Planting season!

Time to rotate my crop, till my dirt and plant for summer harvest! I sowed some of my transplant seeds yesterday, Tomatoes, Bell Peppers, Zucchini and strawberries. I took some of my freshly turned organic soil, and filled egg cartons (they are biodegradable and transplant right into the garden easily), you can also use the little pots they sell at Lowes for planting and transplanting seeds. I like the egg cartons because I always try to use what I have on hand before buying new stuff. I filled each egg pot with soil and put 2 seeds in each spot. Water very carefully so you don't cause the seeds to move, then keep the soil moist. You don't want to drown the seeds, but they have to stay wet. I placed mine in the warmest spot in our house in front of a window. After about 2 weeks I will start putting them out in the sun for a couple hours a day before actually transplanting. This will help toughen them up for real weather conditions (wind, direct sun, heat/cold changes ect). I used this same process last year and was very successful.

I had a very successful winter crop of Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots and Bell Peppers until our freeze at the end of February (which finally killed off my peppers). I have been so busy with work the last 6 months I didn't do much blogging about my winter crop... it did well though!I have a few pictures of what remains in my garden, I have some Cauliflower and Broccoli still growing, and a few carrots still growing. 

My seeds are doing well so far, I love watching them popping up through the dirt. So much fun. I will probably wait another week or so, then transplant them outside.

Leftover Turkey Chili/Soup Recipe

We had so much leftover turkey after Thanksgiving and Christmas I didn't know what to do with myself. I froze a bunch of it in large containers until I had time to do some canning (post-holidays). I made a big batch of turkey chili, of turkey soup and made a lot of turkey sandwiches. I decided to get a little creative and mix it up by combining a chili/soup recipe. This recipe is pretty flexible to adjust to your families preferences.  You can switch out most of the ingredients (different beans, different veggies ect). We served this with cornbread, and used some of it in our enchiladas before canning it! Mmm!

Leftover Turkey Chili/Soup

Ingredients

• 1 chopped white onion
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped fine or minced garlic
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 tbls olive oil
• 4 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 small cans diced green chili peppers
• 1 cup of corn
• One 15 oz can white northern beans, drained
• 1 1/2 (16oz) bags uncooked large red kidney beans
• 1/2 bag black beans
• 2-3 Tbsp chili powder (or up to 4 Tbsp if you like it really hot)
• 1-2 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 Tbsp dried hot red pepper flakes
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp garlic salt, plus more if desired to taste
• 1-2 teaspoons course black pepper
• 3 to 4 cups of shredded, cooked turkey meat with juices (or additional chicken stalk)

Soup Method
1) In a large pot cook beans "simmering" for about 2 hours. Rinse them and set aside.
2) Saute the onion and green pepper over medium high heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, for a minute or two more. Once onions are soft, add garlic and green chilis. Allow to simmer about 2 minutes.
3) Add tomatoes, corn, seasonings, and cooked turkey meat (and some turkey juices or some turkey stalk of you don't have the juice leftover). Bring mixture to a simmer.
4) Add turkey mixture to the large pt of beans. Add extra water if necessary to keep it juicy. This recipe should be soupy not thick like chili.

Canning Method
1)  Fill your prepared jars with soup leaving about 3/4 inch of head space. Using a plastic spatula remove air bubbles from inside of jars. Wipe the top of your jar with a clean cloth and place the lid & ring on the jars. Place all jars in your (ready to go) pressure canner.
2) Once all your jars are in, put the lid on and exhaust the steam out of your pressure canner for about 10 minutes.
3) Process in pints 1 hour and 15 minutes at 10lbs pressure (change according to your elevation as needed). Process in quarts for 1 1/2 hours

(Shredded cheddar cheese, chopped red onion, sour cream for optional garnish.)