Planning and Planting (and Cooking)

THIS PAST WEEKEND HAS BEEN busy and has spilled over into this new week, starting with a trip to the nearby Moore’s Farmers Market on Thursday.  My friend Marcie lives up there and she took me around to introduce me to some of her new farmer friends.  I had a great time!  I also came away with some good zucchini, other types of squash, and onions.   I love the freshness of the food just brought in from someone’s farm!    Two of the farmers gave me info on their farms, which are open to the public — I can’t wait to go visit.  An Oklahoma winery was also set up there, and I grabbed their info on the way out, for yet another field trip. 

After some quick planning, I managed to get my act together for planting some vegetables and herbs.  I had my beds all prepared, but no plants.   I made a quick run to the local Lowe’s and grabbed a thyme plant, rosemary plant, and organic seeds for two types of tomatoes, two types of lettuce, bell peppers, and basil (omg I love basil).   Yesterday I got the plants into the beds, and all of the seed into trays.  (Side note:  Lowe’s also has a couple of different organic soils.)   The lettuce seed is unplanted as of yet, since it is sown directly outdoors and just sprinkled with soil.  We had a gully washer today, and I didn’t want my little babies washed away.   I’ll likely spread the lettuce seed tomorrow.    Once I get the plants hardy enough to move outdoors, I want to fill in spaces with plants that attract bees and butterflies.  I’ve posted a lot of good gardening links for homemade bug sprays and other things on my facebook page. I hope you can have a look and “Like” the page.

I took Sunday to begin planning a good schedule for this blog, and I am working on some ideas for a couple of new blogs (can’t wait!)  Tomorrow will be one more day of planning, and then food shopping, before I get back into the full swing of things. 

Tonight I threw together this soup for dinner:

Lisa’s Farmer’s Market Soup

32 oz. organic vegetable broth

1 cup broccoli heads

1 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1/4 white onion, chopped

1 cup cooked whole grain brown rice

Cracked black pepper & thyme to taste

Cook the rice ahead and put aside (check package, can take 45 minutes to an hour).  Into a saucepan or skillet, pour broth and add all  vegetables.  Add pepper and thyme,  and bring to boil until carrots are softened.    Stir in the cooked rice and serve hot.

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Poached Egg on Wheat Flatbread with Thyme & Salmon

There’s nothing quite like a late brunch or an afternoon breakfast.   Today I had a lazy morning, so I decided on a two p.m. brekkie.   My Facebook friends helped me choose a meal and everyone was curious about a nice poached egg and salmon delight.  

I hadn’t poached an egg in quite some time so I first found some good web instructions at WikiHow: Poach an Egg.   I followed the instructions exactly and my egg was just perfect in 4 minutes flat. The egg was firm and shiny, with a nice film over the yolk (which I messed up dabbing to dry it – oops), and the shape couldn’t have been better. According to the article, swirling the water when you poach not only controls the shape of the egg after it’s in the water, but cools the water below boiling, to 160-180F degrees — said to be the perfect range.

I toasted a nice five inch wheat flatbread, slid the egg onto it, and topped it with a roll of smoked salmon. Then I put another roll of salmon to the side — I have to be honest: when the smoked salmon is brought out, I need someone to cut me off after a few pieces.  I have a real “thing” for smoked salmon, which I prefer on a wheat cracker with yellow mustard (one moment while I reflect – ahhhhh).    After placing the smoked salmon, I sprinkled cracked pepper over the entire thing and put some extra pepper around the plate.  I also sprinkled dried thyme over the center.  I initially used so much pepper for the photo, but I ended up dragging every bite through it.  With the saltiness of the salmon, the pepper really added that necessary oomph!  to the flavor. 

I really like these flavor combinations.  The bread had a tiny bit of butter on it (organic of course), which helped keep it from being too dry.  When I make this again for myself, I won’t bother with the bread, however.   If I serve it to guests I would keep the bread, it makes for a nice appearance. 

I’m very happy with this recipe!   I really love the salmon/egg union with the salt, thyme and pepper.

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Now, Back to Soup

I MADE A SOUP FOR lunch today – an experiment that ended up tasting pretty good.   I call it Broccoli Carrot Thyme Soup:

Olive oil

1 c. broccoli tops, cut up

2 carrots, sliced

3 stalks celery, sliced or chopped

Thyme, salt and pepper to taste

2 cloves garlic, minced

16 oz. vegetable broth

Put everything except the broth into a skillet, use the olive oil for drizzing, then saute everything for 5 minutes.  Then add the broth to the mix and bring to a boil.  Reduce flame and simmer until the carrots are tender.  I then take a potato masher and smash up about half the vegetables, still in the skillet.   Serve warm.

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