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- Broccoli, Tomatoes, a Pepper and some Basil from the garden.
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- Tossed with Brown Rice Pasta, a bit of Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil= Yummy!
September 16, 2009
Casual Dinner From The Garden
August 16, 2009
August Harvest
Getting ready to plant again for the Fall. So many carrots were harvested this year, success! Everything seemed to do very, very well. The only plant I made a bad decision about at this point is the cauliflower. I placed the zucchini plant next to the cauliflower…not wise. Needless to say the zucchini plant dwarfed over the cauliflower plant and prevented it from growing, but I learned to have more careful forethought about placement. I pulled the zucchini plants today, they did so well! I harvested 4 more gigantic zucchini just in the last 4 days. I pulled all of the carrots and beets. I also discovered that I planted the wrong kind of fennel plant, need to do more research for next year. Does anyone know where I can get the fennel plant that allows me to harvest a large bulb as opposed to just the fronds? My basil is producing quite a bounty and continues. My tomatillo plants and tomato plants are doing great as well. Now I need to get out there this week and plant my fall garden.
August 10, 2009
Tomatillo Salsa
I made Tomatillo Salsa last week. It consisted of mostly Tomatillos but I also put in some ripe cherry and grape tomatoes, garlic, onions & salt. Next time I’ll throw some cilantro in. But this salsa was a hit and we’ll continue to make it!
Tomatillo’s are related to the tomato. They are a staple in the mexican cuisine. They grow in a husk and are kind of tangy, spicey I’ve found. You should try them if you see them at the supermarket or farmer’s market.
August 10, 2009
Homemade Applesauce
We got a variety of apples from our CSA a couple of weeks ago and so my son and I made apple sauce with them. This is what we did.
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- I leave the peels on for extra fiber. I quartered the apples and then my son put them in the food processor. I used the slicing grater blade on the processor.
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- I put the sliced apples in a pan with juice from one whole lemon and about 1 cup of water. I put the temp on high until the apples began to steam a bit. I flipped the apples a few times then turned the burner to simmer and put a lid on the apples. They steamed for about 20 minutes, then I turned the heat off and let them cool down.
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- I then put them back in the food processor and pureed them. I added maple syrup to taste and a dash of cinnamon to taste. Here’s the finished product.
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- We love this apple sauce.
August 10, 2009
Early August Garden Photos
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- Tomatillos, my favorite garden item at the present time.
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- Pear tree, healthy and thriving.
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- Green Tomato
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- Happy zucchini plant. Overshadowing other plants. It will have it’s own box next year.
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- zucchini
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- Chaos of veggies and flowers.
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- Daisy
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- Swiss Chard
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- My broccoli is thriving, I love this plant.
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- beans
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- pumpkin plant, one of 4.
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- My crazy overgrown garden, that is thriving.
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- One variety of tomatoes in the garden, grape.
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- Green cherry tomatoes
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- Beets
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- pepper plant
August 10, 2009
Making Sauerkraut, Lacto-Fermentation
I used this recipe from the Nourishing Gourmet’s Food Blog and made Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut. I’m so thrilled with the end product!
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- Shredding the 2 heads of cabbage in the food processor. I then added the salt.
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- I let the cabbage and salt sit for an hour, covered. Then I filled a few different but stackable containers full of water. I put a plate ontop of the cabbage, after it sat for 1 hour, and then stacked all the filled containers ontop. I wrapped it all with two towels to keep flies out.
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- Showing containers stacked under the towel, to give you an idea.
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- The fluid collecting around the plate as the cabbage is being weighted down.
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- I let it sit for 9 days. I washed the plate about every other day and restacked everything again.
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- Finished Product.
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- Ready to go in the fridge. The Sauerkraut is really good. It’s salty but I didn’t find it too salty. This was such an easy process and I well definitely do it again.
July 27, 2009
Another Fanciful Harvest
Posole soon! I almost have enough tomatillos.
And check out the wee grape tomatoes. They are incredibly sweet as you can imagine.
I am also still collecting broccoli, the hearty little plant is like the Little Engine That Could, still producing!
Next year I will devote a whole square foot bed to broccoli.
And I collected a bunch more basil for more pesto to freeze.
July 24, 2009
Super Chini
Our house has been under the weather the past few days so I have not gotten out to pick some veggies from the garden. I went out today to check on the garden and this is what I found under the expansive zucchini leaves.
To give you an idea of the size, here is a standard size apple. I measured the largest zucchini and it’s 17″ long and the largest end is 16″ in diameter. Holy Zucchini!
