Kev made breakfast for us this morning. I was at IHOP yesterday for lunch with one of my coworkers and IHOP had Migas on the menu. It sounded so good, yet it would have never caught my eye had it not been for P-Dub's Migas recipe. I was very hungry when trying to decide what to have for lunch and finally decided on the Philly cheesesteak sandwich.
After I got home from work, dh and I went to pick up shred at the two credit unions so I could least have today off. I need at least one day at home to recuperate from the previous week and prepare for the coming week. Some people seem to thrive on being away from their home, but I have never been like that. We did a little bit of grocery shopping and I thought about the Migas again, and bought some of the ingredients I could remember.
I told Kev about it when we got home, and he looked up P-Dub's recipe, thought it sounded good enough to try for breakfast. I even bought black beans (they were on discount) and I didn't even remember those were part of P-Dub's recipe. I bought chorizo which was part of the IHOP ingredients.
Anyway, Kev did get up early and made us breakfast. He used P-Dub's recipe, but slightly altered.
Pioneer Woman's Migas4 5 corn tortillasCanola oil, coconut oil to fry tortillas10 to 12 large farm fresh eggs of varying sizes
1/4 cup half & half heavy cream1 tablespoon olive oil1 2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
1 red yellow bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 green bell pepper, roughly chopped4 plum tomatoes, roughly chopped 1 can diced tomatoes
1 large to 2 pickled jalapeno, seeded and finely diced (leave white membranes if you like things spicy)1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped cilantro, depending on your taste1 cup grated Monterey Jack or Cotija cheese
Check PW's site for the rest of the cooking instructions.
This was a delicious breakfast. Kev says be sure to use some black pepper and salt.
Until next time.
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Migas Pioneer Woman Style
Labels: recipes
Monday, October 13, 2008
Winter 2008 Seed Order
Labels: Gardening
At 2am I had a sneezing fit which woke me up and I couldn't sleep any longer. Thank God I don't have to drive in to work today. I was also hungry, which will cause me to stay awake for hours unless I get something to eat.
I decided to get something else off my TO DO list. Ordering fresh seeds for my garden. I'm already feeling discouraged because I have a gopher residing in my garden. I tell you it's not easy gardening out here. The entire garden area is fenced top and sides, but we didn't go so far as to dig out 12" of soil from the entire area and lay down hardware cloth, which would have taken both hours and hours of time, not to mention the money.
I decided to go ahead and order anyway, and hope we can manage the gopher problem. At least 95% of the birds can't get in, rabbits and squirrels and chipmunks are blocked by the outer fencing. Ants are easy to control with AMDRO
This time I'm leaning toward choosing heirlooms (they're cheaper and the seeds produce exactly what you grew originally, unlike hybrids which don't replicate perfectly), as well as seeds with the least days to harvest. The days estimated are what Pinetree experienced in their test gardens in Maine, so it might be different for us here. Still, I'd rather grow something that could be ready to harvest in 45 days as opposed to 75 days.
Here's what I ordered:
- 81803 OLD SPICE MIX SWEET PEA $1.10
- 94 BRIGHT LIGHTS CHARD (50 days) $1.30
- 80 EARLY SNOWBALL CAULIFLOWER (55 days) $0.75
- 69 MOKUM CARROT (F1 hybrid 54 days) $1.30
- 63 GOLDEN ACRE CABBAGE (55 days) $0.95
- 51 BUBBLES BRUSSELS SPROUTS (F1 hybrid 88 days) $1.60
- 48 EARLY DIVIDEND SG BROCCOLI (F1 hybrid 43 days) $1.30
- 258 KNIGHT PEA (56 days) $1.30
- 330 BLOOMSDALE LONG STANDING SPINACH (42 days) $0.85
- 33 CROSBY EGYPTIAN BEET (45 days) $0.95
- 301 CHERRY BELLE RADISH (21 days) $0.80
- 86 UTAH 52-70 CELERY (100 days) $0.95
- W239 CHIOGGIA BEET (55 days) $1.10
- 82909 CHING CHANG BOK CHOY $1.25
- 19101 KONSERVA KALE (50 days) $1.10
- 203 PINETREE LETTUCE MIX $1.10
- 213 TOM THUMB LETTUCE (47 days) $0.85
- 430-PURPLE TOP WHITE GLOBE TURNIPS (58 days) $0.65
TOTAL $22.70
I can't decide whether to go out and milk, or go back to bed for a couple hours.
Until next time.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
October Gardening
Labels: Gardening Chart
Winter is the main planting season in the desert! It's finally starting to cool down so it's easier to get out there and work in the garden. I would love to plant every thing on the list I'm including below, but I know from past experience it's best to pick a few things and be successful, than to try to plant everything and become overwhelmed. In case you'd like more of an authority on the topic, check out the University of Arizona College Agriculture and Life Sciences. This link goes directly to October.
I'm going to bold the vegetables I will definitely be planting. I'm going to make the ones I'd like to plant green bold.
