Garden update!

The potato bag potatoes were successful and all eaten before proper photo documentation could occur. 

This year, we have all new weeds...exciting, but at least they are not poky and spiky so that's kind of nice. BUT, they are very much super annoying to the poor plants. We then, late in the season, like June, tried out the method with black permeable weed barrier into which holes are made. We first did it with potatoes and they made some marvelous vegetables (even better than the potato bags!). Then, we purchased some plants from Alameda Greenhouse and just filled the holes and the plants grew. Our only thought is the decrease in the weed competition is causing them to grow so much better than the ones without the cloth. We thought it might be too hot, but it seems like the plants are very happy. The eggplants, peppers, and potato plants specifically seem to be very happy. The squash and zucchini are also doing great and growing but but are starting to be attacked by squash bugs. The difference in these two times is about a month. The tomatoes are growing well and so are the squash!

July: 

June: 

Potato Bag!

Have you ever used a potato bag to grow potatoes? 
NEITHER HAVE WE!! But we are trying! It seems really cool! Wohooo! Here's what they look like so far! Can't wait for them to potato: 

Pita Bread

We made real pita bread!! It's amazing how the ingredients are all the same but the breads are all different!

Turned out really great! 

 

Original Recipe was here: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/homemade-pita-bread-recipe/

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1/2 tsp sugar

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:

1. Combine water, yeast, and sugar and set in a stand mixer mixing bowl and let sit for about 10-15 minutes. 

2. Add in olive oil, salt and flour. 

3. Mix with a bread hook attachment until smooth. 

4. Cover bowl with saran wrap and drape a kitchen towel over it. 

5. Let sit for about an hour. 

6. Heat oven to 475 F with a baking sheet in the oven - it needs to be hot. 

7. After dough has risen, create 8 balls and roll them out. 

8. After oven is hot, take out the baking sheet and place pitas on the sheet. I was able to get 4 on each one. 

9. Place back in oven and bake for 2 minutes. Flip, with tongs and bake for another 2 minutes. The pitas should inflate. 

10. Enjoy! 

What we liked:

WE MADE PITAS! WOW!

What we didn't like:

Nothing, it was great!

What Kaspian thought about it:

Loved it!

Next time:

Make more!!!

Our chickens make beautiful Eggs!

Biscuits and Gravy

Make cream biscuits using previous recipe - https://www.nickandalonakitchen.com/2025/01/cream-buiscuits.html

Then make the gravy as here. :) 

Goes together fabulously! And pretty quick to make - breakfast in under 30 minutes with minimal ingredients

 

Ingredients:

1 lb country sausage 

2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour 

salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add sausage to frying pan, breaking it up. Cook, while stirring for about 5-6 minutes until cooked. 

2. Add in 1/4 cup flour and stir to coat. 

3. Slowly pour in 2 cups milk and bring to a boil. Cook for a few minutes until thickened!

4. ENJOY! 

What we liked:

So quick, easy, delicious. 

What we didn't like:

it is gone too fast!!! 

What Kaspian thought about it:

loved it. 

Next time:

make more!

Cream Buiscuits

Easy, fun,  and fast, with just a few ingredients, the best biscuits! 

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1.5 cups heavy cream

Directions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a bowl. 

2. Pour in the heavy cream. 

3. Mix, with your hands, it's very thick and sticky. 

4. Take out of bowl and put on a silicone mat and mix folding the dough in half and on top of itself. This will create the fluffy biscuit layers. 

5. Squish out the dough into a circle or square and cut with a circle cutter. This recipe will make 12

6. Bake at 400 F for about 12 minutes. 

Serve warm - great in biscuits and gravy. 

What we liked:

So quick and easy and really great with just a few ingredients 

What we didn't like:

nothing - great!

What Kaspian thought about it:

Loved it. 

Next time:

Make more!

Cake with sweetened condensed milk. Ube.

We used ube sweetened condensed milk for the frosting and it worked out marvelously. 

We used regular sweetened condensed milk for the cake parts. The cake itself will be thin and flimsy, but can be assembled in a yummy form. Ours is definitely not very pretty, and next time, we would spread the batter more evenly or in a different form for better layers. 

 Nick made the cake topper! 

Ingredients:

For Cake: 

300 g sweetened condensed milk

3 eggs

1 pinch salt

180 g flour

10 g baking powder

spray to spray silicone mats or cake pans

For Frosting: 

500g whipping cream (about 2 cups)

80 g UBE sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla paste or liquid

Directions:

Make the batter: 

Preheat oven to 350 F 

1. In the stand mixer with the whipping attachments, beat eggs with a pinch of salt until fluffy. 

2. Without stopping mixing, add in the 300 g condensed milk

3. In a separate bowl combine flour with baking powder. Slowly, in parts, add in to the egg mixture. 

4. Use silicon mats and pour batter on sprayed or oiled mats directly. We used two mats and made them the same size. We made two rectangles. 

5. Bake for about 10 minutes. We suggest baking each layer separately. We find they cook differently on different layers. 

Make the Frosting: 
1. Beat cold whipping cream with vanilla. When whipped, slowly add in the ube condensed milk

Once the cake is cooled, assemble. We cut each layer in half both width wise and lengthwise, resulting in a total of 8 layers of cake. 

Assemble cake spreading the frosting evenly between all layers. Put frosting all around the sides and top. Put in the fridge to sit for at least 2 hours. We left ours overnight. 

Decorate with chocolate or berries. 

What we liked:

It was really fun to make and eat. 

What we didn't like:

The layers were very thin and would do something differently next time. 

What Kaspian thought about it:

He liked it, so did Brenton

Next time:

Use different forms or spread them thinner or perhaps do a different batter altogether.