The Most Scrumptious Dish You'll Ever Make Eggplant Rice Dressing

In our house the most magical dish we make is called Eggplant Rice Dressing.  The flavors that comprise this dish will keep you and your family or guest coming back for more.  Make a lot so folks can take some home.   It's very easy to make and I'll tell you how.

First we want to cut up:

1 large eggplant, pealed and diced into approx. 1" cubes
4-5 Stalks of Celery - chopped very fine
2 Bell Peppers - the color choice is yours. In this dish we used green and red
1 Large Onion - chopped small
1 small Jalapeno - cut the seeds out and remove them from the pepper - then dice fine (optional)
Depending on your taste you can also shred carrots. Raisins are good in it as well as pecans- ground up.

In a large pot combine the above and add approx. 5-7 dashes of soy sauce - good strong dashes
and 3-4 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce - nice strong ones here too
Add a couple shakes of Gumbo File' - it's not just for gumbo.

some salt to taste and pepper to taste.   You're going to let this cook down for a good hour. It will look like the following picture.  Eggplant has a lot of water so as it cooks down the water makes a good juicy base.  This is where most of your flavor will come from.

Cook some sausage (hamburger meat can be used or if you don't eat meat, skip this step all together). We prefer maple sausage - it adds a little extra sweetness. And cook a pot of rice. I make 2 Cups.

Then mix the cooked sausage into the cooked rice.

Now pour your cooked down veggie mixture on top of the rice and meat.

And mix together.  You can add your choice of a turkey or chicken gravy or eat it just like this.  It's a good one dish supper or an excellent side dish.   Storage is super easy with this.  I freeze half of it and we eat the other half through the week.  For the freezer I simply put it in a large baggie. When I'm ready to have it again, I let it thaw and pour it in a bowl, add a little water,cover it and put in the microwave for approx. 3 minutes.  It depends on your voltage of microwave so use your judgement as if you are just reheating rice.

And that's the dirt for the day.  A wonderfully magical food that as I said, will keep them coming back for more.    There's magic everywhere, even in food, if you look for it.

A New Era of Chickens at the Lazy A

Years ago we used to have a brood of 15 chickens.  We had many different kinds. Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rock, Orpington, Silver Laced Wyndotte, Top Hats and many others.  Through time a fox found our yard and our hens.   We waited until a time when I would be home full time to start over.  The old hen house was torn down and the time has come to, once again, raise these adorable, funny creatures.  Today my blog isn't about all that entails raising them but just to share the new journey.  The picture at top is of the hens we used to have.  The laughter and magic they brought was amazing not to mention collecting fresh eggs almost every day. At one point, we had so much egg production that our neighbors would say they had plenty..lol.  Needless to say, our pups got a steady supply.

Today I brought home the first of 6 that we will raise.  Meet the new members of the Lazy A family. These are all Rhode Island Reds and will lay large brown eggs. That should start happening around 6 mos. of age so until then, it's all about the fun and magic and teaching them that they are special and loved and to learn their names and come when called. :-)  Yes, I know, too much fun ahead.

Clotilde

Matilda

and last but not least is Henrietta

They are 1 day old so I've made a note on my calender to be sure to know when to celebrate their birthdays in the years to come.  For the next month or so they'll live on the porch in their little warm cage.  To raise them to be strong healthy egg laying hens will involve daily cleaning of the cage and multiple times of taking them out to handle and play.  I also need to teach our pups that these are additions to the family and out of bounds for them to play with.  That will be my biggest challenge. 

For now, they are just finding their food and water and enjoying the newness of their temporary home.

 I think the most important thing for them, other then plenty of attention, food, water and a clean cage is warmth.  I have a red heat lamp hanging just above the cage that will keep them nice and warm.  It's positioned so that one end of the cage will stay very warm and it they get too hot they can move to another area of the cage that will be cooler.  Our Parrot, Dixie Lee, has a new fascination as well. You can see her peaking down to figure out what I have added to her "living area". LOL.

For now, I have 3 and in April I will order some Ameraucana's.  3 to be exact.  These are also called Easter Chickens as they lay green and blue eggs.  Tomorrow the new hen house\coop will arrive and I'll share the construction of it and the little chicks will have a protected play area for warm days until they can move in permanently. All so exciting and another touch of magic in our world.

