Fresh greens, flatbreads and a little catch up.

I have had a few technical difficulties over here lately in blog world. Thanks to my helpful Facebook friends, I am back in the game. 

First off, I am ordering supplements Monday so let me know what you need. I won't order again until after Christmas. 

Now, a little catch up. 

Politics: Frustrated. The election sparked a trip to Costco to top off some supplies. Not that a Republican could have totally changed where this world is going but seriously folks, we are messed up. Prepare yourselves. Physically, Spiritually, Financially. This year is a year to gear up. Get out of debt. Stock up your supplies. Strengthen your faith. Become educated. Don't just look on Facebook for your news. Read all you can so you can be prepared. I have to admit, I do tend to overdo it on the information overload and get totally overwhelmed. I have to remember that the Lord is in charge and that if I have faith in him, it will be OK. It is just so frustrating when you see so much corruption.

Surgery: Thanks for all your well wishes. It is over. I healed well and quickly. I have to say, if any of you are facing that surgery in the near future, load up on B complex and iron. Everyone told me that I would be exhausted for a good 6 weeks after the surgery. I actually had amazing energy which made it hard for me to slow down and heal. I had more energy after the surgery than before. Any surgery can be greatly helped with those supplements. I also used Arnica cream on my wounds for healing. If I didn't have such issues with the gas that they inject me with, it would have been not too bad. It did take the full three weeks to feel good but that isn't bad compared to lots of the stories I have heard. It took me years to decide to do the surgery and I can't tell you how happy I am to have done it. I am pain free. I am super happy about that.

I found this photo snapped from my iphone just post surgery. I have no recollection taking it. Drugs are a funny thing. That smile was quickly gone when the drugs wore off. Thanks to my sister in law for giving me fake lashes since I couldn't wear make up. 

Garden:  It is growing just lovely. I went back to the simple stupid method that has always worked for me. If I get fancy with fertilizers, I ruin it. I just use a little manure and mulch when I plant and just water after that. Everything is happy. I planted at the beginning of October and I am harvesting daily.


I planted some sweet potatoes in May. I have planted these once before and after 6 months, I had a couple little tiny sweet potatoes. I decided to have one more go round in my new garden. I had a beautiful vine that grew all over the place but was very curious what was going on under ground. Finally, the purple flowers appeared and the vines were dying which tells you that the sweet potatoes were ready.

It was like digging up a treasure. You didn't know how many you had or how big or even where they were. I just planted two little sprouts and here was my bounty:

I wish I planted a whole garden full. They were bigger than my hand and super orange inside. They loved the sandy soil in the new garden. Next year I will make a new garden just for sweet potatoes. 

The brocolli is looking promising. Last year they were so small and barely worth harvesting. I am hoping for some good heads this year. I won't know for a little longer. 

Last year, kid you not, it took me almost 8 months to get carrots big enough to pull. I was still harvesting them after a year. I used fertilizer that should have sped things a long but I think it really just messed up the soil PH. This year, I am already pulling some after only 8 weeks. I am sure this warm weather is helping that along as well.

I planted lots of cabbage this year. They are looking happy. The cabbage in the new garden are about double the size of the ones in the new garden. They like the extra sun. This will help me to stagger the harvesting. Who wants 20 heads of cabbage at once?

Here is what I have growing right now:

carrots; red, orange, yellow and purple
cabbage
broccoli
snap peas
onions
spinach
lettuce varieties
bush beans; purple and green
kohlrabi
basil
cilantro
celery
peppers
chilis
kale
collards
radishes

Just a funny little garden story for you. I took my cute little preschool class outside today to enjoy the nice weather. I asked them if they wanted peas in the garden. They all raised their hand and followed me. As we gathered to pick peas, I noticed one little boy who dropped his pants and started to pee in the garden. Guess I needed to clarify that I meant "peas" in the garden, not "pee" in the garden. Just a little misunderstanding but it made me giggle. 

Speaking of preschool, I may have a pm slot open starting in January if you are interested. I have a few slots left for next school year. 3/4 year olds and pre k. PM me for info.

Flatbreads:  Seeing as we have the most amazing weather here in AZ, I have wanted to use the grill and eat outside more often. Grilling flatbreads is just soooo good! Since we don't do cheese on our pizza's, I have found that flatbread is the way to go. You cut them into little squares so you can hold them better without the toppings falling off. 

This one below is a carmelized onion and white bean flat bread. I put about 1/4 cup of parmesan on this one but the other one I made without it tasted the same. Totally not necessary. Parmesan is aged over 60 days so it is digested much easier than most other cheeses. Still, it is very rare that we use it at our house. I found this recipe at Eating Well. com. You can find it here. I didn't add the cheese or the pepitas. The bean mixture was very yummy!  

The iphone picture below doesn't do justice to Sunday's flatbreads and pinwheels but they were super delicious! I did a prosciutto and spinach pinwheel and a BBQ chicken flatbread. They are both easy as pie.
Make your dough. For the pinwheels, just roll out a rectangle. Brush with olive oil. Lay on thin layer of prosciutto and top with a generous amount of spinach. Roll up and seal up seams. Place seam side down on pan. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with some coarse sea salt and pepper. Bake at 425 for about 20-25 minutes. 

For the flatbread, roll out a thin rectangle on some parchment sprayed with a fine mist of oil. Brush the top with olive oil. Place on a hot BBQ grill top side down so the parchement is now on top. Pull of parchment while cooking and brush the top side with oil. When it gets all bubbly and golden on the bottom, flip over. Watch your heat so it doesn't burn. When both sides are golden, bring them inside to finish them off. You can put the toppings on and put them back on the grill but I just put them under the broiler in the kitchen so I can monitor the heat a little better and also to free up the grill for more flatbread. I sauteed some chicken, peppers, onions and spices. I sprinkled the flatbread with the chicken mixture and drizzled some BBQ sauce on it. I just broiled it until the toppings were hot. Super yummy! I have gotten so used to no cheese pizza's that the idea of cheese sounds horrible on pizza. You can't taste the toppings this way. Try it. So much less guilt as well.

The pizza dough was half white, half wheat. I don't do all white pizza dough. It is my indulgence. It  just isn't the same. It won't crisp up as much. 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did. Utah was lovely and it was fun to be surrounded by family. 

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas! Take care of yourselves and don't get sick! We are taking extra vitamin C, garlic and D3 around here. Almost all our extended family in Utah caught the flu or some other bug. We came home healthy. Hopefully we will keep that good streak going. Just a little nose drizzle here and there but nothing sticks.