The Wall O’ Waters are out in the garden, ready to house my early pepper and tomato plants. They give the garden a mod look, with their turquoise color and innovative design. . .
Archive for March, 2009
Wall O’ Water
Sunday, March 29th, 2009Sweet Potato Surprise
Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
While organizing my pantry today, I found a surprise that turned out to be a sweet one: five little sweet potatoes that had escaped being turned into pie by hiding behind some Crisco and cereal boxes. They had been nestled there for weeks. My first thought upon discovering them was “ugh, I really need to clean out my pantry more often”. But when I took a closer look, I saw that they were just as firm as the day I bought them at the Raleigh Farmers Market.
Still doubting that my sweet potatoes could really have retained their yumminess after going AWOL in my cabinet, I cut one in half to check out what it looked like inside. Wow! It was bright orange, and just begging to become my lunch.
It took my a while to figure out what I could make out of so few sweet potatoes. I didn’t have enough of them to make a pie and, since it was a hot day, I didn’t feel like making a batch of sweet potato fries. I was actually in the mood for salad.
I spent a couple of minutes taking stock of the ingredients I had on hand, including some tender green onions and parsley that I could harvest fresh from the kitchen garden. Then, I put a pan of water on the stove to boil, chopped my sweet potatoes up, and set about making a lil’ something that I called “Surprise Sweet Potato Salad”.
Surprise Sweet Potato Salad
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4-6 people
Ingredients:
2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2” cubes
Juice of 1 lime
2 Tablespoons honey
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I like the taste of Kraft brand)
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced green onion (less if you’re not as big a fan of chive/green onion flavor)
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup toasted pecans
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (finely grated fresh ginger would also work well)
salt to taste
Directions:
1. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil
2. Add sweet potatoes and cook until just tender, about 5 minutes
3. Drain and cool sweet potatoes
4. Combine lime juice, honey, ginger and mayonnaise in a large bowl
5. Add sweet potatoes to dressing along with celery and toasted pecans. Toss to combine and salt to taste.
Sandhills Stampede Endurance Ride
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
This weekend, Tammy and I completed the 30 Mile Sandhills Stampede Endurance Ride. The course was beautiful and the campground facilities were great. The Sandhill Stampede Endurance Ride is held annually at the H. Cooper Black Field Trial and Recreation Area in Cheraw, SC.
The race offers 30 and 55 mile courses and riders can compete on Saturday, Sunday or on both days.
Blanketing the horses for the wet weather
Saturday, March 14th, 2009
It is supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend, so we need to take special care of the horses. Whenever the weather will be wet and cold, we either lock the horses in their shed or put on their waterproof Weatherbeeta Orican blankets.
Since the weather is supposed to be bad all weekend, it looks like the horses will be getting blanketed. It’s important to make sure that the blankets fit well and that the straps are snug, but not too tight. We check on the horses a few times a day to make sure they aren’t getting any rubs or sores from the blanket.
