Seeds! Seeds! Glorious Seeds!

Look what came in the mail today!

I am an amature gardener, heavy on the amature.  Each year that we have owned our home I have had a kitchen garden and each year I have learned a lot about gardening, our food supply and patience!  I love gardening, my husband is thankfully amused by my not so green thumb and continues to encourage and support me.  This year (like every other) I anticipate learning lots more and hopefully producing more food than last year.

I read a really informative and inspirational book this winter called The Vegetable Gardner's Bible.  I was particularly excited by the idea of moving away from row planting as I do not have a lot of garden space.  I had looked into Square Foot Gardening before but was turned off by the seemingly high costs associated with this method (building boxes and making Mel's Mix in particular.)  I am therefore attempting a happy medium of the two this year which I hope will yield lots of tasty veggies for my family to eat :)

I found a really great website with lots of helpful information on gardening called My Square Foot Garden.  The author emphasizes planning as being key to a successful garden and with her fabulous tutorial I was able to create my garden plan for 2011!

I let the Bug choose which veggies we will grow in our garden this year with only a little gentle guidance from mom.  She was so excited to help plant, weed and water the garden last year it was wonderful!  My mother-in-law has graciously offered to help plan and install a drip irrigation system for us but I think that would ruin some of the fun for the Bug and I like the necessity of visiting the garden to water as it gives me lots of opportunities to poke around and admire my plants :)

Chewy Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, and Raisin Cookies

Do you ever long for summer in the dead of winter?  I sure do!  We had my parents over for a little barbeque in winter this evening; hamburgers on the grill, a big green salad, and these tasty cookies for desert.  I love that these cookies have the perfect blend of crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside.

I try to use whole wheat flour as much as possible in the foods I prepare for my family.  This cookie recipe is no exception, try it! I promise you wont taste the difference :)

Chewy Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal, and Raisin Cookies

1 cup Butter softened
1 cup Light Brown Sugar packed
1/2 cup White Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 3/4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
3 cups Oats
1 cup Raisins
2 cups Chocolate Chips

1. In a large mixing bowl cream together Butter and Sugars until smooth.  Don't rush this step, blend well!
2. Beat in Eggs then stir in Vanilla.
3. Combine Flour, Baking Soda, and Salt in a separate bowl then add to creamed mixture.  Mix until just blended.
4. Mix in Oats, Raisins, and Chocolate Chips.
5. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.  Do not skip this step or your cookies will spread and you will loose the chewy inside!
6. Drop small balls onto greased cookie sheet and gently press to flatten top.
7. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Delicious hot from the oven with a big glass of milk!

I made just one cookie sheet worth for our dinner this evening and will bake up the rest tomorrow.  Of the nine cookies that came out of the oven the one pictured above was all that remained. Maybe I'll go finish it off now...Yum!

Twirly Christmas Dress

I whipped this dress together during two episodes of Battlestar Galactica.

My mom bought the white onesie at a thrift store for $1.00 in October for my son.  It was comically huge on him and as the bug is potty trained crotch snaps are a no-no.  I put it away thinking I could cut off the snaps and use it to make into a dress.  I hadn't fallen in love with any fabric yet when my mom brought 4 yards of Christmas pattern over in December.  And thus the Twirly Christmas Dress idea was born.

Pretty cute huh?  I think next time I would add a sash and bow to gather it closer to her hips.