Earth Day - In My Garden

In honor of Earth Day, here's the premier of my new weekly post, In My Garden. Every week, I am going to feature something growing in my yard or my garden. I never used to be much of a garden person. My husband Tim is so into being outside in the yard. It's infectious and while I am not as into it as he is, I am having fun.

I even started some of my flowers, veggies and herbs from seed. When they began to sprout, I was so excited. I've never had much of a green thumb. I figured they wouldn't grow. I will be featuring my seedlings from the beginning to fully grown.




I would love to start composting. I hate how much I throw away. Anything I can put to use instead of in the garbage is such a bonus. I am still researching composting. I don't want to start composting until I am sure I know how.

This week's In My Garden features the beautiful flowering trees in our yard.

Canadian Bacon and Potato Quiche

When I mentioned to my husband I was making this recipe for dinner, he said shouldn't that be for breakfast? I convinced him this would be a fine dinner and he agreed to step out of his dinner box and try this one.

This recipe was another example of a "Use It Up" recipe. I had the aspargus, some slices of canadian bacon, the pie crust and of course, the eggs. The only ingredient I had to purchase was the cheese. The use of a frozen pie crust makes this recipe an easy one to put together for a weeknight dinner.

Tim gave this a thumbs up. I think he really liked it, the only thing that prevented him from giving it a two thumbs up is he didn't want to encourage me to make breakfast for dinner.



Canadian Bacon and Potato Quiche

1 refrigerated pie crust, softened as directed on box
1 cup frozen southern-style diced hash-brown potatoes (from 32-oz bag), thawed
1 cup cut (1/2-inch) fresh asparagus spears
1 cup diced Canadian bacon
1 1/2 cups shredded Havarti cheese (6 oz)
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 375°F. Make pie crust as directed on box for One-Crust Baked Shell using 9-inch glass pie pan. Prick crust generously with fork. Bake about 8 minutes or until very lightly browned.
2. Remove partially baked crust from oven. Layer potatoes, asparagus, bacon and cheese in crust. In medium bowl, beat eggs, milk, marjoram and salt with wire whisk or fork until well blended. Pour over cheese.
3. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges.

I am linking this to Tasty Tuesday's at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tuesday's at the Table at All the Small Stuff, and Tempt my Tummy Tuesday's at Blessed With Grace. Check out these blog sites, they're a great place to find some wonderful new recipes.

Sweet Potato Bread - SMS

A few months ago, I was struggling with blogging. I questioned whether or not I had what it took to blog on a regular basis. Lately I feel like I am in a rhythm with posting and cooking. It feels so good! When I first began participating in Sweet Melissa Sunday's, Sunday would come around and I would be rushing to bake and post by a reasonable hour. The past few weeks, I've had my post finished before Sunday. It feels so good!

When I read Melissa's comments on this recipe, I had a feeling I was going to like this bread. I love pumpkin bread and this reminded me of my pumpkin bread recipe. This was an easy recipe to put together. The only change I made was to the glaze. I didn't have rum, I substituted additional orange juice and a teaspoon of vanilla.

I don't own a full size bundt pan. Mine is a smaller bundt pan and is too small for a standard bundt pan recipe. I used 4 mini bundts, a mini and medium size loaf pans. The mini loaf and bundts were done in 45 minutes. The larger loaf pan took about 55 minutes.

I ate one of the mini bundts after it's first glazing. It didn't come out of the pan very well, so it was just begging to be eaten. How do you grease and flour those mini bundts? I didn't just like this recipe, I loved it.




Thanks to Lorelei of Mermaid Sweets for choosing such a wonderful recipe. Stop by SMS to check out all of the the other bakers creations.

Cake Class - Pink Saturday

Happy Pink Saturday!! This is my third week participating in Pink Saturday. It's so fun, what a great group of women. Thanks to Beverly of How Sweet the Sound for hosting!!!

I am taking Course #1 of Wilton's Cake Decorating Series. Taking a cake decorating class was one of my 2010 bloggin resolutions. It's so much fun and not as hard as I thought it would be (so far, anyway).


My cake this week is a perfect Pink Saturday post! I love this color of pink frosting!


This week I'd like to introduce you to Birgit of Swapping Howdies. She's a blogger from Munich who I met on last week's Pink Saturday.

