago. These inexpensive products are a godsend to anyone who suffers from knee pain when they are weeding and working at the ground level in their garden.

But now I’m thinking that the simple garden kneeling pads are not enough. I think I’m ready for an upgrade.

So I’ve turned to the Yard Butler GKS-2 Garden Kneeler and Seat. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it! Well it’s really a basic kneeling and bench device that I believe will help ease my pain.

I am purchasing this item because it provides some key benefits for people suffering from joint pain when gardening. Additionally, it folds flat (5 inches thick) for convenient storage. I also anticipate that it will be useful for camping and household chores like cleaning out floor-level cabinets.

So here goes – I’m buying it to use for the 2013 gardening and camping season. Is this the one tool to ease my knee and back pain in the garden? I’ll let you know if it holds up to my great expectations.

Yard Butler GKS-2 Garden Kneeler and Seat.  Available at Amazon.com for $33.40:

• Sturdy, lightweight and portable
• Reduces strain and injury to your lower back and knees
• Protects your clothes from dirt and grass stains
• Weighs 8.5 pounds but easily holds 250 pounds
• Lifetime warranty

If you buy one, let me know what you think about it!

The post One Tool to Ease Your Knee and Back Pain in the Garden appeared first on Kitchen Food Garden.

But when I looked out the window this morning, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a flurry of white flakes comparable to the best snow squalls I’ve seen in the dead of winter.

But wait – snow flurries in May? In 60° weather?

No, these white flowery flakes were black locust tree blossoms flying off the tree in my front yard. This tree produces thousands of clusters of white flowers that bloom every May, and when the flower petals begin to drop it looks like winter has returned.

I love to watch this flurry of blossoms every year. The cherry tree blossoms in my neighbor’s yard also produce this phenomenon, but the flurry caused by my black locust tree is a blizzard compared to the cherry tree’s mere shower of petals.

Unfortunately, I do have to sweep and rake up all of the fallen blossoms. This also reminds me of winter, when the beauty of a snowfall is followed by the chore of shoveling.

Oh well…. The drifting blossoms will make for great compost!

See Also: My Love-Hate Relationship With My Black Locust Tree

The post Snow Flurries in May! No, Just Locust Tree Blossoms appeared first on Kitchen Food Garden.

Make Her a Garden Gift Basket. Include seed packets, small garden tools, a garden “how to” book, nice garden gloves and other garden accessories. Put them all together in a straw garden hat and tie it up in a bow. If she’s a gardener, I guarantee you she’ll love it! Garden Gift Basket Ideas.

Give Her a Cookbook. Look for cookbooks that feature foods that she loves. Explore cookbooks that offer recipes on desserts, certain diets (like Mediterranean or vegan), or entertaining for guests. See some of the best cookbooks of 2012 here.

Give Her a Potted Plant. This is the easiest gift you can give your mom on Mother’s Day. And the options are endless – it can be an indoor plant, something that can be transplanted into the garden, or a plant for the deck or to hang from the porch. Choose something that is at or near peak bloom for a better “wow” factor.

More ideas for Mother’s Day Gifts for the Garden and Kitchen:

Last Minute Kitchen & Garden Gift Ideas

Gifts for Gardeners

Best Cookbooks of 2012

Mother’s Day Kitchen Gift: Indoor Herb Garden

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The rhododendrons in my garden are really starting to pop. I have three different varieties, with white, red and lavender blossoms. Every year I dutifully take pictures of the blossoms, sometimes in shade, sometimes in full sun and sometimes in rainy weather. And every year the shady and rainy images win out over the full sun photos.

Another trend I notice is that the lavender blossoms always produce the best images. I know I can adjust camera aperture and shutter speed to account for the bright white and red blossoms, but over and over again the lavender blossoms win out for “most photogenic.”

So here’s this year’s image of my backyard lavender rhododendron in bloom.

See last year’s (2012) rhododendron image.

Tips on pruning rhododendrons, azaleas and lilacs.

The post Rhododendron in Bloom – KFG Image of the Week appeared first on Kitchen Food Garden.

