Hidden Valley gets your garden started!
May 26, 2011 Love Your Veggies
My Garden
I’m writing this post under the best possible circumstances: in the early morning light, out in my newly-renovated back yard, gazing upon my new raised garden beds just waiting to be filled. (If any of my neighbors are looking my way, they’re not getting as good a deal – they’re gazing on me in my pajama pants and a ratty tank top.) In the two years since I started gardening very modestly with a Chia Herb Garden, I’ve come a long way. I’ve learned how to produce more tomatoes than I could ever eat in one container, and now I’m ready to graduate to the next step with lots more room for lots more veggies (and one fruit that Fiona begged for).
After consulting with the family, we decided on the following:
- Tomatoes. They will always be my first choice for planting because after eating home-grown tomatoes, anything else tastes like a plastic red nothing.
- Romanesco Broccoli. Because I’ve only seen it on TV and I really want to try it!
- Orange Cauliflower. Because I go through a couple heads a week, mashing it and mixing it with potatoes and Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. So why not make it orange?
- Purple and Orange Carrots. Because my son loves carrots sautéed with dill, and the purple ones will freak him out, and Fiona and I dip these in Hidden Valley Ranch dressing for a quick, colorful snack.
- Zucchini. I go through these like crazy, sautéing them with dill for pasta, shredding them for zucchini pancakes, and making loaves of the most delicious zucchini bread ever.
- Jabanero Peppers. Because my husband likes things HOT!
- Watermelon. I have no idea if watermelon will grow in Brooklyn, but our backyard is super sunny, so it’s worth a try. This was Fiona’s first choice, so how could I say no?
- Herbs. I haven’t decided which ones yet, although parsley, chives and basil are the ones I use the most so that’s probably what I’ll grow.
I actually wanted to get started almost two weeks ago, but almost as soon as the backyard renovation was done I threw my back out. But now I’m feeling great and ready to go, just in time for the long weekend!
Because of our totally leaded soil here in Brooklyn we still have to grow our vegetables in containers (I prefer my children un-leaded). So I’ve got two big round containers, a long trough, and a giant bathtub, although now they’ll be buried and looking like they’re part of the raised beds.
The BIG Giveaway
I’m extraordinary lucky that I was able to have these planting beds built for me. But I’m even luckier that thanks to the wonderful people at Hidden Valley’s Love Your Veggies, as a mom panelist I get to help two of my readers start their own vegetable gardens in a very big way, and help them enjoy their veggies once they’re grown. Two winners will each get the following:
Frame It All Raised Vegetable Garden, 8’X8’X12”. This amazing raised bed system can be put together quickly with a hammer and screwdriver, and the shape can be adapted for your space. Don’t have grass or even a yard? Just take out the stakes on the bottom, set it up on a patio or on cement, fill with dirt, and you’re ready to garden!
Vertex 7-Piece Garden Tool Set with Folding Seat, because I’m one of those people who believes having the right tools makes any project more fun.
Magid Terra Women’s Gardening Gloves, so that you don’t have to get dirt under your nails (I hate that!).
Ball Home Canning Starter Kit, because trust me, you will grow more than you know what to do with.
Twelve Ball Jars with Canning Lids
$35 Gift Certificate to Home Depot, to pick up seeds, soil, Miracle Grow, whatever else you need to get your garden started.
And of course, products from Hidden Valley to eat your veggies with!
The total prize value for each winner is just a few cents short of $500!
To enter to win, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling me about where you are with gardening. Are you a seasoned pro who’s constantly delivering extra veggies to grateful neighbors? Do you have a window box full of lush herbs? Or are you a beginner eager to get started?
For a second entry, you may tweet about this contest with a link back to this page. Or, you can copy and tweet the following:
Hidden Valley & @SelfishMom are giving away 2 gardening packages worth $500 each, everything you need! http://bit.ly/ke1jt0 #LoveYourVeggies
Make sure to leave a second comment with a link to your tweet, or it won’t count (instructions on how to find and post the url of your tweet can be found here).
So, that’s a maximum of two entries per household please! This contest will close at noon-ish on Monday, June 13th. The two winners will be chosen by random.org. You must be at least 18 years of age to enter. Prizes may be shipped within the continental United States and Canada only. See my complete Giveaway Rules page for more information.
Good luck! I am so excited to be holding this contest and want to give a BIG shout out to the folks at Love Your Veggies, who have been a dream to work with. Now let’s get gardening!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has Compensation Levels of 9 & 14. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: backyard, gardening, Love Your Veggies
In Brooklyn? Let me bake for you this weekend!
