What's up, Doc?

Bugs Bunny would be happy in my garden this month. The carrots are looking very good, but still small, so I'll leave them in the ground at least another couple of weeks.
Broccoli and cauliflower are looking healthy but no flowers, yet. I meant to feed them again this weekend but didn't get around to it despite the beautiful weather.

Potatoes are going crazy above ground, with healthy looking vines and leaves. They're a long way from being pulled, probably not until early fall.

Now for the disappointing news. After I planted all those Sweet Charlie strawberry plants I expected a bed full of strawberry plants and some even starting to fruit. Not so much. Just a few little plants with new leaves and no flowers or berries.  <*sigh*>

No lemons this year on the tree. It should be getting ready to flower in another month so I'll know then if I'll have lemons next year. I may plant an orange tree. I think I have the perfect spot for it.

If you are a gardener please let me know what's going on in your garden in late January.

Book Review: Skinny Chicks Eat Real Food

Title: Skinny Chicks Eat Real Food
Author: Christine Avanti
Publisher: Rodale Books (December 20, 2011)
Genre: Cookbooks, Nutrition
Length: 336 pages
SUMMARY: Skinny Chicks Don’t Eat Salads author Christine Avanti explains how women and men can control their appetites and lose weight by avoiding the fake and processed foods that are actually making them fatter.
Many women think that products labeled “fat-free,” “sugar-free,” or “lite” are the key to easy weight loss. The truth is that these so-called healthy packaged foods are filled with processed ingredients and chemicals that actually contribute to weight gain by causing us to overeat.
In The Real Food Diet, nutritionist Christine Avanti explains why a diet rich in all-natural produce, whole grains, and lean protein packed with the nutrients responsible for maintaining stable blood sugar levels and speeding up metabolism is by far the more effective option. Avanti draws on the latest research to provide guidelines for what and how often readers should eat to ensure that pounds are dropped—and offers specific meal plans, grocery lists, and a collection of flavorful recipes filled with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
A guide to eating real food in a factory-food world, a weight loss plan, and a real-food cookbook in one, The Real Food Diet will instruct and inspire readers to steer clear of fake food and eat the balanced, all-natural way we were designed to eat.

Book Review: Salad for Dinner by Tasha DeSerio

Title: Salad for Dinner
Author: Tasha DeSerio
Publisher: Taunton Press (March 13, 2012)
Genre: Cookbooks
Length: 208 pages
SUMMARY: Salad for lunch? Salad for dinner? It’s easy – and delicious – to turn salads into main meals with this original collection from chef Tasha DeSerio. As more and more home cooks are looking to eat healthy using local and regional offerings, the whole-meal salads highlighted here will satisfy vegetarians and meat-eaters alike. Simple, yet sophisticated and showcasing the author’s talent for presenting beautiful ingredients in an artful way, the recipes encompass everything from greens to meat and fish, dairy, and pasta and grain. With detailed information on in-season fruits and vegetables, lesser-known salad fixings, preparation techniques (including make ahead tips), and a comprehensive chapter on salad basics, readers will have all they need to turn out satisfying and beautiful salads of their own. Easy enough for one and special enough for a crowd, salads as a main course will be showing up on tables everywhere.