Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad

I'm normally a "safe" food eater. Not a foodie at all. I like what I like and tend to order the same things over and over. Not to mention, I can't cook and I am tongue deaf (the equivalent of being tone deaf. Yeah. I just made that up.) So, when I saw that I had avocados and strawberries ripening quicker than I can blink, something clicked. What if I made a strawberry and avocado salad? And also added spinach? So I looked up different recipes and got basic ideas for the dressing since I'm a ranch kinda girl. I'm not brave enough to venture in making my own dressing yet so I improvised and bought ready made olive oil and vinegar dressing. When I got home, I added in a touch or two of honey to sweeten it up. Boy, am I glad I ventured out of my food comfort zone.

The salad consists of spinach (bagged or bunch, your preference. I chose bunched), sliced strawberries, 1 avocado and garlic and herb feta cheese (they didn't have plain). For the dressing, just store bought already made olive oil and vinegar dressing. I poured about a cup of dressing and I stirred in two small dollops of honey to sweeten. Tasty.

I didn't include any specific measurements since everyone's appetite and portion size is different do let me know if something is not clear :)

Neem Oil as a Natural Pesticide.

Last year, I had an infestation of spider mites that killed my cucumbers. I let the soil get too dry and with the heat in Southern California, it was a perfect breeding environment for spider mites. I lost my will to keep up with the plants after I tossed the cucumbers and forgetting to water. This year, I did some research and found out that neem oil is a natural pesticide that is also good for plants. Neem oil is an essential oil harmful to pests but not to humans (unless you're pregnant).

Neem oil is "harvested" from the fruit and seeds of the neem tree which is from India. It needs to be diluted with water before you can use it directly on the leaves otherwise, you risk killing or burning it. Because it is a natural and organic product, you do not get instant results like you would with chemical pesticides and multiple sprayings on top and underneath the foilage over a few days are needed in order to kill any spider mites. The reason being is the neem oil doesn't instantly kill the mites but instead messes with their body (i.e. breathing, eating, etc) which is why it takes a few days to get rid of them.

Just mix a tablespoon of neem oil with a gallon of water and couple drops of dish soap (the soap helps to keep the neem oil and water from separating) and spray on top and under the leaves of the infested plants every day until the spider mites have been eradicated. The mixture is only good for up to about 8 hours so be sure to make a new batch every time.

Urban Gardening Year 2

Suffice to say, last year's attempt at growing some vegetables didn't pan out. Out of the numerous lettuce plants, two tomato plants, 4 cucumbers plants and 2 strawberry plants, I got 2 grape tomatoes, a few lettuce leaves and 4 or 5 strawberries.

This year, I am armed with more info, more experience, fertilizer and more determination.

Here is this year's attempt at container gardening inside my apartment. These pics were taken a few days ago on the 8th, so there has been some more growth since then.

The red bucket is a yellow summer squash plant flanked by a pair of cherry tomato plants. The little cup in the window sill are basil seedlings. The little cap in the squash container contains neem oil (see next post for what it is), which is a natural essential oil that helps to repel pests, particularly spider mites, which killed my cucumbers last year.



I am also trying my hand at upside down gardening in order to conserve space. A 2 liter bottle was converted to grow cucumber. I also planted a lettuce seed on top since it is a companion plant to cucumber. In the bag, I have another cherry tomato plant growing. On top of the soil, I have also planted some basil seeds since it can help to improve the flavor of the tomato plants and can also repel pests. So far, the cucumber is doing great and the upside down tomato plant looks a little sad but no hope is lost yet.


A closer look at the cucumber.


My container of black eyed simpson lettuce (same as I grew last year). Most lettuce varieties grow better in cooler weather but the black eyed simpson is more heat and sun tolerant. Next year, I shall try a cooler variety in order to free up some space for other plants that need more sun. This year, I added in used (but dried out) coffee grounds since coffee grounds are high in nitrogen and lettuce craves nitrogen.