May 24, 2011 Cooking & Baking
So last night I posted about a benefit I went to that raised money for pediatric cancer research, and a great giveaway I’m running courtesy of Glad chock full of $125 worth of baking supplies. I’m also holding my own bake sale this weekend to raise money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, and since I don’t live in a very high-traffic area I’m going to be delivering the goodies. So for your donation (100% of which will go to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer) you will get my amazing baked goods delivered right to your door! If you’re in Brooklyn you can not pass this up.
If the donation amounts look a little…generous, please remember that it’s for charity. And it’s coming right to you. Plus, Glad is matching the donations from bake sales in May (up to $225,000) so your donation could mean twice as much. Details on this charity and holding your own bake sale are in my previous post.
If you would like to buy any of the baked goods this weekend please email me. I will be taking payment through PayPal so that I’m not going to strangers’ houses laden with cash. There is a $10 minimum per order. Here’s what I’m offering, and anyone who knows me would attest to how awesome these are:
Guittard Chocolate Chip Cookies
Made with semi-sweet Guittard chocolate discs, every bite of these hearty cookies is filled with chocolaty goodness. They’re made from a Jennifer Perillo recipe, which gives you an extra assurance that they’ll be delicious.
$20/dozen
Rich & Gooey Brownies
My brownies are legendary at school bake sales. Teachers try to sneak in early to buy up a bunch before the general public. Friends request them when they come over for lunch. And I’ve been known to eat more of them than I’ll admit publicly after everyone else has gone to bed – they’re impossible to resist!
With or without walnuts, your choice.
$25/double batch size (13x9x2)
$15/single batch size (9×9)
Buttery Cinnamon Buns
I only discovered this recipe a few days ago, but thanks again to Jennifer Perillo, I now have the ultimate cinnamon bun recipe. Comes complete with a generous side of cream cheese frosting.
$20/batch (12 medium-sized buns)
Sour Cream Chive Potato Bread
My waistline really rues the day when I discovered this bread recipe from King Arthur Flour. Moist and flavorful, this bread is perfect on its own, although my husband has been known to make some pretty decadent sandwiches with it.
$9/loaf, two for $16
Rustic Sourdough Bread
I’ve been nursing my sourdough starter for about a month now and can’t get enough of this bread. Chewy and tangy, it’s from this King Arthur Flour recipe.
$8/loaf, two for $14
Banana Bread
There’s something to be said for simple, moist banana bread – no bells and whistles, just deliciousness. Walnuts optional.
$8/loaf, two for $14
Zucchini Bread
Nothing smells like zucchini bread: cinnamon and nutmeg mixed with zucchini combine for one of the most drool-worthy scents of all time. Walnuts optional.
$8/loaf, two for $14
So there you have it! All of you who’ve been commenting and tweeting about how much you’d like to taste my baked goods, if you’re in Brooklyn, time to put your money where your mouth is! Email me and we’ll work out a delivery time.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 9. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Raising money for every mother’s nightmare
May 23, 2011 Contest/Giveaway
This afternoon I took Fiona out of school early and we headed to Moomah Cafe, also known in whispered tones as the kid cafe owned by Jon Stewart’s wife. Of course, I already have a deep and meaningful relationship with Jon Stewart, so I was going to this event strictly for selfless reasons and not in the hope that Jon would show up to give his wife her forgotten cell phone or something like that.
That didn’t happen, but Fiona and I did make out like bandits at the raffle. I won a big credit on one of my favorite sites, Gaggle of Chicks (full disclosure: I’ve worked with them on occasion), which I will be putting to very good use. And Fiona won a Corolle doll and stroller (which, frankly, is nicer than anything I ever pushed my own kids around in).
The timing on this couldn’t have been better. Fiona’s old doll stroller fell victim to our renovation: it’s been lost somewhere on the disastrous parlour floor, surely covered in five years of construction dust. Just this weekend Fiona tried to fashion stroller wheels for a basket, and was confused as to why the “wheels” weren’t turning (she seemed to think more tape would solve the problem). So she’s been playing with her prizes non-stop since we got home.
Fiona’s old doll stroller:
Fiona’s new doll stroller:
Another NYC blogger, Jessica, was hosting this event to raise money for an incredibly worthy cause: pediatric cancer research. Cookies for Kids’ Cancer was started when Gretchen and Larry Witt found out that their two-year-old son, Liam, had cancer. In a desperate attempt to raise money and awareness, they managed to sell 96,000 cookies in three weeks, with the help of 250 volunteers and other families going through the same thing. $400,000 was raised and a movement was born, a movement that sadly has outlasted Liam’s life: he died this past January after battling cancer for four years.
