With a brand new year comes a new adventure. We’ve moved. We’ve left our house on the bluffs in San Pedro and moved to a just shy of 6 acre spread.
The first day was a bit trying. It was freezing (well, not really, but it felt cold for Southern California at 46 degrees) and our furnace didn’t work (and still doesn’t). Both toilets ran constantly. The house needs a lot of work and it was depressing coming from a basically “done” house.
But, it is still almost 6 acres. There is a lot of room. We’ve got avocado trees, lemons, oranges, and more. Yesterday, instead of unpacking as I was supposed to do, I spent time figuring out where my fruit trees from my rooftop garden will go. And then I decided where my raised beds for my new garden will go. I plotted what I will plant with so much room. It is a bit overwhelming to say the least. But exciting.
I also am debating getting chickens. My kids want goats. I also researched recipes to use up the bounty on this land. So this year this blog will be more about our adventures in remodeling our house, setting up a chicken coop and more. Stay tuned for the adventure.
Last night I cooked for the first time in our new house. Well, cooking sounds a lot more grand than what I did. The oven doesn’t work at all, so I am limited to an electric cooktop. Also I haven’t been grocery shopping so I only had some pantry items and minimal freezer and refrigerator staples. I had to toss a lot with the move.
But, I made do and this is my Moving Pantry Surprise recipe that turned out surprisingly good:
Moving Pantry Surprise
Ingredients:
- 1 box pasta (Farfalle or similar)
- 1/2 small bag frozen petite broccoli florets (spinach would work too)
- 1 to 1 and 1/4 pounds ground turkey
- Garlic salt
- Dried basil
- Cream cheese (whipped)
- Butter
- Oil (for browning turkey)
- Parmesan cheese (grated) (or similar)
Cook 1 box of pasta following directions – I used Farfalle noodles. Add 1/2 bag of frozen organic petite broccoli florets to pasta and water at correct time to cook the broccoli according to its instructions. When done, drain and return to pot.
At same time pasta is cooking, brown some ground turkey. I used 1 and 1/4 pounds of organic ground turkey. I browned it in about 2 tablespoons of avocado oil because that was what I had. Season ground turkey with garlic salt and dried basil. I think turkey needs quite a bit of seasoning so be liberal. Also some fresh ground pepper.
Add ground turkey to the pasta pot and stir in to the pasta and broccoli. Add about 1/3 to 1/2 cup whipped cream cheese, a little butter, and a handful of grated Parmesan cheese. Voila!
