Summer Garden

It has finally cooled down slightly, and we have had a good rain, but this summer was the most brutal one I have lived to tell about. Our trips to Houston were our only relief from the extreme heat, which says a lot. With zero rain triple-digit temperatures for a record breaking 90-ish days, keeping the garden going was a miracle. I did have a few guys who survived all the way through. My chives are still going strong after a 2nd summer and the aloe vera is happy. That's about it.

In July I added a bunch of new plants. Some were cuttings from my mom's tropical paradise of a garden, and some were purchased.

Fig tree from my parents' yard. Strawberries.

Plumbago. Wandering Jew. 

These all croaked. 

Speaking of croaking... I wondered what kept knocking over the seedlings and found this little guy in the pot one evening. Also, impressively, that plumbago seedling in this picture is doing quite well now. I thought it was a goner. 

In September, I added a bunch of new plants to the garden to get my autumn kitchen garden going. So far so good, I think. I just hope that I get a good harvest before we get a freeze.

The July plantings are coming along well. 

Roma tomatoes

Grape tomatoes, oregano, and purple bell peppers. Also some little yellow tomatoes that didn't take so well to the heat. They are "not quite dead yet!" so I'm keeping them in to see what happens. 

My Summer in Pictures

So I took a bit of a summer hiatus and thoroughly enjoyed the time to relax and regroup. I can't say I did a whole lot. The highlight of the summer was probably my cousin's beautiful wedding, but beyond that I was  a bit of a homebody. I do have a few things to share, and here goes.

Granby adds her magic touch to the new-fangled self-churning ice cream maker. 

Dad approves of the homemade peach ice cream.

Good old American dinner for the 4th!

Playing tug-o-war with Berwyn. Turns out a dog is a lot of work, but lots of fun! 

Potato Cheese Gnocchi (Moosewood Low Fat Cookbook) 

Justin teaches a bunch of concealed handgun courses.

I spent about a week and a half before inservice began preparing my classroom. I started from nothing and made it look pretty good, if I do say so myself. (After photos to follow.)

Berwyn practicing his "I kill you" eyes. 

Yay Summer!

Summer school finished up yesterday, so I floated in a wonderful swimming pool with coworkers all afternoon. It was heavenly. I have also gotten to spend more time getting back in touch with my domestic self. Sure, you have seen my cooking side, but my REALLY domestic side cleans in a mini-skirt and likes it. I had today to do laundry and keep the kitchen clean. Each day I'll be attacking some of my previously ignored chores.
But speaking of the food, I have some food stuff.
Wednesday I made turkey tacos and cheesy rice, and LawyerMan and I had his law partner over as well as their Practice Court witness who is much younger and called me ma'am, while saying he wanted to "grow up to be just like" LawyerMan. But he raved about my food and was well prepared for the project and was generally fun.  We liked him. I highly recommend the Taco Seasoning by Penzey's Seasonings. I also added garlic powder, minced onion, paprika, and chili powder.
Thursday, after my parent conferences and before swimming, I whipped up some Chicken Alfredo Pasta (recipe is back there somewhere). I used a rotisserie chicken (that I cut up Wednesday and stuck in the fridge, using the bones for chicken stock) and steamed some broccoli to round out the meal. Then I ate it for lunch and headed for the pool.
Today I tried an experiment. I had a hankering for tater tot casserole. It probably started when I came back from North Carolina on Sunday with a nasty hangover (don't blame me, blame the TWO drinks I had plus lame kidneys)  and thought that the only cure would be Whataburger taquitos, which come with hash browns. Well, after rushing from the airport to the nearest Whataburger, we found out that they serve breakfast until 11:00, not 11:30, and it was 11:27. In any case, I have had a hankering for fried shredded potatoes all week. Anyway, I bought some chili and tater tots at the grocery store and was determined to make up a recipe for casserole. I searched the internet and found a bunch of recipes. Most of them I didn't care for 100% (jalapenos? ew) so I just made it up. Here goes:
2 cans Chili with beans
1 12-oz package of frozen corn
1/2 small onion, minced
1 28-oz bag tater tots
8 oz colby jack cheese


