Where's the beef???

Well, in a Vegan Taco Salad, there IS NO BEEF. 

HOWEVER ~  this version satisfies in every way, with taste, texture and true southwest Arizona-style flavors!

The original recipe listed " corn chips, crumbled". I prefer to avoid processed oils, and fresh dehydrated chips are so easy... thinking and planning ahead, I started the process the day before, making dehydrated Corn Kale Chips.  You don't have to have a dehydrator, the chips can be oven dried - lowest setting on a convection oven works well, with careful monitoring towards the end. However, from experience in making crackers, I have to say a dehydrator makes life easier, producing a crisp tasty end product with less handling and NO potential of blackened mystery "things" on the baking sheet!  (they are scary, trust me...)

Corn Kale Chips
Puree' in food processor:
 2 c. corn kernels (fresh or frozen, thawed)
 2 cloves of garlic (or more, if you love garlic like I do!)
juice 1/2 lime
Put into mixing bowl.  In processor, puree':
2 c. corn kernels (fresh or frozen, thawed)
1-2 tsp. taco blend seasoning
1/4 tsp. sea salt
Add and pulse blend:
2 c. kale, chopped
Add to bowl and stir well.  
Spread batter about 1/4" thick on teflex dehydrator sheets; score with knife or pizza cutter.
Begin drying process at 145 degrees for 1 hour.  Reduce heat to 115 degrees, for 8-10 hours. (I time dehydrator projects so the longest drying time happens during the night)  Flip teflex sheets over, peeling off chips onto drying screen upside-down. Continue drying to very crisp - about 4 hours or more.

Serve warm for a real flavor treat!  Store cooled chips in airtight container.

Vegan Taco Salad  (serves 1 generously, or two smaller portions)

Taco Beans
Simmer 2-3 minutes in small fry pan:
1/2 small onion, coarse chopped
3 T. water
Add:
1 c. rinsed canned garbanza beans (or just use the whole can!)
1 tsp. taco blend seasoning (make your own!)
Cook uncovered 2-3 minutes until mixture is hot through.

Guacamole
Mash in small bowl:
1/2 large (or two small) avocado
Stir in:
1 T. onion, finely diced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1-3 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
juice 1/2 lime (or 1 whole if small)
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Arrange in salad bowl:
2 c. chopped romaine 
1 tomato, chopped
Taco beans
scoop of guacamole
top with crumbled corn kale chips

Left-over guac (ha!) can be frozen in a snack bag - prevents darkening, and thaws quickly.  The taco beans keep well for several days refrigerated; they are good as a quesadilla filling, too.

I went through several days of really craving and enjoying a variety of South West flavored dishes, this was my very favorite!

Settled in...

June 1 was a stellar day - I moved into my new nest.  After being on the waiting list for some time, it is a joy to finally be where I have been longing to live, ever since I first started looking for an apartment last fall..

The Buckeye Senior Apartments suit me to a "T".  One level, only 4 units per building (so we all have outside walls and windows), low population (only 40 of us!), a nice community room with TV and tables for projects like puzzles, laundry room, grassy areas, bird feeders, lots of outdoor lighting so we always feel safe walking after dark when it's cooler.  Everyone is friendly and we watch out for each other.  Nice neighborhood!

Being at the end of a street, the view includes farm fields of alfalfa and corn, backed by the "blue"  hills and mountain ranges of this low desert area.

Another bonus:  I'm only 2 blocks from the Buckeye Community Garden, where I have a veggie bed, and serve on the garden board of directors.  Good stuff.

My little corner, walking from the community building.

The velvet mesquite tree near my door had beautiful blossoms this spring, which I wasn't here to enjoy. Now the seed pods are falling, much to the annoyance of our maintenance man.  John spends a certain amount of time weekly on the landscaping, which includes tidying up the mesquite pods and other stuff that falls off the palms.

I got a kick out of these curly pods - until my neighbor Pat showed me the scorpion she murdered in her bathroom.  It looked enough like the pods that now I'm scanning them for movement before I walk out on the gravel!

