How Does Your Garden Grow?

My house has been busy, busy for the last four weeks, no time to write a blog!  The flower beds are all done and I finally got the vegetable garden planted, not done yet though.  I am waiting to see if my Critter Ridder truly does work in keeping the animals at bay.  So far it has, it's been 1 week and it's still standing.   I may fence it, but only if the animals get out of hand and eat my plants.  I would like to keep it natural looking, putting up a fence is a pain and makes it hard to get in and out of, kind of like Fort Knox! I love wildlife but it frustrates me when all they do is ruin everything I plant.

I planted corn, beets, kale, spinach, green beans, yellow beans, purple beans, peas, sugar snap peas, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, fennel, onions and carrots.  It sounds like a lot but I didn't put a lot of plants in, just enough for us.  I also planted herbs - basil, oregano, rosemary, Italian parsley, chives, sage, mint and thyme that are on the deck.  I love using fresh herbs all throughout the year when I cook, I also use them in drinks, for cool refreshing flavors.

This is my secret weapon, supposed to last for 30 days, we'll see how that goes!

Lovin the Lemon!

This is the second half of my daughters birthday dinner.  As I said in an earlier blog, she wanted Chicken Korma, and the rest of the family had roast chicken.  This was the rest of the menu - Roasted Herb and Lemon Chicken, Orzo with Butter, Lemon and Parmesan - Romano Cheese, Roasted Veggies with Garlic and Olive Oil, and there is nothing better than a Wegman's Ultimate Chocolate Cake for a birthday cake.   Both dinners were enjoyed by all!

I cooked the chicken in a large foil pan to relieve me of the cleanup afterwards.  I set it on a cookie sheet and then put it in the oven.

 The herbs I used were - rosemary, sage, thyme, garlic, along with lemon.  The cooked orzo with lemon, cheese, parsley and butter.

Cut up veggies, ready to roast in the oven.

Ummm.... Roasted and caramelized veggies - green and yellow zucchini, red pepper, red onion, whole fresh green beans, olive oil, garlic, Parmesan-Romano cheese, salt and pepper.

 The best chocolate cake ever!

Roasted Lemon Herb Chicken

4 lemons

1/3 cup olive oil

2 whole roasting chickens, washed and split in half

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

8 whole fresh sage leaves

8 fresh whole thyme leaf sprigs

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp fresh cracked pepper

In a large roasting pan use 2 Tbsp of the olive oil to coat the bottom.  Clean the chickens, pulling out anything that is inside and discarding it.  Pat them dry with paper towels.  Place both, breast side up on the cutting board and then split in half, cutting down through the breast, top to bottom.  Place the 4 pieces in the roasting pan.  Cut 2 lemons into 8 slices and place 2 slices under each chicken. Cut the other 2 lemons in half and juice them over the chicken.  Put those lemons into the pan. Using the remainder of the olive oil, coat the skin of the four pieces of chicken.  Then, take rosemary sprig and holding at the top of the sprig, pull down and pull off the rosemary needles and sprinkle on the chicken pieces. Next rip the sage leaves over the chicken.  Place the whole thyme leaves, 2 on each piece of chicken.  Add the garlic, salt and pepper.   Cover with foil and place in a 350 degree preheated oven for 1 1//2 to 2 hours.  The last 1/2 hour of cooking remove the foil so the chicken will brown up.