Chez Robinson

As of today all of our seeds are sprouting! I have two Jiffy greenhouses in the garage - one is growing all of our tomato and pepper seeds, and the other has broccoli, cauliflower and herbs.

I read somewhere that I should track what sprouted when, and since I'm sharing my gardening adventures here, I thought I'd log the seed info here too.

Starting out: Pouring warm water over the peat pellets in the greenhouse containers


Sprouted 5 days after planting:
Broccoli
Cauliflower


Sprouted 6 days after planting:
Thyme

Sprouted 7 days after planting:
Cherry tomatoes
Rosemary
Basil
Sweet Basil
Chives
Dill
Parsley
Italian ParsleySprouted 8 days after planting:
Big Boy Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
Jalapeno Peppers

We'll also be trying to grow strawberries and blueberries! (I couldn't resist these plants when I saw them at our local home improvement store)
This picture shows the berry plants sitting in the first layer of our herb spiral. I'm still trying to decide where to plant them.

I'm hoping to finish the herb spiral in the next week or two. We used all of the bricks we had on hand, so we'll be picking up more this weekend.

It's Monday, which means Meal Planning Monday at OrgJunkie. Cooking is so much more enjoyable when I have a weekly plan.

Last week's plan held up pretty well, with the exception of Friday's Scallops. I ditched that idea and settled for the traditional tuna and macaroni salad. I say traditional, because that is what my mother fixed for dinner every single Friday during every Lenten season of my childhood. It's so ingrained that I actually crave it on Fridays during Lent.

This week I'm working out of the pantry and freezer. I went to the grocery store earlier this week, with every intention of picking up a few sale items and not spending much money. I spent over $80, and I really didn't need many of the items I bought. Our house is full of food. So with the exception of milk, eggs and other fresh ingredients, I'm going to spend a few weeks cooking and eating from what we have on hand.

Besides, I need to get to the bottom of the freezer in the garage sometime - it is long overdue for a defrost and deep clean.

Monday - Takeout from our favorite BBQ joint
Tuesday - Leftover chicken and vegetable stir-fry served over pantry-staple ramen noodles
Wednesday - Chicken Piccata served over pasta (chicken from the freezer, everything else from the pantry - I'll finally open that jar of capers I've had forever!)
Thursday - leftovers
Friday - Lentil Brown Rice Casserole (pantry staples)

The Chicken Piccata and Lentil Casserole are new recipes, so I'll be posting reviews as we try them.

Hello to those of you who have found my blog! I'm so excited to know there are real people out there who might see this! :)

As promised, here is the recipe for Mexican Style Meatloaf.

Meatloaf: Mexican Style

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (I used a mixture of ground chuck and extra lean ground beef)
1 jar salsa (I used mild, but use whatever you like)
1 can black beans (you'll only use 1/2 the can)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
shredded Cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Drain and rinse the black beans. You'll only need 1/2 of the can for this. I like using the leftover beans in scrambled eggs or omelets.

Mix the beef, 1/2 can black beans, 1/2 cup salsa and egg in a large bowl. Salt and pepper to taste, and add any other seasoning you might like. I added onion powder and seasoning salt.

Shape the meat mixture into a loaf-shape in the baking dish of your choice.

Once shaped into a loaf, make a channel or indentation on the top of the loaf, down the middle, for the salsa. Pour 1/2 cup of salsa on top. Sprinkle the top with grated Cheddar.

Bake for 35-45 minutes.

This recipe should give you 4 nice sized servings. If you are cooking for more you could easily double this recipe, though I would recommend cooking it as two loaves.

This is a slightly different twist on traditional meatloaf. I served it with brown rice and veggies.

I apologize in advance for not having any pictures to go with these recipes. Meatloaf, or at least my meatloaf, doesn't make for pretty pictures. Besides, dinner was later than usual and I was hungry. :)

Last night I made two meatloaves: Italian and Mexican. I do not use breadcrumbs in my meatloaf, and I'm only cooking for two, so I tend to make small, dense meatloaf.

