A welcome sight!

A couple of weeks ago I opened my mailbox and was greeted by this wonderful 2014 seed catalogue from West Coast Seeds. I felt a thrill of excitement that one feels on a dreary wet, dark day to get this actually delivered to my post box!  It was lovely to get something in print and it is a welcome change from sitting on the computer and trying to go through the new offerings. This is much more fun!

They have a great selection of organic seeds and always nice to peruse the pages and plan the garden for the coming year. I still have quite a few seeds leftover from last year but will of course be purchasing more. It is pretty hard to resist. The nice thing about this catalogue are the tips that they give you for growing here in the West (wet) Coast.

Happy reading!

Swiss Chard Tart

Over the winter I have finally gotten around to looking though some of the recipes that I tried this past summer to make use of my garden produce. Again Pintrest has been a great source of new recipes.

I have really enjoyed the Swiss Chard that I grew this year and plan on growing lots this coming year. The first year I didn't grow it but I have to say I like it better than spinach. The spinach I grew this year bolted and I just didn't get any to speak of. The Chard was awesome. In the spring when I first started picking it I loved just steaming it and eating it like spinach. Being so busy with trying to keep up with all the produce I didn't get much farther than that. Later on the one recipe I did try and love was for a Swiss Chard tart. I actually made it a few times over the summer

The one I made was based on this recipe that I got from Pintrest.  I do sometimes make my own pastry but with working and tending the garden I was just too busy so I bought pre-made pastry and you know, it was fine.  I didn't add as many eggs as the recipe called for (I only added two) and I threw in a spoonful of bisquick to thicken it a bit it. One time I didn't have any plain yogurt so I added sour cream. I also always add more cheese, cheddar in fact to go along with the feta. I am a big fan of sundried tomatoes and they are lovely in this pie. As I have always said everything is better with cheese!

A quick sauté

 Mixing all the ingredients together

 Voila!

Anyway it was very good and it makes great leftovers. I even took it to work for my lunch.

Baked Acorn Squash

I think I have mentioned before that my husband hates most squash with zucchini being the exception. It is odd because he doesn't mind squash soup. The same goes for beets. He hates them as well and maintains that he is allergic but for some reason can eat borscht. I think I smell something fishy....

I loved growing my little acorn squash last year. It was so rewarding to grow and very easy. It did like to spread however, so next year I think I might try and train it to go up instead of out. It meandered onto my garden path so I had to step carefully over it and a wheelbarrow was out of the question.

This year I plan on growing some butternut squash. I think one acorn and one butternut will suffice nicely.  I'm getting off topic as usual and have to mention the recipe that changed my husband's squash hating streak. If only I could find one for beets!

I found this recipe on All Recipes and here is the link. Perhaps it was the cheese, everything tastes better with cheese. It makes a lovely side but is quite filling. I made two but of course we could only eat a half of one each so there were leftovers!

The best thing about acorn squash is that they keep really, really well in a cool location. I still have three stored in my basement and they are still fine. I think I had better use them up soon before they spoil. Now that would be a shame.