New car, green garden and guacamole!

I know I begin every post the same... "I haven't written in a while" and all that.  So I'm going to skip all that and go straight to the post!

I got a car!  My job at Target is only .7 miles away from the house so I haven't really NEEDED a car and I am and will forever be eternally grateful to Peter for dropping me off/picking me up from work when he could.  I've been looking for a car since I moved here in September and now I was finally in a position to get one! I decided to stick with what I knew and I am now the proud owner of a light green 2004 Volkswagen Passat!

I even have it registered and it has plates and everything! I feel like such a real person! So far I haven't driven farther than work and back, not counting the 45 minute drive to bring it home from Gulf Breeze, but I am excited! 

My garden has been moving along pretty well.  Peter and I moved it from the back yard to the front yard.  It looks nice there, especially because it covers up this hole in the ground where a weed the size of a tree used to be.  My spinach and pea plants are done, but everything else is doing really well.  I harvested like half of my carrots on St. Patrick's day to make a vegan Irish "beef" stew (here's the recipe) and I threw some kale in there.  It was super hot and not at all stew weather but it was St. Patrick's day and you have to eat stew on St. Patrick's Day.  

So far I have watermelon, lettuce, basil, zucchini, onions, garlic, arugula, lavender and daffodils planted.   The daffodils all bloomed at the same time and were so beautiful.  I didn't end up getting a picture when they were all blooming, but I did get one eventually.  Sometimes I wonder if gardening is for me.  I am the world's laziest person, after all.  But gardening is surprisingly low maintenance.  You have like a two month window to plant your seeds and you just have to make sure everything stays moist.  However, I have never experienced a Pensacola summer, so that might be easier said than done.  

I even bought one of those little seed pods from Target just because it was so darn cute and I wanted to see what would happen.  It didn't hurt that they were guaranteed to grow.  Pictured below is my cute little watermelon plant! 

I started five tomato plants and five pepper plants about a week ago and they are all popping up! Whenever I talk to my dad about growing things he nags reiterates that I should start my own plants and not buy them because they are expensive.  I'm not going to lie, I bought a tomato plant before (that I ultimately killed by accident) but growing your own plants in tiny little cups is much more satisfying and I hope I'll feel less terrible if I accidentally kill these.  

hi!!

Speaking of GREEN! I wanted to post a recipe because it's the most fun part of my blog! Well at least it is to me.  I make guacamole a lot.  I make it every time I make tacos or fajitas or even when I just buy a new bag of chips.  So it averages out to being at least once a week.  People have told me that they like my guac so here is my recipe for it!  I started making it this particular way because of an article that I saw on Buzzfeed.  I tried to find it but I can't! I remember that it was written by a chef and that apparently it is authentically Mexican but who knows. It is possibly the best guacamole that you will ever have.  If you like your guac creamy and smooth then you will not like this.  You have beed warned. 

I should have photographed the end product a little better but 1) these red bowls are not exactly aesthetically pleasing, 2) I forgot about halfway through that I was supposed to put this on my blog.  I'll try to make it another time this week and then put a pic on here.  

The best guacamole EVER

2 or 3 avocados

1 cup of cilantro, chopped finely 

1/2 of a white onion. diced

1 jalapeno, chopped finely (optional) 

Salt (add to taste, but I usually add about 1 tablespoon)

the juice of one lime

Begin by adding about 3/4 of the cilantro, salt and the onion into a mortar.  Also add the jalapeno if you are using it.  Use the pestle to make it into a sort of paste.  If you don't have a mortar and pestle (like myself) you can use a bowl and a potato masher.  It's a little less effective but it works pretty well.  Stop mashing when the onions are flat.

Next add your avocados.  I like to add them in slices using my handy avocado slicer that Peter got me for Christmas!  Get your own here!  Once you have it in there mix it up with a fork.  Do not do any mashing.  The chunkier it is, the better.  

Next add your lime juice and more salt and adjust it to your taste.  I usually end up adding way more lime juice and salt than I thought I would be using! So go crazy! Honestly this is about as low maintenance as guacamole gets and it is about as good as it gets too! 

In other news, I have been to the beach like thee times and I haven't even been sunburned once!  The beaches here are so beautiful and I don't think I'll ever get tired of them.  I have always preferred the pool to the beach but I think that's because I didn't think that beaches could be like this! 

