Bean Pasta and Fruit Soup

Cooking the Soup

Finished bowl of Bean Pasta and Fruit Soup

Today I went a little wild with soup I really was not in the mood to cook but when I get started there is no stopping me.

So here is a crazy soup I made today and called it a Bean Pasta and Fruit Soup and watch out what crazy things I added into this one so here we go.

I always start out in my soup pot dicing onions, red peppers, garlic, carrots, french string beans and anything I have in my frig plus you can add whatever you have in your frig too.

I add to the diced veggies into my soup pot with  two tablespoons of olive oil and saute the veggies with a wooden spoon until a little tender.

Add 6 or more cups of water and bring the saute veggies to a boil.

Then I added 1 small can of tomato sauce 2 tablespoons of pasta sauce.
1 can of  Cannellini Beans white kidney (do not drain add the whole can)
Bring to a boil then add 1 cup of Penne Rigate Pasta to the soup and stir.

Start adding your spices, sprinkle garlic powder, minced onion spice, onion salt, Mrs. Dash original spice, 2 packs of Goya Chicken Powder Broth called Pollo.
I also added from my Garden Fresh Parsley and Dill.

So here is where I went a little crazy and I added 1/2 peeled avocado diced and a few diced fresh strawberries from my Garden.

You can add anything you love into your soup and remember.

Be Creative
Enjoy

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

We are Celebrating Memorial Day this weekend with Burgers, Hot Dogs, Corn on the cob, French Fries, Garden Salad and Drinks.

I am taking chopped meat and taking it to a new level adding Spicy Garlic Steak & Pork Rub. This spice is from Sebastian Spice Co. and it's Great for Grilling or Cooking.

So I mix this Spicy steak and pork rub spice into my chopped meat and made Burgers to place onto the Grill.

Everyone can add their favorite toppings, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles any type of cheese to melt on the burger. My son likes Muenster cheese add anything you love to create your favorite Burger.

My kids love to add dressings on top, Honey Mustard, Hidden Valley Ranch even Blue Cheese. It's all up to your taste.

Sebastian Spice Company Spicy Garlic Steak & Pork Rub

God Bless America

Our Home Sweet Home

United  We Stand Together 

Happy Memorial Day 

Have a Happy Memorial Day.
Be Creative
Enjoy

Feed the wild birds

I am always feeding the wild life I do buy a 20 pound bag of bird seed and also give them bread and bagels.

 I do not like to toss any food out so I do like to share with the wild life if there are leftovers or to much food that nobody is going to eat. 

So I have been ordering out Chinese food and they give you bags of noodles. My sons only eat so much of the noodles and we had 6 bags of noodles that were not opened. 

My experiment was to take a bag by the bird feeder crush the noodles and placed on the ground. 

Well the birds did take the pieces of noodles to fly back home to feed their babies. 

This was a fun and cool experience and now if I have to much of the bags of noodles I know that the noodles will not go to waste.

Chinese Noodles

Sparrow eating the Chinese Noodles

Be Creative
Enjoy

Clouds and look a likes

It has been a very cloudy rain week at the Jersey Shore. I love it this helps me water my plants and garden.
So when it was a very cloudy day I took a picture of a cloud and was thinking of what image this cloud looked like and this is what I saw. This cloud looked a lot like my cream golden retriever. Just take a look and you tell me.

Cool looking cloud

Looks like my golden retriever

Be Creative

Enjoy

Backyard Birds

I have a lot of bird houses in my backyard and it is so much fun watching them to start nesting. They gather any type of material to put into the birdhouse.

While brushing my white golden retriever,her fur was blowing around the yard. So I watched what the birds were doing, they were gathering her fur to put into their house.I was able to take a picture of the house with the white fur in their house. Even the birds can be creative.

One of many birdhouses

My dogs fur after brushing her

Her white fur inside for nesting material 

One baby bird that fell out of a birdhouse

I did place the baby back inside the house using a plastic spoon maybe they did not notice he was missing.

Be Creative

Enjoy

Garden Flowers

rhododendrons are blooming

rhododendrons

allium flowers in bloom

Purple allium 

Beneficial Bugs for my Garden 2012

Beneficial Bug for my Garden

10 praying mantis egg cases into each bag with a paper clip next to the sunny window

Every year I purchase Praying Mantis Egg Cases and place each one in a small lunch 
paper bag. I do this for my garden they are a Beneficial Bug that eat the bad bugs in my Garden. 

I placed each egg case in the bag and put a paper clip on top of the bag. Put them next to my sunny side of a window to hatch. So this year I purchased 10 egg cases and placed each one in the brown paper bag. 

I am always in a hurry to plant veggies in my Garden before the Mantis hatch. I am still planting in my large garden and my small garden is finished. This year I am expanding my garden on the east side of my yard.

But I had no choice right now 3 bags of mantis eggs hatched and I needed to find a release spot for them. 

You know when they hatch in the brown paper bag.  It sounds like popcorn you hear them walking around inside the bag and if you lift the bag up to the sunny window you will see their little shadows. Oh so cute (at lease for a little alien praying mantis)

I did place some into my flower beds, into my small garden, my larger garden, strawberry patch and also in a hidden spot my hydrangea so the birds do not find and eat them. 

