5 Year Garden Plan: Starting Seeds Indoors

This year I decided to start my plants indoors so that I could save on money (since seeds are cheaper than mature plants) and so that I could get an earlier harvest. I wanted to create my own "greenhouse" in our basement so I knew I needed a way to keep the soil warm. I decided to use rope lights as a way to heat the soil from beneath....I needed something that was fire-resistant and could conduct heat to surround the lights in...

I decided to put down some leftover ceramic tile and layer the rope light in-between them...I figured it was kind of like in floor heating and after a day the tiles were nice and warm.

I bought seeds trays and put them inside aluminum foil pans, since they are fire resistant as well and conduct heat...this way the excess water that drips down would be contained. Charles hung a cheap light over and put grow lights in it to help keep the plants warm and since they aren't getting direct light in the basement.

I was excited when I saw a couple small plants start to poke up after only 10 days!

Plant Based Diet: Miso Soup

This is one of my favorite soup recipes. I always order a cup of miso soup when I go out for sushi, and I wanted a way to re-create it at home. Miso is basically fermented soybeans, and it has a lot of great nutritional benefits and has been used in Japan for centuries. It contains all the essential amino acids, making it a complete protein, restores healthy probiotics and helps with digestion. I also happen to love the flavor. Whole Foods just started to sell a miso broth that is the same price as their vegetable broth so I decided to use this as an opportunity to re-create this amazing soup.

Ingredients:

1) Miso Broth (Whole Foods just started to sell a miso broth that is the same price as their vegetable broth so I decided to use this as an opportunity to re-create this amazing soup.)

2) Dried Shitake Mushrooms (I got this huge container of it at Costco.)

3) Nori (dried seaweed sheets, I just buy the small "snack" chips like this one and crumble them up)

4) Shredded carrot and diced green onions

Method:

1) Combine miso broth, about 1/2c of dried mushrooms and 3-4 crumbled seaweed snacks into a soup pot

2) Bring to a boil and then simmer about 15-20 min (so that the dried mushrooms have a chance to become more tender)

3) Ladle the soup directly over the carrots and green onions...this helps keeps the veggies crisp while still heating them up

Paired with a nice hot green tea this is the perfect meal for a cold winter day...plus it's low calorie and filling which is a nice bonus so I try to have it for lunch a couple times a week.