What are you eating from your garden?

[applestar]

That mature Suyo Long cucumber I harvested for saving seeds had been “curing” in the kitchen produce basket. And it has turned solid yellow but developed a sunken spot near the blossom end, so I decided today was the day to process it.

Cut off the relatively minor bad part, and tasted it to see if the skin might be edible after being cooked — it was tender enough to eat raw. The flesh wasn’t sweet, which I wondered about, but was watery/juicy and full of flavor.

I started with minced shallots in EVOO, added cubes of the de-seeded mature cucumber, and some diced can’t-get-any-redder saladette size tomatoes, some diced mushrooms … then added diced ham (I made a big ham yesterday — sous vide and then baked to caramelize coconut brown sugar glaze with ‘Flying Dragon’ juice and brandy apples extract from last year.)

Once the cucumber and tomato liquid started to bubble, added rinsed whole purple hulless barley, brought back to boil and then turned down to low to cook.

Added the noodles and thickened with a bit of whole wheat flour whisked in sweetened vanilla flavor rice milk.

This soup is SO RICH!

[imafan26]

I made a salad with cucumber from my garden and lettuce from the other garden (hydroponic). Green onions from my garden and okinawan sweet potato.

I dropped a lemon tree when I was watering so a lemon fell off. I picked it up and used the juice to add to my crystal light tea.

[pepperhead212]

A couple days ago, when I trimmed all those kaffir lime tree branches, I knew I had to cook some Thai curry! Yesterday I got busy in my workshop too late, so I had to do it today! I had about 3/4 c red curry paste left in the freezer, and my last 3 c of curry milk in the pantry. I cooked some thighs for the chicken (chicken breast just doesn't work for me, in Thai curries), and got that ready early. Later, I got the veggies ready, some of the last from the garden - eggplants, long beans, okra, one of the two onions, and a few of the mild peppers, cut into chunks. The okra and onions I cooked first, then the eggplant, long beans, peppers, and Swiss chard stalks went in, for 10 minutes. Then I removed the li.e leaves, and stirred in the chicken, to warm up, followed by the Thai basil. I served this on a mix of jasmine rice, and some millet - something I mix with jasmine rice, so I'm not eating just starch. I cook them together in the IP, but put the millet in early, to soak 15 min or so, while fixing other other things, then add the jasmine rice, and set it in "rice" mode, which pressure cooks on low, for 12 min. I set that when I added the okra and onions to the curry, and they were ready a little early. The millet has little flavor, and the jasmine is still strong here.
The Thai curry started, with the curry paste cooked in a small amount of the coconut milk, until separated, then mixed with the milk. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The second batch of vegetables added, after cooking the okra and chunks of onions first. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Cooked chicken, added last, just to heat through, before adding the Thai basil. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

50/50 jasmine rice and millet, which I add for the nutrients, and the flavor of the jasmine rice remains in the front. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished batch of the Thai curry, with chicken, eggplant, okra, peppers , long beans, onions, and stalks from Swiss chard. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Gary350]

Sugar Snap peas.

[Vanisle_BC]

Carrot
Broccoli
Turnip
Pak Choi
Arugula
Leek
Onion ...
(And pending:)
B. Sprouts
Rutabaga

[imafan26]

I just started harvesting ginger. I gave some away, and I used a little for stir fry. I have preserved a bottle of ginger in Sherry that will last me at least a year and I still have more ginger yet to harvest. I did make pork and eggplant with one eggplant from my garden and 5 small eggplant I got from the other garden.

[Gary350]

We made a pizza with Crescent rolls, we had no pizza crust. Cover pizza pan with crescent roll dough cook the crust before adding toppings. Sauce, pepperonis, sweet RED Carmen peppers from the garden, GREEN Anaheim peppers from the garden, diced onions, garden celery sliced, Home made garden red chili powder sprinkled over everything, pizza cheese, Mexican cheese. Wow best pizza we have ever made.

[digitS']

I just started harvesting ginger...

Another year with ginger mostly in the greenhouse but sitting just outside for much of the growing season. This is only one plant of several and was grown from the store-bought root there with a darker color. It will be used first but we use a fair amount of ginger -- mostly simply sauteed with ground beef and other ingredients like shallots and garlic with a green vegetable added and served with rice. I believe this is the 7th year for putting some roots in pots and making a little use of the Summer greenhouse.

Steve

[imafan26]

I don't use the darker colored rhizomes. Those are usually my starter pieces that I planted the container with. Maybe I should try them and see how they taste because I have just thrown them out.

