2014 What did you eat from your garden today?

[imafan26]

More corn on the cob. That's the thing when you have to plant a large block of plants to get pollination. It is either famine or overload. But it tastes sooo good. I also picked some Satsuma tangerines, but I haven't eaten any yet. I gave a bag of them away to my friends, but I warned them that in cold years the fruit is not as sweet.

[valley]

Greetings, So far this morning: Matdoon{yogurt} and butter. [Our garden has cows in it.] Nicole made butter this morning, in the blender. Haven't had it on toast yet, just had a dab she brought to me, here at the computer, I called for toast and butter but she says" let it firm up a bit, it's not ready yet." Soon CHEESE Yep, Armenian String Cheese and Feta.
Wifey and the girls are pushing me to make Chedder,there's a white Chedder they like very much.
When I was little, Folks use to make Ag bannir{ Stinky Cheese}they called it, to sprinkle on Spaghetti. I have the enameled pan they used as a forum. Well, that's another story.

Richard

[digitS']

Three Buttercup squash pies! One slice so far .

Picked the last of the guy lon for dinner, yesterday. Bok choy is still plentiful. I will start more seed for the fall sowing of Asia greens in the greenhouse and see what transplants can be moved in, as well.

Steve

[btrowe1]

Garlic bread,tomatoes, peppers, sweet variety, in a stuffed pepper soup.. was yummy..

[rainbowgardener]

Made another big pot of veggie chili with tomatoes, bell and chili peppers, celery, garlic and herbs from my garden. Ate some and froze some. Freezer is filling up!

[digitS']

I made tomato sauce this week. It's no big deal that I made tomato sauce but I used paste tomatoes. That's no big deal either, you say. Yeah, well, I've never done it!

I grew a paste tomato variety pretty much back when I thought tomatoes should be red and round and you sliced them for a salad or a sandwich. When those pastes ripened I thought Whoa! These things are terrible! Why would anyone want a non-sweet tomato.

Then, I began to grow lots of varieties but still wanted them to be wonderful, fresh! Extras were cooked into sauce and I had a lot of fun varying the recipe but I still, never used a paste.

This changed this year because I finally was too curious about what I was missing. Heinz 2653, an heirloom determinant, rated at 68 days, it's the earliest I found from the outfits I usually order from. The small plants have been loaded with fruit in a really bad tomato year. I think the plants might have been larger without the summer windstorms but I'm okay with how they did. The Heinz 2653 sauce is nice and sweet and flavorful! It was great on pasta with parmesan cheese.

Steve

[jal_ut]

Tomato, green beans, onion, potato, carrot, apple.

[catgrass]

The bok choy is ready to pick! Think I'll have stir-fry tonight!

[imafan26]

I made pork tofu last night and used ginger and green onions from the garden and I have a Satsuma tangerine for lunch.

[valley]

Greetings, Pickles, watermelon, parsley, onions and tomatoes.

Richard

[digitS']

French filet green beans, Viking Purple mashed potatoes, cilantro, dill, and lemon basil!

The potatoes were harvested 3 months ago and were hanging out in the basement.

The salmon under the cilantro, dill, and lemon basil was hanging out in the Gulf of Alaska, the package said.

Steve

[Meatburner]

The salmon under the cilantro, dill, and lemon basil was hanging out in the Gulf of Alaska, the package said.

Enlighten me as I didn't follow this part.

[digitS']

Oh well, MeatBurner, I just meant that I have these great herbs still and they aren't something that I'd eat by themselves. However, in a thin layer on a wild salmon, they were eaten and made a wonderful contribution to one of my favorite meals.

I'm also pleased that I can harvest early potato varieties and keep them from mid-summer until now, just sitting on a basement shelf.

What else was there? Oh yes, the French filet beans were from a spring sowing. With frequent picking, they produced tender pods right through the growing season.

Steve

[jal_ut]

Watermelon, onion, apple, cucumber.

[rkunsaw]

I made an unstuffed pepper casserole with red Marconi peppers, onions, and tomatoes from the garden.

[rainbowgardener]

Did a bunch of cooking tonight. Dinner was a quinoa biryani. Not much from the garden in it except garlic and I threw in some garden tomatoes that weren't in the recipe.

Then after dinner, for later I cooked a whole big pot of vegetarian green chili stew. From the garden it had garlic, celery, a whole bunch of my Anaheim chilis chopped up, a whole bunch of swiss chard (instead of the spinach the recipe called for), my one butternut squash I managed to grow, and again I threw in a bunch of garden tomatoes that weren't in the recipe.

Here's a link to the recipe:

https://allrecipes.com/recipe/vegetarian ... hile-stew/

I used two sweet potatoes instead of four white potatoes, the butternut squash instead of yellow squash, skipped the spaghetti squash, used 4 C of homemade soup stock instead of 2 C vegetable broth and 5 C water, upped the chili powder, and used 1/2 tsp bourbon smoked paprika instead of 1/4 tsp regular paprika.

