Miscellany

I have several short things today, so thought I would just spit them all out in one post instead of doing separate posts for each.

I bought some garden seeds this week. I am still harvesting food from my garden from the fall planting and am getting ready to start some plants for the spring garden. It won't be that long before the chance of frost is pretty low.

Spinach still going strong

Small green tomatoes ripened nicely

Broccoli almost ready for harvest

It sure is nice to make an omelet using fresh spinach picked just that morning with tomatoes from the garden (in this case, ripened on the counter from green tomatoes picked just before the one freeze we've had.) I still have parsley and kale producing from the plants I harvested from weeks ago. Cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower heads are still growing.

Green leaf lettuce

Kale about ready for a second harvest

Lettuce and spinach are also still producing. Interested in starting some seeds yourself? Here is a basic how-to from Mother Earth News.

Although I have some herbs still in the garden and one lone basil plant on the windowsill in the laundry room, I will be starting several more plants this weekend and next week. Some to incorporate into the landscape and some to put into pots. Although this author is in a snowbound location, her hints for growing herbs indoors are pertinent to everyone, so I thought I would share the link.

Remember I said before I wasn't able to find alfalfa seeds for sprouting in town? I did find a good online source for sprouting seeds and ordered some alfalfa and broccoli seeds. The seeds arrived within a couple of days, even though I didn't pay for special shipping. I am getting ready to start some. The seed price was very good--the shipping doubled the price. However, when compared to the price of buying the sprouts at the grocery, it's still a super bargain.

I like loose leaf tea. If you're a tea drinker, you know how much better the flavor is. Wichita Falls is not a mecca for tea drinkers, so if you like good tea, you have to order it from somewhere else.
I also like nice, fresh herbs and when experimenting with different foods, sometimes the herbs and spices from the grocery don't have enough variety. Although  I usually buy my teas from Harney and Sons, I came across the Frontier Natural Products Co-op web site recently that has bulk herbs and spices and loose tea, as well as some neat cooking gadgets. The tea prices are less, but I haven't purchased any teas from them yet to determine the quality.

Hope some of these articles and web resources will be useful to you.

A Downer and An Upper

I was looking to experiment a little in the kitchen while my husband is gone and went to Sunshine Natural Foods to look around. I haven't been there in a while and boy what a change! The store is now half the size and very little of it is food. I was very disappointed. What they do have is replicated by United Supermarkets, which is probably why they downsized--it is hard to compete with United since it went into the organic lines. Perhaps it would have been a good idea to try to carry a lot of specialty things that United doesn't sell.

However, I was looking for some tahini to make hummus and ended up at the International Market in the little strip mall on Southwest Parkway and Fairway (Caesar's Pizza is probably the best known of the stores there.) I have been meaning to stop in and finally had a reason. I found my tahini, but also found a lot of spices and other items used in Middle Eastern, Indian and Oriental cooking. It isn't a big store, but check it out. The store doesn't open until 11:00 AM, so plan accordingly. A lot of interesting items and some fresh produce--not a lot, but some. First place I have seen mung beans for a long time.

I used to sprout mung beans, although I prefer alfalfa sprouts. There would be something that would be wonderful for Sunshine to carry--alfalfa seeds for sprouting. Have you seen the price of alfalfa sprouts in the store? They are great on sandwiches and salad. Never made your own sprouts? It's easy. I found a good YouTube video that shows the process. Give it a try!