Meatloaf: Italian Style

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef (I used a mixture of ground chuck and extra lean ground beef)
1 small can chopped mushrooms
1 can Italian diced tomatoes, divided (sometimes these are labeled "Italian", or just look for diced tomatoes with basil, oregano, etc)
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
shredded Mozzarella cheese (or use Parmesan from the green can in a pinch)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix* the beef, mushrooms, egg and half of the diced tomatoes in a large bowl. Salt and pepper to taste, and add any other seasoning you might like. Last night I added onion powder, seasoning salt and McCormick's All Purpose Seasoning Blend (which is a variety of dried herbs).

*By mix what I really mean is "Take your rings off, wash your hands, stick your hands in the bowl and get it all together"

Shape the meat mixture into a loaf-shape in the baking dish of your choice. Since I was making two loaves I used a large glass baking dish that would hold both with room to spare.

Once shaped into a loaf, make a channel or indentation on the top of the loaf, down the middle, for the tomatoes. Pour the remaining half of the diced tomatoes into this channel. This keeps the tomatoes from running down the sides of the meatloaf and ending up in the bottom of your pan. Sprinkle the top with grated Mozzarella. I was out of Mozzarella so I used green can Parmesan instead.

Bake for 35-45 minutes.

This recipe should give you 4 nice sized servings. Or, if you are feeding a hungry man, as I was last night, one hungry man serving and 2 other servings. If you are cooking for more you could easily double this recipe, though I would recommend cooking it as two loaves.

Results: This is my standard meatloaf recipe, and we liked it as usual. This is the first time I've used grated Parmesan, and it was good. The Parmesan went well with the other flavors (of course!).

I'll post the companion, Meatloaf: Mexican Style soon.

I love Menu Plan Monday at I'm An Organizing Junkie. Although I've only participated once before (and that was nearly a year ago!) I frequently check to see what others have posted. It's a great place to get new ideas.

Meal planning works really well for me, and we save a lot of money when I have a solid plan. I'm hoping to set aside some time every weekend to plan our meals for the coming week.

Here is this week:

Monday - Meatloaf, brown sugar glazed baby carrots and steamed green beans.

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - Honey Mustard Chicken and steamed vegetables (New recipe!)

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Herb and Sesame Scallops with Orange and Fennel Salad (New recipe!)

Saturday/Sunday - Chicken Soup (New recipe!)

I'm trying a few new recipes this week. The Chicken Soup recipe is in a cookbook, so I don't have a link handy. I'll post more about it this weekend when I make it.

We observe Lent, so Fridays are going to be meatless for a while. I'm going to try to cook a variety of seafood or other meatless dishes so we don't end up going to seafood restaurants every Friday night. I have never cooked much seafood. In fact, canned tuna and frozen shrimp represent my entire experience with seafood in my kitchen. I didn't grow up eating fish or other seafood at home, so I think I've always been intimidated by the idea of cooking it. Maybe this Lenten season is the time when I get over that.

Check out all of the great meal plans:

The plans for our vegetable garden are coming along nicely. Yesterday we completed the first layer for the herb spiral. We built a brick circle, well, an oval really, and filled it with a layer of top soil topped by a layer of Miracle Grow Garden Soil. We had just enough red bricks to make the first layer, so we'll need to pick up more bricks.

Today I started most of our vegetable and herb seeds in Jiffy plastic greenhouse boxes. I bought the greenhouse boxes with little peat pellets that expand when wet. I know it's not really necessary, but as a complete amateur I thought these boxes might help me. Since I have no idea what I am doing I very carefully labeled each row of seeds. Otherwise I'll be staking carrots and expecting tomatoes to grow underground. :)

I still need to plan how I want to plant the vegetables in our garden. I know a compact, weed-free garden is better than a huge plot overgrown with weeds. I hate weeding anyway, so a compact garden sounds good to me. In the coming weeks I need to go ahead and draw out a plan.

So far I think things are going well. I'm really looking forward to watching the seeds sprout in the coming days and weeks.