Creative Counterpart

The other night, I had some peas from our Garden that I wanted to prepare. I decided to make a yummy stir fry. Here is what I did:

You will need:

• Cooked Rice
• Peas, Shredded carrots, onion, and any other veggies you want to use.
• Cooked Pinto Beans
• Oil (Olive Oil or Peanut oil work well and are whole food options) OR Butter
• Soy sauce

First saute some green onion in butter, then add shredded carrots & peas. Saute until the vegetables start to cook well.

Then, add the pinto beans. Stirring often, saute until the vegetables are close to done. You can cook the vegeatables as crispy or soft as you like.

Pushing the veggies to the side of the pan and adding more butter and soy sauce, I add the rice and begin stirring constantly until the rice is hot.

Serve with soy sauce and enjoy!

I also made some Homemade sourdough bread. This recipe turned out a little too sour for my families liking, although we do enjoy it with some honey on it to sweeten it up.

I’ll be looking around for a different sourdough bread recipe that my family will enjoy more as a sandwich type bread.

This evening I went out to my little garden and picked some peas! I got less than a small bowlfull, but it was thrilling to finally get some produce from the work i’ve done. If I had more I would dry or freeze them, but since there are only a few we will probably cook them up in the next couple of days. Nothing beats garden fresh veggies. These peas would make a wonderful stir fry vegetable. They would also be delicious by themselves, sauted in a little butter (yes, real butter!)

When my husband and I first moved to our new house, we decided to make a simple compost pile. He used some inexpensive wire mesh from the hardware store to contain the compost. I am so glad we did this! It has proved invaluable to dispose of yard waste. It saves us the extra yard waste disposal fee from the trash company. Of course, the bonus is the nutrient rich compost. We will probably reep the benefits of it next year.

I’m planning an even bigger garden next year, so we’ll need it. I want to do all of my regular veggies on a good plot of ground, and try strawberries in my raised bed (which is currently holding my peas and carrots.)

It had been awhile since I stirred my compost pile when I got around to it this evening. I was surprised to uncover “hot spots” about halfway down. It’s been so hot and humid here (97-100 degrees) that my compost actually looked and smelled like it was cooking! I gave it a good stir and watered it well. I have found that about once a week is good for stirring and watering the compost. It may need more water during dry periods.