Apple Walnut Pancakes

I've been preparing apple pancakes for going on a year now since I bought this new blender from Costco. It came with a recipe book and in it I found the recipe for whole grain apple pancakes. The reason I'm writing this post this morning is because for the first time since I've been making these pancakes, I was able to use apples that we grew! I was thinking as I was preparing the mixture this morning, how rewarding it is to prepare meals with fruit and vegetables whose origins you are responsible for. When I looked at the apple as I washed it and sliced it, I thought about the trip my husband and I made to Target (that's before they gave up their garden department), how we wrestled it into the back of my mini-van and how we watched the little white blossoms change into the cutest little apples. I also enjoy being able to share my fruit with friends and family. One thing about it however is that the tree produces a certain amount of fruit at the same time and once that batch is picked, there are no more until this time next year. :(  I have friends that come back to me after tasting my apples wanting more, but sadly most of the time I have to tell them that there are no more to share.

Here are the whole wheat apple walnut pancakes that I prepared this morning. If you are interested in healthy living/eating I encourage you to try these. Keith loves them (so do I) and we can enjoy them guilt free several times a week and the best part for me is that they are quick and easy to make.

My Bounty

The summer is winding down and soon some of my plants will no longer produce veggies/fruit.  It has been a great learning experience and something I plan to continue doing.  I will start researching to see what types of veggies I can grow during the fall season.  In the meantime I have many of my plants with fruit and vegetables ready for picking so that's what I did this morning.  My veggies are not the biggest but the fact that I grew them makes them so very special.  Take a look at the plate of fruit and veggies that I picked today and see how many you can identify.

For tonight's dinner I will be using 4 of the items in this picture.

A Sad Day in the Garden ):

So yesterday morning I was doing my usual inspection of my garden and felt particularly proud of my cucumbers that were starting to develop. Now last week I noticed this ugly white powder was all over the leaves of the cucumber plant. I recognized it as being a mildewy fungus like the variety that had attacked the zucchini plant about a month ago. I went and purchased a bottle of plant fungus killer and applied it on the cucumber plant. Although it left ugly stains on the leaves, all seemed well and hopefully it was doing its job. Now back to yesterday, I was so excited to see one of the cucumbers that was aprrox 2 1/2 inches long. It was really cute and prickly which I did not know about young cucumbers. Here's a picture I took of it.

 Shortly after taking this picture I decided to do some grooming and remove some of the dead leaves and a few of the ones with a lot of the powder still on them. To my astonishment a couple of hours later when I looked out my kitchen window, the branch with this lovely cucumber had wilted like you would not believe! What happened in that short period of time that traumatized the plant, I have no idea. Look at it now, just a day later.

I've gone online to do some investigation and one thing that I've learned is that I should not be wetting the leaves of my plants when watering.  This increases the chances of diseases developing on the plants. As I have said in the past, this is a learning experience for me. I enjoy challenging myself and will not give up. Next years crop will be bigger and better. 

Fresh Strawberries for Lunch

After eating my lunch I looked out my kitchen window and noticed the vibrant red strawberries in my garden and decided to go grab a handful to top off my lunch. Although they are a bit on the small side, they were still quite yummy. Did you know just how beneficial these little gems are?

* One cup contains 13% of the recommended daily requirement of dietary fiber at only 43 calories.

* They help lower blood pressure.

* Curbs over eating.

* Phenols in strawberries fight against many inflammatory disorders such as osteoarthritis and asthma.

* Research has shown that 3 or more servings per day can decrease the possibility of contracting age-related macular degneration by over 1/3rd.

* One cup of strawberries contains an incredible 136% of the RDA of Vitamin C.

* One cup contains 21% of manganese, an essential nutrient that acts as a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.

