Attempts at Gardening

I am tired of paying through the nose each week at the grocery store for things like herbs and basic veggies I can (theoretically) easily grow at home. 

Now that it's nice outside again there is no reason I can't.  Or at least can't try. 

This spider-like pink flowering plant is about the only thing that didn't die over the winter.

In the past I have successfully grown basil, cilantro and chives, so I thought I would give it a whirl again. 

Remember, I'm uber-cheap, so I'm using empty coffee cans to start the plants.

I realized drainage was going to be a problem, so I punctured the bottom of the cans. 

I hope that does the trick.

I also put a few pieces of broken pots at the bottom of each can to help with drainage .

This is what Target had in stock the evening we visited.

The packages are pretty at least!

Tiny basil seeds - they kind of look like little 'droppings'. 

Cilantro seeds.  I couldn't get enough of this smell!

Here are my Herb Cans: Day 0. 

(That's a classy labeling system, huh?)

For some reason I got brave/optimistic at the store yesterday and purchased 3 plants:

Two Roma Tomato Plants

 

One Jalapeno Plant

Hopefully in a few months I will have the ingredients in my garden to make my own Pico de Gallo ... minus the onions. 

Easy, Peasy, Lemon Squeezey

Quick post tonight, no pictures. 
(I forgot to charge the camera batteries.)

Made Pioneer Woman's "My Chicken Piccata" for dinner tonight. 

One word to sum it up: Heavenly. 

Everyone must clear a spot on their weekend menus for this meal.  No special ingredients required.

Only thing I did differently was to use the juice from only 1 lemon, not 2. 

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Like I posted a few nights ago, I made Dulce de Leche following Dave Leibovitz's easy recipe. 

It was fabulous. 

He also has a picture on the Dulce de Leche page for Dulce de Leche Brownies.  Let me tell you, they looked gooood.  I had to make them. 

I make brownies fairly often because my mom always made them when we were growing up.  I'm not talking about some boxed crap, although the Ghiradelli brand isn't bad.  I'm talking about the 'from scratch' kind.  R affectionately calls them "Your Mom's Crack Brownies" because once he starts eating them, he cannot stop.  They really are good.  Very basic, but very good.  I'll have her do a "Guest Post" one day soon and share the recipe here.

For the most part the ingredients in Dave's fancy brownies seemed very similar to Mom's, the method just varied a little. 

Eggs, Chocolate and Butter.  What's not to love? 

Just looking at that huge chunk of butter right now is making my mouth water.  It tastes so good that I made R taste it by itself.  He wasn't as impressed as I was, but whatever... you have to remember that this is coming from a man who, God love him, thinks Jack-in-the-Box tacos are gourmet.

My homemade Dulce de Leche

I was supposed to have an entire cup of the stuff to use in the recipe, but there was a little 'incident' involving a microwave and an explosion a few minutes prior to this picture being taken.  I was lucky to have salvaged this much.  I hate it when I make dumb mistakes.

Almost every time I try a new recipe for a baked good, I ended up overcooking them slightly.  These brownies were no exception.  The last 3 -5 minute they were in the oven were completely unncessary, so they dried out a bit.  Ugh.  I also think I messed up somehow while mixing them because my butter separated from the batter a little.  Thoughts, suggestions anyone???

Despite all of that, they sure are purty, aren't they? 

I'm taking these 9 to my "Lunch Bunch" and neighbors tomorrow.

These have a really rich, dark chocolate flavor.  The Dulce de Leche provides a nice balance.

I love the ooey-gooey-ness of this one.

I can't wait to try this one again and see if I can't come up with a better finished product.  I'm thinking that for me the solution is going to be "Your Mom's Crack Brownies" recipe as the base and Dave's easy Dulce de Leche recipe for the filling/topping.