Cake Top Cake - Foodie Friday

I am taking the Wilton Course 1 in cake decorating. This week we decorated our first cake. We are learning to make those beautiful roses you see on decorated cakes.

When I made my cake for class, I had the two leftover cake tops. I decided to make a little cake top cake for us.



Kinda cute, huh?

I am linking this to Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum.

Chocolate Filled Cupcakes - MSC

Happy Birthday, Dad! Although he will never read this, my Dad turns 91 today. Amazing, 91!! Cake and ice cream, with heavy emphasis on the ice cream are Dad's favorites. Black Walnut ice cream to be exact. I've never liked it but it was always in the freezer when I was a kid. Usually there was another carton of a kind I liked because I remember getting a bowl of ice cream many nights before I went to bed. I think I can thank my Dad for this sweet tooth I have today!!!

Okay on to this month's MSC recipe, Chocolate Filled Cupcakes, chosen by Jess of Cookbook Habit. I love filled cupcakes. We've had way too many sweets in the house these days, so I made a half recipe. The recipe is an easy one to put together. Chances are you'll have the ingredients in the pantry. The batter had a delicious chocolate flavor. I thought this batter was really thick. My cupcakes cracked on top. What makes them do that?

I checked these cupcakes at 20 minutes and didn't appear anywhere close to done. I set the timer for five more minutes. When I checked them, they were done, possibly overdone. After they cooled, I noticed they had these light brown dots on the tops of them. What's up with these cupcakes?

I followed the directions and used my melon baller to scoop out the middle for the filling. This didn't go well. Now I knew these were overdone. As I scooped out the middle, it just fell apart in crumbles. I tried to fill one. I cut it in half and it didn't look filled. So what the heck, let's just eat this one. I took one bite and threw it away. They were so dry and crumbly. Now what do I do with these really dry cupcakes?

The filling was my favorite part. A nice creamy marshmallow flavor. Filled cupcakes are on My 50. I don't think I can cross these off the list, you have to complete the recipe successfully for it to count!!!




Maybe it's my cupcake baking skills but I've yet to find a recipe in this book that I love. Maybe next month? Have you found a favorite?

Asparagus Soup

If you were to ask me to choose my favorite vegetable, it would be a hard decision. I like almost all vegetables. If I had to choose just one, it would be asparagus. Have you ever been to an asparagus farm to pick asparagus? It's fun to pick but a little hard on the back as you bend and cut the asapargus off at the ground. I have an asparagus cookbook I purchased at the farm where I picked aspargus. This cookbook contains all types of recipes using aspargus, including aspargus ice cream. I haven't tried that one yet.

We're starting to see aspargus prices drop and soon it will time for aspargus at the Farmer's Market. Springtime and the Farmer's Market, I can't wait!!

Asparagus Soup
Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

3 pounds fresh asparagus, rinsed
8 cups chicken stock
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup minced shallots
1 cup minced leeks, whites only, well rinsed
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan, garnish
Directions
Trim the attractive top tips from the asparagus, about 1 to 1 1/2 inches in length. Cut the woody stem ends from each spear and reserve. Cut the remaining tender stalks into 1/2-inch pieces.

In a medium pot, bring the stock to a boil. Add the tough woody stems, lower the heat and simmer to infuse with asparagus flavor, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and discard, reserving the stock.

Add the decorative tips to the stock and blanch until tender, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. Remove with a strainer and refresh in an ice water bath. Drain on paper towels and reserve for the garnish. Reserve the stock.

In a medium stockpot, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When foamy, add the shallots and leeks and cook until tender, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the chopped asparagus stalks, salt, and pepper, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Add the reserved broth and simmer until the asparagus are very tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat.

With a hand-immersion blender or in batches in a food processor, puree the soup until smooth. Adjust the seasoning, to taste. If serving right away, return to medium heat and add the cream and reserved asparagus tips. Cook, stirring, until the soup is warmed through, about 3 minutes.

Alternatively, if serving the soup later, do not add the cream and let cool at room temperature (or in an ice water bath). Cover and refrigerate. Before serving, add the cream and asparagus tips, and warm the soup gently over medium heat, stirring occasionally.

To serve, place the soup in a soup tureen and sprinkle with cheese. Ladle into demi-tasse cups or small coffee or tea cups, and serve.

I am linking to Tasty Tuesday's at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.