Also! I'm trying to make some extra $$ and sell some stuff on Threadflip.com  It's basically a resale shop, but classier.  You can sell your stuff yourself and get 100% of the profits or send your stuff into them with a Free Full-Service Kit and they photograph your items for you and list the measurements and stuff.  I opted to do it with the Full-Service Kit.  It took a little longer for my items to get processed than I thought it would but I ended up getting four items approved.  If anyone who knew me in high school looks closely they will recognize my Homecoming dress from senior year.  

You can check out my closet: HERE.  I would recommend using Threadflip if you aren't having luck on Craigslist or whatever.  

ciao ciao! 

Katelyn

Garden progress and Bruschetta

So despite having no job and no car (I have inquired about both though), I have been up to a lot lately.  I planted my garden, made my own laundry detergent, got a new iPhone 6, cooked a few new dishes and even made up one of my own.

Peter has been busy beautifying the outside and has done hours of yard work.  Just tearing down stuff and bagging leaves and cutting hedges.  Everything looks really nice.  All of that below was overgrown with vines and leaves and you couldn't even tell that there was brick there.

I'm thinking about planting something in the corner, but I'm not sure what to put there because that area gets little to no sun.  I'll figure it out though.  I made my own laundry detergent out of Borax, Washing Soda, Baking Soda 2 bars of soap and essential oils from THIS "recipe" that I found on Pinterest.  When you do the math, it ends up costing only 2 cents a load of laundry.  The recipe makes a HUGE amount.  If I were to do this again, which I probably will, I would add more essential oil because my clothes come out clean, but they don't smell like anything.  I guess that's not a huge deal but I like it when my clothes smell good.

Also, I finally got around to filling in my raised garden bed.  I seriously think that using an old bookcase as a raised garden bed is the best idea ever.  It is perfect for the lazy or carpentry-challenged gardener! All you have to do is reinforce it if it's a little bit wobbly and you are good to go!  I feel like it my responsibility to inform everyone in the world about this so I'm going to pin this on Pinterest.  There isn't really a "how to", you just rip off the back and the shelves and put it on the ground.

You can see from the picture that I have kale, spinach, basil and tomatoes growing.  I bought all of those plants because I wanted something to take care of.  But what you can't see are the onions, garlic, arugula, carrots and green peas.

The carrots and green peas poked out of the soil today and I think I got more excited about that than I have about anything in a very long time.  Look at them! Aren't they cute?!

If I was to ever describe a plant as "adorable" this would be it 

Eeeee they're so cute and small

I put the tomato in the ground two days ago and it's already grown a pretty decent amount.  I am a proud plant-mother.

In other news, I came up with a recipe for bruschetta.  If anyone knew me in Naples, my favorite pizzeria that isn't Da Michele's or Di Matteo's is Panda Pizza.  It is a 2 minute walk from my house and I've been eating there for years.  The only thing that they do better than pizza (in my opinion) is bruschetta.  I compare every bruschetta that I have to Panda's bruschetta.  There are a few that come close, like Cerbero's or Old Friends and there are some that taste like garbage... I'm looking at you Fratelli la Bufala.

I always say that I'm going to try and come up with something similar, but I never actually have.  This is my attempt and it was pretty darn good.  It wasn't the same as Panda.  But let's be honest, nothing will be the same as Panda.  Their bruschetta has a zing to it, that I have determined to be white vinegar.  

Bruschetta alla Pomodoro 

A few tomatoes - diced (I used 5 plum tomatoes)

A loaf of crusty bread cut into slices about 1 inch thick (I prefer sourdough)

a bunch of fresh basil finely chopped (I used the plant from my garden... so fancy) 

1 clove of garlic, halved

1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano

EVOO

3 tablespoons white vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Mix the tomatoes, vinegar, basil, about a table spoon of olive oil and salt and pepper in a bowl.  Let the mixture marinate in the refrigerator for at least two hours, stirring occasionally.  I know this isn't how you make traditional bruschetta but it's worth it! Trust me.

When you're ready to serve, toast the bread on both sides.  Rub the clove of garlic on the side that you will be putting the tomato mixture on, then drizzle with olive oil.  Spoon the tomatoes on with a slotted spoon and you're done!  I like to splash a little bit of balsamic vinegar on it.

very sharp and new knife!

Peter did this. So fancy.

I can't wait until I have my own tomatoes to make it with! Enjoy!

Ciao ciao
xo Katelyn