The California Buckeye

When we first bought our house we would come up on weekends to do some much needed work on the place. Once we got into the foothills we noticed as we drove in sad looking trees with browned leaves. We thought that they were dead. And there were loads of them. Once we got settled and started to investigate our new surroundings, we were told that these sad looking trees are the native California Buckeye. So let’s take a walk around the Buckeyes shall we?

A Buckeye in bloom

In the springtime, the Buckeye is the first tree to set its leaves, usually in early April. Right now most of these trees are in bloom, and glorious they are!

The glory of the flowers on the Buckeye

The blossoms are wonderfully fragrant. The leaves are a palmate compound of generally 5 leaves.

Buckeye leaves up close

Now let’s take a step under the wonderful shade provided by this tree while it is still green!

Under the Buckeye canopy

Its growing season is short, with the trees going into dormancy around the middle of July. Sometimes you will come upon a Buckeye whose leaves have already browned yet the tree is in full bloom, and the contrast is amazing!

One of the local tales here is that the blossoms on the Buckeye are poisonous to the honeybee. In all the years of living here, we do not see any honeybees around the Buckeyes, so nature must have some signal to let them know to stay away. However, the fact is indeed that the blooms are poisonous to the honeybees.

The seeds resemble a squat pear and hang from the empty branches. You can take the seed right off the tree, November being the best time, and stick in the ground, much like an avocado pit, and give it water. It will grow. You must take care that the light spot on the seed is pointed down as that is where the roots will sprout. Water it the first year, and it should be fine on its own thereafter. The tree will grow up to 40 feet in height.

Back in history here in the Sierra Foothills, the local Indian tribes made use of this tree and its fruit. The seeds were used as a source of food when other sources were scarce. They would pound the seeds into a flour and leach out the toxic saponins that are found in the seeds. The bark would be cut from the base of the tree and used as a poultice on snakebites. Shoots of this tree were used as twirling sticks for making fires.

Next time you are in my neck of the woods, stop and take a look at the beauty of the California Buckeye!

Barb’s Pasta Salad

As we move into the warmer weather, salads become part of our diet.  There is nothing like a cold salad with something hot off the barbecue!  Today we will be putting up a fencing around the vegetable garden to keep Fox Face from getting in to the berries, and then I will be taking the cover off the barbecue to cook up some Louisiana Hot Links and to go with it, I made a pasta salad!

Ingredients
2 cups pasta
2 stalks of celery
2 spring onion
5 radishes
3 oz. can of black olives sliced
5 radishes
3 clusters of broccoli
1 cup Parmesan cheese
Newman’s family style Italian salad dressing
Mayonnaise
Salt and pepper to taste

One of the secrets to a good pasta salad, or a potato salad is to make it the night before.

To make the perfect pasta: Add water to a pot and a couple of dashes of salt and set to boil. When the water boils, add the pasta and stir this for 3 minutes. After three minutes, turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it sit for 10 minutes. When the timer goes off, check your pasta. It should be perfectly done! Drain and rinse with cold water.

Vegetables for salad

While the pasta is sitting, start to chop up the vegetables. Add them to a mixing bowl. For the broccoli, cut this up into small pieces leaving some of the flowerets intact. Mix this together. Then add the pasta and combine. Next add the cheese and salad dressing.

Pasta mixed with vegetables and parma

I add just enough salad dressing to coat the mixture. Anything more will and you will end up with a soupy mess. At this point, cover the salad and let this sit overnight in the refrigerator.

The following morning add the mayonnaise. I put in a spoonful at a time. This ensures an even coverage of the mayonnaise to the ingredients. Then taste the salad before adding salt and pepper, and add a bit at a time, tasting as you go so that you do not over salt or pepper the salad.

Pasta salad is ready!

Easy and very yummy!

Spicy Grilled Pork Chops

We eat a lot of pork, which maybe you might have noticed! I went off to the grocery store with pork in mind. But, what would I do with whatever pork cut I bring home? I wandered the grocery store looking for the perfect ingredients. Down the produce aisle I went perusing all the lovely wonders that were before me. My hand reached out and I grabbed some oranges. Continuing down the aisle, I snatched up some cilantro. Next I headed to the aisle that had the international foods, and snagged a can of chipotle chili’s in adobo. I paid for my groceries and headed home…

Once I walked into the kitchen and headed off to the pantry, the rest of this came together for me. Not only was this absolutely fabulous, but it was another easy dish to make! Ready? Here we go! Oh, and for a bit of a preview, they are just added to the grill…

Chops just added to the grill

Ingredients
4 pork chops at least one inch thick
3 oranges, juiced
1 1/2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
2 TBS garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp garlic powder
3 chipotle chili’s with the adobo sticking to them
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
fresh ground salt and pepper

Take the orange juice and place this in a ziplock bag. Add the olive oil, garlic powder, cumin, and oregano. Next coarsely chop up the chipotle chili’s. Add these to the bag. Next, finely chop up the cilantro. Add to the bag. Then add 10 twists of the ground pepper and 5 of the salt. Seal the bag and then shake it to blend really well. Drop the pork chops into the bag and then shake it furiously.

