Is It Really Spring?

My spring’s work has been going in fits and starts. Every time I start, Mother Nature throws a fit! At least it’s mostly actual rain now and not snow piling up.

The grass is greening up. The trees are leafing out. Perennials are shooting up lots of green in the flowerbeds. That green can be hard to see in the beds I haven’t gotten around to clearing. There are still lots of dead leaves from last fall embedded in the lawn. I’ll eventually get around to mowing and maybe by that time those leaves will be dry enough the mower can annihilate them into mulch to feed the grass.

I have cleared the dead vegetation from a few of my flowerbeds, but I still have several to go. And of course, there’s been no tilling of the garden space yet. I refuse to beat myself up over all the work I’m not getting to. I seem to have many other more pressing concerns right now. There is always more work to do. I only have so much time and energy to expend.

The bird feeders, at least the ones that dispense seeds, have been cleaned. I took them all apart, brushed out the old musty seed from last year, and washed all the pieces. Once they were thoroughly dry, I reassembled the feeders. They’re filled with fresh appropriate seed and hung back up where the birds expect them to be.

The grackles are studying my squirrel-proof feeder, scheming how to get to the seeds therein. Dennis claims he’s seen a couple male goldfinches in the back yard already. I always expect them in early May. So, the thistle seed for them is ready just in time for the influx of beautiful yellow birds. I do still need to clean the oriole feeders. Those birds just love grape jelly and cut oranges. I’ll bring in those two feeders once I’ve finished this column.

Just a couple of days ago we saw five deer out back. I don’t know where they spent the winter, but it wasn’t where we could see them. There aren’t piles of their dropping on the lawn. I hope they haven’t nibbled all the blossoms off my honeyberry bushes. The electric fence to foil their foraging is a long way from being restrung and armed.

Here is this week’s recipe.

Swedish Meatballs

1 pd ground beef

2 Tbl dried minced onion

1/2 C bread crumbs

1 egg, beaten

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 Tbl EVOO

3 Tbl flour

2 Tbl butter

1 (14 oz) can beef broth

1/4 C whole milk OR 1 C plain Greek yogurt

Egg noodles

Combine the first seven ingredients together and form into meatballs. Heat the oil in a skillet and brown the meatballs for 7-8 minutes. Remove the meatballs and set aside. Add the flour and butter to the skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits. Gradually add the broth, stirring constantly as it thickens. Stir in the milk OR yogurt. Cook on low several minutes. Add the meatballs back in. Serve over cooked egg noodles.

I cut the recipe in half as I’m only cooking for the two of us. It made 12 meatballs, so we had two meals from this. I used arrowroot instead of flour and yogurt rather than milk. I also used the full can of beef broth as I planned for the noodles to cook in the same pot (one less pan to wash). I’ll confess I don’t always make sure I have all the ingredients on hand before starting, so in place of egg noodles I broke into small pieces five sheets of lasagna noodles, adding them to the pot. You certainly can used freshly diced onion instead of dried. I did. I hope you enjoy this comfort food.