Yard Work, Cooking, and Drinking

Finally, a Sunday without snow, although it’s cold and blustery, with spits of rain. Unfortunately, those spits were not nearly enough for this dry country, but they do help to keep our hopes for more rain alive.

There was some advancement made towards the summer yard-to-be this week. A couple afternoons were spent clearing more flowerbeds; only three are left. Under a deep layer of dead leaves I found my daffodils were up about 6”. Flower buds appeared soon after the unveiling. Lots of other greenery was uncovered as well: day lilies, lily of the valley, wild geraniums, columbine, poppies, asters, and creeping pink thyme are all thriving. Other plants will appear later. I have several small containers of water in which I’m rooting slips from my various ivies, as well as the philodendron and hoya, in my kitchen. Those will help fill my outside planters later.

I’ve had to refill the caged bird feeder yet again. I expect that will happen more often now that the red polls have arrived. I hope the gold finches will arrive within the next two weeks. The grackles sit on the short fence under the caged feeder, staring hungrily at it. In their little birdie rage, they fly up to scare away the little birds that do fit through the cage.

The grass is greening up more and more. Soon enough I’ll be grousing about having to mow it. The flat tire on the garden tractor has been filled. I hope to get the garden space tilled this week, and the fence erected. I’ll have to time the tilling between trips to the field to help Dennis refill seed and fertilizer as he commences planting the wheat crop. The machinery is all moved to the field.

Of course, I’m still having to prepare meals. A good casserole for taking to the fields is the following. I skip the green pepper as it doesn’t sit well with either of us. You can add tomato paste if desired, and/or other spices, but browning the rice is key to the flavor of this dish. I usually use a pound of beef, and skip the salt altogether.

Rice Santa Be

1C long-grain rice

2 Tbl oil, DIVIDED

3/4 # ground beef

1/2 C chopped onion

1/3 C chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (14oz) can tomatoes

2 tsp salt, DIVIDED

1 tsp chile powder

1/8 tsp pepper

2 C water

Brown the rice in 1 Tbl oil over moderate, stirring constantly. Turn rice out, add the remaining oil and brown the beef, onion, green pepper, and garlic. Add the tomatoes, chile powder, 1 tsp salt and pepper, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat water to boiling with remaining salt. Stir in rice and simmer 20 minutes. Combine cooked rice with meat sauce and mix gently.

I must have been on a rice kick this week. I had thinly sliced a chicken breast, then marinated it in white wine and seasoned it heavily with a citrus herb blend. After stir-frying the chicken I served it over the following recipe:

Lemon Garlic Rice with Rosemary

2 Tbl EVOO

1 small onion, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 branch fresh rosemary

1 C basmati rice

2 C chicken broth

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt & pepper to taste

Heat oil in skillet. Add onion and garlic, cook 5 minutes. Add rosemary, cook 2 minutes. Add rice, stirring to coat. Add broth, juice, and zest. Salt and pepper to taste. Heat on low, cover and cook 20 minutes, or longer. Fluff with a fork.

Last week I shared a Whole Life Challenge compliant margarita recipe, and hinted at another. I’m currently enjoying the other, which may help explain any disjointedness in this column. It was rather tart, having half a lime in it, so I added a bit more liquid stevia and a lot of juice from my thawed raspberries. (I enjoy those berries atop my paleo pancakes with maple syrup on Sunday mornings.)

Primal Daiquiri

2 oz rum Juice of 1/2 lime

2-3 drops stevia

Soda water

Pour all over a glass of ice, stir gently. Garnish with a wedge of lime.

I defrosted our upright freezer this week. It’s amazing how disorganized it had become as I moved things around to make space for leftover soups and such-like. I found several WLC-compliant soups I can enjoy during seeding as Dennis enjoys things I’m not currently consuming. There were lots of packages of rhubarb, and as there will soon be fresh rhubarb, I thawed some to make the Polish honey rhubarb drink. That recipe was shared last spring. It’s refreshing, especially after working outside in the yard.