So, have I convinced you to add more of these delicious little berries into your diet! :)

A Visit to Daddy's Garden

A few weeks ago I went to visit my dad and I was amazed when he showed me a couple of zucchinis from his garden. The largest was at least two and a half times the size of the ones from my garden. I asked him to take me out to his garden so I could look around, take notes and compare to mine. What I learned that day was the significance of plenty of soil along with plenty of direct sunlight. He had one zucchini plant that was probably 4 to 5 times the size of my potted zucchini plant and had produced so many vegetables to where he was calling people to give them away. I am not discouraged knowing that I don’t have any open space to put my plants directly into the ground. What I will do in preparation for next season is invest in a few really, really large deep planters to make sure my plants have plenty of soil. This is my first gardening experience and I really get a kick out of going into my garden, picking some fresh tomatoes for a salad, picking zucchini and then a short time later watching my family enjoy it on our dinner table. I have learned about the health benefits fresh mint has for the digestive tract so I go out daily and pick a few sprigs for my water or tea. Gardening is time and labor intensive but when I’m in my garden looking at little flowers on vines one week and then a few weeks later watch as these flowers turn into beautiful vegetables, I just sit there and think, how could someone not believe in God when you look at the intricate detail involved in the creation of food for our bodies.

The smallest one is about the size of the zucchinis from my garden.
 It's hard to tell on this picture but the largest one is huge!

Another visitor to my Garden

Last week my friend, Paula Bass stopped by to visit my garden and get some samples.  :) I was happy to share with her some green tomatoes, oranges and mint. She gave me a good tip on making mint tea. Usually I take a few fresh leaves and add them to my tea. What she does is boil the leaves. So, I like this idea because I like the idea of mint being beneficial to the digestive system. So, I tried it last night and it was very refreshing. I plan to have this on a daily basis in the evening before bedtime. Hopefully it will help my digestive system.

I was a bit disappointed because I was not able to share any zucchini. (As you may remember from my earlier posts this is a learning experience for me. Although I grew up watching my dad grow gardens, I never understood all that it takes to make a successful garden.) I've noticed that my zucchini plants have stopped producing and in my reading and speaking to my dad, I should be getting so many zucchini's that I have to give them away! Next planting season, I will use much larger planters because I didn't consider how large these plants get. I have them in very shallow containers; maybe 6 - 8 inches deep. I also noticed the leaves had a lot of white spots on them, I assumed that it was the oil used in the organic pesticide I made. Later I learned that it is a fungus which I should've treated immediately or it could kill the plant. :(

Well, with the few zucchinis that I was able to pick and a few given to me by my dad, I made some really good dishes. Hopefully my plants will produce more because these are some really tasty, low calorie/low fat ways to prepare zucchini. Here are a few pictures of the dishes I've made.

Recipes for these and other great Weight Watchers friendly, delicious dishes may be found
at Gina's Skinny Taste

Organic containers - good or bad idea?

So when I went to the local nurseries at Lowe's and Home Depot I noticed a new trend in the garden department. Some companies have decided to help with the Go Green campaign by getting rid of the plastic pots/containers that you purchase your plants in and opting to contain them in a peat moss type of container with just a thin plastic wrapping over it. When you get the plants home and are ready to plant them, you only are supposed to take off that plastic wrapping and plant the biodegradable container into the ground. Great idea huh? Eventually the container decomposes and you get the beautiful plants/crops that you want and every thing is grand, right? Well, not so fast :)  I noticed that the zucchini plant that I purchased in one of the biodegradable containers was much smaller than the zucchini plants that I grew from seeds! I purchased the fully developed plant weeks before planting the seeds, yet I have been able to pick a few zucchini from the plants that started from seeds and I'm still waiting for the zucchini on the other on to finish developing. Take a look at the plants and you can see the difference in their sizes.

Plant w/ peat moss container. 

Large zucchini ready to be picked.

Plant started from seeds.

I have a couple of eggplants that came in the biodegradable containers and they are not really thriving so I decided to dig one of them up, remove the biodegradable container and then replant it. What I found out was that the container appeared to be restricting the growth and spread of the roots. And it did not appear to be decomposing very quickly at all. What I decided I would do next time is to remove the peat moss container, tear it into small pieces, place into the soil where the hole is for the new plant and then add the plant.

This is the peat moss container.

Last thing, I saw two blooms on the strawberry plant! Woohoo! My family loves strawberries! There's hardly ever a day that goes by that one of us is not blending up a nice refreshing, healthy smoothie which usually will have some strawberries along with other fruits in it.