After the rain...

The summer "monsoon" season is finally here.  Sounds like an oxymoron... 

 After 4 months of no rain, the desert is eager to soak up whatever falls from the sky.  The drops are HUGE, and the storms last only 15 minutes or so as they quickly pass through.  For the next two months, we can look forward to these spectacular displays of lightening and fierce downpours - along with swift flash floods in dangerous low road areas.

As exciting as it is to watch a storm advance with hanging rain curtains and light-and-sound show, what I find even more spectacular are the incredibly swift reactions of desert plants.  There are ocotillo in the landscaping near where I park.  One day the limbs were bare thorn-laden dead looking grey sticks.  It rained during the night.  The next morning as I walked by the nearest specimen, I was stunned to see 1-2" long bright green leaves the full length of the stalks.  The ocotillo blossomed during the spring, so I'm. curious to see if they will again.  Fascinating!

The other beauties right out my door are several varieties of cacti.  Again, after the spring blooming season, I was surprised to see how quickly blossoms re-appeared following some rainy bursts over about a week.  

This orange-blossoming cactus is in a pot on a neighbor's patio.  She has a varied collection that will be fun to watch cycle through blooming periods.

 This ocatillo photo is actually from spring, showing the flowers which only appear on the very ends of long (up to 12'!) stems that grow as a cluster from a single root.  Most of the year they look totally dead (and dangerous - THORNS).  The over-night transformation is stunning.

I'm enjoying learning more about the wide variety of flora here in the desert. The monsoon rains bring a totally new wave of beauty. 

 And humidity. Don't let anyone kid you, it is not ALWAYS a "dry heat"...

Clucker Caper

It all started with "I sure miss having chickens." That was me.

Friend Clare: "We used to have chickens, too. I would love to have some for eggs."

Clare and I were just daydreaming about how we could have a little garden in her back yard, for some organically grown greens and other goodies we both love. The garden plan segued into adding organic eggs.

Thus began the Clucker Caper.

I found five large (about 4 x 6 1/2 feet) pallets, with decks, for $5.

Clare dug up some poultry netting she had stashed in her garage - she figured she had paid 75 cents for each 50' roll an some clearance sale.

In full scrounge mode, I scored about a dozen free metal T-posts for the pen.

After some sleuthing and arm twisting, we found a feed store that just happened to have 4 adult 1-year old hens, already laying, that had been brought in on a trade (gotta love small town bartering!). $10 each.

Collin volunteered to help build the chicken house and pen, and Than and Lee jumped into the project with little persuasion. Lunch from Sonics will get me a LOT of help from the punks!

As these sort of plans go, the last element came first: the hens were available unexpectedly, I brought them home in a dog crate, and the pressure was on! The boys had the chicken house up in about 6 hours - they were very creative in some of their building and problem solving. I'm sure their Grandpa Dennis was smiling...


Two Barred Rock, two Americana hens.
"Chickens do NOT live in a dog crate....these guys better get the hammers out in a hurry..."

"Come on guys, we're dreaming of our new home...nice cool  breeze, shavings on the floor...custom perch...you know, all the fixin's..."

 

Max and Jayden came along later to help.  All the boys know how to run a saw and hammer!

 

We re-purposed a couple of metal bread pans for feeders, and cut up a plastic milk carton for water font.  A few more hours on another day to put up netting and posts for the outside run, build a ramp and sliding chicken door.  It's a real Clucker Castle now!

Our first eggs!  Only took about two weeks for the hens to adjust to their new home, and they didn't molt - one of the dangers of moving laying hens!  They don't lay while molting, so we were very happy they felt comfy enough to just pick up their job - laying lovely eggs!

 

 

In the carton with "store eggs", it's evident how superior "real eggs" are - FRESH!  Brown eggs from the Barred Rocks, greeny-blue eggs from the Americanas.  White eggs from some poor caged egg-factory hens down the road.

