Spring, Compost Bin & Pork Recipe

Happy Spring in New England! So glad it is finally here. Snow is done (I hope), the forsythia has bloomed and is now turning green again, and the daffodils and tulips are plentiful. Ahhhh, I love it! And I love it even more because it means that CSA season is right around the corner. I cannot wait - fresh veggies from the farm (can you see me doing the happy dance?).

In addition, our family has taken a serious step to having our first vegetable garden. We've purchased the wood for a raised bed. Now we just need to assemble it. I was also able to get my hands on some good rich soil from the CSA farm that we are a part of. The farmer was kind enough to let me take some of their extra. It's nice compost mixed soil. Lovely. Now I just need to get the bed done so the soil can go in it. Maybe we'll have it this year, maybe not. Stay tuned.

Last week I picked up our new compost bin! Who knew I would be so excited over it but I am. It's all set up and already about 1/3 of the way full. Whohoo!! Go compost, it's your birthday, gonna party like it's your birthday.... And I'm looking forward to feeding my veggies wonderful compost. Oh right, I need to get that bed made first - getting a little ahead of myself

I'm also excited about our rain barrel that is en route. I will get to pick it up next week. I'm excited about the idea of it but I have to be honest....the barrel is an ugly plastic, blue barrel. Guess where we get the most run off rain? Yep, right smack dab in the front of the house. Nice. I'm hoping it will really rain this week so I can find another spot to put it.

Oh I almost forget...recipe time. I made this awesome pork dish for dinner this evening. It was one of those recipes that I made once, loved it but then forgot about it. I'm glad I found it again because it was yummy. I got it from a Cooking Light magazine from a million years ago and it goes something like this:

Cuban-Style Picadillo Pork

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground pork (i'm sure you could do ground turkey, chicken or even beef)


• 1 small/medium onion


• A big ass clove of garlic - or maybe 3 smaller ones


• 1 Tbl chili powder


• some salt


• 2 tsp of pumpkin spice


• 28 oz diced tomatoes (if you only have a 15oz one that's fine too...it just won't be as tomatoey - yes I made up that word).


• 1/2-1C raisins

Directions:
Saute the onions and garlic then add the ground pork and cook until it is browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Put over a bun and make it like a sloppy joe OR (and this is my preference) put it over some cooked rice. Another idea is to make it for empanada filling. Savor and enjoy.

Done....and yes, I took that photo.