Quick Veggie Chili

2 T olive oil
1 large carrot, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups canned white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups canned red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup canned plum tomatoes, drained and chopped
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t dried oregano
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream ( I use Vegenaise)

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add carrot and onion; cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender, about 7 minutes. Add garlic; cook, stirring frequently, for 1 minute longer.

Rice Krispie Treats (a healthier version)

1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup vegan chocolate (or carob) chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup of brown rice syrup
4 cups of puffed (or crispy) brown rice cereal

Mix all the ingredients except for the cereal in a large bowl. Add in the cereal and mix with wet hands until well coated. Press the mixture in a well oiled pan and place in the fridge to harden.

Growing potatoes in the garden

Potatoes are a fun crop to grow because being underground you don't know what you have until it is time to harvest them. They fit very nicely into a square Foot Garden. For large-sized potatoes we plant one per square foot. If you are going to harvest them early, called new potatoes or if they are a small variety, we have actually grown four plants per square foot.

Now, here is the way you grow them: First, if you understand how potatoes are formed on the plant, it will enable you to understand the planting method. Potato plants start from a piece of an old potato called a seed potato that has a few eyes in it. Those eyes sprout and a stem comes up. The new crop grows off of that stem and the longer that stem is below ground, the more potatoes you will have. So, in the old-fashioned way, the seed potato piece was planted and then you started hilling up from the side aisles to cover the plant and kept covering it so you had more stem below ground and also to protect the new crop from the sunlight. But, it was a lot of work - a lot of hoeing. We've eliminated all of that with Square Foot Gardening.
Now, we take one square foot, remove the 6 inches of Mel's Mix from that square foot and, in the bottom, put in about 2 inches of pure, homemade compost, the best you have, this is for the roots. Then you put your seed potato pieces right on that and cover them with about an inch of compost. By the way when you cut up your seed potatoes, you cut them into big chunks that have 2 or 3 eyes in each one. If they are small potatoes, some people like to put the whole potato in, but that seems a little wasteful and they provide too many sprouts. You can buy certified seed potatoes in most garden supply centers early in the spring, or you can just take a chance and use store-bought potatoes. However, they are usually sprayed with a material that prevents them from sprouting. This makes them more saleable in the store and they last longer in the vegetable bin at home. It is best, after you cut them, to let them sit in the sun (to heal over the wound and then it won't bleed and rot when you put it in the ground). This is done for just a few hours.
Once that hole is all planted, you have about 4 inches of material in the bottom. Then, once or twice a week as the plant sprouts through that layer of compost, you cover it again with more compost and you keep covering it as it grows. It would seem like it would discourage the plant from growing, but it just keeps pushing up through our new layer that you've covered it with and, hence, you have a vary long stem underground and you'll have many, many more potatoes. Instead of getting out the hoe and bringing all that soil up and doing that hard work, all you are doing is taking compost and backfilling that hole - a very simple process. Of course, you can have as many square feet planted in potatoes as you want. We like to plant different varieties in different square feet scattered around the garden boxes.

Once the potato reaches the top and you've filled in right to the top of your garden, then it is either time to quit and let all the new potatoes form, or if you've gotten an early start in the season, some people like to go to our High-Rise Method where you build a 12" x 12" square bottomless box and put it right over that square foot. Make sure it is small enough to sit on the inside of your grid. You continue the process of filling in and the plant just keeps growing. I've found that 6 more inches is a little too much for the potato, so I like to use a 1 x 4 lumber so that you have the first six inches to grow in plus another 4 inches.
Finally, when you are through covering the plant, it will grow to maturity and you can either dig the potatoes out near the middle of the season to get the smaller ones, or you can let them finish the season. You will know when the plant is finished because it dies off, withers and turns brown and is rather unsightly looking, but that is nature's signal that it is all over for this year and the new potatoes are all in the ground waiting for you to harvest them.

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