Pork in the marinade

Let this sit in the refrigerator for about an hour. Remove the bag one hour before grilling.

Now I did this on a gas grill, so to those who BBQ with charcoal, sorry I cannot assist, but if you watch what you are doing, you should be able to achieve the same results. I kept the temperature at roughly 300 degrees. When the grill was ready, I added the chops, making sure some of the good solids went along with them.

After one hour, heat the grill and start the chops

I cooked these for no more than 15 minutes total and kept turning them so that they would cook evenly.

Continue turning the chops

When they were done, I brought them back into the kitchen, and covered them with foil. Let these sit for 5-10 minutes while you prepare a vegetable to go with them. When ready serve it up!

Dinner is served!

The heat of the spices on this dish was just perfect! The flavors were an amazing combination. I asked my husband, “Is this a do again?” The answer was a definite yes!

Join Me in a Strawberry Colada?

My Mom used to ask my Dad every night, “Care to join me in a cocktail?” My Dad would respond, “Is there room?” So, would you like to join me in a cocktail? And, yes, there is room!

Ingredients
Strawberries
Ice
Rum
Pina Colada Mix

Wash and cut up the strawberries.

The strawberries, washed, cut and ready

Fill the blender 3/4 of the way to the top with ice. Add enough rum to bring the liquid to a bit less than 1/2 of the blender.

Ice and rum

Then add the colada mix so that the blender will be 3/4 of the way full.

Colada mix added

Top with strawberries.

Strawberries added

On the blender, use the “smoothie” setting. Blend until there are no ice cubes remaining and the mixture is smooth. Serve it up!

Drinks are ready!

WARNING: These are habit forming and if you drink this too fast you will end up with a brain freeze! Note to Christine: Drinks are ready, are you coming over?

A Visit to the Lasagna Garden

It has been quite a while since I have taken you down to the vegetable garden, so how about coming along to check it out with me?

First stop will be at the artichoke. It was a tough decision to make, but I decided to let the plant bloom this year rather than harvest the vegetables. This is what it looks like today…

Choke Duo

Now let’s take a look at the corn.

Corn

Turning around to the next area, the tomatoes seem to be doing really well. I bought a package of heirloom tomatoes that were a mixture so this will be the surprise tomato patch until the fruit develops! I hope that we get some good varieties!

One of the tomato plants – looking good!

Now over here are the onions, radishes and carrots. The carrot seeds have finally sprouted!

Carrots are finally sprouting

And so have the radishes.

The radishes are coming in

Now over here are the green beans. They are starting to climb and are making their way to the chicken wire fencing!

Green beans are starting to climb

Close by are the peas. I have baby peas!

Peas are developing

The zucchini, acorn squash and Tuscan melons are doing well. All are forming blossoms.

Zucchini with forming blooms

Tuscan melon flower

Next, lets stroll over to the potato pots. The plants are doing really well, and guess what? The plants are blooming! This means that the potatoes are forming!

Potatoes are blooming

Finally, looking at the raspberries, the yellows are still developing, but the reds are starting to turn color!

First raspberry

Christine – can you just taste those raspberry coladas? Check back later for another update. As we head into summer, the garden will start growing at a much quicker pace!

The Flight of the Bumblebee

“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.” Emily Dickenson

The Bumblebee

Take note of the three toes on the bottom of each foot!

Have a wonderful day!

Strawberries Anyone?

There is nothing like the sweet flavor of a strawberry!  It is such a popular flavor in our society that you can actually get almost anything with the wonderful flavor of a strawberry.  Not all strawberry flavoring is what it seems, but that is a topic for another blog…this one focuses on what I just picked from my garden!

A strawberry blossom is a very beautiful and amazing looking flower, particularly after a rain…

Strawberry flower – the beginning…

As they develop, and putting the imagination into motion, one can just imagine the sweet flavors that which will be forthcoming…

Forming strawberry

As the days wind from one to another and one finds themselves waiting for the results of sunshine against fruit, one sometimes finds a surprise in the strawberry patch!

The Devil eating my strawberries

However, today was the day for taking a container that holds 2 3/4#’s of strawberries out to the garden! So, you might be asking yourself, “Was she able to fill it after Fox Face had her fill?” Well, as I picked, I tossed the ones that were too ripe out of the garden fencing, and actually only picked from the outside perimeter. There must be over 200 plants, and I barely touched what was there. And, yes, the container was more than full; it was overflowing! Look at these gems…

First crop of strawberries

After I came in, I called a neighbor so that I could offer her the opportunity to pick strawberries for jam, when the dog broke out in a chorus of song. My husband told me it was because Fox Face was back eating what I had thrown outside the garden fence! Amazing! But I have to ask you, who could resist these strawberries that have the aroma of cotton candy and are dripping with sweet juices?

Sweet, sweet strawberries!

Can you just imagine them surrounded by chocolate and whipping cream? Oh, but that is a topic for another blog!