Spring Onions

It is only March 13th....but we hit the 70s today, and spring fever runs high. We decided to plant100+  Alisa Craig onions for scallions and take our chances. If temperatures dip, we're ready to cover the bed. And we proactively put up some hardwire clothe to keep the resident songbirds and chickens away from our first garden bed of the season.

Alisa Craig onions taste a bit sweet, so we're envisioning raw scallions, straight from the garden, dunked in little bowls of salt water. Such a great spring snack.

Wish us luck. This early garden wants to thrive.

Spicy Garbanzo Beans

March and the start of April are challenging eating months. The stockpile of root veggies grows smaller, and at this point, more rutabaga, turnips, or cabbage aren't as appealing as they were even a few weeks ago. The pantry of canned foods gets emptier and emptier...and all of my favorite snacks were eaten first, so what remains is certainly not as exciting. Same goes for the freezer.

So, I was in for a wonderful surprise on Friday night when Andy brought home a recipe for Roasted Garbanzo Beans. We had them, roasted with chili powder, as a snack, and today, we made a large second batch with curry to take with us for lunches this week.

Crunchy. Salty. Healthy. Vegan. Addicting.  And only four ingredients:

• garbanzo beans (dry)
• olive oil
• spice
• salt

To make them, I suggest preparing them from dry beans, but you could also go the canned route.

If you go with my suggestion, start by soaking 6 cups of beans overnight in a bowl of water. The water should be a couple of inches above the beans.

The next day, drain the water. Then, add new water, a bit of salt, and boil for 45 minutes or until tender. Now the beans are ready to roast!

Drain the beans. Transfer to a bowl and toss with quarter cup of olive oil and spice of your desire (possibly chili or curry!?), plus salt.

Spread onto a baking sheet. Roast at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on how crunchy you'd like them.

Before Roasting

After roasting

  Be warned: seriously addicting!!!