And last but not least, a family of sunflowers and cosmos (on the end to the right) that I will hopefully be able to have flower this year. Last year's attempt with flowers didn't work so well.


One thing I am doing different this year is actually using fertilizer and pollinating the flowers by hand since I don't have any bees that live inside my apartment. I just didn't think about it last year :)

Vegetarian Goulash

I made the above dish by modifying this recipe I found on Food.com. The author calls it a "Poverty Meal" but some reviewers have said the recipe was similar to a goulash they make so I'm calling mine a Vegertarian Goulash :) Although I eat meat, I don't like cooking with it so I substituted the ground beef with firm tofu instead. Because I work as a massage therapist, I needed some stuff that won't burn through as quickly since I have a high metabolism so I also added in a can of kidney beans. I like squash and corn so that was added too :)

1 tbs of olive oil
1 can can of stewed tomatoes (I used canned diced tomatoes in juice)
1 can of water
2 cloves of garlic - minced
1 yellow onion - chopped or sliced
1/2 block of firm tofu - cubed
1 cup of pasta (doesn't matter if it's elbows, shells or whatnot)
1 can of corn
1 squash - peeled and cut
salt to taste
pepper to taste

Brown the onion and garlic in a large pan in the olive oil.
Once browned, add in the tomatoes (juice and all) and the water.
Add in the pasta, corn and beans.
Let simmer for about 8-10 minutes but be sure to stir often so that the pasta doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
Stir in the squash. Simmer for about 2 minutes.
Stir in the tofu. The tofu will sponge up the liquid so be sure you don't add it in with the pasta before it's halfway cooked.
Let simmer for another 10 minutes or until pasta is tender.
Season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Enjoy!

P.S. I don't cook very much so I hope this dish is as tasty for you as it is for me. Feel free to give me any advice :)

Fruitilicious Bottlecap Magnets

Garden Update - Tomatoes

The Big Boy seedling I bought a couple of weeks ago is starting to flower. I must be doing something right :)

Garden Update - Lettuce

The lettuce seeds I planted 7 days ago have finally sprouted. Well, at least two of them did. If all goes well, I should have my own lettuce to eat within a month or so.

Urban Gardening

I've lived in the same apartment in L.A for nearly 4 years. Every year after the summer is over, I always say that I need to start growing my own vegetables in the uber sunny corner of my kitchen. Well, this is the year that I finally did.

I'm starting small first to get a feel of things and will expand as I gain more experience (and reconfigure the kitchen to utilize as much space as possible).

First up, strawberry and tomato seedlings. All the plastic lids and containers I didn't throw into the recycling bin have finally come in handy!


I'm also very cost conscious and recycle/reuse as much as I can. Instead of running out and buying purty containers, I cut the top of a two liter bottle and used it to house one of my tomato plants. I used a rectangular food container I already had to house my two strawberry seedlings. Since I also had an abundance of non-recyclable plastic bottle caps, I hot-glued four of them to the bottom of the strawberries' new home to help with draining (after I drilled holes into the bottom of the container). The bottlecaps act as "risers" so that the bottom of the container is not sitting in the drain tray (which is the lid of the rectangular container).

Strawberries to the right and lettuce to the left.


I also got super inspired to grow lettuce, cucumbers and daisies from seeds. I decided to try out the lettuce first as it wasn't warm enough yet to start the cucumbers. Again, I used a food container I had laying around and drilled drain holes on the bottom and glued four bottlecaps to the underside. Various blogs on growing container vegetables suggested putting the container into a plastic bag after seeding to create a makeshift greenhouse so the condensation from within will keep it moist and help with germination. Holes were cut on top of the plastic bag to help with ventilation.

In the next few days to a week, I will be seeding the cucumbers and daisies. Will also start seeding another variety of lettuce. If all goes well, I will cut down on the amount of produce I will have to purchase.

As long as I can stay motivated, I will try to update at least weekly the progress of my urban garden.