Breakfast in the Garden

I love Saturday mornings. Our family generally sits down to a delicious brunch. I make coffee and Jared makes some sort of eggs, potatoes, veggies, cheese, and sometimes toast (from breakfast skillets to over-easy eggs, toast, and hashbrowns).

We have to fertilize to keep the raised garden beds in good shape so I talked to my uncle (he has raised beds and helped us build ours) and he said that he uses coffee grounds and crushed egg shells as fertilizer. So I've been doing the same. Then about a month or so ago I happened to see a pin on Pinterest about using egg shells as seed pots. I decided to try it out and I'm so glad that I did. My little plants are doing so well!

Step 5

Step 1: Eat an egg, but be sure to crack the egg toward the top so you leave 2/3 of the shell for a "pot".

Step 2: Fill half the egg with dirt.

Step 3: Put your seeds into the dirt.

Step 4: Fill the rest of the shell with dirt.

Step 5: Pat the dirt down so that the seeds are nicely "snuggled" in their dirt beds.

Step 6: Add more dirt till the egg is completely filled.

Step 7: In permanent marker, write the name of the plant directly on the egg for easy identification.

Step 8: Place the egg "pots" into an empty egg carton where the top cover has been removed.

Menu: April 23-29

We've been battling illness since Thursday here. :o( I won't be posting a menu this week as I'm cooking day-to-day based on how everyone is doing. I know we're having Chicken noodle soup and fresh bread but that's as far as I have planned... If you need some inspiration check out previous years' menus for this week or even the "master" list.

April 25-May 1, 2011
April 25-May 1, 2010
April 26-May 2, 2009

Menu: April 16-22

This is it...the week that I become 29 for the rest of my life. It's supposed to be in the 50 's for the entire week and I plan to get come comfort foods out of my system before the warmer spring temperatures return. Also, Vidalias are back in season and they are one of our favorites so this week gets a lot of it.

Menu: April 9-15

I know that I am posting this after the fact but figured that I should still post it. We had a VERY busy Easter weekend and I had a few fittings this week and a sick kiddo so I just winged it. I will hopefully get next weeks menu posted tomorrow.

• Pasta primavera with grilled chicken
• Peppery beef on homemade French bread rolls (I made them just like I normally would except smaller) and a veggie tray
• Creamy chicken and rice casserole with mixed veggies
• Banana pancakes with blueberries and unsweetened applesauce
• Grilled chicken green salad with all the fixings (boiled eggs, cheese, craisins, etc.) and homemade dinner rolls

Banana Pancakes

I needed to use up a bunch of VERY ripe bananas and decided to try my hand at banana pancakes. I happened upon a great (and healthy) recipe at Shef Shanan's. They were a huge success and the kids ate them up faster than I could dish them up! I did triple the original recipe as I was hoping to have extras to freeze.

Crockpot Black Beans

I have been looking for a good crockpot black bean recipe and finally found a really good one at the feast within. I added bell peppers and made up a double batch so I could freeze half for later.

Gardening with Newspaper

I buy the Sunday paper almost every week for the coupon inserts and we also get a couple of free local newspapers. After I’m done looking through them I usually save them for use in starting the grill or the fire pit in the back yard, but I always have more “leftover” newspapers than I could ever possibly use.

While on Pinterest (I know, Jared says I’m addicted), I saw a couple of ideas for using old newspapers in gardening and decided to try them with our garden this year.

The first idea that I saw was to form seed starter “pots” out of old newspapers. You use a soup can to shape your newspaper, fill the new “pot” with dirt, plant the seeds and set them in a leak proof container (so you can water the plants without making a mess). Then when you are ready to transfer the seedlings to your garden you just unfold the bottom and place the plant (newspaper, dirt and all) into the ground. I was getting ready to start my tomatoes indoors so I decided to give it a shot. I’m so glad that I did, too. My plants are growing nicely and it saved me some $ (which is always nice). I plan to do this with the rest of my seeds this weekend.

My tomato plants are already a couple of inches tall after only few weeks

The second idea that I saw was using newspaper for weed control (it's #5 on the list). The article says that you can take newspaper and spread it out over your garden like you would with “landscape fabric”, spray it with water, cover with mulch, and let it will keep the weeds from growing. I’ve used landscape fabric before and it never keeps the weeds away as well as I’d like it to so I plan to give this a shot when I plant my garden outdoors. I am curious how well the newspaper holds up to the wind even with the mulch on top. If you’ve done this before please let me know how it went.

Menu: April 2-8 (Easter/Resurrection Sunday)

Sorry that it has taken sooooo long to get the menu up. My computer is having issues, and wedding season and spring cleaning have begun. I also started my tomato and pepper seeds but that's another post for me to write.

• Kraft Fresh Take Baked Chicken (the southwest one), sauteed green beans, and roasted red potatoes (Monday)
• Tuscan Chicken Stew (I did substitute one red pepper for the tomatoes as Jared and Mr. R don't really like them, I also added 1/2 cup chicken broth and topped the dish with 1/2 cup of Italian blend cheese) and homemade garlic bread. (Tuesday)
• Ham (I am working on a new recipe but the linked recipe is a favorite), roasted red potatoes, mixed veggies, and rolls
• Grilled Chicken Salad (chicken, boiled eggs, cheese, croutons, ham, carrots, broccoli, etc. over romaine lettuce)
• Christ, the Lord, is risen today!! Our "Easter" dinner:

• roast chicken
• garlic herb mashed potatoes
• baked sweet potatoes
• crockpot glazed baby carrots
• steamed broccoli and cauliflower
• dinner rolls
• "brownie bottom" cheesecake

TOH 3-Book Set + Free 1-yr Subscription + Free Shipping

I follow a few "Deal" blogs and happened to see a post yesterday on Pocket Your Dollars that made my heart beat a little faster...a Taste of Home deal.I am slightly "addicted" to cookbooks and foodie magazines (yes, I have more than I could ever find time to read through in their entirety).

Now through 4/29 you can get TOH's Family Meals & Church Suppers 3-Book Set for 19.93 (74% savings). Along with each purchase you also get a free 1-yr. subscription to Taste of Home. Plus, you'll snag free shipping if you use code LST82 at checkout. It's a GREAT deal for yourself or for a gift (Mother's Day, Wedding, Birthday, Housewarming, etc.).

So who are you going to buy one for?