Blogging Ideas

Some posts come easily to me...like when I'm making a new (to the blog at least) recipe or when something spectacular is happening out in the garden. Sometimes it's harder. There are always recipes to share, but in the Pacific Northwest, the lighting isn't always optimal for food pics. I take them anyway, but do wish our natural winter lighting were, well.....light.

Then there are times when ideas come to me, but are lost because I haven't written them down. Or I've written them down on a scrap of paper that is lost somewhere in my piles. Until I find those scraps, I'll simply start an idea list here:

• favorite cookbooks
  
• favorite gardening books
• favorite local restaurants (add pictures too)
  
• favorite local nurseries
• favorite local u-pick produce places
• my dream kitchen
• Food-Saver tips
• canning tips
• more useful cooking gadgets
• more useful gardening gadgets
• yard art
• lilies
• progress on blocking the view into our home from our neighbor's house
• update on the strawberry tower
• update my holiday meal plan
• my eight two-week meal plan rotations complete with recipes, shopping lists, food prep steps, etc.
• vegetarian dishes
• our side patio construction
• before/after pics of the yard
• plants I cannot get to grow
• plants I will never plant again

Any other suggestions? Requests? Have you been searching for a specific recipe? Is there a McMinnville restaurant you'd like to know more about? Just let me know!

Crunchy, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

If I had to pick a favorite cookie it would probably be oatmeal. But not just any oatmeal cookie will do. Some are flat as a pancake and are more of an oatmeal crisp. Others are so soft and gooey. My favorite is a crunchy, yet chewy oatmeal cookie.

Crunchy, Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together:
1 C shortening
1 C sugar
1 C light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Add in:
1 ½ C flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Stir in:
3 C raw, quick cooking oats (not instant)

Place drops of cookie dough 1" apart on a cookie sheet. If you are placing them on a cold cookie sheet, they really don't spread too much.

Bake 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 1 minute, then remove to a wire rack to cool. That one extra minute is essential, as the insides seem to firm up.

Makes about 2 ½ dozen.

More on...How do people find this blog?

Most of my blog visitors come here from a link somewhere (website, other blogs, email links, etc.) or directly (possibly bookmarked). But it's always interesting to find out what all the others were searching for when they opened up this little food and gardening blog.

Since August, most people are searching for "potato cheese soup". There are tons of variations on this as well....."marie callender's potato cheese soup", "freezing cheese soup" and so on. This is by far the most popular subject plugged into google that sends visitors to this blog.

Next popular is "rice krispie wreaths" and its tons of variations: "rice krispie wreath", "rice crispy treat wreaths" and so on.

Surprisingly, many are looking for information on "suction lids". Are any of you really using these? I really think they could be useful, but I'm just so set in my ways that I haven't worked them into my normal kitchen routines. Sadly, they just sit in a lid holder in my pantry gathering dust.

Lots of people are looking for recipes that can be made ahead and frozen. They're searching with things like, "freezer meals", "batch cooking", "flash freezing", and "premade meals" among others. There seems to be a resurgence in popularity for freezer cooking, batch cooking, using FoodSavers, etc. 10-12 years ago there was one stand-by cookbook for batch cooking: Once-A-Month cooking. I still have my original copy, though my recipes and methods have expanded since venturing into this type of cooking. Now there are tons of cookbooks, blogs, websites, etc. available. Don't forget the popularity of the fairly new meal-assembly places like Dream Dinners, Super Suppers, and Entree Vous. Did the meal assembly places spark a creative make-ahead cooking bug in other people? I got out of the habit when I needed the most: when I had a child. Thankfully after visiting a couple of these places a couple years ago I came to my senses and started planning my meals again.

People are wanting good steak marinades and recipes/directions for making roulades. (They also want to know how to tie them!).

Since I started posting about good restaurants in my hometown of McMinnville, a lot of people (tourists? locals?) are finding their way here by searching for local restaurant information. Maybe I'll do the same for some of my favorite gardening centers, and some of my favorite U-pick places this summer.

Hopefully visitors are finding some helpful information...whether it's about food or gardening. If you find something especially helpful or interesting, feel free to leave a comment.

I'll be cooking something new (not sure what just yet) for my meal exchange on Wednesday. Hopefully we'll have some nice sun which makes it easier to take better food pics!

This week in the garden...

Boy, have we had strange weather! A few days of hail, snow, rain, sunshine, blue skies, warmth, cold...all in a single day. A couple days ago we woke up to snow...today it was so nice with blue
skies and a high of 63.

Out in the garden my camellias are just starting to bloom. I must not have early-blooming varieties, because others have been going strong for at least 6 weeks now. I'm not sure what type this one is. The tag said "EG Waterhouse," but the picture of that blossom is a double pale pink flower; not this deep rose. Obviously the tag was mixed up (a lesson to only buy plants in bloom if you really want to know what they are!). Along with the rosy blossoms it also has a white blossom swirled with rosy red.

The hellebores (Helleborus hybrid Immanence) are also in bloom. They're one of the first bloomers in my yard each year. Though pretty, I'm always a little disappointed because the blossoms point toward the ground.

I've always wanted a star magnolia, and finally planted one last spring. It bloomed for the first time today. I can't wait until it's larger, but for now I'll enjoy the 3 or 4 little blossoms... This one is very fragrant. Sadly, it wasn't marked beyond "Star Magnolia" so I don't know the variety. But I do remember smelling several and going with the most fragrant one!

Peonies have always been a favorite of mine, and here you can see the Sarah Bernhard peonies just popping through the earth. I tucked a few more of these in the front yard, where they seem to do better (much better...they actually bloom in the front yard!).