I’m going to be holding my own little bake sale over the holiday weekend, and Glad is matching not just my donation, but any bake sale donations from registered bake sales held in May (up to $225,000). So if you’re inspired and want to help, you can hold your own! Just make sure to register your bake sale on the website, which also has other helpful info for holding your bake sale. And if you don’t want to hold your own, you can purchase gourmet cookies right from the Cookies for Kids’ Cancer site. These make great gifts, and 100% of the profits go directly towards pediatric cancer research.
The Giveaway
As if the warm fuzzy feeling you’ll get helping fund pediatric cancer research isn’t enough, Glad is also giving one of my readers a very nice baking set worth $125. The set includes an OXO mixing bowl, spatulas, and cookie scoop, Williams-Sonoma cookie cutters and cooling rack, a Maxi-Aid No Touch baking sheet, and a Silpat non-stick baking mat. It’s one of those prizes that I wish I could win myself!
To enter to win, all you have to do is leave a comment telling me…basically anything. Tell me how your day is going, about how cancer has touched you, talk about baking, anything.
For a second entry, you may tweet about this contest with a link back to this page. Or, you can copy and tweet the following:
Stop by @SelfishMom’s giveaway 4 a baking set worth $125 & find out why she’s spending this weekend baking for charity http://bit.ly/lLRZtN
Make sure to leave a second comment with a link to your tweet, or it won’t count (instructions on how to find and post the url of your tweet can be found here).
So, that’s a maximum of two entries per household please! This contest will close at noon-ish on Sunday, May 29th. The winner will be chosen by random.org. You must be at least 18 years of age to enter. Prizes may be shipped within the continental United States only. See my complete Giveaway Rules page for more information.
Good luck!
My Bake Sale
For anyone in Brooklyn who has been listening to me talk about how awesome my baking is, now’s your chance to sample it for a good cause. I’ll be spending Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this upcoming holiday weekend baking and delivering, and if you’re in Brooklyn you can get in on it. I’ll be donating all of the supplies and, of course, the labor. Details coming in the next post…
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 9. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
The best pre-rapture cinnamon bun recipe ever
May 21, 2011 What's Going On
So I woke up this morning before everyone else, and I wanted to make them cinnamon buns for breakfast. However, with only a few hours left until the rapture, I didn’t want to waste time waiting for the dough in my usual recipe to rise. This seemed like the perfect time to try out my friend Jennifer Perillo’s no-yeast cinnamon bun recipe.
I suspected it was going to be a good recipe when I saw how much filling it called for. With every other cinnamon bun recipe I’ve ever tried I’ve had to double or even triple the measly amount of filling. But as I was measuring out the sugar for this one, I started asking myself if it would be too much! (It wasn’t.)
I didn’t have any buttermilk, which is used for both the dough and the icing. I never have buttermilk when I need it for a recipe, so I went to my old stand-by substitution: mix one cup of milk with one tablespoon of white vinegar, let it stand for five minutes, then stir it well and it’s ready to use (for this recipe I mixed 1 1/3 cups whole milk with 1 tablespoon plus one teaspoon of vinegar).
I have a tip for slicing the filled cinnamon bun dough. I always keep a roll of unflavored, waxed dental floss in my kitchen for this very purpose, although I guess cinnamon flavored would work just as well! Take about 18 inches of floss and slip it under the roll where you want to cut it. Cross the floss over the top of the dough making a circle, then pull the opposite ends of the floss tight so that the circle of floss closes, slicing right through the dough without smooshing it like a knife would (and also saving your counter top from scratches).
Fiona wandered downstairs just as I was putting the buns in the oven and hovered around me until they were ready to eat. A few minutes before I took them out of the oven, Jake called from two floors up asking what the smell was and could he have some. I was almost expecting neighborhood children to knock on the door the smell was so pervasive and yummy.
When my husband eventually woke up (I let him sleep in until after ten – yes, I’m awesome) he grabbed one. This was really surprising, because he’s been trying (successfully, the bastard) to lose a little weight. Then he went back for seconds. Then thirds. Then he told me to tell Jennifer Perillo that these were the best cinnamon buns I had ever made and that he really hated her for bringing them into our lives. The kids also gushed about them, and I have to say, before today I didn’t really believe that a recipe that was easier and faster than all of the other recipes could possibly be better. It’s totally illogical, but totally true.
And now I’m ready for the rapture. Or in my heathen case, ready for the earthquakes, floods and fires that I’ll be treated to. At least I’ll be in good company.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
This is why cats don’t like playdates
May 18, 2011 Posted From My Phone
Originally posted on SelfishMom, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0 . Please see Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
The view from the couch
May 18, 2011 What's Going On
So here I am, on my couch for the third day. Here’s the timeline of events:
On Sunday, I stupidly helped my husband move something very heavy. I didn’t hurt myself at the time, but woke up a little sore the next morning.
