Friday, September 25, 2020

Glorious Garden Food:Turkey meatballs and meatloaf

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SUPER TENDER TURKEY or CHICKEN MEATLOAF or MEATBALLS with Lowsalt options.



We are still in the throes of dealing with all the garden produce. I purchased a large package of ground turkey and knew I wanted to make some meatloaf and some meatballs. 



Including vegetables in my meatloaves is standard as it helps the low fat chicken/turkey, which can be quite dry.


Here you can see how nicely these meatballs brown, I then pop them in the freezer in bags, easy to pull a few out for dinner and heat them in the toaster oven.

My 3# package of ground meat made all this.



Cooking for two ---can mean too many leftovers can be boring, so I cook a lot, package and freeze meal sized portions. Each of the meatloaves were cut in half, and bagged. The meatballs freeze nicely loose in bags.

I often split the meat mixture into three parts and add the seasonings of choice to each.


You can see how tender and delicious these meatballs were.

CHICKEN/TURKEY Meatloaves/meatballs with low salt options also gluten free

Mix together
1# of lean ground Turkey/Chicken
add 1 cup of whole oats (long-cooking)
(this will make one meatloaf or 15-16 large meatballs)

1 1/2 cups total -shredded of one or more of the following: zucchini, yellow summer squash, carrots, celery, or apples.
Add:
1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers or hotter if you wish

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 cloves of chopped garlic (optional)

1 TBSP of Chicken Seasoning OR Mrs. Dash or Italian seasoning, or a seasoning mix of your choice. 

Other additional options would be 1 Tbsp Chili powder and/OR fresh basil, cilantro, oregano,  OR poultry seasoning or fresh Rosemary for a Thanksgiving vibe. 

1/2 tsp ground pepper

Add salt to taste, or 1 Tbsp of lemon juice for low-salt

Add 3/4 cup of one of these liquids: Milk, or tomato sauce/castup, or chicken broth. (All three of these have salt in them-watch your numbers)

Mix thoroughly and let sit for 15 minutes. If mixture is still stiff add a bit more liquid until you can easily form loose meatballs or loaves. (Remember the vegetables and the liquid add moisture instead of the fat and the oatmeal will absorb this.)

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes for meatballs

Use a thermometer to test meatloaves to poultry safe 165 degrees or above.  Mine took  1 hour and 20min.

You will not get run-off for gravy, but the meatballs can easily be popped into sauce for a terrific spaghetti. I often make a basic white parsley gravy with low-fat milk for the more savory selections. 

 When using three pounds you can split the mixture before adding seasonings and have three different choices.

ENJOY!

WHAT  is your favorite GARDEN FOOD?



Do not use my photos without linking back to this post on my blog.


Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 



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Sunday, September 20, 2020

Tip Toe-ing into Fall

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Well, Fall is definitely coming... 

to N. Illinois.

No, this isn't another Sunflower post...I just wanted you to see how  he birds, squirrels, and raccoons have picked all these sunflower heads CLEAN!

oldnewgreenredo

                        

I really found the heads interesting though, just as they are.

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I managed to roll the MONSTER pumpkin *(without any mice or wheels) to the deck and then lift this up on the bench in the backyard.

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The Pumpkin is so round, but flat on the back side. I was cleaning out the sunflower heads while picking beans on the ladder and brought down so many of the heads as they were empty. My shoe is an 11 womens' so you can get a gander at how big this huge pumpkin really is.

oldnewgreenredo

      

So while I'm plopping the sunflowers on the bench...I get a great idea---to maybe make a display in the front yard with these.

                                                       oldnewgreenredo                                 


Thinking I planned to use an upside down galvanized round tub, but, when I went to the garden center to get a few MUMS they were selling bales of fresh hay for $6.99. 

The hay bale becomes a shelf and mulch all rolled into one. 

oldnewgreenredo

The sunflower heads are great to add to my pots where the flowers have given up. 
Petunias are simply done with the heat and dry. 
I added two garden center pumpkins, all those pumpkin plants and we only ended up with the large one and some gourd sized ones which are still holding on the vines.

oldnewgreenredo

I'm looking for my "Happy Fall, Y'all!" sign and so far no luck. I was incapacitated last year to put things away, so goodness knows where it is?

I will show this again, as I change the vignette. 

HAPPY FALL, Y'All !


Do not use my photos without linking back to this post on my blog.


Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 




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Monday, September 14, 2020

Midwest Gardening Food: Freezing Green Beans


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Midwest Gardening Food: 

Freezing Green Beans

Since we have had little bursts of cooler weather in between the high 80's and low 90's, the beans were and still are going nuts! We planted beans on 8' trellises between the sunflowers. Mostly to give our neighbor some privacy. There sunken patio is a stones throw from our garden and no need to be seen every time we are in the garden, butts in the air weeding.

