Quick pesto'd pasta with oysters

Pre-cooked farfalle

Sometimes at lunch, I just want something quick and easy. Okay, that's not true. Every day at lunch I want something quick and easy. If it isn't, I often skip lunch, which is bad for me on so many levels. Skipping breakfast is horrid but skipping lunch causes me to over-eat at dinner in a huge way. Now, I occasionally eat leftovers, but often, instead I will take parts of the leftovers and make something new.

Oysters and pesto

This recipe is a great example. I made bowtie (farfalle) pasta for dinner the night before, and there was pasta that didn't get eaten. It was shoved into the fridge in a plastic container and promptly forgotten. On Friday, I pulled it out and made a completely new recipe, something delicious and quick and relatively nutritious. I've made this particular blend before, but it can be switched up. You can make it with leftover chicken, pork, beef or seafood. I've made it with canned crab. I've tossed in shrimp. Most often, though, I want it made with oysters because I love them and they're so yummy!

Adding oysters

The cupboard revealed a can of oysters in water, and the fridge yielded some leftover pesto from a previous meal. I tossed the pasta in a cast iron pan along with some EVOO and sautéed it until it was warm. I added in the pesto a tablespoon at a time until the pasta was covered in those lovely, fragrant green specks. The oysters went on the top at the last minute, and were gently stirred into the pasta and pesto. When working with canned oysters, you want to make sure you use very gentle movements, because otherwise they break apart and become a sort of mush in the bottom of your pan. The taste is the same but it loses its aesthetic appeal.

I served this meal up with a light sprinkle of salt and a topping of fresh grated parmesan cheese. It was filling and quite tasty! The whole meal took me about five minutes, start to finish. It's very flexible, too, because you can add whatever you like to the mix. If you want onions, throw them in. You have some leftover corn? Toss it in as well! Kitchen sink cooking is an art form, one I've practiced and perfected.

Topped with parmesan cheese!

Shared at the Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange 2/26. Thank you to everyone who made my bread recipe the most clicked last week!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

A good weekend's work
Making and using greenhouses
Busy day round-up
Seedling trays
Bread again!

A good weekend's work

Getting everything ready!

This past weekend, I decided to start some of my seeds. Yes, it's a bit early (my planting schedule suggests not doing so until March 11th at the earliest) but I decided that I'd play around. This desperate need to get my hands dirty always seems to happen around this time of the year, when the snow is deep and silent and spring seems so far away. Looking at the amount of snow outside, I know the ground isn't going to be workable by March 1st, and my peas and beans are going to have to wait for planting until most of the snow is gone.

Soil for mixing

There are several types of seeds that I had left over from last year or that I saved from last year's crops. This is a good time of year to try them out and see if they sprout. I saved cilantro last year, and snap peas. Miss T saved green pepper and hot pepper seeds. I had several varieties of early tomato to plant, as well. It just seemed like a good time to plant some of them and see if germination happens in a decent time.

I pulled out the plastic cells that I had left over from last year, as well as some that I picked up for free from the swap shop at our dump. Our little girl also decided she wanted to plant some seeds in egg cartons. I used a big plastic tub to blend together potting mix and water (you want it went enough that it clumps in your palm, but not so wet that you can squeeze it and have water drip out). She did most of the dirty work, although I got my hands into the soil as well. It was heavenly opening the bag - that scent is so wonderful!

Moistening the mix

Once all the cells were filled with good soil, we organized the seeds. I only planted two of the cilantro seeds, because I didn't have that many of them to begin with. Most will get put directly into the herb garden when it's warmer, but I thought it might be nice to get two cells started here in the house. The plastic packs come with six cells to a pack, so the other four got planted in green peppers that we'd harvested from organic local produce over the summer. If they come up, we'll have lots of green peppers this year, because it'll mean we have viable seed!

Tomatoes in cells

Next, we got into the tomatoes. We planted six Amish Paste tomatoes, purchased from Annie's (where most of my seeds are from), six Moneymaker tomatoes (an Agway organic brand), six Italian Roma tomatoes (from Botanical Interests Organic), and six Cherokee Purple (also from Botanical Interests Organic, and a type of tomato that Miss T has been dying to try). All but the Amish Paste are early breeds of tomatoes, and all are heirloom seeds, both organic and open pollinated. I look forward to seeing what types of tomatoes do well here in our cold New England climate.

