Garden Update: May 9

Hello! I don't know about you guys but I am so happy that spring is here (finally)! After all the rain last weekend, I finally was able to get outside on Monday and plant the rest of my plants. I also went to a plant sale a few weeks ago and got several things that I still wanted like cucumbers, peppers and some herbs.

Chocolate Mint.

Cilantro from seed. 

Thai basil from seed. These plants got submerged last week when I left them outside overnight and it rained all night. I actually cried when I found them in the morning. But Chris saved them and they perked right back up. 

Lettuce. 

Roma Tomatoes. 

Rosemary that I planted last year that is finally showing some new growth. 

Lettuce.

Tomatillo!

Stevia that overwintered from last year. I was so excited to see it shoot up this year!

Habanero pepper. 

Oregano.

Mexican Sage.

Green onions that overwintered. I dug up three big bulbs and split them up and spread them throughout the garden bed. 

Snap peas!

Under the snap peas I planted 3 cucumber plants that I bought. I think that the peas will die back by the time the cucumbers take off. 

Not enough to make a meal, but delicious nonetheless.  

Here is my newly expanded garden. On the right I dug up those 3 beds, topped it with mulch, and planted my tomatillos and tomatoes. In the beds I have 2 pepper plants, all my herbs, green onions, lettuce, and greens. 

I also finished another semester at school! I was ready to be done and it feels good to have a break from studying all the time :). Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Sourdough!

A picture of Chris and I on Easter Sunday last week :). We had a wonderful Easter weekend visiting my family on Saturday and Chris' family on Sunday. I LOVE being around my families!

So, the topic for this post is SOURDOUGH! A few weeks ago I captured 'wild yeast' in my kitchen and created my very own living sourdough starter. It sounds more exciting than how the actual process went down, but the outcome of a happy and bubbly starter was quite the happy occasion. Basically, I stirred together flour and water every 12 hours, and by the 5th day I had a bubbling starter ready to be used in baking. 

I have to say upfront that the secret to my success in making all of these sourdough recipes is the Sourdough A to Z e-book that I purchased from the people at GNOWFGLINS. It is $20, which may seem pricey for an e-book, but it is over 150 pages long and is unbelievably comprehensive. It has information about starting your own starter, a long list of resources and recipes, starter routines, and how to preserve your starter. I purchased the e-book along with 4 other e-books for a deal that was running a few weeks ago for $7.50. I was thrilled with getting such a good deal on such a comprehensive book. After using it frequently over the last couple of weeks, I wouldn't think twice about paying full price because it is such a great deal. I also plan on printing it out and keeping it in a binder in my kitchen because I am using it so often. Another thing I love about it is all the recipes give instructions for soaking/souring all the flour which makes for a much healthier end product. 

So, let me show you what I have done with my sourdough over the last couple of weeks. 

Pizza dough after souring for 8 hours. 

Kale and mozzarella pizza.

My first sourdough loaf! There is a long story about how things went down with this recipe. Basically it involves having a dough that was too wet, putting too much dough in the pan, and baking bread at midnight so it didn't overflow. It still turned out delicious though and despite cutting the rise time short there was a lot of rich sour flavor and a good crumb. I am amazed by the flavor with only flour, salt, water, and starter. 

Fried eggs and avocado on my first slices of homemade sourdough bread. Hmmm... so delicious. 

In the back (left) I have bread dough, the bowl on the right is for sweet potato sourdough cinnamon rolls, and in the front I have dough souring to make coffee cake. 

I let the bread go through it's second rise overnight in the bread pan and it over-rose and spilled out of the pan. Here are the remnants. The bread still turned out delicious, I just need to put less bread dough in my pan so it doesn't spill over. 

Even with rising all night and spilling over the pan, the texture is still really good. Look at all those air pockets! Next time I will just split the dough in half and make two loaves instead of one and I think that will fix the spillage problem. 

Blueberry sourdough coffee cake that we ate for breakfast this morning. It was very tender and flavorful without being too sour. I probably could have added a little more sugar as it needed a touch more sweetness. But I will definitely be making this again. 

Sweet Potato Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls. I made these for small group tonight, which got cancelled. So I haven't tried them yet. But they sure look good! 

Sourdough Crackers that are unbelievably crunchy and delicious. I brought these to our family dinner on easter and these were the few crackers that were left.  

I have also made 4-5 batches of waffles (that are just sourdough starter mixed with some eggs and butter and a few other things) and english muffins. 

Obviously sourdough started is a lot more versatile than I ever imagined and I have only cracked the surface of the recipes they have in the e-book. Things that I want to make soon include sourdough crepes, tortillas, gingerbread, pitas, and biscuits. 