Yum yum! Fried Green Tomatoes

Left: Fried Green Tomatoes   |  Right: Grilled zucchini and onions

So I figured that after spending a few days admiring my beautiful two zucchinis, it was now time to cook them. Also, I have quite a few green tomatoes on the vines so I decided to cook some fried green tomatoes and grilled zucchini this evening. I love both of these dishes and they were especially scrumptious knowing that I grew them. I know, I know .... fried green tomatoes may be a little on the fattening side, but to my credit I did coat them with whole wheat flour and cooked them in olive oil. :)

Harvest Time!

This is an exciting morning for me because it has been an interesting journey starting my garden, making adjustments along the way in terms of wheter or not to use organic or store bought pesticides, making the decision to take some of my plants out of the ground and place them into pots and even having to move them around for optimal sun exposure during the May gray and June gloom days. Well, after all of the trials, I was so excited to pick my first two zucchinis and a couple more tomatoes. I know that I posted pictures of some of my tomatoes about a month or two ago, those tomatoes were already on the plant when I purchased it. These are more special to me because I watched them from the first yellow blooms until this point of perfection. :) Also, these zucchinis come from the plants that I grew from seeds. I have another zucchini plant that I purchased and the veggies on it are actually a lot smaller than these. I think that I'm going to slice these zucchinis and tomatoes, toss them with some olive oil and season with some herbs and grill them on my indoor grill for dinner this evening.

A tour of my garden space

Today I am taking you on a short tour of my backyard so that you can better understand some of the challenges I am having with growing my garden. I thought that it was something good to share with you in case you have become inspired and are thinking about starting your own urban garden. Although it is true you don't need a lot of space, the space that you have must provide ample direct sunlight if your plants are going to really thrive and produce a bountiful crop.

In the video I mentioned that I moved some of the plants for more shade, which I did not mean to say. I moved them for more sunlight. Also I forgot to video a close up of my zucchini so here is a picture of my first zucchini. So, soon I'll be grilling my own zucchini and making zucchini bread. yum yum!

A visitor to my garden

For the past 4-5 days I've been seeing a pair of beautiful brown butterflies in my garden. I was able to get a close up of one today. He enjoyed posing for the camera.

The Power of the Sun

About 3 months ago I went to a local nursery and purchased this awesome peach tree. Why is it so awesome you ask? It will produce 3 to 4 different varieties of peaches on one tree! I was floored when the guy told me that and ran home to tell Keith about this amazing tree. Well, naturally because he's always looking at history channels, how is this made channels and discovery channels this was not news to him at all. :(  Oh well, I was pretty excited. Anyway, when I purchased it, here in SoCali we were in the May Gray weather pattern, which turns into the June Gloom pattern. This is when (if you live somewhat close to the ocean) the sun most days does not come out until early afternoon. I mentioned that because I followed the nursery guys instructions when he delivered the tree, keep it in the planter the first year until after all of the fruit is gone. After that time put it in the ground. Okay, so my problem was that no fruit was growing and I wanted fruit! I went back to visit, he told me to give it fertilizer and wait for the sun. I did that and a few weeks later I stopped by to visit to tell him that the leaves looked a little brown and still no fruit blossoms. His response was, more water and wait for the sun! Well, for the last couple of weeks the sun has been breaking through earlier in the morning and I must say those leaves are looking perkier.

Today when I was in the garden I noticed that one of my eggplants has two blooms! Naturally I am very excited but also very concerned because it is in an area where it gets limited sun. I also noticed that the tomatoes, the zucchini plants and the strawberry plant that sits on the edge of the patio just don't seem to be really thriving. Either that's the case or I'm just impatient. :)

Even with moving to open area of yard, you can see the shadow  from the house starting to cover the  plants at  4:30 p.m.

I went online this afternoon and looked at a few videos on growing vegetables and time and time again they kept mentioning the need for these plants to received 8 - 12 hours of direct sun in order for their fruit to fully develop. My thought was that too much intense direct sun and heat would not be good for the plants, but boy was I wrong. So, I have adjusted my garden's configuration once again because most of my plants are shaded by our house and patio starting from the early afternoon. It's a good thing that they are in pots. We will see what happens now that the sun is out more and they are in a sunnier location.

