Happy Summer Time!

Hey Everyone! Since it takes me over a month to update this thing, I have a ton of pictures for you! Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer, I can't believe it's already the 19th of August!

Which is by the way My amazing father's Birthday and my parents 38th Anniversary!

So happy Birthday Dad and Happy Anniversary to you both!
Love you tons!

So, without further ado, let see whats been happening in the Anderson Garden/ household shall we....

I'm gonna appologize ahead of time for the short dialouge in this weeks blog, there are just a ton of pictures, and i'm just gonna label and give some short ad-lib to the important ones :-)

Let's start off with one of Jim's projects, he built this rock wall in one afternoon. That's leveling the dirt, getting the rocks, and placing them. He's amazing. After he built the wall, he laid down some grass seed and a hay like mixture to seed it in. That night, who do you think should walk right over the newly seeded grass?...

A big old bear.

It's a little hard to see the tracks clearly, but Jim put in the trowel for scale. The bear walked right through our back yard, smashing a pathway through the garden. Oh well..

Here's the side garden now. Well done Jimmy :-)

The delphinium was gorgeous this year.

Goblin Flowers

Day Lilies.

Foxglove.

Maltese Cross.

Purple  bellflowers and lavender.

More Foxglove.

One of Jim's garden paths :-)

Our first raspberries of the season! They were delicious!

Our garlic harvest this year! Over 20 bulbs!

Tor and the Liatris.

Jims and I took a side trip this summer, a little overnighter to Lenado...

Amazing views of Pyramid Peak and Maroon Bells.

Our campsite

a beautiful little waterfall we found.

more views of Pyramid and Maroon bells

A little deer saying hello :-)

a backyard view with the white delphinium-

which was huge this year!

light blue delphinum.

Icelandic Poppies.

I finally finished these slippers.

I started the first one a year ago- and I finally made it's matching pair :-)

It figures that the first article of clothing that I make for our new arrival in January

is a sasquatch onesy.

I thought it turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself.

I made a stencil one some freezer paper, and ironed the shiny side down to the onsey-

then just painted in the Squatch. After it dried i peeled it off and whalla!

You can obviously make other, less squatchy stencils for your projects.

Our bean crop this year, this is just a small portion of them, we have a ton!

Jim's second amazing project.

I showed you pictures of the first wall jim was building, he has added to that and built some amazing rock walls to go along with it.

The second and third terrace is going to be filled in with good topsoil and used as a vegetable garden next summer!

Another view of the second terrace and rock walls.

Jimmy's amazing rock walls. see if you can spot the turtle, or turtles...

our wild veggie garden,

with overgrown arugula, spinich, lettuce, carrots and oregano.

beans, and beets-

which we harvested shortly after this photo was taken and planted potatoes in there place.

It's hard to tell, but this is the aftermath of a bear trying to eat our delicious raspberries.

He broke a few of the large stalks, but Jim being clever managed to save most of them. The bear tried to come back the next day- but Jim shooed him off. 

 now we eat the raspberries as soon as they ripen, so as not to give the bear a reason to come back.

and so far he hasn't :-)

Our beet harvest this year-

We planted a different variety this year to try them out. they were elongated, rather than round-

but still tasty :-)

Our summer harvest meal.

Handmade polenta with roasted sweet potatoes, topped with a tomatoes and fresh basil salsa.

served with roasted beets, and beet greens.

It was yummy.

Jim say's it was the best meal he's had all year.

I'll post the recipe, as soon as I remember what I put in it :-)

Our first carrots.

Hollyhocks!

 

Happy summer everyone, and Have a wonderful day!!

Strawberry Days!

We finally get to eat some of our strawberries this year!! Thanks to Jim's genius critter proof cage over them :-)

Happy Summer!

Happy Summer Everyone! Hope it's treating you well! I have a ton of pictures to show you-

since I haven't updated in a while...

I'll start from the begining of our garden this year in June.

Above were our apple blossoms- they were so bright and beautiful!
I think this is the first year we've been around to see them!

Our Allium

The herb garden before we planted beets etc.

We have a ton of garlic coming up this year, at least twice as many as last year.

One of Jim's projects this summer! He is leveling off the top left part of our back yard-

normally it's just a steep hill that is unused- this way we can hang out back there, once it's finished and layed with grass :-)

I'm not sure if i've ever put up a photo of the raspberry bars- but I though I might just in case-

the recipe is along the side of the blog.

These bars are delicious, and SO easy to make- I definetly recomend them!

Tor got his yearly paint job! I made him brighter this year :-)

(hope he likes it :-)

Our first lupine came out in mid June. The light white and purple ones smelled fantastic!

We had some different color ones this year. I especially like this pale pink one :-)

Bleeding Heart

 

Bright pink Lupine

Iris

 

Columbine

Our first annual basket :-)

This was the most amazing smelling Lupine!

