IT'S TIME TO GET PLANTING

Today was very warm out.  It seems like Spring is here! 

Of course when I think of Spring I thing of flowers and growing veggies so I can them.

Then it dawned on me, today was Tomato mania at Rogers Gardens in Newport Beach.  It's when they bring in over 150 different type of tomato plants and it starts the planting season.

I just couldn't hold back.  I got in my car and drove right there!

I love, love, love to go to Rogers Gardens.  It is always so pretty.  When you walk in you see nothing but beauty.  It's not a normal nursery at all.

They have got the most beautiful and healthy plants I've ever seen.  I adore how they display them as if you were in a lovely garden setting.  With water fountains, statutes, benches and more.

I fell in love with this planter that is in the shape of a heart.  Isn't it just darling!  You can buy the pot alone or already loaded with colorful flowers. 

I'm a sucker for hanging flowers.  But when I saw these wonderful baskets I actually gasped.  They are so unique and different. 

They have lots of flowers displayed in color themes and that makes it so pleasing to the eye.

Everywhere you look you see perfectly maintained plants for sale and believe me, you could walk around here for hours and not get tired of looking at things.

There is one thing you won't find at Rogers Gardens that you do find at most other nurseries though. 

What is it?  Dead leaves, flowers and withered plants.  Nope, each one is healthy and green.  Like they just got delivered.  They really do take wonderful care of their plants.

They also have a yummy gourmet section that is full of sauces, dips, jams, syrup and more.  I've tried several things here and everyone was so good.

It's a great place to go and pick up something different for dinner.

They also have a lot of cookbooks that you won't find in your every day stores.

I love the marshmallow one.  I wonder if they will become the new Cake Pops?

So, are you wondering what I bought?  Why tomatoes,tomatoes and more tomatoes!  After all, it's was tomato mania :)

I also got some herbs.

 
I got 8 different types of tomatoes.  I can't wait until they are ready to pick.  I'll be canning lots of salsa and sauces this year!  YUM!

I can't believe I forgot to take photos of all the tomato plants.  I guess I was to busy reading about all of them and picking out the ones I wanted. 

FREE COOKING CLASS BY AWARD WINNING CHEF, ZOV KARAMARDIAN

Today, I went to another fantastic class at Rogers Gardens.

This time it was a cooking class. Zov Karamardian showed us some wonderful recipes from her newest cookbook called Simply Zov.

This cookbook has some super recipes. Zov explained to us that while some of the recipes seem to have a long list of ingredients we should not let that put us off. If you look through the list of items needed, several are items you have in your kitchen already and several items are just items like salt and pepper.

One of the best things about this class was, not only did we get to meet Zov and have her show us how to cook some yummy dishes, but, we also got to sample each dish she prepared.

I can personally tell you that each and everyone of these recipes are wonderful! So full of flavor and all appeared to be pretty easy to make too.

Zov is a great chef. She proved to us that you don't need all the fancy equipment to cook her recipes either.

In fact, she cooked everything she made today on this little portable, butane burner.

She explained that all the chopping for her dishes can be done ahead of time and how using only the best fresh ingredients will ensure you the best tasting meals.

The first item she cooked for us was Zucchini Fritters.

If you would like the recipe for this or any of the other dishes she cooked for us, please let me know and I will email them to you. Or you could always purchase the cookbook.

After grating the zucchini it is very important to squeeze all the extra liquid out of them. Otherwise, they will not brown in the hot oil. The liquid will mix with the oil and just make a foam. The zucchini will soak up a lot of the oil and they will not taste good.

You just add eggs, parsley, green onions, mint, chives, dill and garlic to the bowl and mix well.

To that, add the lemon zest. One of Zov's favorite kitchen items is her zester. She is showing the one she uses all the time in this photo.

Add some salt and pepper and stir until all the ingredients are combined.

Add one cup of panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) and mix well. Let stand for one minute and if the mixture is too wet, add more panko, 1 Tablespoon at a time.

Add about 1/4 cup of mixture for each pattie to the hot oil. Make sure you leave space between the fritters so they cook right. Cook until golden brown but be careful you don't burn them.

To serve them, place them on a plate and top with some salmon.

Then place a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and sprinkle with dill sprigs.

Serve warm. Enjoy!

Our next dish was soooo good! It was Barley Salad with Summer Vegetables and Fete Cheese.

This makes a great side dish when served with grilled chicken or steak or you can can serve this as a vegetarian main course.

Basically you just toss all the ingredients into a dish. Make sure you cut up all the items about the same size. You don't want one or two items to over power the other items.

After you mix all the items together you top it with the dressing. Zov doesn't even mix up the dressing in a different bowl. She just adds the ingredients all to the salad and mixes at once.

How easy is that? Plus, it's less dishes to wash up.

Top with cheese and walnuts and you get this great salad. I will for sure be making this dish several times this summer. I loved it.

