Monday, July 29, 2013

Cilantro Hummus Summertime Favorite.... Easy!

I have really been enjoying the produce of the garden with Hummus this year! With all the green beans , tomatoes and cucumber its been such a perfect acompanyment. A friend gave me a great idea for my hummus... add a big hand full of cilantro and a hand full of spinach ... It turns it a beautiful green and the flavor is delicate and delicious. Now you can use the recipe I tested in my "New Years 2011 post" ...remember?  or 
This amended version I have been making this summer

1  (16oz)   can organic ready to eat garbanzo beans (and liquid)
1    cloves garlic
 juice of one fresh medium lemon
¼     cup tahini
 ¼cup olive oil, plus extra for garnish
1      teaspoon ground cumin
½      teaspoon salt (to taste)
       1 large handful of of Cilantro
and one medium handful of Spinach

Place beans, garlic, lemon juice, tahini,  ¼ cup of the olive oil, cilantro, spinach, cumin and salt in a food processor or blender (good Blender works best for me).
 Add liquid from the canned beans and process to a smooth consistency, about 2 minute.

And dig in with any fresh vegtables.. above I have lightly steamed green beans from the garden and a variety of tomatoes from the  garden and these  Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers , they serve them on Virgin America Airlines and I just LOVE them...and just by chance they are gluten free

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Figs Already!!!

I can't believe it, Went outside and noticed all these figs on the tree already !!!
 Iced Coffee and fresh figs and another look thru these French magazines 
Divine!!  

Friday, July 26, 2013

EggPlant Pasta :-)

Cherry tomatoes and eggplant and tiny globe basil from the garden

Thursday, July 25, 2013

I Was There ..... Where Were You?


Cannot get enough of this song and It really emphasizes what I am thinking these days about showing up and actually trying and doing things!

Thursday, July 18, 2013

Beauty Shoot with Mr Marvel-ous

Fabulous day playing with David Marvel, Make-up and Model, Lessie from ClickLA

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Garden Confessions

This year the garden felt so full with promise and I really had big ideas about it in my head but that didn't come true. However it taught me a great lesson about gardening and life...not to mention it reminded me of that fav joke.... Wanna make God Laugh... tell him your plans:-) 
Give yourself credit for getting out there and trying. Life is about doing and learning.

To start it was very devastating to learn that the bee hive had been infiltrated by a Hostel Queen (LOL) and the hive had turned aggressive. I learned it can happen when you bring your bee's in from another area and the hive is not well established or adjusted to the new regional accommodations. One option is to go in and kill the Hostel Queen and replace her with a pregnant more docile Queen but unfortunately with my work schedule I exceeded that option and had to exterminate the hive :-( It was really sad... more so than I though it would be. However, I do have 2 local docile hive's awaiting delivery to me so hopefully we will be back in business soon. 

Its amazing the affect of losing the hive had on all my plants and flower. Its really draws light to the importance of  every link in the chain and I see why people are fighting so hard for Bee's. Whatever your feeling about bee's, they are such gigantic part of our food chain

Next The tomatoes, squash and zucchini failed horribly, I dreamed for so many exotic varieties of tomatoes and squash but no way. I leared that I was planting the tomatoes in the same place each year and although we amended, it was not enough nutrients for the tomatoes and squash to be strong. Along with a spider mite invasion that knocked them out cold.I will try to grow some plants this winter to help the soil and next year grow the tomatoes in different areas or barrels

While I was sad about this I was forgetting to look at what was doing well, Its all about your attitude and perspective, and suddenly I realized how productive the garden was for me and I became over joyed 
I ended up pulling out all of the plants that didn't do well and replaced them with different things and its been great.

You can't be so stubborn in your mind determind to get what you think you want but instead go with the flow adapt change and appreciate what you have and what is good

Below are some of the great thing I am getting 
These white cucumbers  which are amazing ,I have never had anything like them Green beans are insane, Egg plant and these Fabulous Cherry tomatoes Kelly's Breakfast, White current,and Green Grape and herbs are abundant Basil Cilantro Parsly thyme and even some peppers but I am most excited to have some melons coming ...Every year I try them and they do bad (mainly because everything else around them does good and cuts out their sun)
Whatever the case I still encourage anyone to just start growing something ...If you are successful , Amazing, if not be open and learn what might have been going on and have the courage to keep trying.

Sunday, July 14, 2013