Carrots

Recently we had some thunderstorms (circa two weeks ago?) and ever since then my garden has started growing out of control! Tomatoes and peas everywhere! It is so satisfying to go and check daily, and see how everything is coming along!

The peas have gotten so tall they don’t even fit in the frame! Also, you may notice something missing from the first update. The broccoli is gone! I finally gave it the boot. It had the same problem as last year where the plant itself grew huge but there were just NO florets. Whereas my mother-in-law has these teeny plants with HUGE florets on them. Why not me?! But the main reason I dug it up was the leaves were so big they were smothering my carrots, and that was a no-no. Two carrots didn’t make it (too small, not enough time to flesh out) but at least the rest are doing well.

The lettuce is doing so great! I’ve already harvested three huge bunches (each one lasted about a full week, and we use it daily), and then I just harvested all this lettuce after taking the pics. Hoping to get at least two or three more bunches out of it!

The peas are just going nuts. They apparently don’t care that they’ve run out of trellis to grow on, and just keep going up, up, up! They are now taller than my 6′ 2″ hubby. As for when I pick them, it varies. If I want to use them in a stir fry, I’ll pick them when they are skinny like this. They crisp up so nicely in the pan that way. If I want them as a fresh snack to much, or for a salad, I wait until the peas get fatter and then that have a great crisp crunch!

My tomatoes are also getting giant again. After the big thunderstorm day we had, they got so big they tipped completely over, so as you can see we reinforced the metal cages with a little wood corral system that is working quite nicely. One big branch did snap off in the collapse, but I’ve still got plenty of tomatoes coming in! Four more bunches like the ones pictured! YUM!

I can’t wait for those tomatoes to ripen up. . .I have so many plans for sauces to try out and can! I definitely can’t wait to have a second bed for squashes next year, and I think I’ll try peppers instead of broccoli next year too. I really dislike peppers, but my hubs loves them and hopefully we can get the little on board with them too. Also, sunflowers!! They are just so big and happy; my yard must have some.

If you garden (veggie or flower), what’s your favorite thing to grow?

I found a recipe on Pinterest titled ‘Rainbow Chicken’ which looked delicious. After a teensy bit of searching, I found the source of the recipe, which can be found here via Kitchen Parade. However, as I do with most recipes, I changed it up a bit, so here’s my version!

I refer to this recipe as ‘Kitchen Sink Chicken’ simply because it is so versatile. You can throw in any combo of veggies you want and it will still be delectable. That’s my kind of recipe. Also, my version feeds two adults + one toddler, however it can easily be adapted to more people – just up your ingredients proportionally.

Ingredients

2 large boneless skinless chicken breasts (This is just what I use – really use any kind of chicken meat you want!)
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp garlic powder
3 tsp olive oil
2 tbl red wine vinegar (or in my case you can discover you are OUT of red wine vinegar and make your own using 1 parts red wine to 2 parts apple cider vinegar! Works like a charm.
1 lemon
1 medium sized onion

For the vegetables you can really use whatever you want! I used:

1 zucchini
1 summer squash
2 small red potatoes
2 1/2 carrots (aka all I had left in my fridge)
roughly 1 cup cauliflower florets
roughly 1 cup broccoli florets

Neither my little one or myself like peppers, so we left those out. But if you like them – toss them in for sure!

Preheat your oven to 425F.

After gathering all my veggies, I started off making the spice rub first.

Then it’s time to chop up the big stack of veggies (excluding the onion and lemon). I totally forgot to take a picture of my pile of chopped veg. . .whoopsie daisy.

Then, chop your onion and line the bottom of the pan with them.

Take your chicken out, and give them a good rub down of the spice mixture with your fingers. I’d say I used about 2 – 3 tsps of the mixture per breast, just to give you an idea. When finished, lay them on top of the onion bed.

Looks pretty good already!

Next grab a (giant) bowl – large enough to hold your whole pile of chopped veggies with room for stirring! I used a spatula to transfer my rub mixture into the big bowl. Had I thought ahead, I would have just made the rub IN the big bowl. . .but I didn’t. Next time! Pour your veggies in on the top of the rub and give them a good stirring to thoroughly coat them as much as possible.

Spread the veggies around and on top of the chicken.

Then slice up your lemon, remove any seeds, and lay on top of your meal.

How delicious does this look?! Om nom nom.

Cover with foil and bake! Mine took about an hour and a half but my chicken breasts were very thick. I’d still say an hour minimum is a good place to start. Once done, let cool for 10 -15 minutes, then serve and enjoy!