Welcome March?

March has arrived, coming in like a lion. We're therefore hoping spring will really be here at the end of the month. All the continued strong winds combined with fresh snow, as well as freezing sleet mixed with rain (at 24 degrees!!) has me still ignoring those seed catalogs. I have, however, purchased new gladioli bulbs, new large dahlia tubers, a couple bright pink peony roots, and several packages of onion sets. This is obviously long-range planning. All of those are being stored in our "cool" bedroom that's being used as a pantry. (I shut the heat in that room down to a minimum and keep the door shut with a rolled-up beach towel on the floor in front of that door as a draft stopper. That stopper keeps the cool from coming into the hallway as well as the warmth of the hallway from going into that room. Duh - I probably didn't need that last sentence.)

I just checked on my water-bottle vine starters. A few roots are forming. Wonder of wonders, the Bush on Fire croton cuttings have minuscule roots showing. I'll let them form larger, healthier roots before I replant them in the pot they'd been in. I've polished off another water bottle, and Dennis has finished off a bottle of iced tea, so I'm going to make a couple more starter bottles. I tried using a narrow-necked vase, but the water in that turns icky too fast. My pothos is trying to take over a portion of my kitchen. It could use some pinching back again. I'm sure I'll have a few new starters of that to offer soon.

Since I'm not doing any outdoor gardening yet, I'm back to offering recipes. This week it's ones that I regularly use. As a popular meme on Facebook says, being an adult means having to figure out what to cook EVERY DAY for the rest of your life. The extra cold weather will be with us for this week and possibly the next, so I'm looking at warm comfort food. You can vary this first one by serving it over wide noodle pasta, rice, couscous, or quinoa. Or get wild and serve it over boiled potatoes. Using yogurt instead of cream and arrowroot instead of cornstarch makes it a bit healthier.

Ground Beef Stroganoff

1# ground beef

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

3/4# mushrooms, sliced

3 Tbl arrowroot powder

2 C beef broth

Salt & pepper to taste

2 tsp Worcestershire

3/4 C plain Greek yogurt

2 Tbl fresh parsley, chopped

Brown beef with onion & garlic. Drain fat. Add mushrooms, cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in arrowroot, cook 1 minute. Add broth, season with salt & pepper, add Worcestershire and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in yogurt and parsley.

I like to serve this with a side salad. One I haven't made for a while is the following. It's a recipe my laddermom got from a caterer. Lois was a real southern belle, she could charm anyone. I don't think I could finagle a recipe from a caterer. You can use marinated artichokes hearts or plain canned ones. I prefer marinated, while Lois liked the more bland canned ones. I like it with less Parmesan, say only 1/2 cup.

Rich & Charlie's Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce, torn

1 head romaine, torn

1 red onion, thinly sliced

1 can artichoke hearts, drained & chopped

1/3 C red wine vinegar

1/2 C EVOO

3/4 C freshly grated Parmesan

Whisk together the last three ingredients. Toss lettuces, onion, and artichoke hearts together. Drizzle with dressing, toss gently again. Sprinkle with cheese & stir.