Thursday Tips: Garden Veggies

Do you have a garden? Odds are, you've missed a few things at some point and had green beans get gigantic, peas start to turn brown, or squash just get so big you don't know what to do with it.

If you make your own stock, don't fret! Take those peas that started drying a bit (so long as they aren't actually rotting), the extra squash you just can't use (or don't want to because you ate half of it for dinner and it could still feed an army), extra green beans, and just throw them in a freezer bag labeled veggie scraps. I add my scraps as I go, but if you're ready to make stock today, just throw them in the pan! It will only add to your stock, and it will not have been wasted.

Meat Cooking Tip

If you're looking for a simple way to add a bit of flavour to a thick chunk of meat, regardless of the type of meat you're working with, try the following:

Cut up some fresh garlic cloves. (slice across the width of the cloves to make several thin slabs)

Slice various spots of the chunk of meat before cooking, and stuff pieces of garlic clove in it.

Cook as normal (including searing before cooking if that's what you usually do).

Easy to do but adds a great flavour to the meat!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Thursday Tips: Used Tea & Coffee

Do you garden? Maybe you even compost? Put those used coffee grounds and tea leaves to work!

Coffee grounds are great in the soil, in compost, and in worm bins. In fact, you can even mound up some coffee grounds around a plant that slugs love and it will help keep them away since the coffee grounds are acidic and abrasive. ( Read here for more info on coffee in your garden. )

Don't forget, you can break open those k-cups and use those grounds, too!

Tea is much the same. You can use the moist tea leaves in your compost bin to speed up decomposition, or mix with soil/sprinkle on soil of acid loving plants like tomatoes. ( Read here for more info on tea leaves with different types of soil. )

We break open our tea bags, but you can also compost the tea bag depending on what it's made of.

Thursday Tips: Summer Crock Pot Cooking

Sometimes there is a recipe I really want to make, and it's just so darn hot outside that I cringe at the thought of using my crock pot and heating up the house even more. I love that the house smells so great, but the extra heat? Yeah... I could do without it.

Simple problem, simple solution!

We set our crock pot in our mudroom or our garage in the summer time when we use it!

Our mudroom is closed off from the main part of our house via a door, and the garage obviously is, too. Of course, you want to make sure you have the garage door shut, or you might attract pests with the delicious aromas!

Do you have any crock pot tips?

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Turkey Chili (crock pot)

I've been looking to try something new as of late, and our local grocery store gave me the perfect opportunity with some reduce-priced meat (sell-by date). I had never cooked with just a slab of turkey breast before, but the price really couldn't be beat! I decided to try my hand at making some turkey chili!

The following recipe was definitely a hit with the family. Bobble ate it (which meant it wasn't too spicy), hubby ate it (which meant it wasn't too bland), Squiggle ate it (...which really just meant it was food. She loves food!), and I ate it. The fact that I ate it says a lot, with as picky as I am.

I wasn't sure how I felt about it at first, as I had never really had chili with poultry before. The more bites I took, the more I enjoyed it. It is especially good with corn bread, and I absolutely enjoyed every bite I sopped up with the corn bread!

I actually chopped up my peppers and threw them in the crock pot for storage while I prepped the other items. It doesn't really matter if you throw the beans and peppers in the crockpot (OFF) to wait for the other stuff, or if you chop them and throw them into the pan with the tomato mixture (after you turn that off). I was just trying to save counter space and dirty less dishes.

Turkey Chili

•     2 cups cannellini beans (or 1 can)
•     2 cups garbanzo beans (or 1 can)
•     1 tbsp oil
•     3 shallots, finely chopped
•     1c celeriac, chopped
•     2 tbsp minced garlic (or roughly 6 cloves)
•     1 tbsp cumin
•     2 tsp dried oregano
•     1/2 tsp cracked black peppercorns
•     Zest of 1 lime
•     2 tbsp fine cornmeal
•     1 cup veggie broth
•     1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes with juice
•     1-2 lbs skinless boneless turkey breast, cubed
•     2 cups cut green beans
•     1 tbsp chile powder, dissolved in juice of zested lime (or roughly 2 tbsp lime juice)
•     2 bell peppers, diced - any colours (Ideal would have at one of them green)
•     1 chilaca pepper, finely diced (If not available, substitute a poblano [slightly less kick])

1) Heat oil in a large pan (I used a 5qt. T-fal Jumbo Cooker w/lid ), and add shallots and celeriac. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic, stirring well.

2) Combine ground pepper, cumin, oregano, and lime zest. Add to pan, stirring well to fully coat. Add in cornmeal, coating well.

3) Add in broth and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and pour into 6 qt. crock pot.

Broth added (tomatoes not added yet)

4) Stir in beans, bell peppers, chilaca, lime juice/chile powder mixture, and turkey breast.

5) Cover and cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with cornbread.

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. This is an original recipe, and all opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Post contains affiliate links.

Slowing Down

I'm sure you've noticed the blog slowing down again. Between the illnesses with both children, I've run out of quite a bit of steam. I think I'm going to do a weekly recipe post, and was wanting to do at least one more weekly post... I just don't know on what.

What topic would you like to read about every week? Something diaper related? Cleaning related? Activities for kids? More recipes? Something I'm thankful for? Brand reviews?

Throw ideas at me!

Canning

Many of you realize that hard times fell on our family a little over a year ago when I lost my job. We have been trying to find ways to stretch our dollar, but to still maintain our "green" lifestyle. Being eco-conscious is great, but sometimes it can be pricy in some aspects. Usually only when starting being green in an area, like the initial cost of cloth diapering. Despite it saving you significant amounts of money down the road, sometimes it's hard to get that initial bit of money.

Well, our biggest problem since our income change has been food. I am not willing to sacrifice certain things like avoiding artificial flavours, artificial colours, artificial sweeteners, or HFCS. Whenever possible, we want to avoid GE/GMO goods, and would prefer local and organic. Obviously, this isn't always possible. We try, though.

That being said, there is one thing we could be doing that we don't: CANNING.

I have never canned. Husband has never canned. Our (immediate) families have never canned. We simply don't know where to start. We have a garden and it has a good yield, particularly for beans and squash. We tried freezing some squash last year, but lost it all to horrible freezer burn. 3 whole gallons of squash, gone. That's makes us even more hesitant to try canning. Freezing seemed so fool-proof!

We have zero canning supplies (well, wait, I do have some mason jars...), zero idea how to do it, and zero funds to start doing it. Still, we feel this would be an option for us and want to learn. I have looked up a few things that might be useful, but there seem to be a few ways to can. One seems to use an ordinary pot, the other a pressure canner pot (like shown below).

We already have some mason jars (below):

Any tips? Brands? Advice?

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from your own. Post contains affiliate links.