Open the bag and this is the army of mantis

Egg case on the right you can hatch over 100 in an egg case

I placed the egg case on my cherry tomato

This is so much fun and if you have small children this is a beneficial educational project for them to experience.

Be Creative 

Enjoy

Taking the Peels off Fresh Garlic

This is an easy way to peel your Garlic Cloves.

I am always cooking and I use Garlic all the time. This can be in the form of minced, powder and fresh garlic.

So I showed my son how to peel the fresh garlic in a different way.

My son works out at the Gym and is a personal trainer plus he is cute and a big silly guy.

So I had Mr. Flex do this trick for me which is very easy for everyone even without the muscle power.

Here we go I took a few cloves of garlic and cut off both ends and put into my small pot and place a lid on it.

Then you Shake, Shake, Shake side to side, top to bottom. Hey you can play music and dance with your musical shake.

Place a few Garlic Cloves in a pot

Place a lid on top of your pot

Then shake up and down

Shake side to side

Shake Flex

I told you he was cute and silly

 Garlic Peeled

Open the pot and you have your Garlic Clove peeled.


Be Creative
Enjoy

About Me My Bio Adventures in the Kitchen

About Me
My Bio
Adventures in the Kitchen

My sister decided to create a recipe booklet.
Adventures in the Kitchen.

She wanted to put down all recipes that we Create to pass down to our next generation. She also added pictures to see what you can create.

She would ask me about our Dad and Mom's recipe's which during that time they did not write down their recipe in a booklet.

We both would try hard to think of how they cooked and what ingredients were in their creation. We tried to recreate their work.

So this is why I started Jasmine's Garden and Recipe's .
This blog not only sends out different ways to cook and gardening but also educates everyone how to enjoy nature's gifts.

Well here is what my sister wrote about me in her Adventures in the Kitchen.

Bio About Me.....


My sister has had a menagerie of pets over the years from feathered friends to fuzzy dogs and the occasional iguana. She has an awesome garden every year and has the biggest squash you've ever seen! We all want to know her secret. Maybe she was a farmer in a previous life...


Grandma is the chief tomato picker of my sisters summer garden. 


My sister has an eclectic style of cooking, you never know what will end up in the recipe.  She is a free form chef who will add things here and there.  You will never have the same dish the same way twice but they all come out fabulous. Getting a recipe from my sister can be rather difficult though.


My sister did the best to profile me. Yes I had many many different animals from bunnies, chickens which I gathered fresh eggs, dogs of my own and a few I raised for the blind, cats and kittens, birds, turtles, Iguana's, fish, even two ferrets you name it.

Everything except a tiny pig and cow and wow I would love those.

With my Garden she is right again yes I grow everything I can fit into my garden and especially love my tomatoes. My yard filled with flowering plants, strawberries, trees that bloom flowers which holds my 12 birdhouses, trees that give fruit like my fig you can eat.

My Garden and yard is full of life with the morning songs of the birds and the chirping of the babies that just hatched.

I also have the beautiful butterflies around my bloomed flowers. They like parsley and dill plants to lay eggs for them to hatch and feed on while the life cycle continues.

Plus when my praying mantis egg cases hatch I will release into my Garden. My list goes on and on with all the living creatures that make my yard alive with life.

With my cooking well she is right again I am creative when I am in the Kitchen and can change my recipe anytime.

I love my best friend she is a cream golden retriever and she is with me all the time from the Kitchen and into the Garden.

So I hope this little bio of me will live on to my family, children and all you readers to Be Creative in the Kitchen and Enjoy.

Adventures in the Kitchen
Be Creative
Enjoy

Cream Vegetable Bean Soup

WEDNESDAY, MAY 9, 2012

Cream Vegetable Bean Soup

Ingredients  give or take

Making Vegetable Bean Soup

Dice 1/4 red pepper
Dice 5 small carrots
Dice 1/4 red onion
Add to a Soup pot with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil stir frequently with a wooden and lightly saute.

Add ten cups of water and bring to a boil.

Dice a small hand full of frozen string beans
A small pinch of minced garlic
3 chicken flavor bouillon cubes
Sprinkle a little garlic powder
Sprinkle a little Mrs.Dash

Add to the soup pot.

I have been growing fresh curled parsley, Italian flat leaf parsley and dill, in my Garden.
I am adding a handful of all three Fresh spices into my soup pot.

Parsley and Dill in my Garden

In the soup pot add 12 oz. frozen Mixed Vegetables and return to a boil.

I added 1 8oz can of tomato sauce. (you can add tomato paste or even two tablespoons of pasta red sauce)

I did not have any chicken broth or stock so I add in 2  Goya Pollo chicken powder packs to give it the flavor.

Next add the can of of Goya Small white beans (Habichuelas Blancas) 15.5 oz.  do not drain. Simmer until tender.

Remember everything is up to your taste.  I taste my creations to see if I need to add more spices. 