A Physiological Reason For Why You Should Drink More Water!

I know this post is a major departure from talking about plants and recipes. But, I am in a Human Anatomy and Physiology class this semester and we have been learning about some really interesting stuff. Today I wanted to share with you what I have been learning about the kidneys. I hope you find it interesting and it might even give you motivation to drink more water :).

The kidneys are an incredible organ that are involved in many different physiological processes in the body. They are part of the Urinary System and besides filtering fluids, they also release hormones that stimulate bone marrow to synthesize blood, and they function in directly and indirectly controlling blood pressure.

Today we will talk about how the kidneys control chronic low blood pressure. The filtering mechanism of the kidney is  driven by blood pressure. So, proper pressure is very important for them to function properly. Water contributes to blood pressure so when we don't have enough water in our bodies, blood pressure goes down and there isn't enough blood volume for the heart to get blood where it needs to go. The cliff notes version is... an enzyme is released by the kidneys which binds to a plasma protein from the liver which gets converted to another protein by another enzyme which act to trigger several outcomes.

The one that I want to focus on today is the release of Aldosterone (a hormone produced in the pituitary gland) that tells the kidneys to reabsorb Sodium and water follows by osmosis. Osmosis just means the diffusion of water to an area of higher concentration. So, when there is a higher concentration of Sodium in the kidneys, water would diffuse to the kidneys to water it down and urine would be excreted. However, when Sodium is reabsorbed the water goes to the area of higher concentration (in the blood) and it raises the volume of blood which means the blood pressure would go up. Higher volume in a same amount of space, results in a higher pressure.

The interesting thing about Aldosterone is it is also released in periods of long term stress. It carries out the same function and triggers the kidney to reabsorb Sodium and water follows by osmosis.

So, if you were wondering, that is why watching your Sodium intake is important when you have high blood pressure, especially if it is resulting from stress. Because, one of your body's response to long term stress is to release a hormone that tells your kidneys to retain sodium and water by default.

When you are stressed it is especially important to drink enough water because your body is already holding on to extra sodium from the hormones released in response to stress, we don't need more of those hormones telling the kidneys to keep retaining Sodium because we don't have a high enough blood volume.

Basically, drinking water is so important. I could go on forever about the reasons why. But, just the one we discussed today is a good one. Drinking water is important for proper blood volume so the kidneys can perform their function of filtering the fluids in our body and ridding the body of waste.

Garden Update 03/28/2013

Well, my relationship with my plants has been rocky for the past several weeks. I can't blame it on them though. I have made some major mistakes and I will tell you all about it so you can learn from mine.  

I planted most of these sugar snap pea beauties back in the end of February. The weather was nice and I felt hopeful! However, those few days of nice weather were followed by a major a cold snap and they all died. 

These didn't get planted the first time around. I waited a few more weeks before putting them out hoping they would fare better. I planted these 2 weeks ago when the weather was nice. The same thing happened though, those few days of nice weather were followed by a cold, windy, icy cold snap and all but 2 or 3 died. I am really rooting for the 3 plants that survived and hope to get at least one delicious snap pea for all my hard work. 

2 and half weeks ago I planted all my summer crop seeds. However, to my deep dismay when some of them started to sprout the roots were covered in a white fungus. It causes damping off and weakens the plants so they can't stand up on their own. I was so disappointed!

This is NOT what your emerging seedlings are supposed to look like! If you are wondering about the brown powder on top of the soil, it is cinnamon. I read that cinnamon is supposed to prevent damping off... but it didn't work. 

For seedlings to thrive they need warmth, moist but not damp soil, and light. I had the light with my fluorescent light stands, but unfortunately, the seeds I planted were wet and very cold (they were under the lights in the guest room which stays around 55 degrees all the time). I thought that things were warming up outside when I planted the seeds but I was wrong. Just this week we have had several days  in the 40's. 

Trying to salvage the seeds that hadn't sprouted yet, I made sure I didn't water them and it took a week and a half before the soil finally dried out. More and more seeds started sprouting and I felt a little more hopeful. I also read that hydrogen peroxide diluted in 10 parts of water can kill the fungus without damaging roots, so I have watered with that twice this past week in hopes of giving the seedlings a fighting chance. It has been sunny the last 2 days I have also placed them outside for a couple hours to get more sun. 

Whew! Growing everything from seed this year has been more of an emotional roller coaster than I thought it would be. I have invested so much time into this and it is really depressing to think that I may not have anything to even plant in the garden for all my work. But, I am trying to be positive and believe that things will finally start growing well, now that I know not to water too much. 

Here we go!

Okra that is trying to sprout! The jury is still out on whether of not these will be successful. 

