2014 What did you eat from your garden today?

[skiingjeff]

We're eating peppers, green beans, snow peas (still - amazing), kohlrabi and yellow squash, and squash, and squash.....

All my neighbors are eating my squash as well! I guess we over planted this year. Even though I had the same number of plants of the same variety last year, we didn't get the production like this year. So we'll be eating squash for awhile

So next year I'll cut the number of plants in half and I'll probably be buying squash.....lol

[applestar]

We ate a watermelon!
It was put in the refrigerator "to chill" at least 3-4 days ago, but DH had a really busy week and couldn't sit down to enjoy it so we've been waiting.

It was very juicy and delicious all the way to the rind. I normally don't eat watermelons to the white part, stopping sometimes well within the pink, but this one I found myself scraping all the way out. So yum.

[lakngulf]

My alias indicates my two favorite locations = Lake and Gulf. We are at the gulf for a couple weeks now and I brought lots of garden produce with me. Put up a few packages of tomato and okra. Also, I used some fresh tomatoes, okra, pepper and onion, added fresh Gulf Shrimp, to make this:



Can't call it real seafood gumbo because I cannot make the roux, but it is pretty good. I call it ShrimpBo

[applestar]

If I could just stick a spoon in through the screen.... looks yummy!

[Lindsaylew82]

I made a rub out of smoked paprika, garlic, chives, salt, pepper, ripe jalapeño, olive oil, and lime juice. All blended up smooth. I put it on pork loin this morning, and grilled it this evening. We had it with tomato, basil, garlic evoo salad served on grilled toast. It was yum! I had to stop myself with the tomato salad on toast. It one of my favorites things on the planet to eat.

We are settling down for the evening, and I made herbal tea with (purple!!!) Bee Balm, Pineapple Sage, Peppermint, Spearmint, and some store bought chamomile. I'll stir in some local honey I got from our farmer's market!

[rainbowgardener]

next year, grow the chamomile too! It is easy and mine was very productive this year.

Looks nice!

My dinner was cabbage and potato soup, with potatoes and carrots from my garden as well as parsley and lots of herbs and some of my Anaheim peppers for a little extra zing. The soup is blended (I love my little immersion blender!) so it gives you that thick, richness from all low-cal ingredients. I have leftovers for a couple more meals.

[applestar]

I guess that means you figured out which ones are the Anaheim peppers

[Lindsaylew82]

I haven't found a spot that chamomile is happy here! I've tried it every year for 4 years, and it dies after just a few weeks...

Does it come back once established?

[kayjay]

Yesterday, I had my first Brandywine tomato. I can see what all the fuss is about now. It was so delicious. I can't believe that ugly, cracked, unevenly-ripened tomato was that delicious. I'll definitely grow these again next year.

I also made a batch of cooked salsa, and some salsa cruda. Both are amazing. So nice with fresh produce right off the plant. Next year, I'll have to grow my own cilantro.

In my picture are the salsa cruda and zucchini chips made from a big zucchini a family friend gave us. I just sliced it up and put it in the dehydrator overnight.

[kayjay]

My dinner was cabbage and potato soup, with potatoes and carrots from my garden as well as parsley and lots of herbs and some of my Anaheim peppers for a little extra zing. The soup is blended (I love my little immersion blender!) so it gives you that thick, richness from all low-cal ingredients. I have leftovers for a couple more meals.

I love my immersion blender, too! My favorite comfort food in fall and winter is basically any pulverized soup. A lot of people are turned off by that texture, but I love it. Lentil soup and winter squash/pumpkin soup are my go-tos. I like them with either curry or sage. Thick creamy tomato soups work, too.

[rainbowgardener]

I guess that means you figured out which ones are the Anaheim peppers

Not so hard, once they are actually making peppers!

[rainbowgardener]

I haven't found a spot that chamomile is happy here! I've tried it every year for 4 years, and it dies after just a few weeks...

Does it come back once established?

There are two chamomiles, perennial (which is a very low growing ground-coverish plant) and annual (which is on tall stems a couple feet high). I was growing the annual. I haven't had good luck with the perennial, which probably needs more sun than I can give it. I am hoping the annual will self seed a bit for next year, but I don't really know yet.

[Lindsaylew82]

The only kind I've tried is the low growing type. No luck.

