New Garden

Few things exemplify spring and the promise of summer like planting a garden. 

Two tiny rows, lettuce and beets, to begin the anticipation of sprouting.

A nice gentleman at Rick's Garden Center gave us some information on planting times here:

• May 15 - Average last killing frost in Colorado Springs
• June 3, 1951 - latest recorded spring frost
• October 10 - Average first killing fall frost
• September 3, 1961 - Earliest recorded fall frost
• Average growing season is 148 days
• Average annual rainfall is 15.42 inches

The sheet indicates that lettuce, peas, turnips, and squash can be sown outside after April 1. Beets, chard, and radishes are good after April 15. Everything else we should wait until May 15 for.

I actually have no idea how this compares to back home, since I've never looked up this information for Winnipeg before, not even dreaming of ever planting anything before Victoria Day. This is my first 'real in the ground' garden since moving out of my parents house, and Mr. Prairie's first 'real in the ground' garden ever!

My hands are burning!

Over the past week I have learned why recipes are always telling you to apply rubber gloves before preparing jalapeños and other hot chiles. If you disobey, you will have hot burny fingers like I do. The only distraction will be the firey dish you have concocted.

From this

To this!

Today I amused myself by trying to find a likely recipe for Green Chili. After googling "Colorado Green Chili Recipe" for a while and not coming up with anything consistent, I tried New Mexico Green Chili Recipe. A little cross-referencing later, I settled on this one. I modified it heavily, omitting the extra 3 serrano peppers (thank God) the bacon fat, using vegetable stock instead of chicken... actually it's probably better if I list what I did do.

Prairie's First Attempt at a 

Vegetarian Colorado / New Mexico Style Green Chili

Ingredients:
9 roasted green chiles, diced
1 tbsp canola oil
1 med yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp flour
2-1/2 cups vegetable stock
6 new potatoes, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 small can of chick peas (Garbonzo beans here!)
2 tomatoes, diced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

If you need to roast your own peppers, do so first. Don't forget to wear latex gloves or oil up your hands. You have been warned.

Next, dribble the oil into your favourite chili pot or soup pan. Toss in the onion and garlic, cook until translucent. Coat in flour, stir. Add the vegetable stock, potatoes, carrots, and chick peas. All the vegetables should be mostly covered in broth, if there's not enough, add a little water. If there's too much, maybe add another little potato or some other root vegetable you've got rattling around in the bottom of your fridge. Add the spices. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes or so. Add the chiles and tomato, and simmer for another 1.5 hours.

My result was deliciously spicy. Almost too painful to eat but not quite. Great with bread.

Windfall

I'm sitting in my pyjamas, listening to the thunder, planning where to put away all my junk now that it has finally arrived, and daydreaming about future road trips. In fact I'm getting so excited about the upcoming days, I am already forgetting about the super-fantastic Saturday we just enjoyed.

My boyfriend spent a considerable amount of time chatting up these guys.

First, we returned to the farmer's market to learn that it was also Founders Day. This meant even more market stalls than last week (your usual trinkets and Avon dealers, plus some unique finds - the handcrafted wooden birdhouse shaped like a moose was my favourite) as well as people dressed up and doing historical things (some civil war re-enactors, and Victorian dancers.) The civil war guys wanted to outfit me in a hoop skirt and a bustle.

After that, we noticed it was getting nice and hot so it was time to refresh at Seven Falls. Maybe it wasn't so cooling, as we first climbed hundreds of stairs and then hiked to "Inspiration Point" but it was beautiful. Worth $9? Definately!

Colorado Springs is off in the distance!

Our farmer's market finds. Yum!

Food!

The most delicious activity we did on the weekend was visit the Old Colorado City Farmer's Market.

It's every Saturday from 7 am to 1 pm, and I can't wait to go again this weekend. For $9 we got a basket each of tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash, and some crazy awesome cinnamon honey for another $6. And this being the south (or is it middle?), there were all kinds of salsas and tamales for sale. I haven't ventured into the world of tamales again here, since discovering that they aren't all corn filled like I originally thought and was surprised with one full of beef!

The other awesomely yummy thing about the farmer's market is that it's situated across the street of my favourite non-franchised coffee place in Colorado Springs. Although I have yet to check it out while they have performers.

My next food related task? Find out more about the green chili and make a vegetarian version.