October 1 through 15:
- Beets
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli TS
- Brussels Sprouts TS
- Cabbage TS
- Cabbage, Chinese TS
- Carrots
- Cauliflower TS
- Celery TS
- Chard TS
- Collard Greens
- Endive
- Garlic
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Lettuce, Head TS
- Lettuce, Leaf TS
- Leek
- Mustard
- Onions, Bulb
- Onions, Green
- Parsnips
- Peas
- Radishes
- Rutabagas
- Spinach
- Turnips
- Beets
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli TS
- Brussels Sprouts TS
- Cabbage TS
- Cabbage, Chinese TS
- Carrots
- Cauliflower TS
- Celery TS
- Chard TS
- Collard Greens
- Endive
- Garlic
- Kale
- Kohlrabi TS
- Lettuce, Head TS
- Lettuce, Leaf TS
- Mustard
- Onions, Bulb
- Onions, Green
- Parsnips
- Peas
- Radishes
- Rutabagas
- Spinach
- Turnips
I am a little discouraged as I discovered there is a gopher hole in my garden, right in the middle of it.
I am planning to make another pot of Weed Soup tomorrow. The last of it was finished off today. I will use more purslane as it was really delicious in the soup, thankfully there is plenty in my garden.
There is one more weed in my garden that I have not yet positively identified. I think it could be Lambs Quarters, but I'm not sure. Weeds of the West
is my favorite book to help me identify weeds. I bought it several years ago to help identify which weeds on our property can be safely eaten by our goats, and which are toxic. It is helpful to look through the book to see if I can find the weed I am looking for - there are photos of the plant in various stages. After I think I know what the weed is, I search the Internet for more information. I will not eat the weed unless I am positive of its identification. Here is a site that can help determine whether a weed is safe to eat.One thing that is really interesting to me is there are some weeds I have known about since I was a child. It has been really neat to learn their names.
Until next time.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Weed Soup
Labels: recipes
I planted my garden about a month ago but most of my seeds didn't germinate. What did germinate was a lot of weeds. I started wondering if they were edible. I nonchalantly toss them to the chickens which attack them with gusto. I've written about Malva in my garden before and I know it is edible. And the other weed was one that I've seen at the local grocery stores that cater to the Hispanic population. I finally figured out it is purslane. I had a hard time finding photos of the variety of purslane that is in my garden so I decided to take a bunch in all stages of growth and put them onto my Flickr account.
And then tonight, I made Weed Soup. I looked at a few recipes today that call for purslane, but here's what I came up with on my own. I am very pleased with this combination of ingredients, although the green chili will make the soup have "heat" to it.
Weed Soup
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 Tablespoon butter
3 cups chicken broth
3 cups water
1/4 cup barley
1/2 cup lentils
1 green chili pepper, diced
Hefty bunch of parslane, chopped
Saute the onion in butter until transparent. Pour in chicken broth, lentils, barley and green chili pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Add the chopped purslane and simmer for 10-15 minutes longer. Next time I'll chop the stems into shorter pieces. Also, I'll avoid using the stem closest to the root as some of the pieces of stem were a little tough, kind of like asparagus can be sometimes. I just chewed up the tougher pieces to get all the good out of them and then removed the fibrous pieces from my mouth. Into a napkin, of course.
Purslane is good for you, here's a quote: "It was one of the most important of the wild plant foods for the native peoples of the Southwest — Pueblo, Zuni, Navajo, Hopi, Tohono O'odom and others. The seed, ground and added to breads and stews, brought valuable protein to the diet. The leaves and stems are rich in nutrients. One cup of the leaves (100 grams) contains iron, vitamin A, calcium, vitamins C and E, phosphorus, zinc, magnesium, manganese and silica."
According to this site purslane is packed with omega 3 fatty acids and one cup has only seven calories.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Until next time.
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Guest Post WENDS: Bring On The Games and Install Them
You know what it's time for? It's time for the installation of all of the games I had to uninstall! Do you remember why I had to uninstall them? It was because my 80 GB hard drive couldn't store them all. Each game ranges from 1.5-4.5 GB, and now that I've got a 250 GB HD, I should be able to comfortably install them all.
I know what you're thinking. I assure you, humble fool, I'm not a freak. Maybe I am, but I assure you I aren't. Anyway, I only use the computer for one kind of game: RTS. (And The Sims, but that's kind of pointless. Fun for about two hours...then pointless.)
RTS stands for Real Time Strategy. I won't go into details, but it's the kind of game where you make units and the enemy makes units and you go destroy their units, as opposed to a game where you are an individual and you go kill other individuals. Here are the games I am installing:
Command and Conquer: The First Decade
Which includes the "First Decade" of games:
- Command and Conquer
- C&C: Red Alert
- Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun
- C&C: Red Alert 2
- C&C: Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge expansion
- Command and Conquer Renegade
- C&C Generals
- C&C Generals Zero Hour expansion
Command and Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath expansion pack
Sins of a Solar Empire (space RTS)
The Sims
Yep, as you can tell, I'm a C&C fan. I have been since I was young, back when it was just Command and Conquer and C&C: Red Alert. Those are both old games...especially Command and Conquer. Alright, I just got The First Decade installed. If I were a fan of The Sims, I would purchase the Complete Collection which is kind of like The First Decade but with Sims.
Next up will be Tib wars and the expansion, then SINS, and I'm not sure when I'll install The Sims. I'll let you know when it is finished. Or at least I'll comment on this matter again at some future point in time. Now I'll go because Windows and The First Decade are both whining about needing a system restart...whine whine whine.
Note: This is the first post I made with ScribeFire, a Firefox add-on, so there might be some format issues. It looks like it might be useful, but you can never be sure of these things.
