Planted

Today when I realized it was sixty-five degrees out, I decided it was now or never. Time to plant my garlic and winter onions!  I'm always a little behind with fall planting, but this year I had an excuse.  Dan's been working on building new garden boxes below the main garden.   Because most of our back yard is a hill, we need to terrace to increase our tillable area.. The whole garden has been a disaster area work-in-progress since September.  

Our soil is poor and high in clay content, so before planting, Dan and I worked some dead leaves into the soil to loosen it and provide a few nutrients.  I planted one row of winter onions and one row of garlic.  This year's garden didn't produce as much garlic as I would have liked, so it was painful to raid my garlic jar for planting.  I planted the cloves as deep as I could push them with my finger, and I spaced them about 3-4 inches apart.

As for winter onions, I don't think many people know what they are.  You plant them in the fall and when they come up the next spring, you pull the green onions (scallions) and eat them while they're small (in the spring and early summer).  You leave a few plants, and after they flower, they develop heads of small bulbs.  In the fall, you harvest these bulbs (the sets) and plant them again for the next spring.  My grandpa always grew them, but somehow no one in our family saved the sets from his garden.  A few years ago, I found a seed catalog from Wisconsin that sold them.  The catalog called them "Egyptian Walking Onions".  My dad, my uncle and I have all been growing them now for a few years.  They are not quite as sweet as the ones my grandpa grew, and you can't pull them up easily (you need a small spade), but they're still enjoyable.  I wish, wish, wish we had saved sets from my grandpa's garden!

You Know It's Fall When...

You glimpse kids hugging pumpkins

or picking apples

or ooohhhing and aaahhhing over a perfect find

or devouring that just-picked apple with gusto!

Since we still don't have any fruit trees of our own, Anna and I did a little "apple research" at a local orchard.  Hope you're enjoying a beautiful fall day too!

Some Garden Goodness

This is the first year I have grown spaghetti squash.  I planted them because someone gave me a packet of seeds.  I had no idea if they would even grow, but despite the weak soil, they are thriving and taking over my garden.  The vines have grown over the row of peas on one side and over the row of beans on the other.  They have even started climbing over the fence!

We have two that are almost ready, and many more coming.  I will have to find some new ways to eat them (besides the traditional bake, shred, and cover with butter, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese).  I have to also mention that all the kids ate a huge plateful of sauteed zucchini and onions for dinner tonight.  Anna complained a little, but she finished her plate (with the promise of pizza to follow).

Speaking of Anna, she was my little helper in the garden today.

Here she is with a handful of green beans (that were a little too small, but that's OK).

Stockup Sunday: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

We had a busy morning: church, Sunday school, skating for Anna and then hockey for the boys.  The U6 girls hockey team hosted an open skate session and invited any girls who might be interested in playing hockey with them next season to come skate and scrimmage.  Anna had a fun time zipping around the ice with a hockey stick.  When she was done, I dropped off the boys for their hockey game, and then we girls went back home and got down to cooking.

We had lots to cook today, but most of it won't be staying at our house.  We made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, chicken salad, and pasta salad.  A good friend of mine just had a baby, so I'm hoping to bring her some food later today.  My chocolate chip oatmeal cookies are just a variation of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe (which I can make from memory).  Incidentally, if you make the original Nestle Toll House recipe, I have to share this tip I learned from my sister-in-law.  Did you know the only measuring utensils you need are a teaspoon and a 3/4 cup measuring cup?  Everything is a multiple of these two measuring utensils, even the 2-1/4 cup flour is three 3/4 cups. 

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

3/4 cup butter (1-1/2 sticks)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (one 12 oz bag)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Soften or melt butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl.  Mix all ingredients except the flour, oatmeal, and chocolate chips.  Stir in the flour and oatmeal.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Drop spoonfuls of dough on a cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes or until done.

I highly recommend airbake cookies sheets for all cookies.  This wonderful invention allows you to bake soft cookies and never burn the bottom.  I have two, and I am very protective of them.  They never get used for anything but cookies, and they always get washed by hand promptly after the last batch of cookies comes out of the oven.  Happy baking, and if you have made any delicious treats recently and you'd like to share, please link me to them in the comments!