What's Growing In The Garden-Peas & Greens & Green Goddess Dressing

Pretty much right now we have greens and snow peas and lots of herbs & some green onions. (And Iris for a vase!)  Oh and actually a pepper which seems really early. Tonight I sauteed some snow peas with garlic scrapes which was ok, I need to think of something else to do with snow peas. I don't even know if I like them anymore....

The salad is so nice though and I had just enough herbs to make my favorite Green Goddess Salad Dressing. It calls for a lot of Basil and I hardly have any of that at the moment (I sacraficed an entire plant to make this) so I cut down the recipe to 1/4 size. I then bought a bunch of fresh basil because I just didn't make enough of this stuff.

Green Goddess Salad Dressing

Aadapted from Barefoot Contessa At Home

Makes about 4 cups

1 cup good mayonnaise
1 cup chopped green onions (scallions), white and green parts

1 cup chopped fresh basil, packed

juice of 2 lemons (about 1/4 cup)

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup plain yogurt-She uses sour cream but I always have yogurt on hand and I like it's tartness in here.

I usually throw some fresh parsley in here too for good measure and dill if I have it (which I do) because I love dill.

Place the mayonnaise, green onions, basil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, in a blender, and blend until smooth. Add yogurt, blending until just incorporated. Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks. Enjoy!!

This is the most amazing stuff. It makes any salad the best salad you've ever had. I've served it as a dip for roasted fingerling potatoes which was a huge hit. I've also been known to dip pita chips& veggies  in it as well.

Did I Mention?

That the couch came with an ottoman??? I didn't think so. It's all fitting in rather well. I think it's the best $125 I've spent in a long time!

Where I get a new couch and realize I have issues with holding onto things....

So this past Friday I had some free time to myself so I partook in one of my favorite summertime pastimes-Yard Saleing!!!  It was the first time I've been since last summer and I was pysched! I had a nice mug of coffee, a poocket full of $1, it was a sunny 70 degree day and my girlie was at school-What more could a woman ask for?  2.5 Hrs of fun for me!

While I was out and around and in the same neighborhood where this unfortunate incident took place, I noticed a very nice couch that one man was putting out. I looked at it and drove away. And that couch nagged at me all morning. It was in beautiful condition, having only been in this man's house for 2 years-He had plans to out it in his basement rec room when his wife found the sectional she wanted. It didn't fit down the stairs! It came with new slipcovers for the cushions and throw pillows. It even has goose down padding on each side of the cushions. It was $125. It was red. (it's actually the exact one pictured!)

Now I've had the same sofa since right before the year 2000. (Some of you who know me remember what happened to it when I partied like it was 1999-Well it was in fact, 1999....) At any rate, our sofa had seen better days. WAY BETTER DAYS. A small foot on one side actually broke last year. And even though it has removeable slipcovers, there are some spots that are never coming off....

But recall, I had been a SAHM for a little under 4 years until last year at this time. That time in my life was not a time to buy a new sofa. Hell, that time was hardly the time to buy new shoes....

But I digress, there was this nice sofa, but I could not get a hold of my husband. And a couch isn't something that I think you should just come home with. I mean, I would really NOT appreciate it if someone (my husband) came home with a couch without consulting me.... But I didn't get a hold of him and bought the couch anyway.

And do you see how happy that woman is in the picture? How she just sinks into that couch. Well it's JUST LIKE THAT! It's very comfortable. It has a big cushions. It looks very nice in my "restrained gold" (seriously, that is what the color is called.) living room. I feel that happy on it. All is well, right?

Well yes and no. What's bugging me is that old beat up couch in the garage. When I came home from a Girl Scout thing at the library on Sat my lovely old couch was ON IT'S SIDE in the dirty garage. It made me flinch. Isn't there somewhere in the house for that? I wondered to myself.  I loved that couch. We've all laid there sick, and had family movie nights, and late night talks with girlfriends, and I even got sick on it New Years Eve 1999 (if you had not already figured that one out) and Christmas mornings, and it was my first really nice furniture purchase. etc, etc, etc......



See What I Mean?

  I felt like I should apologize to it for replacing it. Is that weird?  I mean it's given me a lot of good years and all I'm doing is throwing it out... (and while I'm a huge fan of donating things, trust me, no one would want this couch.)  I don't feel like I am a person who is attached to her things, I really don't, but that couch is making me wonder. I mean it IS in the garage at this point and it's not like I'm NOT going to get rid of it, it just made me sad.... I also feel like this about my car that needs to be replaced at some point as well. These things are like old friends to me. (ok, that sounds creepy....) I like keeping things. It's frugal, and environmental, and not wasteful.  (I'm starting to worry about myself in my old age....That I'll be that lady who has worn the same sweater for like 10 years.....) I won't have a hoarding problem....Just an aversion to replacing things.... I already have an aversion to replacing things.

On the flip side, I love the couch. I LOVE the price. It's also not wasteful, and is environmental and frugal to buy a couch secondhand. Like I said eariler, until last year at this time I wasn't working. We have a lot of things that we need around here. Heck, the blender caught on fire last week while I was making a smoothie. A couch was way low on ths list things that need replacing or doing. In fact, just 2 weeks or so ago I was lamenting to myself that it was going to probably bea long while until we had a new couch. And perhaps it will be a while until I get a NEW couch but this one will be just fine until then! And until garbage day I'll go out to the garage and visit my old friend...

What's Growing In The Garden Today

With all of the heat this week a lot of things just burst into bloom!

This is what $5 and 2 years will get you.

 I bought this climbing rose at the end of the season 2 years ago for $5. It was originally $20.

Last year it bloomed a little but this year there are tons of flowers on it.

It's an old fashioned type rose and you can smell them  when you are sitting on the porch.

Oh my, the porch needs painting.

I planted these a while ago from my grandma or some garden club girls. I couldn't even remember what color they were. They finally bloomed. Also a lovely smell.

Talk about free food. The lettuce began growing in the planter all by itself this year from some lettuce that had gone to seed last year. I think we'll be eating it this weekend. I also have a pineapple sage planted in there for when the lettuce is gone.

The green behind all of this are potatoes from last year. It's hard to get rid of potatoes once you plant them somewhere. There are always some you miss. However, the amount of potatoes growing here makes me wonder if I dug any of them up last year.

Beautiful Broccoli, Arugula, Peas and lots of lettuce. (oh and some of those volunteer poatoes.)

Rhodadendron. There are a bunch of these in my neighborhood this big. It makes me think that sometime 30 years ago all the neighbors were in some kind of keeping up with the jones's type thing with their garden bushes!

Tomato and Herb Urn. There are 2 on the front porch. These are going crazy this year.