Eating from our first vegetable garden ~ Turnips

I just pulled 2 nice sized turnips from the garden to add to my famous heart healthy mashed potatoes. I'm working on getting the recipe published on eHow soon. This is the first year we have grown a vegetable garden and we are loving it so much.

I will also be snipping fresh chives to add when the potatoes are completely mashed. Unfortunately our sweet corn only grew one stalk. We planted it too late I think. We are learning so much and taking note on what changes to make for next year.

We have already pulled several zucchini and added them to so many vegetable dishes and zucchini bread. Some is shredded and already in the freezer. I can't wait to pull some beets and try new recipes. Next year I'd like to add sugar snap peas. I already have recipes for them and most of what's growing in the garden.

I not only feels good to be eating good food grown without chemicals, but it's absolutely fun! The only thing we have put on the garden is organic coffee grounds. I'll try to get some photos posted when I pull more vegetables. I didn't think about it until I cut the turnips up. They were perfect in size and crisp.

Kitten update -

We have 5 kittens! I'll post a photo as soon as I load them. What a good Mom she is being. She purred like a car motor and is "baking bread".

Barn Kitty Gives Birth to Four Kittens Today

Here is an update. After I loaded this photo she started to give birth to a fifth kitten. This photo shows 4 kittens. One is black or dark gray and three are gold. They are adorable.

Barn Kitty is in labor!

It's 11:34am EST here and Aurora is now in labor. She came right to the door to come in to have them, and went right into the box we have prepared for her. If we try to leave the room she follows us, if we stay and rub her belly she purrs up a storm. She's so funny, not like a "normal" barn cat would be, while in labor.

We can see one foot so far, and will up date with photos as she has them. She's such a proud Mom.

New Food Tried Today

It's been some time between posts lately. But that is what happens when a family member has undergone a serious heart surgery and needs assistance. Considering I love to cook, I've been trying new recipes and keeping track of heart healthy meals. I've even taken this into consideration with several new articles on the Web sites I write for.

Tonight we tired okra for the first time. I'm so used to flavorful vegetables now, that I'm not sure about this one. The kids like it so I may just leave it as is. We were excited to be able to add zucchini from our own garden too. Our green beans are not doing so well, so I did buy some of those for this recipe.

For the recipe you can look for the book The Cardiac Recovery Cookbook, by M. Laurel Cutlip, R.D., L.N. with Sari Budgazad, R.D., C.D.N., or click on the recipe link below for an on-line cookbook that contains the exact same recipe (page 96 of the cookbook on-line):

Italian Vegetable Bake

I received favorable remarks from the kids with this recipe. I even did some research as to what benefits okra has for our bodies.

One of our dogs has adopted the kittens and chickens both!

What a great Mom!

Trying new foods again...

Well it was time for a new food to try. Last night it was Yellow Watermelon. I didn't find any of them whole for sale, but found slices in the produce coolers.

It was delicious. It had a slightly different flavor, but delicious. I would love to serve up a bowl of cut watermelon and mix in the yellow with it. It would make a colorful dessert and healthy too.

It was gone so fast I never got a chance to take a picture, but added the link to an Internet image. If you haven't tried it you should. Yum!

Yellow watermelon will be added to our spring and summer Yellow Food Nights!