I hope you enjoy and remember, magic is everywhere, if you look :-)

How to Make A PVC Strawberry Planter Fairy Garden

This design is not my idea.  I saw a picture on FaceBook and decided I would give it a try.  I didn't see a list of items needed or instructions, just the picture. Also, it was written in Portuguese.  I believe they used PVC pipe, PVC T's and PVC 90's.  Upon my arrival at Home Depot with the list I made, I was very surprised to see how much these items cost, in the larger sizes. So, I stuck to my budget of $40 and made some decisions of changes to what I would buy and kept my cost down.  I purchased a 4" x 24" of PVC. It was all ready cut so the size of length was determined for me.  I then found these Y shaped pieces (there were pricey at $8.00, +\- a couple cents, each)  I found a pot that would fit in the top of the PVC.  I wanted a little flare at the top.The large pot was all ready on hand to mount the "structure" into.  And, quite by surprise, I found a little fairy kit :-)  Fairy not included but the kit was complete and cheep enough to stay in budget.  I also bought some spray paint to "bring the little pot into a "rhythm" with colors.  Below are the times I purchased.

Almost forgot, I bought some strawberries and a little Begonia.   Time to assemble.  I'm not allowed to use the chop saw, unsupervised. For some reason, my husband believes I will chop my fingers off and I didn't want to cut the PVC with a hand saw, laziness on my part, so my husband cut the 4"x24" pvc into 8" long sections. I then lightly - and lightly is a key word so as not to break the pvc, hammered my pieces together.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of the face of the customer service rep. when he came to assist me in selecting my pipe.  He just knew I had no clue what I was buying and asked if I needed help.  I said no. He asked what plumbing project I was working on and I promptly said, A Strawberry Planter.  Yes...lol.  I wish I had had my camera.  LOL.  I didn't need glue as this won't be under pressure but I did lightly hammer the pieces together to make them good and snug.  An 8" section at the bottom, A Y thing (I apologize.I have no clue what that piece is called), another 8" section, another Y and the last 8" section. Like so .....

And spray paint.  I did this on a windy day.....and you'll see what happened when I walked away.  Luckily it was almost dry...almost.... but I touched it up.

Then we take the planter and insert it in our pot, half filled with dirt and fill in around it to the top  (leave a good 2" from the top of the dirt to the pot rim) and fill the entire "structure" with dirt.  I stuck my hand in the bottom hole and pushed down and then when I got half way up I packed the dirt again and the same with the next side hole and so on until I reached the top.  

 And planted my strawberries in the 2 side sections and half of the back of the large pot.  I have more strawberries coming, so the other half is "dirt in waiting".  I ordered some Pineberries.  They are native to Chili and not modified or a cross mixture.  They are white berries with red seeds and the flavor is a mix of pineapple and strawberries.  Try some. You'll love them.  Anyway, back to the planter.  After getting my strawberries planted, I dabbed a little silicone around the edges of the top - just for safety of the little pot.  And put the pot on top with the little Begonia planted in it.

I dressed it all up with red mulch and made a little fairy village at the bottom.  It's all about the magic and dirt in my world and how I can bring them both together.....grin......

Water with a watering can or a out of a bottle.  If you use a hose the water pressure will be too strong.  And the success for watering in the Y's is much better.  The pot at the top has a hole in the bottom so that water will flow on down as well.

When the strawberries grow I will share an update.  But for now, I like the outcome and have great anticipation of the berries that will be harvested for jam on my toast. If you make one, please share with me. I love seeing others creations!  Thanks for dropping in to see the dirt I've been into.  Enjoy the magic.  It's everywhere ...... if you look!! 

The Magical Chalice Vine

Today I wanted to tell you of yet another piece of magic I have in my yard.  The Solandra or Chalice Vine or Golden Cup.  All names are correct when looking for a place to buy this piece of heaven.  Think of it as the Holy Grail of flowering vines.  The flowers range from 4"-6" across and as long as 8" to 10".  At night they give off a fragrance of a banana - coconut odor.  Delicious to smell but deadly if you eat them.  I'm not kidding about that either.  I made the mistake, one time, and it only took one time, a few years ago, of getting the juice in my left eye.  It made my pupil dilate, my eye watered and burned and my vision was blurred.  I went to the Dr. and after telling him what happened, he looked it up and yes, it is a poisonous plant.  So, now I'm very careful when I take cuttings.  BUT, I must say, with common sense and knowledge, that can all be avoided.  The Solandra is a member of the Solanum family.  You will also find the Datura and Angel Trumpet in this family - both are poisonous and almost equally beautiful! Almost being the correct term.  If eaten, this plant can not only cause hallucinations, but also gastro-intestinal issues (being polite here) and death.  Yes, it can kill you.