Our last dish she cooked us was my favorite. It was Tortilla Soup.

Her hint here was to puree the onions with the tomatoes so it is nice and blended together. You don't want big bites of tomato in your soup.

Again, this is an easy recipe. You just cut up all the items ahead of time, then add them to either chicken broth or vegetable broth and simmer.

Stir and let the items cook well, until the tomatoes are tender.

I never knew that tortilla soup had actual tortillas in it. I thought it was just soup with crunchy tortillas garnishing the soup when it's served.

That is not true. This soup has actual corn tortillas broken up and put in the soup as it simmers. They break down and thicken up the soup.

You can add chicken to this soup about 10 mins before it is ready to serve. However, I like it how she serves it, no chicken in it.

She just garnished it with some diced avocados, cilantro, sour cream and fried tortilla strips.

This is such a great tasting soup and very healthy for you too.

I am so happy I decided to get up early this morning and go to this class. I learned some great new dishes and had a lot of fun.

If you ever get a chance to go to one of Zov's restaurants, I would highly recommend you go. If you are not close to one, then by all means, get her cook book. You will be happy you did!

By the way, Zov has her own blog that you must check out. You can find it by clicking here.

A FUN FREE CHRISTMAS CLASS

Today I went to Rogers Gardens. I love that place. It's in Newport Beach and is by far the nicest Nursery I've been to. However, it's so much more then just a Nursery.

During the Christmas Holiday they are all decked out with over 26 theme trees, every sort of decoration you could want, Christmas trees, plants and even Santa is there.

They offer different classes throughout the year. Most are free or only a very small fee. All of the ones I've been to have been wonderful.

Today they had a free (love that) class on getting ready for Christmas.

It was held outside and it was a little chilly. We were bundled up in our sweaters and jackets. The cool morning really made it feel like Christmas time.

They showed how to decorate a mantle, table, or entry way.

We learned how to make beautiful fresh flower arrangements and fresh wreaths.

They gave great ideas for place card holders, small hostess gifts, decorating by theme and color.

The two that taught the class were two of the head designers from Rogers Garden.

The guy has his own line out and does the most wonderful floral arrangements. The girl is the top buyer. She gets to travel throughout the world searching for the best items to sell at Rogers Gardens. Isn't that a dream job!

They not only showed off some of the new items for sale at Rogers Gardens but they also showed how you could take your own items and add them to some of the newer items you purchase to make it pretty.

Also, they gave ideas on how to make your version of some of the things they sell there.

The gold display they put together was so pretty.

Look at those trees! They were one idea they told how you could make your own, with vintage or broken jewelry pieces and a styrofoam tree.

You don't want to know how much they went for there!

They also gave clever ideas on wrapping your gifts. Like taking a brown craft box from places like Michael's and then gluing on wrapping paper or (in this case) wall paper, to make your own gift box.

I loved how they didn't cover the whole box but left the outline of brown showing through. You could also, use colored markers to line the box or even glue some glitter on it.

Put your gift inside, tie a pretty ribbon around it and you are ready to give your gift.

They also gave away hundreds of dollars worth of free items in drawings. Sadly I did not win anything. Maybe next year!

Once the class was over I went inside to look at the pretty trees and decorations.

This year they named each tree. There was no way I could pick the one I loved the most. They were all so pretty.

I fell in love with this rusty looking Gazebo with the pretty greenery and poinsettia plants inside.

Wouldn't that look pretty at your front door.

How about taking your topiary wreath and added a few red balls and ribbon to perk it up for Christmas. Very cute!

They have the most lovely Poinsettias. Every color but of course my favorite is the bright red.

They also had everything to decorate the table with. From table cloths to English crackers in many designs.

I like to make my own crackers. I'll show you mine and how to do them on a later post.

I'll show you mine on another post.

You can make them to match any place setting.

It was so fun walking through there. But, you must walk around a few times. There is so much to see that you spot something you missed each time you go around.

I loved the vintage looking wreaths, trees and stars.

I couldn't get over how the trees were just dripping with ornaments. So many that you couldn't see the tree.

I did this one year at home. Never again! My tree fell over due to the weight and I had to tie it up so it would stay.

Yes, I know I have lot of ornaments! You would die if you saw how many big boxes of them I really do have. I have enough to decorate several trees. I have an obession with pretty ornaments.

These boxes are darling! Another great and easy craft project you could do to save the big bucks these cost.

They had every size, shape, color and theme of a Nut Cracker you could think of.

I thought they were so cute all together.

I had a wonderful time and really felt in the Christmas Spirit. The best part was I had hours of entertainment and enjoyment and it didn't cost me one penny.

So, keep your eye out. I'm sure there are many free things you can do this Holiday Season too. I have several marked on my calender all ready. Of course I'll share them with you as I do them.