What Ana Does

Due to some pretty heinous past experiences, I approach recipes mined from Pinterest with extreme caution. They're much less reliable than recipes from trusted cookbooks that have been copyedited and kitchen-tested by various cooks and editors. But I've been looking for some kitchen inspiration as I attempt dinners that the girls will eat, and are also high in veggies and beans (I'm introducing other protein sources to go meatless more often). Last night I got lucky with this recipe from the Cooking Classy blog. It's her Avocado Hummus and it was pretty delicious. I didn't make any variations on the recipe, but I will warn you a little garlic goes a LONG way. Avocado Hummus Recipe Here . The only drawback is because of the two avocados, it gets brown pretty quickly (despite the lime). It's not something you can store in your fridge for a few days like regular hummus. Did the kids eat it? Sadly, no. But Dave and I enjoyed it along with chicken, feta ...

Veggies: Peas, Carrots, Onions, Lettuce, etc. It's early June and the veggie beds are getting down to work. I spent Sunday morning stringing up the peas on some new trellises and weeding. Lots of weeding. Watering hasn't been an issue this year, as we've had more than enough rain. But the warm-loving tomato seeds and strawberries didn't make an appearance. Too bad. In the herb bed, I'm very excited to see the cilantro (coriander) coming up from seed -- good news for Dave's guacamole. The oregano, sage, parsley and thyme came back from last year, bigger than ever. I've also got some radish in here, and they're growing like crazy. Herbs: Parsley, Sage, Oregano, Cilantro, etc On the veggie side, the peas are rapidly growing, the onions are starting to form bulbs. The broccoli is getting bigger, as is the lettuce. The carrots aren't ready to be thinned, but soon. And I'm going to need a solution (cage) for the cucumbers soon. The tomato...

With the first look at my backyard and all the sunlight it was getting, I had visions of home-grown veggies and herbs. Of course, this was December and snow was falling. Like all projects, I started out thinking we would do it ourselves, like we did the raised beds at our house in New Jersey. But weekends are precious and the thought of hauling so much dirt from the garden store to my backyard in our little cars overwhelmed me. One day, the landscaper that took care of the house for the previous owners came by and I asked him for an estimate. He didn't know what I meant at first but I found a photo of a raised bed from my pinterset board and gave it to him. Realization dawned, the estimate made it worth it -- and weeks later we have our end result. With no bags of dirt in our trunks. The Promise of a New Garden I'm super-duper excited about what we'll be putting in here in the coming months and years. Yippee!! I'm not the most talented green-thumb gal but my g...