What are you eating from your garden in 2016

[applestar]

For breakfast, we had broccoli (and some kale raab) in scrambled eggs -- I say scrambled, but I walked away and the eggs solidified before I got back so I guess sort of unfolded omelette -- with Swiss cheese melted in and dried dill from last year. (This year's dill is still growing).

For lunch, I made cold fresh Korean buckwheat/soba noodles from H-mart refrigerated noodle section. After cooking and ice-watering, Kids ate with just nori folded and cut into slivers with scissors with the bottled soba noodle sauce (too lazy to make from scratch and we found a brand we like), but I made mine into cold soba noodle SALAD with bottom half of the bowl filled with shredded Bibb lettuce, then the top half of the bowl filled with iced cooked soba noodles, then a mound of -- I think this was either French Breakfast or Bunnytail -- radish sliced into slivers (pretty mound of translucent white and magenta), minced carrot greens, Purple Passion asparagus and garlic chives blanched in the noodle cooking pot, then chilled in the ice water with the noodles -- garlic chives were chopped fine and asparagus was thinly sliced diagonally, and THEN topped with nori slivers and sauce poured over the top like dressing. OH Yum!

[digitS']

I didn't realize that the Big Kid was only going on 5, I thought more like 15

Okay, I know I had the "your body is not just your own" guilt laid on me as a kid, and I'm a guy! It's what you get from some Christian denominations ...

Asparagus and a 5 year-old?! Hey, I don't know that I'd ever eaten a tomato that was smaller than a 5 year-old's fist, or had one offered to me, until I was an adult.
Honestly, I don't think we had what kids would consider "attractive" tomatoes until the advent of both supermarkets and better lighting. At first, however, we'd wandered around the aisles and compare our blue skin color. Until they both came together, the produce department didn't present the bright colors and interesting displays it has today. I'm not sure if the produce itself looked much better than what was thrown over the corral fence into a feed trough. On the other hand, the green grocer of today looks like he's walking through the pages of a coloring book!

Noodles! I've said it before on the forum, noodles have the most responsibility for increasing my daily servings of greens!

My "greens" for lunch today ... are a little purple! No, not back to Purple Orach! I'm having beet greens ... with chicken sausage ...

Steve

[Lindsaylew82]

Oh! We had beets! And she does still like those!!! (For the moment....) I roasted them with EVOO! Red pee for everyone!!!

[Gary350]

We are eating Garlic, oregano, and parsley.

[Lindsaylew82]

I ate the little white ones right there. They pair well with Oatmeal Porter.

[digitS']

Beets. I like them right down to the thinnings, when it's difficult to come up with a single serving. That's okay with DW. She is suspicious of the color of red beets. She's coming around, tho. That took growing white beets in the 2015 garden, golden beets in years previous, didn't help. Oh, and she has learned over the years living with me, that the purple stains on the dinner plates will actually wash off with soapy water. That must have helped .

We've had red beets for weeks. The whites may have had a tougher time with the unusual spring heat. Anyway, they showed up yesterday.

While we are eating, DW said, "the red ones have a little better flavor." Could have knocked me over with a feather! She has eaten enough of the reds to have an opinion. I tried to stay cool, "which do you prefer?" Perplexed expression on her face. Quickly changing tack, "the whites are okay, aren't they?" "Yeah ..." Perplexed turned to puzzled ...

Steve
golden beets next

[imafan26]

I made chili with the bell pepper from my garden. I still have chayote and I picked a Meyer lemon. I haven't figured out what I am going to do with it just yet.

[rainbowgardener]

OMG!! The season of abundance is here. Tonight we ate SWEET CORN!! AND potatoes!! And tomatoes!

It was charcoal grill night. So we grilled the first three sweet corn ears in their husks. (Actually the corn probably would have filled out more, left to grow a couple more days, but it was tender and juicy and delicious.) Roasted the potatoes in foil on the grill with a little bit of olive oil and some garden herbs put in the pack. The tomatoes went in the garden salad, along with a bunch of baby broccoli, the last of the sugar snap peas, chard, kale, mixed lettuces. We had a cole slaw with garden cabbage and a couple of garden jalapeno peppers.

Life is good!

[digitS']

Snap peas, flowering bok choy and en chiffonade Portuguese kale ..