My notebook

We also planted some chives (Annie's), snap peas (ours), and hot peppers (from local organic produce). We'll see how well they take off. I'm not sure they'll all come up, and despite being organic, some might have been hybrids and may not produce good fruit. Still, it was worth giving it a try.

Each cell or section of cells got a label. The top of each label holds a number, telling me how many cells in total are planted with that seed. Below that is the name of the seed, and on the other side, the date we planted them. This allows me to keep track of how well certain seeds germinate at our (admittedly chilly) temperatures in the house. Colder temperatures may mean slow germination, or perhaps no germination at all. My notes will be kept up, though!

It was great to get my hands dirty. They say that getting your hands into potting soil and good quality dirt and compost is actually a natural anti-depressant! If that's so, then I ought to be pretty happy from now on, as more and more seedlings spring up in the little greenhouses by the window.

Shared at the Backyard Farming Connection Hop #21.
Shared at Eco-Kids Tuesday.

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

Busy day round-up
Seedling trays
Bread again! 
One pan chicken wonder

Making and using greenhouses

The perfect sunny window

Yesterday, I had the joy of putting together our greenhouses. Miss T, a friend who's staying with us, picked up two of these "miniature greenhouses" (from Ocean State Job Lots in Peterborough) to use in the house to get our plants started. They're not huge, and they're not really meant for outdoors, but they're perfect for in a sunny window. In fact, the window that I like to use for starting my plants is just right to have two of these lovely greenhouses perched in place.

In the box...

Believe it or not, these beauties were only $20.00 each, which is a steal as far as I'm concerned. I've seen similar online for more than twice as much! When I looked at the boxes, I was afraid they'd be very rickety, but as you'll see, I was proved wrong on that point. The parts are very simple, and the instructions don't even have any writing on them. It's really easy to put together, and the first one took me about 20 minutes. The second one went together in about 10 minutes. They really are that elementary.

The parts

The legs are made of coated aluminum, and are pretty sturdy. The braces between each level are made of plastic, and they 'click' into place as you seat them home. I learned part way through the first one that you make each 'shelf' and then put the shelf on top of the previous one(s). The legs and plastic seat together very well. I did crack one spot, but it was fully my own fault. There are two sides to each plastic brace, and one side is plain and the other side has holes for the metal shelf bars. I put the brace on backwards, and had to pull it apart. These are not meant to be taken apart after they've been assembled, and my pulling cracked a tiny bit of the plastic. Still, it was very minor. I didn't bother taping or gluing it, but I could have done so easily.

Getting it together

Once all the levels are clicked into place, the wire shelves go on. I chose to add zip ties to the shelves, to hold them in place. The shelves didn't sit very flat when I put them on, and while laying the seedlings on them would take care of that, I opted for greater security. Five zip ties per shelf held them very stable and solid, with no give. It also held the entire unit more solidly, in my opinion, which was great.

Finished!

Once it was all together, all I had to do was slip on the plastic greenhouse cover. It has a zippered door that folds up and out of the way with velcro holders. These need to be undone while you slide the cover on. There are four ties at the bottom, one for each leg, for added security. I tied these up, then zipped the whole thing shut. It looked pretty great, if you ask me.

I did slide one of the plastic holders onto the top shelf, to see how it fit. It was a bit tight, but easy enough to get in. Everything sat well, and the two together fill up the space in our sunny window. We will be purchasing small lights to put across the bottom of each of the shelves (to shine down on the shelf below), to help encourage our seedlings to grow.

In their spot

Because our house is so cold, averaging 55F at night and sometimes not much more during the day, the greenhouses are a practical choice. They'll keep the heat in, keep drafts from getting onto our seedlings, and hopefully make the temperature inside a bit more steady. They're also a lot neater than last year's plastic boxes, although I will use that method for outdoor placement later in the spring.

