Suddenly, Garden! But Then Again...

I didn't have much of a garden last year, or the year before.  My knee had gotten really bad two years ago, and last year I was taking care of somebody else's knee, so...

Anyway, this was going to be the year of the garden restoration.  I weeded around the asparagus patch and dug up the rest of the plot.  In an earlier post, I told about how I'd received the plants I'd ordered from Burpee - delivered upside-down.  I had to wait a week until it was warm enough and hadn't rained the day before.  The weather finally cooperated and the plants went into the ground.

Rosemary

Basil

Bell Pepper

Super Steak Tomato

Super Sauce Tomato

Big Boy Tomato

Here they are - all recovered from their rough treatment by UPS!  Don't they look like happy plants?

Well, we've since had several days with rain, so, again, I couldn't do much in the garden.  When I got out there after a particularly hard rain to check the baby plants, one of the tomatoes was broken off.  Well, the fortunes of war and all that.

Another couple of days of rain, and when I got out there again this past weekend, I found...the rosemary and basil plants.  What the heck?  When I looked more closely at where I had planted the tomato and pepper plants, I found...this:

Nothing but an inch or two of their stems.  Somebunny has been in my garden!  Somebunny is on my naughty list!


We've had a LOT of rabbits and their offspring cavorting in our yard this spring and thought how adorable!  How innocent!  How cute!

Well, no more.  The little stinkers have attacked my poor baby plants.  They are officially not welcome in my garden, darn them.

I've reordered plants, and now we go to war!  I'm putting up a fence.

Toys in the Kitchen - Part 4, and Red Pepper Chicken (A Slow Cooker Recipe)

I came across this recipe, and it sounded WONDERFUL.  I like red bell peppers, and I like dump and go slow cooker recipes, so this one was right up my alley.  But slicing up all those bell peppers and the onion - what a mess!  Red pepper juice all over the counter and me.

This is the classic 14-cup
Cuisinart food processor.

So I used the food processor.  It was fast, and it kept everything contained - less mess.  By the time I'd sliced the peppers and the onion, the processor's bowl was full.  When I bought the food processor, I thought it might be too big, but after this I decided I'd gotten the right one.

I waffled back and forth a LONG time before I decided to pull the trigger and buy the food processor.  I'd read reviews and recommendations and found the one I thought I might consider buying, but it was just too expensive for me to buy it and then find out I wouldn't really use it much.  The Amazon price was about 10 percent less than the manufacturer's list price, but still.  I put it on my Amazon wish list and left it there.

A while later, Amazon sent a notification - the price had dropped - 25 percent less than the Amazon price.  Well, that was more like it!  But again, it was still kind of pricey for something I wasn't sure I'd use a lot, so I waited.

I waited too long.  The price went back up.  Rats!  But I left it on my wish list - that way I'd know where to find it if I decided to buy it.

Just a couple of weeks after the price went back up, it dropped again - this time, to 50 percent of the Amazon list price.  That worked for me - I ordered it!

So I've been playing with it off and on.  It's fast, which is great, but it's also REALLY easy to clean, and that makes me even happier I bought it.  I haven't tried all the things I'd like to do with it, but I've made a good start

Anyway, here's the recipe!  Super easy, and super tasty!


Red Pepper Chicken

4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (about 2 1/2 pounds), cut into strips
3-4 red bell peppers, sliced into strips
1 yellow onion, sliced
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c olive oil
1/2 t crushed red pepper (cayenne) flakes
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
1 bay leaf

Put everything in the slow cooker in the order listed.  Drizzle the oil over the top, and sprinkle the red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper over all.  Place the bay leaf down the side of the pot so it's near the bottom.  Cook on low 6-8 hours, or high 3-4 hours.  Serve over rice.