. all in the same lunch . (en chiffonade is the correct term for a Portuguese leafy green, right?)

Oh, and there was some thinly sliced beef, bacon and minor ingredients to go with the veggies over rice.

Steve

[sunflower13]

We are harvesting green onions, radishes and raspberries right now. I need to go picking at a local farm for some other things. I have more things growing but won't be ready for awhile.

[MOFishin]

Some green onions a few days ago in a salad were the first thing eaten from my 2016 garden. Then tonight's salad contained more of the green onions and these sweet banana peppers, enjoyed with a few family members celebrating father's day. The salad also contained tomatoes purchased by my mom at a farmer's market which looked like Cherokee Purple. I had never had them before (Have some growing myself) but they were small and seemed to have a tough skin.

[kayjay]

Salad with my lettuce.

20160618 lettuce.jpg (43.98 KiB) Viewed 1259 times

[ButterflyLady29]

Lettuce and green onions today! I made taco salad with them.

I need to pick peas and kale again. Peas and kale would be good with ramen noodles, a couple chopped hard boiled eggs make them even better.

[jal_ut]

Lettuce, radish, spinach, turnip. I did not plant enough turnips.
Still getting a bit of asparagus. Its about time to stop cutting it though.

[Lindsaylew82]

Green beans, squash, cucumbers and tomatoes!

I made a Mean Green juice this afternoon because I've been eating crap and stressing over sick kids, work and school....I got myself a summer cold. I used kale, lettuce, parsley and cucumber from my garden, and green apples from my moms tree. Along with store bought celery, lemon and ginger (lots of ginger!!!) it was SO GOOD! And I think it made me feel better, too.

[applestar]

I like smoothies and veg juice when I'm sick, too. I've been feeling the summer heat stress.

I made a Korean cold buckwheat noodles the other day. It comes in a package with 2 servings of thin fresh noodles and 2 bags of "radish broth" I was trying it for the first time and had no idea what to expect, so ate 1st serving as is. Yesterday, I made the second serving by blending several huge leaves of Bok Choi, kale, radish and broccoli with the packaged broth into very dark green smoothie, then pouring over the cooked chilled noodles. Torn up nori on top as garnish. Very very green and yummy.

[rainbowgardener]

Tonight's dinner was green salad and stir fry veggies over couscous.

Green salad had from my garden: mixed lettuces, swiss chard, baby broccoli, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas.

Stir fry had from my garden: potatoes, onion, jalapeno pepper, kale, lots of basil, plus some store bought ingredients.

Last night was the bean cheesy chard recipe from Recipes for a Small Planet. I thought it was interesting. You know how FaceBook pops up "memories," what you posted on the same date last year or two years ago or whatever? FB came up with my post from two years ago, same date, talking about making the bean cheesy chard from my garden chard. When you eat from your garden, you tend to eat the same things at the same times of the year!

[Taiji]

Will eat some of this tonight. This is one of my most beautiful cabbages ever. Almost felt sad to harvest it. No worms, no aphids, nada! I've taken to growing Early Copenhagen mostly. It does well here, I think it outgrows the pests better. I start it indoors from seed.

[jal_ut]

Nice cabbage.

[Gary350]

Garlic, onions, potatoes, yellow squash, zucchini squash, blue lake bush beans, bell peppers, oregano, parsley.

[ButterflyLady29]

Garlic scapes with my canned pinto beans for lunch.

[Lindsaylew82]

Garlic scapes with my canned pinto beans for lunch.

Was gonna say "like a propah suthnuh!" But then I saw Ohio. better getchu some Cornbread to go with them beans!

Tonight I sautéed onions, squash, purple Marconi peppers, baby spinach and garlic with some evoo and s&p. Made it into a "cream" sauce by adding almond milk and veggie broth base. Thickened it with a little tapioca flour and nutritional yeast (sounds gross...awesome parm replacement!!!). Added some fresh green peas and a big blob of white miso paste at the end. We served it over broken lasagna noodles, cause lame-o numero uno right here thought we had pasta but didn't check PRIOR to cooking sauce... It turned out GREAT! Big kid ate it! Wee kid ate it! I got some left over for lunch tomorrow!! (Yay!)

[digitS']

Escarole! With chicken sausage and potato cakes ...