[digitS']

Imafan,

It is likely that these roots have a shorter time growing the above-ground plants than they would in your garden. I am not sure if that would make a difference by imagine so.

The first year trying to grow ginger, the production was something of a joke. We then decided that it was best to leave the plants mostly in the greenhouse. Ventilation is not good in there during the Summer months without running the exhaust fan. I won't do that with next to nothing in there after May and until September. The door is open but there are no roof vents. It has little cooler air movement through its 20' interior. The ginger is pretty much fine with that.

Steve

[Gary350]

Wife made vegetable beef stew with garden, peas, potatoes, carrots, onions, and she forgot we have celery in the garden. Stew is so good it doesn't need celery. I ate 2 bowls. 2 hours later I ate 2 more bowls.

[imafan26]

Yesterday, I made soba salad for a pot luck. I used green onions from my garden and I also brought some calamansi for garnish

This is the soba salad recipe
3 bundles soba noodles, cooked, washed and drained
2 stalks green onions, sliced small
1 bunch cilantro, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 lb ocean salad ( seaweed, sesame oil, sesame seed, sugar)

Dressing:
1 tablespoon neutral oil ( I used avocado oil)
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons soy sauce.

Combine oils and crushed red pepper in a small saucepan. Heat on medium heat for 3 minutes to infuse oil. Cool
add honey and soy sauce. Stir well. Dress salad right before serving and mix well.

I made two dressings. There were people at the pot luck who don't like spice, so I made this dressing and another one that omitted the chili flakes. I did have kim chi on the side I bought, calamansi from my yard, and minced super chilies from my yard for those who like spicy.

Other ingredients that could have been added: fried tofu, thin slices of cucumber, carrots, bell pepper, edamamen steamed bok choy, mushrooms, steamed broccoli, toasted sesame seeds, or red cabbage, It would not be vegetarian, but kamabuko, vegeten, furikake, cooked shrimp could also be added.
Salad can be served cold or at room temperature.

[imafan26]

Ginger usually only needs about 5 months to grow. Here it is possible to get two harvests a year, However, once the flowers bloom, everything has to be harvested because the plant will go dormant until April. Roots can be stored in damp sand in a cool location as long as it does not freeze.

[Gary350]

Thai Basil pancake, Thai Basil scrambled egg. I mixed Thai Basil into each one before cooking it. Thai Basil has a much better flavor than sweet basil. Aunt Jemina pancake mix is now called, Pearl Milling. 1/4 cup of pancake mix + 1/4 cup water makes 1 pancake.

[imafan26]

I just made a ham and egg omelet with green onions from the garden. I have a few lemons that dropped so I have been adding the lemon juice to my ice tea. I took some minced chili peppers to a potluck. Most people don't like it spicy so I had the peppers on the side so people who do like it hot could spiced their plate up a bit more. I made fenadeni. It goes with anything that goes with rice.

[Vanisle_BC]

My wife saved pepper seeds thinking I'd want to grow them; but I don't know what they are from & maybe they're hybrid. Has anyone ever tried roasting - and tasting - pepper seeds? I

[pepperhead212]

There's a Mexican chile - cascabel - that has an incredibly large number of seeds in them (the name means "rattle", which is due to the seeds!), and often it is traditional to remove the seeds, and toast the seeds in a skillet after toasting the peppers, and grinding both of them, for various sauces.

Today I took over some sage, rosemary, and garlic out of the garden, for my friends. I don't think anything in those desserts I made were from the garden!

[imafan26]

More cucumbers, chilies, lemons, green onions, and ginger.

[digitS']

In the Thanksgiving meal and leftovers that we had today? All from storage in one way or another:

Shallots in the stuffing.
Potatoes and Celeriac in the mashed potatoes.
Green Beans.
Cabbage, secondary buds sauteed
Winter Squash in the "pumpkin" pie

DD took some leaf lettuce home that is growing in a greenhouse bed. She also took home the second pumpkin pie.

Steve

[pepperhead212]

Nothing from the garden in those sweets I took for Thanksgiving, but in the day after, in the soup I made with some of the broth I made with the turkey carcass, I used some onion, garlic, and a couple of small sprigs of rosemary and sage, and some parsley, and some bok choy. The bok choy I chopped up the greens from, and added that early, and the cut up stalks towards the end. The soup started with that broth, and some purple barley, along with some green chickpeas, which I cooked a couple of hours in the Instant Pot, on slowcooker regular mode. