Regrow Your Green Onions!

We cook with green onions (aka scallions) a lot.  Every week or two, in fact.  A couple of weeks ago, my hubby ran across this article that said you could regrow them with nothing but some water in a jar.  We thought, "No way!  But if it works...."  So we tried it.  And it works!

After we used the green part of the onions for a recipe, we stuck the ends in a glass jar (that we would have otherwise recycled) and filled the jar with water.  At first, nothing seemed to happen, but then we noticed that the roots were growing like crazy!  Once they had grown out into a swirly, twisty mass, then the green tops began to grow.  

The twisty mass of roots

Some of the shoots we'd cut just grew up taller, and new shoots joined them.  After about 10 days, they were as tall as they'd originally been when we bought them, and they stopped growing.  We started another jar in the meantime, which also grew like mad.  We harvested the first batch this weekend, and what do you know? Just as tasty as could be!  In fact, they were a bit stronger than when we get them from the store, probably because we could use them fresh instead of after they sat in a truck and the store for several days.

The jar on the right was the first one we started.

Because my husband is both thrifty and a bit nerdy (such a sexy combo, do you agree?), he did a bunch of math and figured out that with the cost of green onions around here, assuming we harvest them once a month, at current interest rates, an investment of $0.12 (for the water) for one jar of green onions would yield the same rate of return as putting $3,600 in our savings account.  And hey, who doesn't like saving money, right?  The jarful we harvested this weekend is regrowing again.  Who knows how often we can get new growth from the same batch of roots, but we shall see!

(Edit:  You need to leave a couple inches above the roots intact so they will stand up in your jar.  We stop cutting ours when the stalk goes from green to white.)

Breaking Ground

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – soulemama

(feel free to add a link to your own ‘this moment’ in the comment section below)

A New Look

Check it out!  I have a new banner!  I hired my sister-in-law to make a new banner for my shop, one that reflects my change to selling only crochet patterns.  She designed my original banner, which I loved, but I think I like this one even better.  It's simpler, it sends a clear message about my shop's contents, and it has a kind of vintage look that pleases this old-fashioned girl.  Plus it retains the color scheme and font from the original, which keeps some continuity with my old logo.

While she was at it, she made a matching banner for my blog.  This has inspired me to revamp this place a little.  Still the same layout, and the color scheme hasn't really changed, I just changed up what color went where a little.  Do you like it?

Birthday Socks

{this moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. – soulemama

(feel free to add a link to your own ‘this moment’ in the comment section below)

Asparagus and Tofu Stir Fry

My hubby occasionally makes up recipes, and some of them turn out quite well.  Here's one we had this week :-)  We're not vegetarians, but we try to eat meatless dishes several times a week, as many of the health benefits of vegetarianism can be gained by simply eating less meat rather than cutting it out altogether.

Asparagus and Tofu Stir Fry

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. Sesame oil - divided

1 lb. Extra firm tofu - sliced 2" long and pencil thickness

1 bunch Asparagus - trimmed and sliced 1" long

6 cloves Garlic - minced

1 bunch Green onions - chopped

6  cups Fresh spinach - coarsely chopped

1/4 cup Lime juice

1/4 cup Hoisin sauce

1 tsp. Basil

3/4 tsp. Ginger

1/2 tsp. Crushed red chilies (optional)

1/2 tsp. Salt

1/2 tsp. Mint

1/2 cup Cashews (optional)

1 cup Rice - cooked according to package

Directions:

In a large skillet, sauté the well-drained tofu in a 2 tbsp. oil until golden brown.  Remove from skillet.  Add remaining oil and sauté garlic and asparagus for 1 minute.  Add the spinach and onions.  Saute until wilted.  Return tofu to pan.  Stir in juice, sauce, and spices.  Sprinkle with cashews and serve over rice.

The crushed red chilies are optional because our kids fuss if they chomp down on one, so we tend to leave those out these days.  But they add a nice kick if you don't have anyone who will howl about them.

I'd Like to Live in a Daffodil

Who wouldn't want to live in a daffodil?  They're so cheerful and friendly, always nodding their heads to whoever passes by them.  They're my second-favorite flower, after daisies.  Well, thanks to Lucinda Macy, the genius behind Etsy store Willodel, you can now find out what it's like to live in a daffodil!  Well, sort of.  She's created this amazing play set, complete with a little daffodil gnome (my daughter says it's a fairy instead) to live inside.

Willodel is chock full of other charming play sets and gnomes, all with a woodland theme, all great for imaginative play.  They're all wonderful, but this one is definitely my favorite :-)

No Accounting for Taste

How weird is this?  Last night, we tried out a new chili recipe that involved beer and chocolate.  When we were talking to my mom later that night, she asked us how it was.  I said it was okay, but mostly all I could taste was the beer.  My husband looked at me funny and said, "Really?  I mostly tasted chocolate -- I could hardly tell there was beer in it at all!"

I had leftovers of it for lunch today, and I still can't really taste the chocolate.  It's mostly beer, a little tomato.  And I am not a beer fan.  Neither is my husband, so we can't just assume that my taste buds are accustomed to chocolate and his to beer.

It makes me wonder what else I taste differently than other people.  When someone agrees with me that a particular food is tasty, are we really tasting the same things?  Or does watermelon, say, taste one way to me and another way to you, but we both agree it's tasty?  Kind of flips my lid a little every time I realize that I experience the world in a completely unique way, as does everyone else.

Okay, enough Deep Thoughts.  Time to get back to my crocheting while the girls nap and my son does some jigsaw puzzles.  I'm working up a new set of embellishments that are tickling my fancy quite a bit :-D