The escarole is a perfect accompaniment for my Saturday brunch . There is quite a bit in the garden. It makes a good change from bok choy and broccoli, and before the cabbage is ready.

I think I'll get some beans soaking for Sunday's lunch. Escarole and bean soup!

Steve

[KitchenGardener]

Tonight I sautéed onions, squash, purple Marconi peppers, baby spinach and garlic with some evoo and s&p. Made it into a "cream" sauce by adding almond milk and veggie broth base. Thickened it with a little tapioca flour and nutritional yeast (sounds gross...awesome parm replacement!!!). Added some fresh green peas and a big blob of white miso paste at the end. We served it over broken lasagna noodles, cause lame-o numero uno right here thought we had pasta but didn't check PRIOR to cooking sauce... It turned out GREAT! Big kid ate it! Wee kid ate it! I got some left over for lunch tomorrow!! (Yay!)

Lindsay: that sounds so healthy and if it was delish, count me in! Any way that you can provide a recipe, or is that it, lol?

[Lindsaylew82]

Lindsay: that sounds so healthy and if it was delish, count me in! Any way that you can provide a recipe, or is that it, lol?

Hahaha! Unfortunately I'm WAY too lazy to write anything down. I cook very touch and go. It's kind of funny that I have SOOOO MANY cookbooks. It's an obsession. A cook book is a great gift! Especially if it has pretty pictures! With such a love for them, I NEVER use them...EVER! I grew up watching my nanny cook everything by taste, feel, and look. I cook exactly the same way. I generally look at cook books for general ideas, and then go with it my own way. Very rarely, it hasn't paid off. Resident Man can't fill a handsworth of fingers of the bad meals I've put in front of him. (But the bad were BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!) (and some he ate anyway, bless his heart.)
I'd say it was roughly:

1 red onion sliced
3-4 medium zucchini/squash
1 long purple Marconi pepper (think red bell) sliced
4 cloves of garlic smashed very hard
Sauté in evoo-maybe 1-2 tbsp. Until softened.

Add 3 chunky handfuls of spinach, and cook until mostly dry.

Add enough unsweetened/ unflavored almond milk, soy milk, or regular milk to JUST cover the veg. Then add:
2 cups of cooked white beans
2 Tbsp vegetable base (it's a paste)
3 or so tbsp of tapioca or arrowroot powder (first mix it with 1/2-ish cup of COLD water until lumps are gone.)

Bring to heavy simmer. It should thicken quickly and then add:
Salt and pepper to your seasoning taste
1/2 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 cup of peas

Pour over a whole box of cooked pasta. Simmer with pasta for a minute or two, and then serve.

[applestar]

[Lindsaylew82]

Oh! I forgot! Add a big blob (3-5 tbsp.) of white miso paste right when you add the sauce to the pasta! It's salty, so you may want to account for that when you season with s&p.

[KitchenGardener]

Thank you so much!

[Lindsaylew82]

El gusto es mio!

[rainbowgardener]

Had company for dinner last night to share the bounty! Dinner was green salad, pesto potato salad, corn on the cob, and rotisserie chicken for the non-vegetarians.

EVERYTHING (except chicken!) from the garden. Salad was heavy on chard and kale with cherry tomatoes. Potato salad was garden potatoes, with my own pesto, chopped up big tomato, bell peppers, and a bit of jalapeno. Everything but the little bit of mayo in it from the garden... And a whole big bowl of fresh picked corn! More than we could eat!

[applestar]

We had these for lunch yesterday. Looking at the picture, I'm thinking they don't look all that appetizing, but I didn't want to roast them until crispy with crust. In fact, I was half thinking of steaming them because I wanted to preserve the tender goodness of new potatoes. In the end, I coated them in EVOO, freshly clipped Rosemary, smashed outer clove of an elephant garlic, Pink Himalayan seasalt. And freshly ground black peppers, some butter cut into bits, and chopped oyster mushrooms. Put on a parchment lined sheet then folded excess parchment over the corners and all around, leaving open middle. So they semi-steamed. 425 for 30 minutes.

i tried to get family to tell me which one tasted the best so I can narrow down the varieties to grow, but they said they ALL tasted great.

[AnnaIkona]

So far only peas and radishes and lettuce. Looking forward to cukes, tomatoes, beats, carrots, etc.

