Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Posts Tagged ‘Gardening’

These are really simple to make and really delicious to eat Really. Just take a few tablespoons of Dijon mustard and mix with a half teaspoon of fresh thyme. Sprinkle pork chops (these are Saratoga chops) with salt and pepper and spread one side with mustard mixture. Grill 5 minutes, turn, spread with more mustard mixture, top chops with a sprig of rosemary, and grill another 5 minutes or till done.

These are long gone now, but I just love these little daffodils we have growing behind the house. They’re about six inches tall and just adorable

As I said earlier, Dan wants to grow as much from seed this year as we can. We had friends over for dinner a few weeks ago, and I served roasted Brussels sprouts as a side dish. Dan thought he hated Brussels sprouts, but liked them roasted, so we’re going to try growing some this year.

Dan wants to try starting a lot of our spring garden plants from seed this year, so we went to the Norfolk County Feed & Seed store yesterday and got a variety of things to start with. He already planted peas in the garden, and we have everything we need to get seeds going in the sunroom. We’ll see how it goes

We planted a pretty good variety of peppers this year, both hot and sweet. We had so many Tabasco peppers, I decided to make homemade Tabasco sauce.

So I Googled for recipes, and the same one kept popping up. That seemed like a good endorsement, so I tried it. I’ll be honest – I haven’t actually tried this on anything yet. I mean, I like hot food, but after whizzing it in the blender, I gave it a sniff and you know what? I have one piece of advice: Don’t sniff the blender

Homemade Tabasco Sauce

12 large Tabasco chile peppers, stemmed (I used 15 because that’s how ripe ones many I had)
1 clove peeled garlic
½ cup vinegar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar

Boil the chile peppers and garlic in vinegar in a small, non-metal saucepan until tender. Puree in a blender with the salt and sugar. Run through a metal sieve if necessary.

Dilute this paste with more vinegar until it is the consistency of rich cream. Pour into a non-metal saucepan, bring to a boil, then pour into a hot, sterilized bottle to within ½ inch of the rim.

Run a sterilized knife around the inside of the bottle to release air bubbles. Wipe the rim clean and seal with a scalded top. Store in the refrigerator once opened.

From: Red Hot Peppers by Jean Andrews

This is my entry in Grow Your Own, the twice-monthly food blogging event that celebrates homegrown produce and other items, originated by Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes and hosted this time by Heart and Hearth.

The roundup of all the recipes is here.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a Photo Friday image, but here’s a good one. We have bok choy growing in the garden right now. So far, I’ve made fried rice and a chicken stir-fry with it. Both were great. We still have quite a bit, so maybe I’ll use some in the potluck dish I need to make for the Fall Festival at work Friday.