From Garden To Table

Yesterday I was living my dream. We were able to harvest our beets from the garden and later cook them at the house for dinner. It was amazing! We also steamed some peas from the garden and while I'm usually not that crazy about peas, let me tell you, these were incredible! We roasted the beets by putting them in an aluminum package, drizzled with olive oil and S+P, in the oven for about 45 min. Then we used our lettuce from the front patio and put the sliced roasted beets, some toasted walnuts and a blue cheese dressing on top. I also made a pie/quiche from Georgia's own Vadalia onions. It was SO good! I now wish I would have put down many more beet seeds! 

the peas..yum!

the beets about to be thrown into the oven.

lettuce from the front porch.

the beets right out of the earth.

I put some lettuce seeds down i a huge pot that I have on the front porch and they've grown SO nicely!

The goodness all on one plate. Delicious!

My handsome hubby enjoying every bite! 

Happy Freaking Friday!

Yet another week has passed. Let's hope for a slow weekend, meaning it'll feel like more than just two days! Of course I stopped at the usual place to celebrate the past week and the coming weekend with a latte.

Mother's Milk

I blogged about this before and how a hippie friend of ours knows everything there is to know about herbs and how it can cure everything from a minor bug bite to a serious illness. Her recipe for a good night sleep is absolutely delicious! Her recipe calls for a herb called Ashwagandha, which I use, but it may be hard to get a hold of. If you can't get it, you can still make this concoction. Just mix milk (however much fits in a mug of your choice), a teaspoon or so of honey and some vanilla (I use vanilla extract but I'm sure vanilla sugar for you Swedes would work to whisk in there as well). Heat it in a pan (not microwave!), but don't boil, just let it simmer. Put in a mug and sprinkle with cinnamon. It is seriously the best thing to have before you hit the bed, whether you have the herb or not.

Sleep tight.

My Week In Pictures

My favorite hockey team back home won gold, therefore their jersey and golden flip-flops were a must ~ A stroll through Atlantic Station on a beautiful spring day ~ Trying to make a 3 year old nap sometimes lead to no nap but instead a photo session with the iPhone ~ Yummy breakfast at the new breakfast place ~ Minigolf very late at night ~ Watching a ton of hockey on my computer ~ Making homemade pasta ~ Walks with a cool baby hanging out in the stroller ~ Yum for fresh cookies out of the oven 

Elin's Garden

If, or rather WHEN I get the chance to have myself a big and beautiful garden, one of those that people can come and look at and maybe I'll sell a cucumber or two from a roadside stand, (yes, a girl can dream, can't she) I'd like to officially name it "Elin's Garden". I know, selfish huh? But it's not so much from my name, I would like to dedicate the garden to my great grandmother, who's name is also Elin, and who probably was somewhat of a reason why I got the name I got. She lived in the "city" most of the time but had a little summer cottage in the town where I grew up and I loved to go there and one of the reasons why was that she had herself a little garden. I guess it was Elin's Garden. She had the most amazing carrots. I don't know why this memory is so stuck in my head, but I think about it a lot when I'm in my garden, and it's of me and my brothers or maybe cousins, sitting in her garden picking very sweet, tiny and delicious carrots and taking them straight from the dirt and putting them right into our mouths. Yum! Anyways, I hope that I one day will have a garden that I can name "Elin's Garden". My great grandmother is still alive, she is getting very old and she has lost most of her hearing and sight, but I hope wherever she will be when I get my dream garden, that she'll smile and know she inspired me to have my very own little "Elin's Garden".

 

"A memory is a way of holding onto things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose."

Dinner Swap!

My Swedish friend Ida suggested that we try to do a dinner swap today. Dinner swap you may ask? Well, we are four people participating so that means we have to cook for four people, me and Christian included. Like this: this morning I made four veggie pies. One for us and three for the rest of the participants. So today when we meet I'll be handing over one pie to each person and they are going to hand out something to me. So I'll be leaving bringing home dinners for three nights + the dinner I made. Confusing? A little, but I'm excited to not have to cook dinner every night of this week, instead all I have to do is put something in the oven to heat up. It is the first time I'm doing something like this but I'm excited to see what the other people have made. :)

As you know my dad sent me a bunch of Allers magazines the other day and that's where I found the recipe for the pie I made. I was a little nervous not knowing how it would turn out, but we had ours for lunch and it was AMAZING!! My hubby said we should make this pie once a week. That's a good sign! 

The pictures are out of order but you can see the recipe below. Try it!! 

Garden Progress

Today we payed a visit to our garden and things are growing nicely. We had to replant a few cucumber seeds when I believe we had a bird thief steel the last ones. Some of the seeds sported but some are no where in sight. Today was a beautiful day so it was a short but nice visit.

Our beets, who should be a winter/fall vegetable is just now getting ready to be picked. A week or two more and we can roast some fresh beets. Can't wait! 

This is our zucchini growing nicely.

Our potatoes are coming up! Can't wait for these to be ready, last year was such a success!

Yum for fresh peas right out of the pod.

I hope YOU are having a wonderful weekend!

Allers Saves The Day

One of my favorite things to do before
I go to sleep is to make crossword puzzles. I have yet to find an American one who's as good as Allers at home in Sweden. Allers is the absolute best! Not only the crossword puzzles are great, I find the content of the magazine to be quite a good read as well. I bet the average age of Allers readers is up there, but I'm proud to be an Allers reader. Thanks to my dad I now get Allers sent to my door throughout the year. :)

I Did It!

Crawfish Party!

It was quite a long time ago since I went to a craw fish party, but today I was lucky enough to take part in one. In Sweden we usually throw them in the fall but this one was a real Cajun, or Louisiana, style craw fish party and I believe they throw them whenever there?  Our friend grew up outside New Orleans and throws one of these parties once a year. Today was a beautiful day for it and I actually quite enjoyed the craw fish. I declined the sucking-the-juice-out part, but ate the meat.

Happy Easter!!

Just popping in to say "glad pask", or happy Easter! We're dog sitting this weekend to sweet Dylan. But now I'm about to head out to Ikea. Let's see if I can hold on to my money..

Favorite Song At The Moment

I keep listening to this song over and over again.

"I want to touch the earth, I want to break it in my hand, I want to grow something wild and unruly"

Missing Home

Yep, this weekend has been one of those weekends when I've missed home a little bit extra. Or maybe hoped that home was a little bit closer so that people could come and visit. It happens, and often when something fun is going on, when I wish I could share it with the people I love the most. Right now, here in Georgia, there is so much that I'd like to share with my friends and family back home. The weather is absolutely freaking awesome. It's like the perfect summer day in Sweden. All the  flowers are in bloom and it's amazing, so many different kinds of flowers and plants to look at and it is so beautiful. Last night sitting on the upper deck on the swing (!) at the cafe having a glass of wine and cake in Historic Roswell I wanted so badly to share it with my friends. Who wouldn't want to sit there with good friends and talk for hours and hours? We're also redoing out home a little and I think it's going to turn out great and I would love to have my family and friends over to see the outcome. I so wish that I wasn't so many many miles away from home. 

How is YOUR weekend going?