[rainbowgardener]

I couldn't grow it either. But try growing the annual kind. It is ridiculously easy to grow from seed (I ended up with way more chamomile than I knew what to do with) and was very productive.

[Wombat]

Dug up some garlic, galangal, and turmeric plus picked some fresh chillies, kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass for a yellow Thai curry paste

[JayPoc]

I turned this:



into this:



The maters, peppers, basil, and parsley came from the garden. The meat, carrots, onion, and garlic came from the store....

[applestar]

I'm having an after dinner snack of tortilla chips with fresh Pico de Gallo I made today and Roasted Salsa I finished making today. When I made it, I bought into the idea to put the tomato with skin in the blender, then adding the rest of the ingredients, but found the -not quite completely disappeared- skin irritating, so ran the whole thing in the food mill.

Trying to think what in these DIDN'T come from the garden... Sea salt... Malabar black peppers... cumin seeds... oh and apple cider and balsamic vinegar. I think that's all. I think all of the other herbs and spices (like coriander) were harvested in my garden.

I actually like the food milled texture and may keep the technique, but now, I'll have to try making it without skin and chunky too, so I can compare. I suspect the skin would add some flavor and act as thickener when blended and food milled.

DH had them as appetizer. He liked the fresh salsa which I made using Grandma Oliver's Chocolate, Jersey Devil, and Captain Lucky tomatoes, and substituting cilantro with lime basil since he doesn't like cilantro. But I did use cilantro according to recipe in the roasted salsa... And he detected it right away.

Since he doesn't like it, I think I'll can this batch of roasted salsa in small jelly jars for individual serving.

[rainbowgardener]

As a dieter living on 1000 calories a day, much of what I eat is salad. Made a beautiful salad mostly from the garden, with just a bit of store lettuce for crunch: swiss chard, lots of lemon balm, some other herbs, carrots, celery, parsley, bell pepper, tomatoes, some purslane. Ate two bowls of it (nice thing about salad, as long as you are very careful about dressing, you can eat as much as you want).

My Anaheim peppers are producing like mad. I don't put them in salad, but I do pretty much put them in everything I cook. Last night's dinner was a (vegetarian) minestrone, again mostly from the garden and including the Anaheim peppers.

[Wombat]

I dug up some sweet potatoes to have with dinner and harvested some strawberries

[applestar]

??? Can you grow sweet potatoes year-round there? Isn't it late winter/almost spring for you?

[tomc]

I should be eating pole beans, I am eating cukes.

[sunflower13]

Despite some bugs, I was able to make:
a spaghetti sauce which included tomatoes and herbs from the garden
A cucumber salad which included herbs and cucumbers
Potatoes with chives
So having a fun week with the garden

[Wombat]

??? Can you grow sweet potatoes year-round there? Isn't it late winter/almost spring for you?

I can now, mainly due to the fact we don't get our small dose of frost in July any more.......the vine was planted last year and survived the winter just fine. I left some tubers in the ground and harvested a couple of those. The vine's starting to sprout again too, the soil must be warming up. Yep it's spring next week and I'm busy prepping my beds for the coming warm weather

[valley]

Greetings Wombat, We, up here, are just on the way into fall and you see spring on the horizon. Wondering where in Oz .

Have a great day.

Richard

[Wombat]

Hey Richard
I'm in the northern part of Oz. The Tropic of Capricorn runs through my home state. I think I'm the equivalent of about zone 11 in the US.
Picking the last of my Dutch purple pod peas ( pisum sativum ) from the garden this afternoon to have with dinner.

[applestar]

I had this egg dish for lunch yesterday that I make up once in a while. I have no idea if there is a name for it.

I started with a strip of bacon cut in small bits, some safflower oil, then added veggies from the garden -- diced onions and Swiss chard stems, tomatoes, hot lemon drop pepper, chopped SC leaves, then decided it needed more liquid so added diced cucumber. Made a nest of wilted SC leaves in the middle of the veggies and dimpled it, added a bit of butter and dropped two eggs in the dimple. Covered the eggs with a slice of provolone cheese, found thin slices of leftover uncooked winter squash in the fridge at the last minute so arranged those on top of the provolone, then covered and cooked until the cheese melted.

Egg yolks were about medium -- set and not runny but not cooked through, dry/flakey.

I usually slide this on top of a couple of toast or a mound of rice, but I didn't this time. Missed having something to soak up the sauce. I normally finish plating with freshly ground black pepper but didn't thinking the hot pepper will be enough, but I kind of missed that, too.

