Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Curried Chicken Breasts with Basmati Rice

Tonight we had a pretty delicious chicken curry. Recipe from Chuck Williams's Simple American Cooking, (Welden Owen Inc., 1994).

Curried Chicken Breasts with Basmati Rice
Serves 4

Ingredients:
4 chicken breast halves, skinned and boned
2 tbs + 1 tsp lime juice
1.75 cups water
.5 tsp salt
1 cup basmati rice, rinsed and drained
2 tbs unslated butter
2 tbs EVOO
Pepper
1 medium-sized yellow onion, diced
2-3 tbs curry powder
.5 cup chicken broth
1 cup coconut milk or heavy cream
1 tbs parsley

Remove excess fat from chicken. Rinse and dry with paper towels. Slice into 1 inch strips. Coat with 2 tbs lime juice in a bowl and set aside for 15 minutes.

Cook the rice as directed (salt, water and rice simmer 15-20 min).

Dry the chicken and sauté in 1 tbs each of butter and EVOO. S+P to taste. Set aside on a plate.

Drain most of the fat and sauté the onions 1 minute over lower heat, then 2 more minutes after adding the curry powder. Stir in the chicken broth, scraping up the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cover an simmer over low heat for 5-6 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk or cream and thicken for 2 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp lime juice, S+P and chicken. Coat well and heat through.

Toss the rice with parsley. Arrange the rice in a ring around the edge of a platter and spoon the curry mixture into the middle.

El's Notes: We used regular white rice because we didn't have basmati; it was fine. We also added sugar snap peas at the end with the chicken and coconut milk for a bit of green, which I recommend.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Dahlia, Roses and a Pepper


Otto's Thrill Dahlia
Tangerine Dream Pepper
Molineux Rose
Easy Does It Rose

Sunday, June 24, 2012

A New Poppy


This poppy doesn't look like any of the rest! It's much bigger (close to 2' tall) and dark in the center. Could this be the first of the Shirley Poppies?

Sunday, June 17, 2012

First Dahlia Opening

Came home from a weekend away and my first dahlia is starting to bloom - in purple! The yellow rose is going to town ad are the poppies and freesias. (Is the plural just "freesia"?) The first nasturtiums are blooming although nothing is climbing to the extent that I would like them to be. Alas, it's only June.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

What's Blooming Today, Love Instagram







Poppy, Lily, Easy Does It Rose, David Austin Molineux, Peas, Freesias, Viola

Seeds planted today (all in pots): Scallions, Butternut Squash (Butterbush), Bachelor's Button, Aster (Giant Princess),  Tumbling Tom Yellow Tomato

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Molineux

I am in garden heaven. The "Easy Does It" roses are just about the most amazing combination of coral and pink I've ever seen. Yesterday I moved a bunch of things to the south steps (including the not-so-cute black plastic window box) so they will get maximum sun free up a lot of space. It also means I now have somewhere to put the yellow David Austin rose I haven't stopped thinking about. Paycheck in hand I set out into a torrential downpour. At Job Lot I found 2 terracotta colored window boxes (plastic) and arms to hold them over the edge of the railing. I also got one more hanging basket and a knee pad. At Benny's I got some potting soil but still couldn't find a big planter for  rose (Job Lot only had terracotta and they were not very cute). At Highland Farm I walked around and picked out the "Molineux" rose with the highest number of buds (23). The man at the counter was super nice and told me about caring for the rose. He said to inspect the new leaves for tiny aphids and spray them with "Eight" pesticide if I find any. Then he gave me a huge terracotta planter! It was in the clearance area and has a few chips but free is free! I think it pays to be the only customer on a rainy day.

Other adventures yesterday included watering everything with Miracle Grow (should have checked the forecast about that rain) and transplanting the peach rose to the big pot I used for last year's hibiscus. I ran out of potting soil and supplemented with dirt from the ground but it does not look light or fluffy so I may need to try mixing in more potting soil.

Today I'm planting yellow "Tumbling Tom" tomato seeds in the new hanging basket. What I should have done is filed it half full with dirt, planted the seeds, and then filled in the rest of the dirt when the plants are a few inches tall. Alas, I will have to remember that next year as I didn't think of it until after burying the 5 minuscule seeds in a full basket of soil. Oops.

Today the freesias are blooming on the south side of the house!

Monday, June 4, 2012

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Harvest Spinach, Plant Sunflowers

This morning I had a lot of cleaning up to do on the deck after yesterday's rain and wind, but it's beautiful out. Hopefully the storm got rid of the pollen - my allergies have been terrible this week. The new "Easy Does It" rose is gorgeous - worth every penny so far - and I'm thinking next year I should do a warm tone palette. It could also make a lovely wedding color scheme. The one peony is getting ready to open which makes me very excited! Today I harvested the rest of the spinach (probably should have done it last week) and repurposed that hanging basket for the strawflowers I pulled out of the crowded big pot. I also dug up one of the beets and it looked pretty good but only about 1" in diameter so I'm going to leave those in for a little while longer. I planted the sunflower seeds - Red Sun, Chianti Hybrid and Strawberry Blond Hybrid - along the south side of the house. I'm not very confidant about those because it's pretty grassy and I wasn't very careful in planting but I hope to have at least a few blooms. The phlox are doing well in the original window box I planted. I still don't know where to but the luffa or the butternut squash. I really got too aggressive in seed ordering. I think I'm going to have to give the south facing steps off the deck over to pots completely - they already house dahlias, peas, beets, echinacea and the new rose. I need to remember to bring the big pot from home that housed last year's hibiscus. I finally put the only surviving Red Popper pepper in a pot, we'll see how it does. The seedling does not look very healthy. I also need to come up with another hanging basket to grow the Tumbling Tom yellow tomatoes... lots to do!

Spinach Harvest Day

Spinach, Nasturiums, Rosemary 

Beets, Roses, Peas, Dahlias
Squash, Zinnias, Dahlia, Peppers, Hens and Chicks, Chives
Viola, Zinnia, Lettuce
Sage and Mint 
In Between: Tulips and Hyacinth have gone by, waiting for Lilies, Poppies Freesias and Dahlias

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Rain, Rain, Roses

The weather has returned to normal rainy spring. I'm having mixed success giving away pepper and tomato plants. The pole beans and squash are sprouting nicely. The violas are going nuts! A few phlox and zinnias are blooming but nothing major jet. This week I put 6 of the tomato plants in hanging baskets (2/basket). The stems were getting black dots at the bottoms so I brought one to the Rose Shack and the nice woman said that was the start of new roots so all I needed to do put the whole stem except for the very top under the soil. While at the Rose Shack I broke down and bought a $28 rose bush "Easy Does It" - peachy in color and so beautiful! Sandy who helped me said the bloom time is shorter than the Knock Outs but the color is so lovely I don't mind. She said that when in doubt, water them more. She also said to watch for Japanese Beetles and to cut it down to about 4" about the soil line in the spring. Did you know roses can stay out all winter? That will solve a lot of my storage problems!

Since I'm an idiot, I stopped next at Highland Farm. They have David Austin roses! The yellow ones ($34) are at the top of my wish list. But I have nowhere to put them! What am I thinking?