Tomato circle

Tomato circle

Friday, April 29, 2011

Crab Cakes via Emeril

Since we buy crab and seafood from the market EVERY week - Crabcakes have a heavy rotation in our eating cycles. This is by far the best recipe I have ever made or eaten. We saw it on Emeril Fast Fresh cooking show - its suppose to highlight buying foods from a farmers market and how to cook it. Its on the Cooking Channel. We highly recommend it! The Crab cakes that is - and don't skimp out - make the Remoulade sauce too - its amazing!

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/crabcakes-with-remoulade-sauce-recipe/index.html

Spring Garden 8 weeks update




I couldnt be more happy with my Spring Garden this year. My tiny tiny tomato plants are 4 ft high already and dripping with lil yellow fruits. My Celebrity tomatoes are also looking great - each plant has about 3 good size fruits growing. Most of the pepper plants are getting big. I can see jalapenos starting to flower and beginning to form! The onions are still good - no exciting changes for them but I know their cooking down their in their soil. The Kale looks like its been nibbled at by the squirrels. Im thinking of planing more Kale in some pots too. The biggest improvement was that I built a lattice for my cucumbers to start growing up. They are also starting to get lil yellow blooms. Cant wait to see the cucumbers come in - that means more pickles!




Here is the 1st mini harvest of tomatoes from today. They looks so tasty and what a great color! I love spring!!

Burnet Rd 6701 Farmers Market

Yesterday after work, I was very excited to check out the new reopened Burnet Road Farmers Market. I lived in this neighborhood many years ago and used to swing by on my scooter and get bags of tomatoes and peppers. It closed in 2007 but is under new management.


The hours are great - Thursday from 4PM - 8PM and then on Sat morning from 9AM - 1PM.


I got there about 5pm to a pretty full parking lot. The location is great and since I work on Burnet Rd - an easy stop after work.




From what I could see - the only veggie vendor so far was Johnson Backyard. There was 2 Soap/Lotion vendors. And a coffee truck that made for a nice backdrop. I ended up stoping by a small booth called Tiny Pies. Who can resist that name? The pies kinda look like muffins but the inside and the taste was ALL pie! They were the only sweets/breads vendor. I also did see Kathy from the CPF2M with her amazing jellies and tamales. She also sells meat so that was a plus. There was a crowd of about 20 people milling around. Overall tho, it left much to be desired. Just not enough choices or kinds of food.

Im sure they will grow over the months and have larger crowds as word spreads and it turns summer. Im going to wait a few months and check it out again later. I still think its a great beginning and hopefully will turn on some Central Austin folks to farmers market shopping!

Bugs! Get out!!



Like many of my local central Texas neighbors, our house has been taken over by a whole mess of bugs in search of water. We have had large tree roaches - which always proves that things are MUCH bigger in Texas. We have also has the swarming gnats and flies that seem to be pestering everyone this month.

After a roach fell on me in bed and I just about gave my sleeping husband a heart attack, I had enough. We of course wanted to go with a company that was non toxic and used not harmful chemicals in treating our home and yard.

We signed with Bulwark Pest control. They had really good reviews and promised great result with no toxins.

Our first spray was Thurdays - we are hoping within a week - there will be no more critters stirring at night. I can then relax when go to the kitchen for my 3 am water again. I will update over the next few months how it goes.

Friday, April 22, 2011

April 2, 2011 Farmers Market

This week celebrated 1 year birthday of Cedar Parks Farmers Market! Our lifestyle has been forever changed with this market in our backyard and we couldnt be more proud to spend our money with these amazing vendors! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!


Swede Farm, whom we get our goats milk from every week, delighted us by bringing a group of 3 week old baby goats. They were so adorable - it took everything I had not to steal one in my bag and take it home. I was amazed by the vertical leap of these babies - they seem to prefer to go up rather than across.


Look how TINY!!

All the kids were super excited to hold goats - next time, Im gonna hold one too!


Food Dehydrator - how I love thee


I freakin love my food dehydrator and I must suggest to all that reads this that they should not wait a moment longer and go out and buy one for yourself! Well, maybe not everyone - my parents are not too impressed with the dried foods I have shipped them so far - last I heard was my deer jerky was still upopened and in the fridge no less. :)

Last week I was lucky enough to get some homegrown parsley and chives from my co worker, Trish, who actually was the first person to tell me about the CPFM Farmers Market. We used some for our weekly crab cakes but I really wanted to dry the rest. I ended up also throwing in a whole celery bunch chopped as well as onions and green garlic.

It becomes very apparent of why celery is known for negative calories - these things are ALL water! It took 18 hours to dry them!

In the other tray the had the herbs, onion and green garlic - I dried about 12 hours and then combined them into 1 jar.

I love how they taste together and have re-hydrated them with just a bit of warm water and used in many egg and chicken dishes. They add a splash of flavor with zero effort!

Loves it!