Put your finished soup into a blender and puree it then I added to my bowl of soup

some light cream. Hey if you want to use milk, half n half or even be creative add a spoon of sour cream.

I garnished with a little of my garden parsley and dill

Cream of Vegetable Bean Soup

Oh So Good

Be Creative 

Enjoy

Vegetable Bean Soup

Ingredients  give or take

It's raining today so I decided to make Vegetable Bean Soup with whatever I have in my Kitchen.

Dice 1/4 red pepper
Dice 5 small carrots
Dice 1/4 red onion
Add to a Soup pot with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil stir frequently with a wooden and lightly saute.

Add ten cups of water and bring to a boil.

Dice a small hand full of frozen string beans
A small pinch of minced garlic
3 chicken flavor bouillon cubes
Sprinkle a little garlic powder
Sprinkle a little Mrs.Dash

Add to the soup pot.

I have been growing fresh curled parsley, Italian flat leaf parsley and dill, in my Garden.
I am adding a handful of all three Fresh spices into my soup pot.

Parsley and Dill in my Garden

In the soup pot add 12 oz. frozen Mixed Vegetables and return to a boil.

I added 1 8oz can of tomato sauce. (you can add a two tablespoons of pasta sauce, tomato paste

or even a small can of diced tomatoes) everything is up to your taste and what you have around the kitchen.

I did not have any chicken broth or stock so I add in 2  Goya Pollo chicken powder packs to give it the flavor.

Next add the can of of Goya Small white beans (Habichuelas Blancas) 15.5 oz.  do not drain. Simmer until tender.

Optional 

You can add a small hand full of pastina, mini pasta shells, thin egg noodles if you like.

Remember everything is up to your taste.  I taste my creations to see if I need to add more spices. 

If you like Your Bowl of Soup a little hot add a little red crushed pepper spice. 

Vegetable Bean Soup

Be Creative

Enjoy

Nature in the Spring

Ducks, Quack, Quack, Quack.

Every year around this time we have Mallard Ducks visit the Jersey Shore. They love to swim in our pool covered or an open pool. Well they love the water and the Female loves to eat any insects in the water while the beautiful male just watches over her and swims by her side. (boy I wish my man would do that for me)

Beautiful Mallard Ducks on my Pool Cover May 4th 2012

This Beautiful Male looks after Her

Nice View

Anyway here we are watching the Ducks for over 3 days in my pool. Male looks over women and women just forage to eat. They are so cool and I do not bother them plus they are getting use to me especially taking their pictures.

Smile your beak for the camera.

I give all the living wild life creatures food anything from bread, seed, scrap food and give them water.

Love Nature, Plants, Wildlife everything that God has put on this Earth to Enjoy.  The Moments given to everyone on this planet are precious.

Be Creative 
Enjoy

Cinco de Mayo Fun Food to Eat

Cinco de Mayo

Casadia Quick and Easy Recipe

Casadia Chicken and Cheddar Cheese
Dice thin chicken breast cook top pan with olive oil until light brown.
Two soft taco tortilla's and Cheddar Cheese
Spray pam in the Casadia Maker
Place one taco shell in maker, add chicken top with cheddar cheese.
Place second taco shell on top and close the Maker.

Casadia Pizza
Spray pam in the Maker repeat taco shell steps
Mozarella Cheese and pizza sauce
Season to your liking.

Casadia Veggies
Spray pam in the Maker repeat taco shell steps
Dice your favorite Veggies
Yellow squash, peppers, tomatoes, red onions, string beans diced.
sprinkle a little salt and pepper.

Casadia  Egg Omelet 

Be creative make scramble eggs with veggies like peppers, carrots, onions and greens add some garlic, cheese.  Hey make a omelet  and then top off with your favorite topping. (Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, Melted Cheddar Cheese, Tomato Topping.
Whatever is your pleasure, hey leave it plane your choice.

Create your own 

Be Creative
Enjoy

Back to my Garden May 4th 2012

May 4th and my Rhododendron plant is budding 

Rhododendron Plant in May budding

Hydrangea growing in May

Peppermint Star Garden Pink flower next to my Violet/light Pansy

Strawberry Plant 

Eat me 

My white Iris bloom in May

This is the fun time for me when every living plants wakes up and comes to life and I do help them out

with food and water. 

My sister and I trade plants every year and if you have the room on your yard this is so much fun and does 

not cost anything. 

My pink strawberries bloom faster than my mixtures around my flagpole and I did send my sister some to grow in her yard.

I live in central NJ and my sister lives north NJ and we both exchange plants.
We both tell each other which plant, flower ect. blooms when. Sometimes she tells me a flower bloomed faster than my same plant and the other way around.

My guess is that the weather does change the plants what know and loved. Now the plants have  to adjust to the weather and climate.

My sister told me that is was pouring rain all day up north NJ and I told her central NJ we had a few sprinkles.

My beautiful Bleeding Heart Love this one because 20 years ago my  sons gave this to me for MOTHER'S DAY

Love your Family and Children they Grow Up too soon and Remember,


Be Creative 
Enjoy