Mix the chili, onions, and corn in a lasagna pan. (Slightly smaller than 9X13 pyrex, but one of those will work, too.) Top with tater tots. Spread them out evenly and squish them into the chili a little. Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes at 350. Add cheese over top, then bake 5 more minutes.
This turned out really good. It was very rich and salty, so I ate just a small bit of it, but it satisfied the craving. It is made of completely processed ingredients, so it goes against most of what I usually believe in, but damn it was easy.

Some food tips, Grilled Chicken, 2 kinds of Potatoes and a Puppy Video

First, as promised, a puppy video.

Ok, now I have a bunch of food stuff to share.

1. Mom's suggestion: do you ever have a hankering for deviled eggs but no time or motivation to make them? Try smearing dijon mustard on a hard boiled egg. It satisfies the tanginess craving but takes minimal effort. Great quick protein if you make a bunch of hard boiled eggs ahead of time. Not as good as a real deviled egg, but not bad either.



2. Thai Cucumber Salad
This is a good cold side dish for summer, but you have to love onions. It keeps for days in the fridge. From the Kidney Health Gourmet Cookbook.
In a large bowl combine 1/3 c. minced shallot, 1/3 c. sliced green onion, 4 sliced cucumbers, and 2-4 thinly sliced red chiles (seeded).
In a small bowl, combine 1/2 c. rice vinegar, 2 T sugar, 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro. Pour dressing over salad and chill for at least one hour.
** Note: instead of the chiles, I use a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes. I am a spice pansy, so I don't like much heat. But I do like the kick.

3. Sweet Mashed Potatoes
Pick the reddest ones you can buy when these are in season. (Which is not usually right now.) The pale orange ones taste like crap. Sweet potatoes are high in potassium, so for me they are a "sometimes food" but this is an easy and awesomely healthy side dish for most people. They are also full of good stuff like vitamins (A, B6 and C), fiber and manganese. They have a MUCH lower glycemic index than white potatoes and are said to have anti-inflammatory powers.  OooOOOoooh.
Anyway, I boil mine in lightly salted water for about 15 minutes or until mushy and then run an immersion blender through them.  While I'm blending, I throw in a generous chunk of unsalted butter (probably one to two tablespoons per potato) to make them creamier.  Don't use fake butter; that way lies madness. If you wanna get really fancy, throw in some brown sugar, pecans, and bourbon, but that's another post altogether. ("Not Safe For Work" Sweet Potato Casserole) I love sweet potatoes as a side dish because they're like dessert and they are pretty quick. They reheat well to take for lunch the next day, if any leftovers survive.

4. Father's Day Dinner
My parents came in for Father's Day on the way to my cousin's wedding in NC. (They're driving 1200 miles, so what's another few hours to Waco?) We had a great time sightseeing around Cameron Park and we saw the Dr. Pepper Museum, which celebrates the history of the beverage in its location of discovery. I left there really needing a Dr. Pepper.
Anyway, when we came home, Mom and I whipped up a pretty easy dinner (and Sexy Lawyer Man did the grilling for us) while Dad took a well-deserved nap then joined us for cocktails on the porch.

We made Dilled Potatoes, Grilled Chicken, corn on the cob and a mixed greens salad. So, recipes:
Dilled Potatoes:
Mince an onion and cube a few potatoes. The more onion the better, IMHO. Toss generously with seasoned salt and dried dill, and enough olive oil to make everything shiny. Bake, covered, at 375 about 45 minutes, stopping once to stir. The smaller the potatoes are chopped, the quicker they will cook. These are Mom's recipe which was shared in our church cookbook, so you know it's good. I made this for a bunch of law students a while back and it was quite a hit. Also a good make-ahead, as you can mix it up and refrigerate for several hours. Reheats beautifully the next day. Probably after that, too, but usually gets finished off pretty quickly.
Grilled Chicken: Take some chicken breast halves (I used 5), cut fat off, and pound them flat, about 3/4 inch. Marinate in a mixture of lime juice (2 limes' worth), a pinch of kosher salt, a pinch of pepper, about one T minced garlic, and some canola oil. (Do you know what CANOLA stands for? I do.) Doesn't have to sit long. Just about 20 minutes will do.  Grill to doneness.
Other Sides: probably don't need a separate section. I boiled the corn in water. I prefer it plain but others used butter and salt and pepper and stuff on it. The salad was pretty basic. I tossed together some olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, salt and pepper for dressing.