The salsa recipe is a scaled-back version of my 6-pint recipe for making canned salsa. The recipe below makes one pint, which will last for up to 7 days in your refrigerator. This is a medium-heat salsa that uses Anaheim chili peppers, but you can kick up the heat by adding some chopped jalapeno.

The guacamole recipe also features Anaheim peppers. I recommend using milder varieties of Anaheim peppers to preserve the traditional coolness that guacamole offers when you are eating spicy foods. An alternative to Anaheims can be red or yellow bell peppers. And however you celebrate Cinco de Mayo, make sure good food is at the centerpiece and stay thirsty my friend!

Anaheim Salsa

Makes 1 pint

Ingredients:

• 1 2/3 cups peeled, cored and chopped Roma tomatoes, (about 1 1/3 lbs of whole tomatoes before processing) (See Note)
• 2/3 cup seeded, chopped green, red or yellow Anaheim chili pepper (adjust amount for heat to taste)
• 1 seeded, chopped jalapeno pepper (optional, adjust for heat to taste)
• 3/4 cup chopped onions
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

1. In a stainless steel sauce pan, combine tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, garlic, vinegar, cilantro and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and gently boil for 20 minutes. Let salsa cool and store in glass jar or plastic container in refrigerator for up to 7 days.

Note: To easily peel and core tomatoes, first hull the tomatoes, then place them in boiling water for 20 seconds. Immediately remove them to a bowl of ice water to cool for 2 minutes. Drain, peel off the skins, cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the core. Drain again and chop to desired size.

Guacamole with Radish and Roasted Anaheim Chilies

Ingredients:

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1/2 red onion, minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1-2 radishes, minced (about  ¼ cup)
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 Anaheim chili, roasted, seeds removed, minced (or substitute roasted red or yellow bell pepper) (See Note)
• 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 lime (1/2 reserved)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 1/2 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped

Preparation

1. Cut avocados in half. Remove seed. Scoop out avocado from the peel and put in a mixing bowl.
2. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the avocado until smooth but slightly chunky. Stir in the chopped onion, radishes, cilantro, Anaheim chili, cumin, salt and pepper.  Juice ½ of the lime and stir in.
3. Press plastic wrap onto surface of guacamole to prevent browning and rest for one hour at room temperature. Adjust seasoning and serve or seal and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
4. Stir in fresh chopped tomato and squeeze in the last half of lime just before serving.  Garnish with red radishes. Serve with tortilla chips.

Note: To roast Anaheim chilies, set your grill on high, or oven on broil.  Roast peppers, turning frequently for about 5 minutes, or until the pepper’s skin blisters and turns brown.  Remove peppers immediately into a paper bag and let them sit for 10-15 minutes.  Cut roasted peppers in half, remove seeds and peel skin. Slice or chop according to recipe.

¡Feliz cinco de mayo todo el mundo!

The post Guacamole and Salsa Recipes for Cinco de Mayo – KFG Recipe of the Week appeared first on Kitchen Food Garden.

Heinz does makes a ketchup with no high fructose corn syrup. Now they need to eliminate the food additive from all of their products.

By now, most everyone knows that high fructose corn syrup is bad for you. The proliferation of this food additive has greatly expanded the problem of obesity in America and elsewhere in the world.

As a result, many people are starting to eliminate high fructose corn syrup from their diet. They are scrutinizing food ingredient labels with a watchful eye for this bad boy of food additives. In a trend toward avoiding high fructose corn syrup, people are switching to alternative food and drink products made with real cane sugar. Good for them.

But you need to pay careful attention – high fructose corn syrup may still be lurking in your refrigerator. It’s in more foods than you think – condiments like ketchup and relish are good examples.

Luckily, major brand name companies are responding to the public’s growing awareness and disdain for high fructose corn syrup. For example, Heinz now sells a version of ketchup called “Simply Heinz” which uses cane sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup used in their regular ketchup.

So good for Heinz, right? Well not exactly. You see, they still sell most of their ketchup with the bad stuff in it, and they aren’t really making a large marketing effort to tell the public about their healthier alternative product.

Let’s face it, high fructose corn syrup is cheaper for these food companies to use in their products and they will continue to use it until people stop buying the stuff.