This evergreen clematis (Evergreen armandii) was placed on the part of the fence that faces my dining room window. I hated looking out at wooden slats, and really enjoy the year-round green view the plant provides. This one has grown like a weed. It was cut to the ground last year (had to steal the trellis behind it because it matched one in my side patio...and Lowe's didn't sell them anymore!) and has come back just as full as last year. I'm hoping my others look this good by next year.

My trip to Lowes this week was strictly for paint supplies. I couldn't help wandering through the gardening rows and picking up a few cheery bits of yard art. I need to go easy on this stuff as I don't want to overdo it! But the butterfly and dragonfly work nicely in my side patio raised beds.


And lastly, what the front garden looked like a few days ago full of hail. I love the blue in this Delft Blue hyacinth. Definitely need more of these next year!

First Planting

The freshly de-strawberried vegetable bed has some new occupants. Today I planted snap peas, 2 types of lettuce, broccoli, and cilantro seeds.

I've have good luck with everything but the lettuce. The slugs usually devour the lettuce before humans even have a chance. Other friends are able to grow it, so I'm trying again. I've never grown it from seed, but this year I'm hoping to plant it every 10 days (or so) so it's ready at staggered times. I'm doing the same with the peas, broccoli, and cilantro. Hopefully that will work out!

I also bought three more peonies and stuck them in the front gardens. I have a hard time resisting peonies, even though I seem to have trouble getting them to bloom. I'm hoping they're on a three year cycle or something...and that this will be the year the "older" ones bloom. We had beautiful peonies at our rental home. I hope I can get them going here. They are one of my favorite cut flowers.

Speaking of cut flowers, I snipped a few daffodils and a hyacinth today to put in a vase. They are so cheery on my kitchen counter! I love these double daffodils (Golden Ducat), though the blossoms are so heavy they droop to the ground in the garden.

Blooming!

Mid-March thru mid-April is one of my favorite times in McMinnville. While it's still the rainy season, we are surprised with days like today: a bit of sunshine and warmth, blue skies, and lots of bulbs and fruit trees in bloom.

The first thing I did this morning was peek out the window to see what the weather was like. After proclaiming it a "beauty day," I quickly finished some morning laundry, had breakfast, showered and was in the yard for the rest of the day. If you look at my Gardening To-Do List, you'll see I crossed a few things off! That felt great!

I am most excited to see how this strawberry tower/pot will do. I'm envisioning the strawberries filling out, spilling over, and cascading down. I really wish I had more room for strawberries. Last year I planted them in this sideyard vegetable bed. I was hoping they'd simply line the bed, and cascade down over the edge. My head must've been in dream-land, because I know that strawberries will spread into any available soil. This vegetable bed was about 25% full of strawberries this morning. If I'd let them go any longer I wouldn't have had room for the veggies. So, after I filled the tiered pot thingy, I pulled the rest of them out. That was really hard to do. I talked to some neighbors and friends, and thankfully our friend, Martha, was just about to buy some strawberry plants. They now have a new home!

This is the second year for the spring bulbs. Though the daffodils and tulips are starting to multiply, I still have flower envy when I see all the magnificent clumps of daffodils around. It makes me wonder if I should have planted them in small groups at first...or are these clumps I see just simply more established, multiplying for many years (as opposed to my one year)? Still, I'm happy to see two, when there once was one.

Our flowering plums are in full bloom. As I was sitting in the swing beneath them, I noticed some bees zooming around from blossom to blossom. Though the trees are ornamental, they do produce plums every few years or so. Last year was a pretty good year for them. I'm hoping this year will be as well.

Spring Gardening Resolution

Sadly, most of the things on here are from last summer/fall. I'd like to take care of 2 things a week from this list. So, that's what my Spring Gardening Resolution is! I'll cross out the task and date it once it's completed...just so I (and you!) can see how I'm doing.

Gardening To-Do List


Clean out gardening bench area. 5/15/08
Create a fence/barrior to hide the mess.

Clean the chair covers. 5/15/09 (Hosed them off, and then put them in the washing machine!)

Strengthen the 3 trellis sections with galvanized wire. 3/18/08

Add wire to support the clematis by the dining room window. 3/18/08

Trim:
butterfly bushes 3/22/08

Remove stepping stones by back patio.

Put up a sturdier wire/wood trellis for the clematis by the shed.

Break down wooden pallet.

Create drip irrigation systems:
upper side patio
front porch/window/garage
back
front

Fertilize lawns. 5/15/08

Plant:
1 purple flower
2 camellias
1 coral bell
1 New Zealand flax (4/13/08-Gave it away at the gardening swap)
yarrow
2 clematis by rhodies 4/13/08
9 dahlias 3/22/08
12 gladioli 3/22/08
3 lilies 3/22/08

Add some aluminum sulfate to the two blue hydrangeas (by shed).

Repair back lawn.

Edge lawns.

Set into the ground 7 stepping stones in the north side yard.

Support the Mexican Orange bush so it’s not flopping. 4/6/08

Put bird netting along side yard trellis. Secure to keep cats out. 4/13/08

Plant more bulbs in fall: front & back yards.
4/13/08: Added about 20 more daffodils to the front.

Make a strawberry tower out of large pot, tiered baskets. 3/22/08

Dig out strawberries and move to their new home. 3/22/08

Figure out the property line along the south end of the yard. 5/14/08 (My measurements had been off by a foot. I just learned that the fence on the north side was built about one foot south of the property line. Now I know why I was off by a foot on the other side!)

Dig up the sorrel. 4/12/08

Put up a new retaining wall along the south end of the yard.

Move the fence back 3-4 3 feet along the south end of the yard.

Move the three astilbe plants to a sunnier (but not too sunny) spot. 4/12/08

Weed.

Weed some more.