Before we get to this amazing dinner that we enjoyed last night, I thought I would update you on my vegetable garden progress!
Eric and I built the first of two raised beds for the veggie garden. Each bed is 4 feet by 8 feet. We used this step-by-step tutorial for a raised bed.
Our growing season doesn’t officially begin until Victoria Day Weekend (around May 20th), which is when most gardeners deem the risk of frost to be over. Some gardeners will plant before this date and then use a frost cover if there is a warning though.
Things I still need to figure out:
- Where to buy a 100% organic topsoil (do they exist?)
- Read up on Lasagna gardening method
- Build or buy a compost bin- research options/methods
- Make a list of what I will grow
- Read up on companion planting
- Draw a plan/diagram of where I will plant everything in boxes
- How to get rid of my black thumb!!!
Right now I am thinking about planting the following:
- Onions
- Lettuce
- Kale
- Zucchini/Squash
- Garlic
- Peas
- Beets
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Peppers
- Cucumber
- Herbs!
- Some type of berry (strawberries or blackberries probably)
What do you experienced gardeners think of this list? Is it too much for a 1st garden? Any tips?
In other news, my Mexican food kick rages on!
As does our cold and snowy weather…
When you can’t get warm, make spicy Mexican food, I say. :)
[print_this]
Taco Chili with Nacho Cheeze Sauce
Chili adapted from Skinny Taste
Yield: 7 cups
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, peeled and diced
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 1 cup dry kidney beans (or 2 cups cooked)
- 1 cup dry black beans (or 2 cups cooked)
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp ground chili powder
- One 5.5 oz can tomato paste
- 1 & 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
- One 28-oz can diced tomatoes
- 2 tsp homemade taco seasoning (or packaged seasoning, to taste)
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh Cilantro
- heaping 1/4 cup Nacho Cheeze Sauce (below)
- To garnish: Nacho cheeze sauce, crushed tortilla chips, and non-dairy cheese
Directions:
1. Cook the beans if necessary. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook the onion and garlic in a very large skillet over low-medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Stir in the cumin, chili powder, followed by the tomato paste and frozen corn. Cook for a few minutes on low.
3. Add the canned tomatoes and Cilantro and stir well. When the beans are cooked, drain them, rinse, and stir into chili. Slowly add the homemade taco seasoning (or store bought) to taste until desired taste is achieved. Simmer on low-medium heat for about 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, make your cheeze sauce (below).
4. Stir in a heaping 1/4 cup of the Nacho Cheeze Sauce and serve with crumbled tortilla chips, non-dairy cheese (I used Daiya), and Cilantro garnish. Makes 7 cups.
[/print_this]
I bought some frozen Cilantro cubes as a more economical way to buy herbs (I hope to grow some in the summer though). I wasn’t overly impressed when I added a couple Cilantro cubes into the skillet. The aroma was not the same! Maybe I didn’t use enough? I can’t wait until I can pluck some from the garden!
Cook your onion and garlic until translucent.
Add in your seasonings, frozen corn, and tomato paste.
Stir in the can of tomatoes and Cilantro.
When the beans are cooked, drain and rinse, and then stir into the chili.
Simmer on low for about 10-15 minutes to allow the flavours to develop.
Meanwhile, make your nacho cheeze sauce!
[print_this]
Nacho Cheeze Sauce
Adapted from Ashley.
Yield: 1 cup
Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup raw cashews
- 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup salsa (I used Medium heat)
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder* see note
- Shake red pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Directions: In a food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
Note: Next time, I would use fresh garlic (1 clove probably) instead of the powder.
[/print_this]
Now stir in a heaping 1/4 cup of the cheeze sauce into the chili! It makes the Taco Chili sooo creamy and delicious.
I topped a bed of romaine greens with a huge scoop of the Taco chili and garnished it with a spoonful of cheeze sauce, crumbled tortilla chips, and Daiya cheese. I prefer the cheeze sauce a bit warm so I heated it in the microwave for 15-20 seconds. It doesn’t heat very well though and it got a bit hard on the sides. It was nothing a good stir couldn’t fix though!
The Taco Chili turned out fantastic! A little spicy, a little creamy, and a ton of amazing flavours.
It was husband approved too…Eric gave it two thumbs up. :)
I’m so COLD this morning…need more tea!
Last summer I had my first garden. I just did it on a whim and did not really do a lot of research. This year I have learned a lot about companion garden and am eager to try it out! I suggest building trellis to grow your squash and cucumbers and peas and beans on. That way you can maximize your garden space! I am hoping for the weather to warm up a bit so I can make some trellis’s.
I would love to hear updates on your garden progress!!!
AWESOME Mexican dish! I say Mexican is the best when it’s cold outside – have to warm up somehow! ;)
i live in pennsylvania and am tired of this cold weather, too! where is spring?? the groundhog was a liar this year, for sure :P this chili looks so delicious, i must make this asap, and i am reeeally excited to try the nacho cheeze sauce! anything that is cashews+nooch=amazing.
regarding the gardening, zucchini and cucumbers grow together really well. we always built an upright wooden lattice for them to grow on. beware of strawberries, it’s nice to have homegrown berries, but you have to keep them tame. otherwise, they end up sprouting all over your yard and completely taking over. (at least, that was my family’s experience with them!) raspberries are much easier to keep a handle on.
good luck!
those strawberries sound like they have quite the personality! ;) Maybe I will opt for rasp. for my first berry. I’ll have to see!