 

Before long, all four hens were producing - what a beautiful sight in the nest box...or nest bucket, which is what this is.  Picked up a 5 gallon bucket along side the road, made a great nest for the girls!

 

Happy hens...

 

Total cost of hens and house: $45.75.

Add in a bag of feed.

Cost of fresh eggs: priceless!!

Mini Eden

Apartment living brings out creative solutions for gardening.  I recently taught a little workshop on container gardening, which proved a two-fold blessing.  Researching the most efficient containers for desert conditions provided the information I needed for myself.

I always like to have samples and how-to displays for any subject I happen to be teaching, so by the time the workshop date arrived I had located resources for buckets, made and planted about a dozen different containers, and had a simple how-to handout worked up!  Win-win! 

So here is what my little piece of Eden looks like - the patio faces south, which can be a challenge, but there are two Shoestring Acacia trees providing dappled shade, so it's perfect for desert growing: morning sun, afternoon partial shade, evening sunsets!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Desert Gems

We have had enough rainfall to bring on the desert wildflower show - spectacular!  The cacti are such camera hogs, I'm starting with some recent shots from just around my "yard".

The yellow blossom is on a cholla - they have the NASTIEST, SNEAKIEST thorns, with HOOKS!!
I'm looking up the pink flower - not all flat paddle cacti are prickly pear, but it probably is. 
The fruit, which develops by about mid August, looks like a red apple.  Tortoises LOVE it!  I'll be making sure Tuff gets a treat - although I think the fruit is still larger than Tuff, he is still a pretty small Desert Tortoise at only two years old!

Puppy power!

Three of the four orphans - being fostered at the Wright Zoo!  3 weeks and growing...

Morning light...

Strong families don't just "happen".  It takes time, training, lots of love, lots of activities together, true commitment to each other - both kids and parents.  A key element for LDS families is scripture reading as a family, as well as family prayers.

The Wrights start off their day together, after breakfast, reading and studying scriptures. The older boys have returned from early morning seminary by this time, so they have already had time in the scriptures with their peers and instructors. 

Gathering around the kitchen table as a family, helping the younger boys read and understand gospel principles, sharing the light of Christ, lends a special and unique strength to a family.

The new look of "the good book"... all the scriptures and standard works of the church, downloaded to ipods and ipads.  Amazing!  No one need be without an encouraging word throughout the day!

A happy family, led by the Spirit, dedicated to doing the Lord's work.

Family - sealed for time and eternity.

PUCKER UP

Winter in Arizona is citrus season.  Lemons, grapefruit, limes, oranges of all sorts. 

One of my friends just down the street has a HUGE lemon tree.  I brought home 70 pounds of lemons last week. Honestly, folks just GIVE them away. Every other yard has a lemon tree, or other citrus - wonderful!

Now what do you do with 70 pounds of lemons???  You juice them and freeze the juice!  Summer lemonade is a BIG thing around the citrus zone! So you start preparing for those tall frosty glasses of reviving juice when the citrus is in season - NOW!  By the time it's 105 degrees here, the lemons are long gone.  Freezing is fast, easy, and preserves all the good pucker power!

So here's the process:

Than helped - to the end!!!  All the guys had a turn using the squeezer! That was a LOT of lemons.

Our lemonade recipe uses

1 1/2 cups lemon juice, so we froze the juice in sandwich bags - just the right amount!

ARIZONA LEMONADE

Make a simple syrup: 1 3/4 c. sugar and 1 c. water heated to boiling, stirring to dissolve sugar.

Chill the syrup (we keep some in the fridge in a quart jar, ready to go!).  Mix the syrup with 1 1/2 c. fresh squeezed (or frozen) lemon juice and 7 cups cold water.  Add a few ice cubes to tall glasses, pour in the fresh lemonade,  lean back and enjoy!!

You don't have to come to Arizona to enjoy this lemonade.  But it really does seem to be better here! We have the patio and chairs just waiting for you!

PS:  If you try this with bottled processed lemonade, you will NOT be getting the real deal!!