The greenhouses can be moved to the porch (covered but not glassed in) when it gets a bit warmer, and eventually can go outside near the garden. I think this will help the transition from indoor seedling to outdoor plant, minimizing the shock to the plants. I guess we'll see!


For more of my articles on greenhouses and related stuff, check out the following:

• Making a planting schedule (2013)
• Inside the beautiful glass cloche
• Getting ready for spring (2012)
• The smell of dirt (2012)
• Spring's sprung! (2011)

This post was shared at the Homestead Barn Hop #100!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

Busy day round-up
Seedling trays
Bread again!
One Pan Chicken Wonder
Planning for Spring

Busy day round-up

The garden in winter.

We all want to avoid Round Up weed killer, but there are other types of round-ups that are much more interesting! I've been horrendously busy this week with work and household stuff, so I am going to share a round-up of interesting "homesteading" style articles that I found this week on the web. I hope you find them as useful and interesting as I did!

The reality of farm life - The tale of the death of a baby chick.
Breathing life into your soil - Why cover crops in spring and fall are so important.
How to grind meat - Grinding your own meat lets you know exactly what you're eating.
The Victory Garden - Planting a Victory Garden can help you out as much as it did your grandmother!
Rabbits for Homesteading - Rabbits make a great small homestead meat choice.

Rabbits are actually something we're thinking of adding this summer to our little freehold. It depends on a few things, and the laying hens must come first, but having fresh rabbit meat available would be so nice. I do love making rabbit stew, and I make a mean stuffed rabbit, too!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

Seedling trays
Bread again!
One Pan Chicken Wonder
Planning for Spring
Mara's Pasta - last chance to win!

Seedling trays

Seedlings in a tray (1)

Every year around this time, I find myself wandering around Home Depot or Agway with the family, often when other people are picking up supplies for house chores. I will meander over to the garden section every time, and look longingly at the neat, ordered trays they have with the little germination lids and the evenly spaced little cups and ... and ... and I never buy them.

That's not true. I did buy one, one year, and while it worked just fine it didn't work so much better than my usual methods that I'd bother doing it again. Instead, I re-use items from around the house that would otherwise get trashed, for starting my seedlings in!

Plastic tray from the swap shop

Throughout January and February, I start collecting items for creating seedling trays. Egg cartons, toilet paper and paper towel rolls (and the rolls from the middle of wrapping paper, too!) all make good seedling pots. Last year I also used Chinese take out containers (the plastic ones with a black bottom and a clear lid) and the similar containers that rotisserie chickens come in when you buy them at Market Basket. Clean any plastics well, and collect all your containers in a single place so they're easy to find when the time comes.

Don't forget about small sour cream containers, and the ones your single-serve yogurt comes in. Any small plastic container can be used to grow plants in, and some metal ones too! This year I'll be adding a few herbs to my windowsill in the cleaned out tins my Hungarian paprika comes in.

Egg carton planter

In my opinion, the best seedling starter around is the paper egg carton. Whether it's a six pack, a full dozen, or a tray of 18 doesn't really matter. You need to be sure that your egg carton is made of paper and not styrofoam, and if it has a lid that's good. Some people feel that the egg cups are a bit small, but it depends what you're planting. You wouldn't want to start a squash plant in an egg cup, but most herbs, tomatoes, and even broccoli will do well to start in them.

A plastic bag holds in moisture

Simply take the lids off carefully, and the little locking flap as well. Fill the egg cups with your planting medium (I use compost and potting soil, mixed equally, but you can also buy some decent seedling medium at most local stores in the spring) and make sure it's moist but not wet. Line the carton lid with plastic wrap or a plastic bag, then put the cup part into the lid. The plastic keeps the lid from getting wet, and helps keep the seedlings moist. The lid, being dry, holds its form well and keeps the egg cups from all falling apart.

The necessary tools

Plant your seeds one or two to a cup, depending on the plant. During the germination process, you can slide the whole thing inside a plastic bag, either a grocery bag or a ziploc style one. As soon as seedlings begin to peek through the soil, take them out of the bag right away and set in a sunny spot. Most egg cartons will fit relatively well on a window sill, and you could even stack them up using a baking rack or something similar.