Borage. One of the most beautiful seedlings I have ever seen! This is a flowering herb that is supposed to attract lots of pollinators and I have read that the leaves taste like cucumbers. I am excited to try this!

Borage (left) and Cilantro (right).

Cilantro. I was very surprised when these started sprouting a few days ago, and I couldn't be more thrilled! 

Beets. 

More lettuce. Plus a green onion top that I randomly stuck in there a couple days ago. 

Tomatillos!!

Amish Paste tomatoes. 

As you can see, all is not lost :). I also moved the seedlings into our living room which is warm when we are home. I have one on the floor and the other on an ironing board under lights while they are in the house. Seeds that I planted that haven't sprouted yet are parsley, black cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, poblanos, pepperoncinis, and ground cherries. I might plant more when the weather finally makes up its mind and stays warm :). 

Here are my beets and swiss chard that I planted in January. I think I was keeping them overwatered as well as they haven't grown much in the last month. But, I haven't watered them in almost two weeks and they are looking a lot better. From now on I will be a lot more careful of the watering situation and only water when they really need it!

Here are my lettuce plants, kale, and collards. These two trays stay outside most of time now and I bring them in when we go to bed. Hopefully I can plant these in the ground in a few more weeks when I am sure we aren't going to have another freeze!

Here are all my trays sitting out in the sun. It looks kind of ridiculous. haha I think I went overboard this year, but I learned many valuable lessons. 

Our dog Bowdon sitting outside soaking up the rays ;). 

There you have it. The lengthy and drama filled update on how my plants are doing. Hopefully my next update will be much more hopeful with pictures of thriving plants!

A Forgotten Post About a Cake

Well you see... one of my sisters got married in June last year. It was a beautiful event! I made her cake, with the help of my Aunt Pam and twin sister Nicole. I wrote this post as a draft last summer and forgot about it until tonight. Oops. 

I didn't get any pictures of the process myself, but my sister-in-law Kat graciously sent me some of the gorgeous pictures she took! Kat also recently started her own blog Voyages des Joie where she writes about the wonderful creations she invents in her kitchen. I must say, all her recipes look absolutely delicious!

So, without further ado, here are pictures of the cake!

My twin sister Nicole, and I baking the cakes. We had a blast working on it together.

The reception. My Dad figured out a way to put a live tree in the auditorium, and hang japanese lanterns from the ceiling. The atmosphere was truly magical! 

The cake had 4 tiers, 2 chocolate and 2 vanilla. It was torted and filled with raspberry filling and covered with buttercream. The pearls around the bottom are rolled out of fondant, covered in bronze luster dust. 

I love the topper and how it ties everything together.  I am so pleased with how this cake turned out, and I hope you enjoyed Kat's fabulous pictures!

Garden Seedlings Update

My seedlings are doing well! In addition to my original batch of seedlings, I planted a whole flat of sugar snap pea seeds a week and a half ago. I had success with them last fall, but it got too cold before they could produce any peas. So, I am trying again this spring and wanted to give them a head start inside. They are doing great!

I started by soaking the seeds in filtered water for 48 hours, and changed the water twice a day. I have soaked all my seeds (beside the tiny lettuce seeds) in water and it really makes a difference in speeding up germination time! 

I put the lid on the tray while they were sprouting to trap in moisture and set it by the window. It only took three days for them to sprout! 

This photo was taken yesterday. They sprouted last weekend and have already grown so much. The plants seem really hardy and I can't wait to get them in the ground! 

I took this picture today and it seems they grew an inch overnight! Maybe with 32 sugar snap pea plants I will have a chance at having enough for a meal :). 

I also transplanted all my beet and swiss chard seedlings into newspaper pots. They got leggy sitting in the window without any direct light. 

They are definitely much happier now sitting under the direct light of the fluorescents :). 

With how quickly my snap pea plants are growing, the progress seems much slower with all my other seedlings that I started in the end of January. I am thinking about setting them outside for a few hours in the afternoons when I get home from school and see if some natural sun will help them grow a little quicker. 

These are my lettuce plants. These seem to be growing the most slowly and a lot of them are drooping and falling over. When they sprouted they developed some white fuzz on the roots and then it went away. I wonder if that weakened the plants. Next week I will plant another batch of lettuce seeds just in case these plants don't survive the transplant to outside. 

My little kale plants. I am so excited to see their 'true' leaves coming out!

So, that's an update on my little seedlings. I have been itching to start all my summer crop seeds. But before I do that, I need to plant what I have under the lights now to free up space. Hopefully setting them out in the sun for a little bit every day next week will help them grow faster. Then, once my first batch of seedlings is planted I can start all my tomatoes, peppers, herbs and everything else. I can't wait until this summer!!