And YES sunflowers and beans are very compatible plantings...but who knew?

oldnewgreenredo

...our Beans would grow as high as the Sunflowers. The ground was very hard so the ladder was sturdier and safer than it looks.

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You can see the thick growth of bean leaves, we have a fortress of beans. Three packets, 2 which were three years old.

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My daughter-in-law picked all the lower ones. We picked and picked and picked. 
She took a huge bag of 
GREEN DELICIOUSNESS home.


oldnewgreenredo



Freezing beans is so easy. First, wash and prepare your beans. I clip off the ends and pull off any strings. You may cut them or leave them long. Even with the beans large inside the pods these were very tender, so I'm freezing almost all of them.

oldnewgreenredo

Easy Directions for freezing beans: Prepare a clean sink 1/2 full with cold water and add a quart of icecubes or quart block of ice you have frozen. 

    Then set a deep kettle on the stove half full of water. Set to boiling with a lid. (Do not add salt this will discolor the beans).

    When at a rolling boil add 2 cups of beans to the water, bring to a boil and let them cook for three minutes.

    Scoop out the cooked beans and immediately chill to cold in the sink. Remove and drain.

    Do this with all your beans...then bag, removing as much air as possible from freezer bags.

    Label and freeze. Enjoy all year long, so delicious and fresh!

oldnewgreenredo

Which is your favorite GARDEN FOOD?



Do not use my photos without linking back to this post on my blog.


Thank you for your cooperation, 
Sandi 



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Friday, September 4, 2020

Midwest Gardening 2020: Upside down Sunflower Update

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Ever wonder why sunflowers tip upside down?


I thought it was from our drought...not enough water...even though I would faithfully water them every other day.



And then there was the mess on the ground ????


Squirrels!!! Flowers are upside down so squirrels can hang and feast!


This guy was quite in a hurry to reach all the succulent seeds.


I caught multiple photos...and he just would change his position.


See the tail?

Hope you have an upside-down/FUN/feasting weekend!

Hugs and Stay Safe! 










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Monday, August 24, 2020

Midwest Gardening 2020: Sunflowers

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It's been so hot, I only stay outside long enough to water pots and pick a few vegetables and then there is the weeds. Today I decided to only take photos of the sunflowers.... Boy, do we have sunflowers.

oldnewgreenredo

I'm always amazed opening my photos to edit. 

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Why is it the eye doesn't see the finesse of the light or the details captured by the camera's eye? The veins in the leaves, the hairs on the stems, the sunlight caressing the edges...and bouncing across the stems. 

I'm always amazed. This little sun face stem hides under some giant brothers next to our flagpole in the front yard. 

The subject today is simply SUNFLOWERS and boy do I have some HUGE sunflowers. Many of these were grown from seed in the greenhouse, but I also sowed directly into the ground. Not everything germinated...just as well...wait until you see!

oldnewgreenredo

These look tall and straight, as I am taking the photo 12 feet below. These Mammoth Sunflowers are in a raised planter by our stairs. It has been so dry---here...even with watering everything droops, but the flowers heads are huge and heavy also.


oldnewgreenredo

From up 6 feet from the last photo, you can see the heads as tall as the garage. You
can see how they have drooped over. 

oldnewgreenredo

I'm surprised a raccoon hasn't discovered these, heavy and full of seeds and accessible from the porch railings.  

Strolling to the backyard garden...another Mammoth Sunflower. 
I planted two giant varieties, one ....up to 12 feet, and this Mammoth up to 15 feet.
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This big baby is planted next to the cucumber trellis with some smaller versions underneath.

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Here's are our Better Boy tomatoes in front of the north wall of sunflowers and trellised green beans.  I ran support wires and ropes between the trellises to support the very tall sunflowers.

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I planted this smaller variety of Sunset Sunflowers, some are just now starting to form heads. This area has sun all day, and it's very hot. The blossoms don't last very long.

oldnewgreenredo

Here's how pretty this flower head is, only the size of your palm.

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Okay, here is where you say OMG! That is a 6 foot tall step ladder, I'm using to pick beans...Yes those flowers are almost into the power/telephone/cable lines. Easily 15 feet high or more?

oldnewgreenredo

Photo taken from directly underneath...!

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See the power lines?

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Lower are the 6-8' foot basic Sunflowers and they are still very tall.

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Above the Mammoth heads drooping again!

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Another angle, with the smaller flowers on the left are almost kissing the power lines.

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Here you can see the Fibonacci sequence of the seed patterns. Fascinating, spiraling in prime number sequence. 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, ....etc.
        
oldnewgreenredo
                   

We lost a few tops last week from a windstorm, our last rain. I've hung them up for the birds to feast on. Birds can't hang upside down on those huge swaying heads fifteen feet in the air. I'm sure these two on the grill canopy will gone soon.

oldnewgreenredo

                 

Hope you enjoyed my smiling sunflowers. Just waiting for the raccoons to figure out they are ready to eat! 

oldnewgreenredo

Smiles, and have a great week!









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