Puppy Cookies and Gratuitous Cuteness

Ok, so I might be that parent. Plenty of parents I know, whether they have human children or puppy children, flood the internet with cute pictures. And dull pictures. And pictures that look exactly like previous pictures. And I used to think "wow, I won't do that." But I take it back. It must be expressed to the internet how cute my puppy is. So here, world: a video I took of Berwyn waking up. And yes, I woke him up for this purpose simply because he was so cute while he was sleeping. The cuteness, it's rotting my brain.
Now, I promised a recipe. This is a recipe I like to make for Christmas to give away to all the puppies in my family. (Shout out to Esme, Charlie, Abby, Maddie, Sophie and Angel!) There are cats in the family, too, but I really don't have a recipe that's guaranteed to please cats. This is probably because most cats are not pleased by anything except our quiet and distant worship of them. Silly biscuits are for mouth-breathers, they say. Anyway, every dog I ever give these to is very, very excited about them. And I have checked out the recipe for dog safety. So here goes.

Puppy Cookies
Mix together the following: 1 1/2 c. four, 3/4 c. oatmeal, 1/4 c. wheat germ, 1/3 c. peanut butter, 1/4 c. vegetable oil, 2 T. honey, 1/2 t. baking powder, 1/2 c. water.
Roll dough about 1/2 inch think. Cut into desired shapes.
Mix together one large egg and 2 T. milk. Brush on top of cookies.
Bake at 275 for 30 minutes. Rotate pan and bake another 30 minutes until golden brown and firm.
Notes: For Christmas I cut them into festive shapes like stars and trees but this time I had a great idea. Since I needed a bunch of them in small bites, I just cut the dough into strips and perforated them with a knife. When they cooled, I broke them into little bite-sized squares. Now I can easily give them out to reinforce good behavior. Berwyn loves them. But he loves everything.

Now some more cute pictures of my puppy child.

Introducing Berwyn

Five years ago I married the love of my life. He was my high school sweetheart and remains the most stable and wonderful thing in my life. And five years ago we planned to have children "in five years." Well, as you know, we are not going to have children any time soon. There are bigger things in the way, like kidney transplants, that have to happen first. (I'll give an update on that soon, just not today.) So we decided to do the next best thing: to become parents to an adorable puppy!
This is Berwyn. (The name is Welsh for "light brown" but more importantly, sounds like BEAR.) He is a purebred Welsh Corgi (Pembroke) and he's about 2 years old. Now, Wait!, you might say. Didn't you just have that other dog that you decided not to keep? Well... yes. But this is different. The other dog was, first and foremost, too big for our lease restrictions. She was still a puppy and already over 35 pounds. Also, she was a pain in the butt. She dug up my yard and ate my okras. But she was really sweet. And she did give us the opportunity to think seriously about adopting a dog. But no.

Then, two weeks later, I get an email. It's on my work email, in the folder that is for general newsy type announcements for the whole district. A guy had a picture of a Corgi and said it was free to a good home.
I immediately started texting Sexy Lawyer Man, hoping he'd talk me into it, which he did. I emailed back a response to the owner. Nothing. Then I Google-stalked him for a while, found out we had a Facebook friend in common, and asked her to message him. Nothing. So I called his school and asked that they call him at home with my information. Then sent another email. I started to wonder why I was freaking out about this particular dog. Of course, I love corgis. I have ever since my awesome and morbidly obese Rugby (1991-2003). And why was I suddenly ok with getting a pet? A kitten came along and it wasn't the right time, too much money. And Calamity Jane, the big yellow dog. Not the right time. But within a few moments of seeing the opportunity for this dog, my entire outlook changed. I decided that for once I'll take my husband's approach and just trust that things will work out alright. And I say Sure! Let's do it! I'm not sure why, but this little guy just grabbed my heart.