I didn't even know Lupine could smell!

Jim's next project.

He built this retaining wall to help contain all the dirt from the upper area (where he's making it flat)

He'll eventually close it in, and line the top with glass- to create a greenhouse off of the shed.

Genius.

another angle of the wall.

One view of our garden.

Before the peonies bloomed

You can just start to make out the sprouts from the lettuce, swiss chard, arugula, beets, radishes and beans. (maybe..)

Recipe time!

These muffins were delicious! The ones in the picture were the second batch I made, and a few of the ingredients changed slightly- due to the fact I ran out of what I had used earlier :-)
Necessity is the mother of invention... and according to Jim this second batch was better.

I'll give you both recipes, (the second is in parenthesis) and you can decide for yourself.

Apple Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

 

2 tsp ground flax seed

1 Tbs warm water

3/4 cup almond milk

1 medium apple peeled and diced

3/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup chopped almonds

1/4 cup apple sauce (or 1 medium banana mashed)

1/4 cup oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup GF flour

1 tsp xanthum gum

1 cup oats (or 1/4 cup oats & 3/4 cup granola)

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground Ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

-Preheat oven to 400.

-In medium bowl mix flax seed and water. Add next 8 ingredients (all the liquids plus sugar)

-In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients

-Mix wet and dry together and fill muffin cups 3/4 full

-Bake for 15-20 minutes.
-Makes 12 muffins

 

You know it's summer when the Peonies bloom.....

 

Yay Peonies! this was the first one.

but shortly, more followed!

Jim surprised me with this beautiful arrangement in our bathroom :-)

 

This is the first year these little Peonies have bloomed!

The pinks ones just exploded-

Jim has to keep adjusting the string and stakes to hold them up!

The veggie garden is starting to come along now.

We had to put a cage over the strawberries-

since some critter ate our first ripe ones!

Ugh, Every year that critter beats us!

The white Peonies :-) which smell divine.

Taken today,

our Gypsy Dianthus is starting to bloom and our Snow in Summer is flourishing (or taking over...)

 

Well that's the garden update for now- Hope your enjoying yours as much as we are!

please send me pictures!

I'll post some more recipes soon- I attempted to make a berry cobbler last night- but I think I need to add more berries next time, because they thickened way too much and became jammy!

Oh well- that still didn't stop them from being devoured- I even had some for breakfast this morning :-)

once I get the recipe down i'll post it :-)

I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July weekend!

Laugh, Love and Take time to Smell the Peonies!

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring everyone!

Although spring in these parts seems to be a lot of snow then sunshine, then snow, then sunshine....

But i'm excited because I finally have some things to show you...

At least thats my excuse for not posting in awhile, most of this winter I haven't done anything truly worthy of sharing. So here we go- new stuff :-)

Banana Streusel Muffins GF

2 cups GF flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup ripe banana mashes (2 medium)

1/2 cup almond milk W/ 1/2 tsp vinegar added

1/3 cup apple sauce

1 Tbs Ground Flax seed stirred with 2 Tbs warm water

1/4 cup pecans chopped

Topping

3 Tbs sugar

3 Tbs earth balance

1/2 cup GF flour

-Preheat oven to 375. grease muffin cups.

-In a large mixing bowl, sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

-In a seperate bowl, combine banana, almond milk mixture, apple sauce, flax seed mixture and peacans

-stir in flour mixture- and fill muffin cups 2/3 full.

-in a small bowl, cut earth balance into flour and sugar. Spinkle the struesel mixture over the batter.

-bake for 15-20 min. cool 5 min, before removing from pan.

Banana bread with a kick

1 cup gf flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthum gum
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground Ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 1/2 ounces vegan butter (earth balance)
2 tsp ground flaxseed
3 small bananas mashed
1 tsp cayenne
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup dates

(*if you don't want it so spicy- add less cayenne and nutmeg)


Preheat oven to 350.
In a bowl mix flour, baking powder, spices and salt.
In stand mixer add sugar, butter, flaxseed and bananas.
Add flour mixture, pecans and dates.
Spray loaf pan, fill with batter and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool on a rack before serving.

Some of our first crocus this spring.

More Crocus...

Another finished project.. our mead.

we just bottled it, and by the time it's ready to drink, it will have been well over a year since we fist brewed it!

talk about being patient!

This blog is pretty random so far, So I'm gonna go with it, and make it more random.

What animal do you think, if any, is hiding in the field when I zoom in on the picture?

If you said Zebra you would be wrong.

It's elk, and they are pretty excited for sping too :-)

Ok, another garden pic,

I'm gonna try and take a picture of this part of the garden throughout the summer so we can see a timeline of things growing..

I'd love to see your gardens too!!!!! e-mail me pics and we can do a garden share :-)

I've been trying to finish some knitting projects....