Mark 1.5" from the end and cut

Toilet rolls and paper towel rolls can both be turned into seedling cups. To use the toilet roll, make a mark 1.5 inches from one end of the roll, then cut several times from the end to the line. Fold the resulting flaps in, and you will have a small, round planting pot. If  you have difficulty with keeping the little toilet roll pots upright, you can use a nice hemp or other twine to tie four together at a time, which will lend to their stability. Place dirt filled toilet roll pots into a plastic or tin foil bottom (old tin pie plates or roasting pans work great for this) and keep watered as you would for the egg cartons.

Fold in the flaps

Small plastic containers need to have a few holes poked into the bottom for drainage, but this is easily achieved by using a hammer and nail. Tap several holes into the bottom of each container and then fill with dirt. Treat them like the other seedlings.

The major difference between the egg cartons and toilet rolls, and the plastic containers, is that the former can go right into the ground without ever disturbing the roots of your seedlings. Plastic containers should be tipped upside down and tapped or gently squeezed to release the plants and dirt from the plastic. Plastic ones work better for larger plants like squash and corn, if you happen to be starting them indoors.

When it comes to seed starting, you can even start a handful of seeds indoors that you might normally put right outside. Cucumbers, for instance, normally just go outside in June and are planted in the soil directly. However, by starting two or three seedlings indoors, you can have vines already growing when you put the rest into the garden as seed. This gives you a handful of slicing cucumbers weeks earlier than you'll get the in-ground ones. The same can go for any plant, really.

It's economical and educational to start your own seeds, indoors or out. A packet of seeds costs less than a dollar in many stores, and not much more than that even for open pollinated or  organic seeds. The same plants as starters, purchased from a nursery or other store will cost you at least that much per plant! Starting those seeds at home gives you the opportunity to be a part of the life cycle of your plant, and lets you teach your children the value of life. It gives you control over what your plants grow in, and what pesticides and chemicals they are introduced to. Add to that, there is a definite feeling of accomplishment you get when you pick a tomato or eggplant that you've nursed from seed to fruit. You can taste the love, the freshness, the glory in it as you eat it.

Shared at the Backyard Farming Connection Hop #20!
Shared at Eco-Kids Tuesday!
Shared at The HomeAcre Hop #7!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

Bread again!
One Pan Chicken Wonder
Planning for Spring
Mara's Pasta - last chance to win!
Review #2 - Mara's linguine

1) Image by mrmac04 / morgueFile

Bread again!

Quick "French" bread

Our family likes bread. There's just something wonderful about pulling out a hot, steaming loaf from the oven and tearing into it, slathering it with butter, and enjoying it with those you love. The flavor, the scent, the look of fresh baked bread is so different from store bought!

I'm always on the look-out for a good bread recipe. I like to try different things, now that I've gotten over my fear of baking. While I do enjoy kneading on most days, sometimes I just want to have a quick loaf that is in and out. Usually, that means giving up the nice crumb or the fluffy interior, or it means making a quick bread that's more like cake than bread. This recipe is not like that, though!

This is not French bread as you might buy in the store. It's slightly more dense inside (though that could be because I didn't let it rise long enough), and the crust isn't quite as crunchy. Still, it's a wonderful white bread that could be adapted easily to any gluten free flour. I may even try making this with whole wheat flour sometime.

The second loaf

Ingredients:

• 2.5 cups warm water
• 2 tbsp yeast
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1/3 cup oil
• 6-7 cups flour

I used the MixMaster for this recipe, but it could easily be done by hand as well. Add together the water, yeast, sugar and vinegar, and mix gently. To get the water to the right temperature, run it over the inside of your wrist, until it's just a bit warmer than you are. Let the mixture sit until it gets bubbly, which takes about five minutes. It doesn't bubble like a normal sponge does, perhaps because of the vinegar, but you'll see the bubbles starting to form around the four to five minute mark.