It came out yummy! (we haven't eaten it yet, but I had to taste! )

Incidentally, I once again screwed up and rubbed my eye after chopping the chilis. It was like an hour later and I had washed my hands (but not scrubbed with soap), so I didn't even think about it until my eye started burning. It hurt for about 20 min, despite flushing with water, etc. I'm glad I don't grow the super hots! Do be careful everyone!

[pepperhead212]

I made an eggplant sambhar tonight (last night!), as I am still getting eggplant, though I think it is almost done with, after looking at it today. The dish also used garlic, curry leaves, and some end-of-season tomatoes from the garden. And I made a new batch of sambhar masala, using another 1/2 c of those curry leaves - something I have to trim back, to bring it in very soon.

rainbowgardener - keep a container of Goop or Gojo at your sink to wash your hands with after handling hot peppers. It is the best stuff for getting grease off your hands, and, after all, that is what pepper oils are!

[imafan26]

green onions, ginger. They went into my chow fun tonight and I chopped some extra onions for my tofu salad and tomato basil omelette tomorrow ( I actually have sweet basil that doesn't have downy mildew) . I also chopped up a couple of Jalapeno and three super chilies to make salsa and guacamole as condiments for the omelette and snacks for the day. I do feel guilty I actually had to buy cilantro and tomatoes since the birds are snatching all of my ripe tomatoes and the snails ate all of the cilantro.

[btrowe1]

carrots and I have 2 huge heads of romaneso broccli growing..maybe this weekend on the broccoli

[rainbowgardener]

made guacamole and salsa... still trying to use up Anaheim chilis! I also made lavender- chocolate chip ice cream! Company coming today. I only make homemade ice cream when there is company coming so we don't eat too much of it!

[digitS']

RainbowGardener, you might want to look up Rkunsaw's recipe for "unstuffed" peppers. Sweet Italian peppers are a good choice but Anaheims should be fine, depending on the heat. Easy to use quite a few peppers and casseroles can be frozen.

Using lots of potatoes and onions ... this is what I get for growing early potato varieties with harvests beginning in July and sweet onions. The sweet onions will last easily into December and some longer. The potatoes don't do much better than that.

Steve

[valley]

Hi, Tomatoes, cheese and ice cream.

Richard

[rainbowgardener]

You make your own cheese and ice cream? With ingredients from your land/ animals / etc? Love to hear more about that.

My lavender/ chocolate chip ice cream barely qualifies as "from your garden" because it's my garden grown lavender. Nothing else in it is garden grown.

[pepperhead212]

I made a salad with several lettuces, and some mizuna, chives, parsley, tarragon, and of course, peppers.

[digitS']

Made chili from 3 of the dry beans I grew this year: Tiger Eye, Soldier and Jacob's Cattle. I know, they aren't typical chili beans but, I didn't make a typical chili. Held off quite a lot on the spices, used my leeks and tomatoes ripening in house. Then! I put dumplings on top -- chili and dumplings.

Quite a bit of time today was spent microwaving winter squash. I cut a La Madera into serving sizes and ran 'em thru the microwave one at a time - most going in the freezer. I prefer the microwave to the oven for winter squash; can't say that for most things! With honey, butter and brown sugar - one of those was sure good with my beans and dumplings .

Steve

[JC's Garden]

Yesterday afternoon the wife said "I'm hungry". I walked out the back door. Picked a salad using all the different salad greens I'm growing this year. Arugula, wild arugula, spinach, nasturtium, a variety of heirloom lettuces along with butter crunch, romaine and endive. Threw in a little basil and green onions. The wife dressed it and added fetta. Just what I (she) needed.

[catgrass]

Stuffed bell peppers! In a few days, it will be broccoli!

[applestar]

Yesterday's lunch

...not bad for a December sandwich -- a lamb burger on rye slices with mild B&B pickles made this summer from garden harvested cucumbers, brightened with freshly harvested specialty lettuce and arugula grown in the garage V8 nursery, and cherry tomato halves from the Winter Indoor Tomatoes

[digitS']

tablet camera photo

Four pumpkin pies and a bacon bok choy quiche .

The pumpkin isn't pumpkin, it's my last la Madera winter squash. The bok choy has been growing for months in my unheated greenhouse in the backyard. Included in the quiche was some frozen leeks and tomato sauce from last year's garden.

I have to admit that the pie is my favorite use for C. maxima winter squash! It has been years since I've had winter squash last this late in winter. I manage to have "pumpkin" pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas and that's usually about it. My basement shelves may not be the best storage environment and having squash with a good degree of maturity by October doesn't always happen. La Madera had a good season for its first run in my garden. The skin was rock-hard from September until now.

I'll let you imagine what my kitchen smells like right now . For me, I think I'd enjoy another slice of pie.

Steve

[imafan26]

Last Wednesday I harvested beets (Detroit dark red), carrots (Scarlet Nantes), and chayote from my community garden. I roasted the carrot and beets with potatoes(red potatoes I bought) and had that with my Costco roast chicken.

Yesterday, I made jook with leftover Costco chicken and I added some of the ginger I harvested for flavoring and put some carrots (I bought) and cubed chayote in the congee (jook).