Fresh Lemonade with Mint

Lemonade with fresh mint

So, it's another sizzling day in SoCal and I've decided to refresh myself with a nice cold glass of fresh lemonade. I remembered when I was in Texas a month ago, my niece Kelli told me how good mint is in lemonade so I think I'll go pick some from my garden.  I also know that there are some really good health benefits from eating mint. Some of those benefits of concern to me are: 1) it's good for the digestion, 2) helps burn fat, 3) refreshes the breath and
4) helps with headaches. 

Spearmint Leaves

I've also picked some fresh green onions to go in the egg salad I am making for lunch. 
After reading about the health benefits of mint, I decided to research the health benefits of green onion and was quite frankly amazed with all of its benefits. Did you know that green onions can help with the common cold? How about help normalize your blood pressure? Well along with these benefits they also help expel phlegm, inhibits cancer growth especially colon cancer, it helps reduce stress and tiredness, absorbs vitamin B1 and speeds up blood circulation. It contains vitamins A & C; the white portion also contains calcium.
For me the most I ever really used green onions for was to garnish baked potatoes and top a good ole tray of chicken enchiladas! Now that I have them growing in my garden and understand what they can do for my health and the health of my family, green onions will be used on a regular basis. 

Going Organic

 One of the reasons I decided that I wanted to create a vegetable garden is because I wanted to be able to control the amount of harmful pesticides my family is exposed to. About 2 months ago when I was at a local garden center I was assisted by an older guy who gave me a lot of good information from using organic fertilizers such as the use of earthworms to making your own pesticide which is really mild and no harmful chemicals. To be honest I did not immediately go home and create a batch of the pesticide. I went back to what I was familiar with, Ortho Home and Garden Insect Spray .. Well, at least I did buy some earthworms and placed them in my garden. Well today I finally did it and it was so easy!!


If you are thinking about going organic too here are the instructions on making organic pesticide.

• Get a spray container; it can be a handheld one or the type you attach to your water hose. 
• Fill the container about 2/3 with tap water.
• Fill the other 1/3 with vegetable oil. (Oh I used Wesson this time but I will be buying a bottle of store brand to use in the future.)
• Add about 3-4 drops of dishwashing liquid.
• Before each use make sure to shake really good because as you know, oil and water don't mix very well.

The oil makes it impossible for the insect to flap their wings, it makes the leaves to oily for them to crawl on and the soap suffocates them. I know that's a little sad, but I just wanted to let you know how it works.

Bye, bye for now.

I'm Back!!

Hey guys I know it's been awhile since my last post but a lot of things have been going on for me. Thank God all very good things. From going to Texas for a week to celebrate Memorial Day with my sisters and their families, to my Leslie graduating with her MBA ( I threw a grad party for her in our home) and then two weeks later I threw a large Father's Day dinner for 13 people! whew!! Oh yeah, I have also been involved with learning to do mosaic art and I'm loving it. I've made 4 projects and will be starting a new one this Sunday. 
Well, it's finally getting to a point to where the June gloom isn't so prevalent everyday here in SoCal, so I think this is going to really help my garden to thrive. With the sun staying covered most of the day during the June gloom days, my plants were not receiving enough sun to really flourish. I am very happy to see some of my fruit starting to grow. Here are a few examples of what's developing.

Tomatoes

Cilantro w/small white flowers 

zucchini blossom 

New Addition

The transplanted zucchini; looks a little weak. 

So, the garden appears to be doing okay. I know that it's going to take a few weeks before the plants start producing so I just need to be a little more patient. Remember when I transplanted the tomato plant, zucchini, and bellflower plants from the shaded area? Well, so far the tomato and bell peppers seems to have survived the transition to new locations. The zucchini on the other hand looks pretty weak. Don't think its going to survive. To be on the safe side  purchased some zucchini seeds and have planted a few. So if this one doesn't survive, I'll have two more plants.

Oh yeah! The new addition, well a few years ago high winds blew over our peach tree; it had some termite infestation in it. We finally got a replacement tree and I was blown away (no pun intended) when the grower told me that it will produce 4 varieties of peaches! .....What? Yes, four varieties on one tree. This is done through grafting. I guess I'm going to have to stop talking about those boring channels my husband watch because yet again, when I told him about it, he knew all about it!

