Monthly Garden Update: May 2011

I pretty much have my garden in full swing now!

Parsley Plant

Eucalyptus Plant

Rosemary Plant

Sugar Snap Peas and Green Beans

Coleus Plant

Tomatoes, Cucumbers, & Celery Plants

Awesome new flower from Sunrise!

Peach Flowers : )

My favorite yellow!

Beautiful!

I'm sure by the next post, I'll have a ton more flowers in the ground!

- Ashley

Ashley's Garden Update: July 2010

Hey there everyone! I bet you've been wondering what's the latest update with my garden? You haven't...well, I'm going to tell you anyways! LOL!

Most of my plants are doing very well although I'm sad to say that my cilantro plant died due to all the heavy rains that we had. It drowned from too much water in the pot. I wish I could plant things in the ground, where they do so much better!

Here are some pictures from my garden:

These are some yummy veggies that I picked: grape tomatoes, yellow banana peppers, sugar snap peas, and green beans!

These are my green beans that I made for dinner after just being picked! They were soooo good with some butter and breadcrumbs!

This is my lantana plant that has gotten huge! It's doing so well in the ground!

This is my garden in the back, which also does very well every year. The in-ground sprinklers hit it just right and when it rains, it really saturates the area back there!

This plant has grown into a huge bush!

Here's a jalapeno from my plant. I plan on making this jalapeno cheddar potato soup that my parents had on a cruise and the waiter gave them the recipe for...yum! (recipe to come soon I'm sure!! lol)

Here are some yellow banana peppers on my plant. I want to make a relish with these for Italian sub sandwiches.

Here are some green peppers from my plant. I also have red peppers, which start out looking exactly like this.

Well, I hope you like looking at my progress! Sorry I couldn't figure out how to flip my pictures I'm starting to look forward to mums in the fall and mini pumpkins! But mostly pumpkin spice lattes!

- Ashley

Amazing Taco Pizza Recipe That I Recently Made!

So I recently came across this taco pizza recipe on allrecipes.com and absolutely fell in love with it! I decided to feature it this month in my e-newsletter and here is the recipe:

Ingredients


- 1/2 pound ground beef
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 (16 ounce) can refried beans
- 4 (10 inch) flour tortillas
- 1/2 cup salsa
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
- 2 green onions, chopped
- 2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped jalapeno peppers
- 1/4 cup sour cream (optional)
 
Directions


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat 2 pie plates with non-stick cooking spray.

Place beef, onion and garlic in a skillet over medium heat. Cook until beef is evenly browned. Drain off grease. Season the meat with chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper.

Lay one tortilla in each pie plate, and cover with a layer of refried beans. Spread half of the seasoned ground beef over each one, and then cover with a second tortilla. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven.

Remove the plates from the oven, and let cool slightly. Spread half of the salsa over each top tortilla. Cover each pizza with half of the Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses. Place half of the tomatoes, half of the green onions, and half of the jalapeno slices onto each one.

Return the pizzas to the oven, and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes, until the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven, and let cool slightly before slicing each one into 4 pieces.
 

Here are my results:

 
 

Here's the link to the allrecipes.com page: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Jimmys-Mexican-Pizza/Detail.aspx

Definitely let me know what you think when you make it!

- Ashley