It's basically any mixture of veggies and herbs to taste, meat is optional, and eggs poached in the cooking liquid on top with the cheese helping to hold in the heat and cook the eggs and acting as egg timer. You can omit the cheese if you want, too.

[Meme]

I have been enjoying the last of my strawberries, so tasty they were with the addition of some cream.
Then I shared out best part of all the tomatoes I grew to my neighbours, they were grateful. They said they tasted nicer than the shop bought ones. That was a pat on my back, and of course for nature too in growing them.

[Ohio Tiller]

Only thing not from the garden was the ham but it was from one of our pigs! So we raised everything in that pot.

[Lindsaylew82]

Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuum...!

[Meatburner]

OT, that looks awesome. What all did you put in there? Made me instantly hungry!

[Lindsaylew82]

Me too! I haven't had beans and taters in years!

[JC's Garden]

Put me down for a tomato sandwich. And then again tomorrow. And the next day, and the next day, and the next until first frost.

[imafan26]

Calamondin (calamoncy in Ilocano). Actually, I didn't eat it. I harvested a bag for our community garden potluck as door prizes. I did use some green onions in the fried rice I made. I am ashamed to say I bought tomatoes for the first time in a long long time. I only had a couple of black cherry tomatoes in the garden for the salad.

[valley]

We went to the high desert spread and picked:Tomato, chard, squash, potato, cucumber, beans, parsley and watermelon.

How do you tell when corn is ready to pick?

Richard

[applestar]

I'm not the expert, but here are a few indicators I have been using for sweet corn
- silk has dried up and browned
- angle of the ear to the stalk has opened up so that the ear is pushing away from the stalk (I think jal_ut mentioned this one)
- feeling from the outside, I can actually feel bumpy kernels

... I can't do the thumbnail test -- shuck one and see if milk spurts out from the kernels -- because I have too few

[Juliuskitty]

Calamondin (calamoncy in Ilocano). Actually, I didn't eat it. I harvested a bag for our community garden potluck as door prizes. I did use some green onions in the fried rice I made. I am ashamed to say I bought tomatoes for the first time in a long long time. I only had a couple of black cherry tomatoes in the garden for the salad.

Calamondins are so good in fresh cranberry sauce. 2 for a 12 oz bag, finely cut up skin and all, gives the sauce such a nice tangerine like hint of flavor.

[applestar]

Soup! I was inspired by the bean and ham soup.
Mine is my usual mishmash though --

Today's beans harvest of all sizes including overgrown beans in the pod shelled beans, onion, garlic, onion greens, carrot greens, carrots, overgrown cucumbers, Swiss chard ribs, hot lemon peppers, a few okra, starchy corn cut from the cob, baby corn... All wilted and caramelized with bacon and li'l smokies, then simmered in tomato juice and water. Oregano and basil and some spices.

From the store ingredients a were the meats, sea salt, bay leaf, cumin and coriander. A drizzle of balsamic vinegar and honey.

[valley]

Thanks applestar, I think we'll pick next time we're down there. The ears didn't seem big enough, but these are from store bought seeds maybe this is what's to be expected.

Richard

[Lindsaylew82]

There's not a whole lot going on right now. I'm getting lots of peppers and a few tomatoes. I used the peppers tonight and a few early green apples that my neighbor shared. I made apple chutney to go on tomorrow's grill pork loin.

I "eyeballed" the ingredients...

8 small tart green apple. ( or 4 normal sized Granny Smiths) peeled, cored and sliced

1 medium onion chopped
1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries
1 mango peeled and chopped
1 large ripe bell pepper chopped
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoon of Moroccan Seasoning
4 ripe jalapeños
Salt and pepper

Dump it all in a pot and cook over medium heat until it's thick and glossy, then serve over grilled meat.

Mine is HOT (spicy--like 4 star at the Thai place spicy)!!! But I like it like that!

[imafan26]

My neighbor gave me eggplant, and gourd from his garden and my other friend gave me a bag full of avocados. I have calamondin from my garden. It will take me a while to use it. I can use the juice to flavor water, calamondin cake, use it as a condiment on pancit noodles and fish. Maybe I will try calamondin ade again. The last time I tried it I put in too much juice and it was too sour. I have to figure out the ratio.