And then I wait for four days. Finally, yesterday, the phone call came. Long story short, we came home with a dog last night! But here's the cool part: I paid our pet deposit, which came to $550 for the year. Two hours later, Sexy Lawyer Man came in with the mail, which included a refund check from some old medical expenses in the amount of $556! What great luck! So I suppose that just trusting that things will work out may be the way I should approach more things in life.

Bittersweet

So this week has been strange. 

It's the last week of school, so I have had to take down all the decorations in my classroom and say goodbye to my kids and my coworkers. Only not really goodbye, because I'm teaching summer school, so I'll see a lot of my coworkers for another month (and two of my kids.) Also only sorta goodbye because I don't have a job yet for next year. I was the only probational teacher at my school who was cut due to budget issues, but one of 181 district wide. They have now hired back 87 of us, according to the TV, but no word yet on me. So as I stood up in front of my peers at out luncheon, I wasn't ready to say goodbye because I really firmly believe I'm coming back. But I don't know for sure. Regardless, I have cleaned out my desk in the meantime. 

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Now, I'm sure you are all eagerly awaiting my lab results. Right? (Thanks, Mrs. A, for the concern.) Well, I don't have the full print out but I know two key numbers. First the good news is my bloodcount is 12, so I'm not all that anemic. Not great, but not dangerous, either. But then there's the creatinine, which was 2.44. That's up from last month. 2nd "up" number in a row, after about 6 months of consistently "down" numbers. (Cheat sheet: creatinine is a byproduct of muscle tissue breakdown, it's filtered out by kidneys, normally you have less of it in your blood, but if your filter doesn't work, you have more of it. It is a pretty standard measure of kidney function.  Healthy = under 1.2 mg/dl. )  I was at 1.8 (36%) when this all was discovered Dec of 2009, 3.5 (17%) at my worst in August 2010, and was at 2.1 (32%) two months ago. So now I'm back under 30% and I am seeing my trend of "better better better" turn around. Not that I should complain about 26% function when I have felt 17% but I am worried that this trend is going to continue and I am going to get very very sick in then next three to six months. I base this prediction on what patterns I have seen before, though, really I have no clue since we still have no idea what is going on. In the meantime, I have to get a little more strict on my diet. I'm not sure that my diet will really help anything,since an autoimmune disorder will not be slowed down by lack of sodium, but it's my way of doing penance in hopes that I will tip the scales toward "she deserves to get better." So I'm drinking a lot of water and trying not to fret when I feel strange pokey pains in my lower back. Only time will tell. If you're the praying type, I could use it. 

Onto other things. We almost got a dog this week. Or, rather, she almost got us. On Monday evening a precious yellow lab puppy (less than 6 months) showed up in our backyard.  She dug under the fence to get in. We drove around and posted signs, hoping that her family was looking for her. Nope. So, being the saps we are, we bought some food, patched the fence, and let her stay over night in the yard. By morning she was gone. Not the end of the story. She came back in the afternoon. Sexy Lawyer Man fixed the fence again and we fed her and let her stay another night. We had a long tearful (just me, really) discussion about whether or not we could really afford and care for a dog right now, and decided that this was not a good time with me being out of a job (maybe) and him still in school, and a good chance of big ugly medical bills looming. Wednesday we called all over town looking for a no-kill shelter that would take her, but no one would. Eventually he had to take her to the Waco Humane Society. They seemed confident that a cute, healthy, sweet puppy like her would be adopted really soon. I hope so. She deserves a good home. Preferably one without potted plants. I didn't really want okra after all.