Peach Tree will produce 4 varieties of peaches.

My Gala Apple tree is starting to bloom.

The grower that I purchased the peach tree from,
threw in another  tomato plant.

Making Some Adjustments

So, I've been noticing that my plants that are in the shaded area are not really thriving. I see that daddy is right, they need plenty of direct sunlight. So, I had to make a few adjustments to my garden. I went to Home Depot and purchased some garden soil and two containers. I placed the tomato plant in the larger of the two containers and the zucchini plant in the other. I also moved the bell pepper plant over to an area that actually gets a fairly decent amount of sunlight especially in the late afternoon. I also have an eggplant, green onions, cilantro and a spearmint plant in this area. I think it may be okay for the herbs because they don't seem to care for a lot of sun. Only time will tell.

This is the tomato plant. Hopefully in a week it will be a lot fuller.

This is the zucchini plant. I sure hope it survives!  I have plans for
zucchini bread and grilled zucchini. :)

Lesson #1 Get An Almanac!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (Resurrection) Sunday. I had a nice one. I went to visit my dad and after dinner he and my sister, Jackie and I were sitting around chatting and the conversation turned to gardening. He was telling us about some of the new plants he recently planted. I was happy to let him know that I finally started my own garden. Well, I guess I should have had this conversation with him before I started planting. I forgot that daddy does not plant anything without first looking at his almanac to see when the best days are for planting. He told us this is the reason he plants seeds instead of buying plants from the nursery. He was saying that the nurseries main objective is to sell plants. They are not necessarily concerned as to whether or not the produce. So, they plant as many and as often as they can to produce units to sell. I bought my plants at Lowe's last week so hopefully they will produce some nice vegetables. We will see. Also, it is very important to know the needs of the specific plants you are growing. For example, my tomato plant needs lots of sunshine - well, my garden is in an area shaded part of the day by my patio and grapefruit tree. In a few weeks I'll post again to let you guys know how my little plants are doing. Well, hopefully by then they won't still be so little :)

Tilling of the Soil

So, I found a spot on the north side of my patio underneath the grapefruit and orange trees to plant my garden. There's also the a/c unit in that space, too. The soil is hard as a rock because it has not been tilled in ages! I began by soaking the ground and then the next day while it was still very cool in the morning I got the shovel and started turning the soil. I found out that this soil is called clay soil and needed a lot of prep work to ensure strong healthy root growth. I went to my local Lowe's and found some bags of soil enhancement material. (I'll have to look at the bag again to get the proper description :) ) After combining it with the soil in the ground, I watered the area really good and then planted my first plants - tomato, zucchini and bellpepper plants.

An Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Have you ever heard the saying about the apple not falling far from the tree? Well, in case you have not, or if you  did and don't know what it means, basically it is a suggestion that children more or less follow in their parents footsteps. I thought about that saying as I found myself in my backyard with a shovel in hand as I turned soil to prepare my very first vegetable garden. You see my dad was raised down south in a small rural town during the 1920's where much of the food they ate came from the soil they tilled and cared for. For as long as I can remember, daddy has had a vegetable garden. We lived in Los Angeles, California and by time I was born my dad had lived in California for at least 12 years but never forgot about the fresh fruits and vegetables his family grew on their land. Even now at 91 years old, daddy is starting to plant his spring garden.

I've been really paying attention to my health and the health of my family lately, especially now that I am in my 50's. I am really concerned about the safety of our food sources and the ever increasing cost of living, so I decided to try my hand at maintaining a vegetable garden.

So, come along on my journey. I'll be posting about my adventure and maybe even sharing some ideas of how you can start your own vegetable garden if you live in the city and have little space.

Here's the area where my garden will go. Soil haven't been turned in a while!

Clay Soil! Not good.......

My first little plants. A tomato plant, a bellpepper plant,
and a zucchini plant.

My backyard. Almost entirely filled with shrubs and flowering plants. I found a
spot under the orange and grapefruit trees for my little garden.

We have a yellow grapefruit, orange, lemon and gala apple tree.
Will be planting a peach tree soon