Add in the salt and oil, and then start putting the flour in one cup at a time. I used Better for Bread flour, with a half cup of all purpose because I ran out of the other stuff. I used the paddle on the MixMaster for the first five cups of flour, but when it started to get really sticky and crawl up the paddle, I switched it out for the dough hook. I ended up adding a total of 7.5 cups of flour, which may have been because I was using the machine, or because it was a damp day, or perhaps I put in too much water and didn't notice.

The dough should be soft, but hold its form. Knead it  for a few minutes, about three minutes in the MixMaster and up to six or seven by hand. You'll know it's ready when it crawls up the dough hook and tries to escape the bowl, and when it is somewhat smooth and not overly sticky to the touch. Pour it out onto a floured counter top and knead for a few seconds. Form into a ball and leave on the counter for a moment.

Grease up a bowl (I just spray it with no-stick spray) and place the dough ball into it. Roll the top of it in the oil first, then flip it over so the seam side is down. Put the bowl into your oven, which should be off but have the light on. Boil some water and put it in a small bowl or pot and slide that in as well, to keep the dough moist.

Sliced this morning

The dough will rise several times, and you need to punch it down at least three times. Each time the dough reaches the top of the bowl it is in, punch it down and tuck it back into a ball. I found that, in my stove, each rise took about 20 minutes. I was pressed for time, and so did the punch down only four times. I recommend doing it at least five times. The more rises you do, the nicer your crumb will be in the end!

While the dough is rising for the last time, clean your counter top well, then grease it up with olive oil or spray. Pour the risen dough out onto the counter and divide it into two or three sections. I made two large loaves, and they didn't cook as well in the center as I had hoped. I suggest three smaller loaves for a more even cooking time. Form the loaves into the shape you want: torpedo shaped for a traditional rustic loaf; long and skinny for a French bread loaf, or place into a greased bread pan for a sandwich loaf.

Spray or grease your pan, and scatter a bit of corn meal on it. This helps keep the bread from sticking, and adds a nice texture to the crust, as well. Place your bread on the pan or sheet, then use a very sharp knife to make three to five diagonal slashes on the top of the bread. Coat the loaves with a beaten egg.

The loaves should rise on the counter for about 30 minutes (or until doubled). Alternatively you can put them into the oven at 170F and let them rise there until they've reached the size you want them to be. This was what I did, and they got a bit bigger than I'd intended. If you rise the dough on the counter, preheat the oven to 375F, and when they're ready, slip them in (your pot of water should still be in there). If you let them rise in the oven, as I did, simply turn it up to 375F once they're risen to the right size.

Bake for about 30 minutes, watching carefully from the 20 minute mark onward. They will turn a lovely golden brown, rise a bit more, and spread out a bit. The loaves are ready when you can turn them upside down in your hand (with a hot pad!) and tap on the crust and get a hollow sound. If it sounds thick then cook another five minutes.

Bread will continue to bake for 15 or more minutes after it comes out of the oven, so try not to tear into it until it has had a chance to sit. We couldn't resist, and the first loaf was cut into about three minutes after being removed from the oven. It was a bit soft in the center, though the flavor was exquisite. The second loaf, which I finally cut into this morning, had perfect crumb.

Soft and white

This produces a soft, white bread similar to what you get in a store bought bread. Of course, because you're making it yourself, it isn't quite as full of sugar, and it definitely doesn't have any High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. Nor does it have hydrogenated oils, preservatives, or other chemicals. It also won't keep nearly as long, both because you'll eat it too fast and because of that lack of preservatives. If you worry you won't eat it in time, slice it and freeze the slices. They can be pulled out and popped into the toaster for lovely fresh bread throughout the week!

The whole process of making this bread took me only three hours, start to finish. I was shocked at how easy it was! Using the MixMaster made it trivial, and it was by far the nicest, softest bread I've ever made. For my personal taste, I will probably replace the sugar with honey next time and see how it works. This recipe is readily adaptable to use with any flour, in my opinion!

I served it up with a home-made potato and sausage soup, and of course lots of butter. It was well received by everyone in the family!

Shared at the Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange 2/19!

