Now that the garden is starting to swing into full production, I thought I'd share a couple recent kitchen creations using in-season vegetables.
Garden Bounty Minestrone - this was a tasty way to use up zucchini, squash, beans and pea pods.
Creamy Orzo Primavera - a spin on pasta primavera, using more beans and pea pods
Spinach-Stuffed Pork Chops - using spinach, a spring onion and fresh herbs. and bacon. because bacon makes everything better
The following are from last year that are worth a repeat:
Caesar Salad with Croutons - a great way to use the last of the lettuce for this year
Sukuma Wiki - collards, collards and more collards. goes GREAT with BBQ.
Find more on What Recipe using the "garden" tag
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
Lettuce and Garlic Harvest and thoughts on fall planting
I harvested the last of the lettuce yesterday. We're about to go on vacation and it was getting towards the end of the season. I was pretty sure it would bolt while we were gone.
Our two plants ended up offering two gallons of leaf lettuce. I think overall we've harvested somewhere between 4-5 gallons this year.
I also dug up our garlic. We lost one head... as in, I couldn't find it where it had been planted. Another one is probably inedible since the stem was completely brown and flopped over. But I got one nice head and one smaller one that I think will do.
I'm considering going ahead and ordering a bunch now for fall planting. Not sure where, yet, I'm going to plant it though. I have been toying with next year's plan and seed orders (first time growing from seed! Eek!), so I may come up with a rudimentary plan just to get the garlic in the ground.
Our two plants ended up offering two gallons of leaf lettuce. I think overall we've harvested somewhere between 4-5 gallons this year.
I also dug up our garlic. We lost one head... as in, I couldn't find it where it had been planted. Another one is probably inedible since the stem was completely brown and flopped over. But I got one nice head and one smaller one that I think will do.
I'm considering going ahead and ordering a bunch now for fall planting. Not sure where, yet, I'm going to plant it though. I have been toying with next year's plan and seed orders (first time growing from seed! Eek!), so I may come up with a rudimentary plan just to get the garlic in the ground.
Friday, July 24, 2009
What's Growing Now
I've been woefully behind in updating but the garden and life is keeping us busy.
To date we have harvested:
a boatload of lettuce
a ton of collards
dozens of green beans
lots of pea pods
3 jalapenos
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
lots and lots of herbs
With them we have made lots of salads, sauteed collards to go with Rudy's BBQ chicken, salmon stir fry (using the beans and pea pods), and Garden Bounty Minestrone.
Ready to be picked are the garlic (I think I may be too late for one...) and some onions and shallots (they just need thinning).
On the vine there are lots more jalapenos, poblanos, green peppers, a ton of tomatoes, more zucchini and squash.
Odd failures this year were the chard and the spinach. I really don't know what happened - last year we couldn't keep up with them.
In exciting news, I was talking with my mom about canning. She asked why I was bothering with it and I whined about our lack of refrigerator space, especially in comparison to our pantry space. She seemed surprised that we hadn't bought a freezer yet and I admitted it was on the list of purchases but we've never gotten around to it. So she said that she and dad would buy us one as a Christmas present - apparently this was something they'd done for most of my other siblings. It's a very generous gift but one I think we'll gladly accept. I need to keep an eye on sales now.
To date we have harvested:
a boatload of lettuce
a ton of collards
dozens of green beans
lots of pea pods
3 jalapenos
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
lots and lots of herbs
With them we have made lots of salads, sauteed collards to go with Rudy's BBQ chicken, salmon stir fry (using the beans and pea pods), and Garden Bounty Minestrone.
Ready to be picked are the garlic (I think I may be too late for one...) and some onions and shallots (they just need thinning).
On the vine there are lots more jalapenos, poblanos, green peppers, a ton of tomatoes, more zucchini and squash.
Odd failures this year were the chard and the spinach. I really don't know what happened - last year we couldn't keep up with them.
In exciting news, I was talking with my mom about canning. She asked why I was bothering with it and I whined about our lack of refrigerator space, especially in comparison to our pantry space. She seemed surprised that we hadn't bought a freezer yet and I admitted it was on the list of purchases but we've never gotten around to it. So she said that she and dad would buy us one as a Christmas present - apparently this was something they'd done for most of my other siblings. It's a very generous gift but one I think we'll gladly accept. I need to keep an eye on sales now.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Bean Bed July 2009 and a surprise
The surprise were these blood-red roses that appeared along the fireplace wall.
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