These are also posted on ravelry, under aspensnaprdragon.

This project started out as a cowl, then I found it too itchy and decided to turn it into a felted purse.

Theres no pattern for the project, I just winged it... pretty much like everything else I create :-)

Slippers that I intended to knit for myself, then realized they were much to big, even after felting- So now, they are Jim's slippers :-) and he likes them.

Link : "duffers" - really fast and easy knit

A cabled purse pattern that I modified (surprise) -

Link: quinn cabled bag

I have to knit the braided straps then I'll be all done :-)

I would love to see any of your knitted projects too, or any craft project really-

 We could turn this into a shared blog,  instead of just about me :-)

if you have any suggestions or things to share feel free to reply to my posts or e-mail me, I'm always happy to hear from you guys- it makes me think people might actually read this blog!

Well cheers everybody! have a wonderful spring, and remember to enjoy the sunshine!



Yes Yes, it's been awhile..

First off I'm going to apologize for not posting in what seems like forever. I don't know what it is about this winter, but it's been hard to motivate. And also our house was broken into just after the new year, a bunch of electronics were stolen, including my camera. So that also had a lot to do with not posting, because who wants to read a blog without pictures! So I appreciate the patience- I got a new camera and am now ready to share some new recipes with you. Have a great day Everyone!!

Shepard pie with sweet potato mash

(I couldn't get a good angle on the photo- so sorry if it doesn't look that great :-)

Filling

2 leeks washed and sliced thin
2 cups cooked kidney beans
2 medium carrots diced
2 cloves garlics minced
2 celery ribs diced
2 cups tvp
*(re-hydrated in 2 cups h20, 1 tsp fresh Ginger and 1 tsp mushroom bouillon)

1 package of tempeh
*(sauteed until absorbed in 2/3 cup h2o, 1/3 cup braggs, 1 tsp minced Ginger,
& 1 garlic clove)



Sweet potato mash

2 medium sweet potatoes diced
3 medium potatoes diced
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp herbs De Provence
3Tbs (or more) Smart Balance
2 Tbs plain almond milk (for thinning, if mashers are too thick)


* boil potatoes until really tender, drain and cover with a kitchen towel for 2 minutes- mash the potatoes with smart balance, add the garlic powder, herbs De Provence and salt to taste
Layer the filling into a large baking dish and top with the potato's. cover and put in an oven at 375 for 15-20 minutes, remove foil and Bake for another 5-10 minutes. 
 
 
 
 

Shepard Pie "Pockets" with Spicy Dipping sauce

(they may look homemade, but they are really good!!)

1 cup Shepard pie filling

Crust:

1 cup gf flour

1 Tbs ground flax seed

1 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthum gum

1 tsp herbs De Provence

3/4 stick cold earth balance

1-2 Tbs ice water

Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients together in food processor until combined and mixture begins to form into a ball. Place dough in a large Ziploc and roll out until 1" thick- Chill in fridge for at least and hour. * (I didn't chill mine, and it was really hard to roll out- it kept sticking!)

Once the dough is chilled, roll out to 1/4" thick and cut out circles or squares ( doesn't really matter, just so that it's big enough to but filling in and fold over.) Place 1-2Tbs inside circle and carefully fold over and pinch edges together.

Bake for 20-30 minutes on an oiled cookie sheet, until the edges are beginning to brown.

Dipping Sauce

2 Tbs veganaise

1 Tbs saracha hot sauce

1 Tbs Spicy mixed peppers in liquid (banana peppers etc.)

Mix together ingredients for dipping sauce.

(I can't wait until our lavender starts growing!)

sorry, sidetracked, Moving on..

I have also been making raspberry bars, which I may have put up a recipe for in the past, but I'll share it with you again in a wheat free version, since they are so darn delicious and easy to make.

(I can't help myself from eating at least half of these bars, I have to give them away just to save myself :-)

Raspberry Bars (wheat free version)

(No picture, they were seriously eaten Way too fast!

1 cup gf flour

1 cup oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp xanthum gum

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 stick earth balance melted

1/2 cup raspberry preserves

preheat oven to 350.

Mix all ingredients (besides raspberries) in a bowl until crumbly. It's easier to mix in the earth balance by hand until you have little pea size bits.

oil a 9x9 baking pan and place about 2/3 of the oat mixture on bottom, pressing down softly. Spread the raspberry preserve, staying away from the very edges of the crust (makes it easier to cut later). Top with the remaining oat mixture.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown on top.

*(25 minutes will make the bars a little softer and gooier after cooling, and 35 minutes will make the bars firmer.) 

Allow bars to cool completely before cutting. Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So there you have it. Sorry I don't have more interesting photo's to share with you, I promise to take more this week and do a proper post with lots of pictures!  I hope this finds everyone well, and we all take time to laugh and love! XOXooX