On Monday, while vacuuming, the vacuum cleaner ran into the wall and I got jerked backwards in a weird, twisty way. My lower back totally seized up. Kind of serves me right for vacuuming. I took Advil and my awesome neighbor brought me a hot water bottle.
On Tuesday I woke up feeling much better. Then I did something that should really only be done under a doctor’s supervision: I cleaned the toilet. I bent down in a weird way and was suddenly on the floor, in worse pain than the day before.
After spending the day on the couch I managed to drive Jake to Tae Kwon Do and go to the drug store to get some stick-on heating pad things. Then my husband came home and decided that since I’d felt well enough to go to the drugstore I was well enough to walk up three flights and put the kids to bed. So I killed him.
This morning the Icy Hot pads I’d ordered on Amazon came and they may be the best thing ever invented, and I’m including chocolate and pedicures in that. I managed to load the dishwasher and clean the kitchen without throwing my back out once again. I’m giving myself a break on the couch and then I’m going to get on the floor and try some gentle stretching.
Getting old sucks. The number of things I’ve done to my body with no ill effects – falling down every stair in my house, walking in stupid shoes, lifting huge writhing toddlers while they tried to kick me, putting together huge IKEA shelves that you’re supposed to put together with another person, walking/jogging a half marathon without nearly enough training – are telling me that until this point I just got lucky. Now I actually have to pay attention to lifting heavy things and I can’t be so careless.
The upside? I may be able to talk myself into getting a housekeeper. Apparently I’m too delicate to clean a toilet. I can live with that.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: cleaning
I may be balding, but at least I’m rocking the glasses
May 12, 2011 Blog & Social Media Stuff
Last night, for reasons I can’t figure out, TweetDeck decided to change my picture. At least I look happy.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: Twitter
From junk heap to beautiful backyard
May 12, 2011 What's Going On
This is the story of how our backyard went from being a disaster to being a beautiful oasis of grass and bricks in just two short weeks. Five years and two weeks.
When we moved in to our brownstone the backyard was a complete mess. It had a hideous plastic and wood “shelter” built on to the back of the house that contained two hornets’ nests. There was a cracked and ugly cement patio, a mess of wires covering the back wall, and ugly weeds and bushes everywhere. The ground was littered with glass, metal and rocks, and it wasn’t just on the surface either: decades of abuse had filled the dirt with layers of garbage. It wasn’t just ugly, it was unusable. and dangerous.
For the first couple of years we didn’t care much. We were only living in the top half of our house, so we never came into contact with the backyard, except out of the windows. As our renovation progressed more junk got put back there: wood, pipes, two big radiators that no longer worked, a bathtub, and other contractor junk.
Eventually my husband started tackling the backyard. He had a plan: he would dig down a couple of feet and “sift” the metal, glass and rocks out of the dirt using a big wood-and-chicken-wire contraption he built. Some weekends the kids would help him. I begged him to just hire someone and get it done quickly, but honestly I think he was enjoying taking things into his own hands.
He dug for two summers. As much time as he spent on it, he seemed to be making little progress. He did find some interesting things though: old bottles and coins, a pipe, and most impressively, an almost-intact toilet buried in the back next to a tree.
I’m not positive what pushed him over the edge this year, but I suspect it was visiting a friend’s renovated house. He decided to give up on his little project, and hired the same guys who had done his friend’s backyard. They got to work two weeks ago today.
The first step was to break apart the old cement patio. The crazy thing is, they found a layer of blue stone under it, which my next door neighbor’s husband happily took off our hands. After that mess was cleared out, the bricks and sand and cement mix started coming in.
And kept coming.
And kept coming.
The raised garden beds were the first to go in. We had them bury some containers in there so that we could grow vegetables without our dirt getting mixed in with the completely leaded Brooklyn dirt, and we’ll be putting in a bunch of flowers too.
Days of leveling and brick-laying followed.
Finally our lawn was pieced together. That was the day I almost cried. And in the three days that we’ve had grass I’ve turned into one of those lawn-obsessed people. Thank goodness it’s behind the house, so I only have to chase my own children off of it (I’m not being mean, we have to water it three times a day and treat it very gently for a few weeks, until the roots take hold in our dirt).
The very last thing left to do is to put a big awning on the back of the house over the patio (our backyard gets sun pretty much all day), and that should be done tomorrow, so basically it’s finished. I keep glancing out of the window expecting to see the hideous mess that I’d been looking at for so long, but instead I see a gorgeous space that I’ve been looking forward to for years.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: backyard, gardening, Love Your Veggies, renovation