Definitely using this recipe at my family next Chili Cookoff! The nacho cheeze sauce will impress the carnivores:)
That is great for your first garden! I have never grown kale before, I should grow that this year too! Can’t wait to see the progress!
Hi Angela! Great job on the raised boxes they look great! We did our own raised boxes for the first time last year and learned alot! My suggestions: zucchini grows like weeds and take over so don’t crowd them. We are giving them their own box this year! I’m in Alberta so I think our weather is fairly similar…we had great success with zucchini, lettuce (wish I had grown more and will be this time around), chard, I grew my tomatoes and pea’s in seperate large planters so I could protect during hail/thunderstorms but they grew well. My carrots were stubby even though our boxes where deep. Make sure your boxes are deep enough ;) Pattypan squash turned out amazing! We tried some small breed melons and a butternut squash. The squash worked the melons didn’t at all. Our baby potatoes did well too. I can’t wait to see how it turns out for you guys! We loved having our own and it’s fun watching it all come in! Yes, you can buy Organic soil!! We bought ours at Blue Grass Nursery (not sure if you have that?) Good luck & have fun!
Thanks for your tips! I can imagine that growing in Alberta would be a challenge with all those crazy hail storms and whatnot.
Strawberries are verrrry labor intensive (actually, all berries are kind of a pain in the A)- and as someone mentioned above, they don’t really get going the first year. I might concentrate on the veggies- fruit is tough!
Very intrigued by this “lasagna” method though…
Your planting list is impressive. I’m going to try my hand at “deck” (urban) gardening this summer. We’ll see how it works outs…
…I love the cheezy sauce recipe! I’m have some beans soaking today and plan to cook them up in the pressure cooker tonight. This might be a nice treat to drizzle over beans and quinoa!
Since spring isn’t in the air (as your fellow Canadian friend), I swear Mexican is though!! I made quesadillas last night and they were awesome!! I love the link to the homemade taco seasoning. I’ve made my own before (since I really try to avoid the store bought ones) and can’t wait to try this one next time!
Your list for your garden sounds really good. We have really cut back on the squash because of squash bugs. They are nasty and the only way to get rid of them is to – squash them. It is yucky! You have to keep up on it daily bacuase they will take over your garden. So I would probably leave those out until lyou are comfortable with gardening. YOur raised bes look great!
squash bugs!!! Noted :)
Instead of trying to get rid of them once they come, the better way, I’ve found, is to use a floating row cover (which you totally could use with this garden bed) when the plants are really small and this keeps the bugs from ever laying their eggs! Which is the best preventative method.
I have been growing food organically for 3 years now, and I actually have lots of information on companion planting that I can email you if you’d like. but the BEST book ever is “Carrots love Tomatoes” that has become one of my garden bibles. I do lots of teaching on companion planting and 3 season gardening. Because many places summer season is so short, I like to teach people how to use the whole year, is possible. There are super yummy things grown in the colder months too!
This nacho cheeze sauce sounds divine-and most likely better than regular cheese sauce! I love me some cheese, but that yellow stuff people get at the grocery store is just plain nasty.
I’m looking forward to “seeing” your garden flourish this summer-you must be so excited!!!
Your garden box looks so good! I get overly excited when I plant my garden and usually take on too much work. Looks like you’ve got a great plan though!
Dinner sounds warming and delicious. Husband approved is always a plus!
I saw you were curious about companion planting. Here is a quick snippet that I found on the earthday website: Basil will deter flies and mosquitoes. Feverfew attracts aphids away from roses, while garlic, coriander and nasturtiums deter them as well. Tomato worms don’t like borage or pot marigolds. By choosing the right companion herbs in your garden of flowers or vegetables, you can avoid the bad effects of spraying pesticides.
http://act.earthday.org/act/1296656077/eliminate-use-pesticides-and-toxic-cleaning-products
thanks!
Berries are exceptionally easy to grow you dont even need a raised bed, strawberrys spread like wild fire too. Its so odd, its been so sunny here that my strawberries already have their flowers heads on! I dont know if this early sun is a good omen or bad but then we’ve never had proper seasons in England.
This looks so yummy! Especially that nacho cheeze sauce :)
I grew up watching my Father plant and started my own garden last year. Some things I learned are that Zucchini plants need ALOT of room since the plants grow very large. Also, Swisschard grows supper fast, I couldn’t keep up with the 7 plants I had planted :-)
i’m loving this mexican kick you’re on!
Your raised beds looks great :) My hubby made some for me one year when I had a smaller garden and then we moved the garden across the yard. I think your list of things to grow looks great! Just be careful – zucchini go crazy! You only need 2 plants at the most. And be careful deer don’t eat your peas. They love them and ate most of mine last year :( Also blackberries will be a lot more work. You need to build something to hold them up because they grow out in long vines. So if you want something to go in your garden, go with strawberries. And they come back the next year and produce way more the second year. Yummy :D
Your taco chili looks amaaaazing :)
WOW! This looks better than the vegan nachos I got last night at my favorite place! Not to mention they charge $11.00 bucks for them too. :) I really look forward to this Nacho sauce too.
Good work on all the progress you are making!
:)
I strongly recommend raspberry bushes around the yard, not only are they super hardy, but if you start with a couple shrubs, after a few years you’ll have big raspberry blish bushes.
Cheers,