Are we there yet?

How many of us have heard that out of the mouths of our babes? You can sense the excitement in their voices as you get closer and closer to a desired destination. I know that all you gardeners or gardeners to be are waiting for the day you can start putting plants or seeds in the ground. If you are like me, I have been lovingly toiling over an indoor garden. The tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and the like have begun their life inside during the winter blizzards. I can almost hear my "babies" yell out, "Are we there yet?" Well, the fertilizer in setting on top of the soil awaiting to be tilled in in the next day or so. I will be satrting to harden my brocolli, brussel sprouts and cabbage so they get used to the cool nights. I will not be sowing lettuce, spinach and herbs in the garden this year-making room for new vegies. Instead, I will put them in planters on the patio for easy access. If you are a follower and want to "adopt" any of my vegie plant, do let me know. I have a ton of tomatoes (lots of varieties), green and orange peppers, hot peppers, cabbage, brocolli, and brussel sprouts. For those in apartments, try container gardening! I set my mother-in-law up every year with just enough vegies for her. She has three large containers -one tomato, one pepper, and one cucumber. We then plant lettuce around each plant. Voila! Instant salad. For those die-hard gardeners, do log into the MD extension site: http://www.growit.umd.edu/Gardening%20Basics/index.cfm . This site is a wealth of knowledge about gardening in our area. So to answer my "kids," "Yes, we are almost there."

Claudia's Marinara

For those who have been waiting and waiting for the next blog. I apologize. I have been so busy cooking and "gardening." A few weeks ago we threw an 81st birthday for my beloved Mother-In-Law, Terry-known to us as Lovey. What a fabulous dinner! I promise I will share the menu at a later time. Consuming many hours of my time is delicately separating each tomato and pepper seedlings and replanting them in separate peat pots. I began in late January and early February sowing seeds in soil filled plastic containers-you know the salad, tomato, and strawberry containers that we toss in the recycling bin. My neighbor, Julie, donated hers as well. These make marvelous little greenhouses. Just poke some drainage holes, fill with soil, seeds, and water, replace plastic lid, and place in a sunny window. When germination occurs, take off the lid. So now I have to move them to their own home. Trust me, I now have hundreds of little babies. Enough fo me and all my friends!!!!!! Last year, I had a GREAT crop. Many summer days were spent making homemade marinara sauce. Believe you me, I will be sharing the recipes in the summer blogs. What do you do now? Our family has already eaten all the marinara put up from last summer. I will probably offend many of my readers. I apologize in advance. But I refuse to use the convenience bottled marinara/spaghetti sauce. To me they taste too sweet or too salty or too processed. I like to be in control of my sauces limiting salt and sugar. So I make my own in the off season. Below is my recipe. Just spoon over your favorite pasta or use it as the basic foundation for spaghetti and meatballs, chicken parm, lasagne, ravioli, or any other tomato based Italian dish. Try it....you'll like it!

Claudia's Easy Marinara
Place 2 28oz. cans San Marzano canned tomatoes in a large sauce pot. These can be found in the Italian food section of the grocery store. They tend to be more expensive but worth the price. Mars Food Store, by the way, is the cheapest place in town. I love this tomato so much, I decided to add this variety to my garden this year. Use a potato masher or large serving fork to crush tomatoes. In a separate saute pan, saute one small chopped onion in 2 TBSP olive oil. Feel free at this point to add 1 pound of sliced mushrooms to the saute pan if you wish. Saute until the onions are soft and translucent. Add 3 crushed and chopped cloves garlic and saute a few more minutes being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the sauteed mixture to the tomatoes. Add one small can of tomato paste. Add two large cans of tomato sauce (preferably no salt added variety). Bring the sauce to a soft boil. Now for the spices-add 1 teas dried oregano, 1/2 teas. celery salt, and 2 bay leaves. Of couse, you can add a stem or two fresh basil to sauce right before serving. Add more oregano or celery salt to taste. Remember, once you put it in, you cannot take it out. So be conservative at first. Cook the sauce for about 30-45 minutes. This is a more fresh sauce so you so not have to cook it long. I use this for a lot of different Italian dishes.