So be vigilant. Read ingredient labels. Ask grocery store clerks for alternative products with no high fructose corn syrup. We as consumers can change food manufacturers’ behaviors and the ingredients they include in the products we buy.

You can start by switching to ketchup that is free of high fructose corn syrup.

The post Want to Eliminate High Fructose Corn Syrup From your Diet? Start With Ketchup. appeared first on Kitchen Food Garden.

Photo Credit: Thinkquest.org

Good news from across the pond. Today, the European Union has voted to move forward with a continent-wide ban on pesticides that scientists say are harming bee populations across Europe and the United States.

The pesticides at issue are called neonicotinoids (pronounced “neo-nicotine-oids”) , the world’s most widely used insecticides. Scientific studies have found that these chemicals greatly diminish the number of queen bees produced in hives and can disorient foraging bees so they never make it back to the hive.

Honey bee populations in the US and UK have dropped by about 30-50% in the past 25 years. Based on scientific research linking neonicotinoids to this decline, the European Food Safety Authority has found that these chemicals pose an “unacceptable” risk to bees.

The EU ban will suspend the use of three neonicotinoids – thiamethoxam, clothianidin and imidacloprid. For two years, these chemicals will be banned from use on flowering commercial crops that are attractive to bees – namely corn, oilseed rape and sunflowers.

The ban offers an extraordinary opportunity for scientific research across multiple climate zones from Northern Europe to the Mediterranean Sea. Expect a flurry of field studies on bee behavior, hive health and reproduction in the absence of neonicotinoids.

Photo Credit: Apicurious.com

Many scientific, economic and political questions need to be answered:

• In the absence of neonicotinoids, will bee populations bounce back?
• If population recovery does happen, how long will it take – and should the two-year ban be extended?
• Without neonicotinoids, will Europe see a spike in crop losses due to insect pests? Or will integrated pest management and other best practices keep crop losses in check?

There are many questions, and only a two-year window to answer them. But it is a window nonetheless, and an incredible opportunity to learn about the environmental effects of a large-scale shift in farming practices across a continent.

Stay tuned….

Pesticides That Harm Bees Are Banned in Europe – More Information and Links from The Guardian in London:

Bee-harming pesticides banned in Europe

Bee protection: US in spotlight as EU bans pesticides

Insecticide ‘unacceptable’ danger to bees, report finds

Pesticides linked to honeybee decline

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Look at this beautiful miniature chicken egg! My next-door neighbor has five small hens that produce these tiny chicken eggs. To get an idea of the size of these things, make a circle by connecting your middle finger with your thumb – these little eggs will pass right through! These eggs contain about half the volume of whites and yolk found in standard Extra Large eggs from the store, so I can easily adjust the number of eggs called for in any given recipe. Below is another shot showing the comparison to a standard Extra Large egg.

A standard Extra Large egg from the supermarket on the left, compared with a tiny egg produced by my neighbor’s chickens. I love these little eggs!

The post Everything is Egg-OK! Check Out These Tiny Chicken Eggs appeared first on Kitchen Food Garden.

Courtesy of FoodCorps.org

Here at Kitchen Food Garden, we like to highlight organizations and projects that support community and school gardens. Any time communities can teach younger generations about gardening and nutritional food is time well spent. Today we are proud to salute a national program called FoodCorps.

Founded in 2009, FoodCorps is a program based on the model of PeaceCorps and AmeriCorps. FoodCorps teaches American children how to grow, prepare and eat nutritional food. It accomplishes this goal through nutritional education, engaging in school gardens, and donating locally grown produce to families and public schools across the country.

FoodCorps places motivated leaders in limited-resource communities for a year of public service. Working with local partner organizations, these leaders:

• Teach children about healthy food and where it comes from
• Build and tend school gardens
• Bring high quality local food into public school cafeterias

In a short time, FoodCorps has produced tremendous results. As of August 15, 2012, FoodCorps has:

• Reached 54,389 children
• Produced 22,164 lbs. of produce for children
• Created 266 garden projects across the nation

See this video about FoodCorps at TedxManhatten:

Please support and share the work of FoodCorps. Visit FoodCorps.org to find out more.

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