Now that I've sufficiently scared you about the plant - it really is a must have. Just don't let kids near it and respect it as you would with any plant that is harmful.  The flower starts growing as a small green "balloon" the turns a light yellow white and a larger "balloon" and then opens into a beautiful chalice flower. the ends burst open and curl back.  It has an almost leather feel to the touch. At first it is light yellow but over a couple days turns a beautiful golden color. Inside it are pretty maroon brownish veins.   It typically blooms in late winter to early spring but, as with mine, it will bloom at other times of the year as well.  They can be grown in containers, which mine is, or can be planted in the ground next to a very strong trellis or fence.  If  grown in the ground, the vines can reach 100' long - 100 feet!!  And it will cover the area with awesome blooms.  I prefer to keep it contained and it grows well and compact in a container and will maintain a "shrub" look.   It grows well in zones 8b-11 outdoors year round.  It can stand a freeze to the ground - but not frozen roots.  For folks up north, above zone 8b, grow this beauty in a pot.  Leave outside till the first frost and then bring inside.  They prefer light shade, so if inside, put near diffused light. When the fear of frost has passed - move it outside on a porch or side of the house.

The vine itself is almost rope like.  It has nodes that develop roots which will attach themselves to any structure or other plants for support as it's a heavy bloomer and needs the support.  This is partly why I keep mine compact and in a pot. Although, now that I am home full time, I'm going to experiment with letting a piece of her run. Very easily rooted, it can be cut at a node and placed in water or stuck into dirt (no hormone is necessary for this plant to root).  I currently have 5 rooting right now and I look forward to introducing them into areas in my yard that can handle this hardy vine.   In the 2nd picture above, you will notice the "entrance" to the koi garden. I believe this is going to be a magical place to let one grow.  Below is a picture of what it looks like before it opens.  In the wild, native in Mexico and Central America, they produce seed pods but this is not typical on the cultivated ones.  I've had mine for over 8 years and have never seen a seed pod.  That's okay though, it is easy to root, as I said.

There is a variegated type of this plant that I'm currently searching for.  While it doesn't bloom as much as the type I have, it's beautiful and I want one ;-)   So, if you're looking for a stunning show stopping flowering vine and don't have to worry about pets or children ingesting or messing with it, this is a must have for your yard.

And that's the dirt for today.  Enjoy the magic - it's everywhere.  You just have to keep your eyes, ears and hearts open to let it in.   

The Beautiful Blue Butterfly Shrub

One of the most magical shrubs I have is the Blue Butterfly Shrub. Also known as an Oxford Bush or a Cambridge Bush.  It's in the family Verbanceae and a Chlerodendrum.   The flowers on this shrub look exactly like a blue butterfly - thus the name. The Blue Butterfly is an Evergreen that will grow to heights of 10 feet.  It's recommend to prune it when it appears leggy at the top. This will help it bush out and produce an even more beautiful shrub.

At the ends of the branches are panicles about 4"-10" (stems with buds) that will produce individual flowers about 1".  There are 3 pale blue and 1 violet blue lobes that produce the "wings and body" with antennas that look just like those of a butterfly.

 They are easily propagated from cuttings.  Cut the stem just below a leaf nodule and trim the top just above one.  6" is a good size.  I simply dip them in rooting hormone and put them in peat.  At this point I don't use dirt.  Peat is good and sterile. While it does dry out quicker then if there were dirt, I have more success in rooting my Butterflies with this method.   Put a plastic bag over it to help retain humidity and make sure it doesn't dry out.  Within a month you should see new growth.  Once I see new growth, I wait about another 2 weeks and then transplant it into a larger container, with a good potting soil, and maintain it as normal.  They do like a good bit of water during growing season.  Don't let them dry out but not soggy either.  They will bloom, almost constantly, from Summer until Fall.

They like partial shade to semi full sun.  I have one in full sun that requires more watering then the one I have in partial shade. Both bloom very well for me.  They are outdoor hardy in zones 9-10 but will tolerate a ground freeze, zones 8-9, and shoot up new growth in the spring.  The roots can not stand freeze as it will kill the plant.  They make great container plants in cold climates. Plant in a large container and bring inside at the first hint of a freeze.  Place in a sunny window and they will stay green for you over the winter.  

If you get a chance to come across the Blue Butterfly, I recommend them highly for your yard.  Make a little fairy garden at the bottom and add a bit more magic :-)   That's the dirt I've been in today - taking cuttings and moving them to my greenhouse with great anticipation of new plants.  

Enjoy the magic!! It's everywhere if you look for it :-)