[digitS']

El gusto es mio!

The pleasure is mine! Except you are sharing gusto* here. How could this not be the best thing about a vegetable garden forum? Just to have an idea of what others are enjoying from their gardens, adds pleasure to my gardening life.

Rainbow''s feast ... AppleStar's new potatoes, subtly and wonderfully different from the way they will be from storage and subtly seasoned by an accomplished cook -- no wonder "they ALL tasted great."

Steve
*from Spanish: taste

[pinksand]

I ate my very first homegrown cucumber today I wish I'd taken a photo! It was delicious and the skin was nice and tender with seeds just the right size. I was worried it was picked too early but it seemed perfect!

Last year was my first try at growing them and I only had a single plant. The only cukes it produced were twisted and malformed so I just stopped watering it and gave upl. This year I have several plants and they are absolutely covered in babies that seem to be growing nicely with a beautiful shape.

[applestar]

Gotta have cukes! Mine are starting to take off and some are starting to bloom

My sunniest area elderberries are in full bloom -- some have already faded, but more to come and the shady area ones have only just started.

I was trying to decide if I want to harvest the flowers since I still have some of the bottled flower syrup from last year ... I made a lot and hot water bath canned them But today, I made a slushy with one. Oh wow it's very sweet ...as sweet as those artificially colored 7-11 ones, I would surmise, but mine is made with our frozen strawberries -- oh so YUM!

I'm done gardening for today, but definitely going out and gathering some flowers tomorrow!

[KitchenGardener]

had a stirfry of snow peas, broccoli, onions, carrots and tofu all from the garden. I grow the tofu on one of those little mini tofu trees. It was so good.

Today's lunch was a saute of onions, summer squash, red pepper (not from the garden but I DO have my first padrons ), tomatoes and basil. I ate it all, just can't stop when its so good.

lettuce is just about gone, one more head to eat before the next batch grows up. Onions are bulking up and they along with the shallots have no plans to die any time soon. I learned my lesson by pulling some and realized their thick green stems are still very much producing and alive. That said, I have been pulling them, cutting them in half and grilling them and they are very, very good indeed. No one else can have any (okay, maybe just a little).

[Lindsaylew82]

had a stirfry of snow peas, broccoli, onions, carrots and tofu all from the garden. I grow the tofu on one of those little mini tofu trees. It was so good.

HAAAA! (I was sneaking on the site after I finished my LAST homework assignment of this blasted Spanish class...oh thank goodness!!! and this made me LOL. The Downgraded to Permanent Roomate Resident Man asked me what did I think was so funny about Spanish 101 ! BUSTED! )

Tonight we had a lentil stew made with tomatoes and onions from the garden. We had sliced cucumbers and sliced Cherokee Purple, Valencia, and Eva Purple Ball tomatoes.

[rainbowgardener]

Had company over for dinner last night. Had green salad with garden cherry tomatoes and the first of my green beans, and fresh tomato pasta.

For the pasta: Sauteed onion and garlic (no garden garlic this year ), added mushrooms, salt and pepper and one of my little jalapenos, then a whole bunch of fresh basil, like more than a cup. Added in the chopped up stems of my rainbow chard. After all that was tender, put in six cups of fresh picked kale and chard (kale first because it takes more cooking), adding a cup or so of the water the pasta was cooking in. Once that was tender, I put in two pints of fresh picked chopped tomatoes and cooked just until the tomatoes started to soften.

Put the tomato and greens mixture on top of the drained-and-buttered-but-not-rinsed pasta, threw some sliced almonds and grated parmesan on top, and presto! quick, easy, nutritious, wonderful dinner! I should have gotten its picture, it was so pretty with the dark greens,red tomatoes, colorful chard stems ....

And all the onion peel, garlic skins, basil stems, mushroom stems, etc simmered up afterwards into the most wonderful smelling soup stock!

[pepperhead212]

This is actually from LAST season, and I have to finish them off soon! I just used a butternut squash (or rather, most of it) last night. I still have 12 in the basement, and the new ones are showing up on the vines. It will be a long time before those are ready, but I have to use these up! And they are the largest ones - the reason I've put off using some of them.

[Gary350]

DINNER Last night. Salad with tomatoes, lettuce, onion, parsley, oregano. Corn on the cob. BBQ pork chops on the grill.