Blueberry Breakfast Cake

So, all of you had a little notebook of clipped and scribbled recipes when they were in high school, right?  I mean, I'm sure I can't be the only one.  There's got to be at least a couple other people out there...

Okay, I can face it.  I'm a cooking junkie, and have been for a while.  I would steam artichokes in my dorm room in college.  I would bake muffins to bring to high school for my friends and/or teachers.  And I would buy cooking magazines since before I could drive.  And some of the recipes that I have clipped or written out from back then are still in constant rotation at my house.  Which is a good thing.

Just fair warning, this week may be a little oatmeal-centric.  I have bananas getting too ripe, and that's perfect for a banana oatmeal snack cake.  Plus, there's a great blueberry oatmeal muffin recipe that we love here, and I might pull that one together to share.  But today, it's blueberry breakfast cake.  I'm not sure where the original recipe is from, but right now, it's in my old little recipe book with a note about it being from a Blueberry Festival in Indiana.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Part Two: What to Plant

Okay, so if you read part one of my gardening posts, you should have an idea of how to set up your garden, in terms of structure and soil.  Next comes the fun part: picking out what to plant.

Picking plants for your garden is going to be different for each one of you, depending on your garden's location, light exposure, size, and what foods you will use.  It's best to start simple and then add in as you have more experience.  I have some standards that I know will do well in my garden, and then I try a few new things each year to find new favorites.

There are great books out there, like Square Foot Gardening, The Family Garden, and others, that can give you a structured plan to help you design and set up your garden.  Like I said in part one, I'm more of a trail-and-error, learn-through-experience kind of gal.  But either way, the easiest way to find out when and how to plant the plants you like is by reading the packages.  They will give you planting dates for your zone, seed depths, and any other special requirements that the plant might require.  It will also tell you about how long it will take for the plant to be ready for harvesting.

Jammy Chicken

Some days, you just need a delicious but low-maintenance dinner.  A dinner that it's really hard to screw up. A dinner that doesn't need chopping or stirring or babysitting.  A dinner that's ready for the table in 30 minutes.  A dinner that you can make with what you already have.

Here's a dinner like that for you:

You'll need salt, pepper, some jelly or jam, some balsamic vinegar (Okay, that's probably optional...any liquid that goes well with the jelly flavor is fine.  Or even water.), pepper, and some boneless chicken breasts.  Oh, and a little oil or cooking spray to grease the dish.  That's not pictured.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Part One: Setting Up the Garden

I have a garden.  Actually, strike that.  I have a couple of gardens, my home garden and a double plot at our community garden.  Plus, I've been roped into being in charge of my kids' school garden.  Because apparently people think that I'm good at gardening and that I know what I'm doing.  Which is funny to me.

I really don't have a clue.

Which is why when people ask me to help them with their garden, I kind of shrug and laugh.  I honestly don't know what I'm doing.  But it always turns out pretty well.  Except for when it doesn't.  So, when people started asking me to write a blog post about gardening, I kind of cringed.  But because I love you wonderful readers, I'm going to give it a go.

Some people are visual learners, and can read something once and remember the information.  Others are auditory learners and can listen to a lecture and remember details from it.  These people are blessed.  I, myself, am a kinesthetic learner, which means that the way that I learn best is through the physical action of DOING something.  No, seriously.  I paid lots of money to my university to get a degree in special education to figure stuff like this out.  So I apply my strengths in whatever endeavors I can, and gardening is one of those.

St. Louis Adventures - City Museum

If you could live in my head, I imagine that it would look a lot like City Museum.  It's eclectic, it's creative, it surprises you, it has its' dark sides, it's filled with joy and excitement, it's always changing and evolving, and you never know what you're going to find.  Maybe that's why City Museum is one of my favorite places that I've ever visited.

The Best Things You Probably Aren't Eating Yet: Rhubarb

I think I need a springtervention.  I am so excited about spring, and all of the goodies it brings.  As my freezer starts to get more and more emptied of last year's harvest, I start to look ahead to the good things on the way.  In the spring and early summer, that means rhubarb.

Rhubarb is a puzzle to a lot of people.  It's hard to pass by its' beautiful ruby stalks without noticing it, but not many people stop and pick some up.  It's tart, it's big, it kind of looks like red celery, grocery stores put it in the vegetable section, but it's used more like a fruit, the leaves are actually poisonous...let's face it...it's kind of weird.  Even the word "rhubarb" means "a heated debate or controversy".  But there's no need to debate in my mind.  Used in the right ways, rhubarb is a real spring treat.

Rhubarb has potassium, vitamin C, fiber and calcium.  It's been used for centuries as a medicinal herb, reducing inflammation and assisting digestion.  And it makes some amazing baked goods, like this beautiful rhubarb cake from Not Without Salt, which I could eat everyday for the rest of my life.