Month: August 2018

2018 Garden Update II

The last time I posted about our garden was in June, so I’m due to give an update! Here’s what the garden looked like about two months ago.

Vegetable garden with fence and weed block

And here’s a look at it now.

Overgrown vegetable garden

As Jimmy and I suspected might happen, things got pretty busy for us this summer with our pregnancy and the garden definitely fell to the wayside. We’re totally okay with that and are still glad we planted this year!

We had quite a few deer and rabbits eat our crops, and we never found the time to put up fencing to keep them out. The deer and rabbits found our veggies so delicious that we never harvested a single green bean. Sad! The swiss chard suffered a lot as well, but thankfully the onions and peppers were untouched.

Mini bell peppers and onions from vegetable garden

The Zucchini, cucumbers, and tomatoes have been munched on quite a bit, but we’ve been able to harvest some! We’ve enjoyed roasted zucchini, cucumbers dipped in hummus, and tomatoes on top of salads.

We will likely keep harvesting vegetables in the next few weeks, but don’t expect to get much. Something is better than nothing, though 🙂

Cherry tomatoes and mini red pepper from vegetable garden on white windowsill Large zucchini from vegetable garden

So, that’s where we’re at with the garden! We kind of slacked off this year, but for good reason! We’re enjoying whatever veggies crop up and still loving it 🙂

Did you plant a garden this summer? How is it doing?

Creamy Black Bean Soup

I mentioned black bean soup in my last post, and had a few requests for the recipe! This is one of my absolute favorite soups. It’s simple, creamy, and has great flavor from the combo of cumin, cilantro, and lime.

Okay, enough talk, let’s dive in to the recipe!

Black bean soup with cilantro

Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion
4 large celery stalks
4 large carrots
1 small zucchini
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
2 15-oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth
1 lime (optional)
Freshly chopped cilantro (optional)

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Chop onion, celery, carrots, and zucchini and add to pot. Sauté until soft, about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add garlic, cumin, red pepper, salt and pepper to vegetable mixture and stir. Sauté for another few minutes until all ingredients are combined.
3. Add black beans to pot and stir. Let the beans cook with the vegetables for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Using an immersion blender, blender, or food processor, blend the soup until it’s creamy and there are little to no lumps.
6. If using the lime and cilantro, cut lime into wedges and chop a handful of cilantro after removing stems. Serve each bowl of soup with a lime wedge and sprinkling of cilantro and enjoy!