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

One Pan Chicken Wonder
Planning for Spring
Mara's Pasta - last chance to win!
Review #2 - Mara's linguine
How to cook a wild turkey

One Pan Chicken Wonder

So delicious! (1)

I love meals that turn into immediate family favorites. In our home, we all love chicken, and I cook it often enough. I try not to buy all breasts, even though we all enjoy breast meat. Generally I buy a pack of chicken that contains all the various parts. Sometimes I use them together and sometimes separately. This week, I used breasts in another meal earlier in the week, so I had legs with backs to use up. I ran into a great recipe over at Julie's Eats and Treats (via Pinterest, my go-to for new recipes!).

This recipe is one of the easiest I've ever made. Anyone can do this. I wish I'd taken pictures, but I'll admit I thought it was "too easy to bother with." I've changed my mind. This is totally worth sharing!

Start with chicken (2)

I used one of my Granite Ware roasting pans to cook this in, as I am feeding five adults and two first graders at each meal. I sprayed the pan with cooking spray, so the ingredients wouldn't stick to it. Then I put the chicken legs (still mostly frozen, I might add) into the pan in the center. I had four chicken legs with backs attached, and I spaced them evenly. The recipe on Julie's Eats and Treats calls for a package of ranch dressing powder as flavor, but I didn't have any, so I used a blend of salt, pepper, garlic powder, celery seed, dried onion flakes and a no-salt seasoning mix that the family likes. I sprinkled them over the chicken evenly.

Spuds (3)

On the "foot end" of the chicken, I put a pre-cooked frozen bag of smashed potatoes. Earlier in the year, when we bought all our potatoes, we took several pounds and cooked them up in the Westinghouse slow cooker. These were then scooped out of their skins and smashed lightly with forks, and frozen in 2lb bags. It was incredibly easy to just pull out the bag, completely frozen, and dump them into the pan. I sprinkled the seasonings over them as well, and then put a half stick of butter over the chicken and potatoes, in little chunks (see the top photograph).

Green beans (4)

I put the pan into a 250F oven for an hour, at which point the chicken and potatoes were mostly defrosted but definitely not cooked through. The butter had mostly melted, and there was a nice bit of juice in the bottom of the pan. I basted everything a bit with a spoon, then put it in for another hour at the low temperature. At the end of the second hour, the meat and potatoes were fully defrosted and starting to actually cook, and so I added in one 2lb package of frozen green beans to the "meat end" of the chicken. It all looked very pretty, but I was still dubious that anyone would like the results.

I turned the heat up to 375F and cooked it for another full hour (checking every 20 minutes for doneness, and taking the top off the pan for the last 20 minutes). The smell in the house was incredibly by this time, and people were complaining that the food wasn't on the table. I hurried it out, scooping the beans and potatoes into separate serving bowls. I noticed that the beans had been cooking in the juice, and were a bit mushy looking, and I was disappointed. The family isn't fond of mushy beans, and neither am I. Still...

The chicken was perfectly done, moist without being fatty, and delicious. The potatoes had started to brown and crisp a bit on top, which turned out to be the perfect thing. The green beans were not actually mushy at all, surprisingly! They were coated in the juices, but other than a few minor bits from the very bottom of the pan, they were pretty crisp, and had a lovely, fresh flavor!

I would make this again. I will be making this again. It was easy, pretty, delicious, and nutritious. I might even make some ranch dip mix up, just to pour over the top and see how the flavor changes.

Check back often for information on canning, preserving, general homesteading and more. If you have questions or comments, please write to me below. I love to answer questions! You can follow the blog via Network Blogs and Google Friend Connect (see the left hand column for the button). If you purchase items I have linked through Amazon or the ads on my site, I receive an affiliate portion of the sale. If you find the items are useful, please purchase from my site! 
 
You may also be interested in:

Planning for Spring
Mara's Pasta - last chance to win!
Review #2 - Mara's linguine
How to cook a wild turkey
Review and giveaway!

1) Image courtesy of Julie's Eats and Treats (used with permission).
2) Image by cohdra / morgueFile
3) Image by Alvimann / morgueFile
4) Image by kamuelaboy / morgueFile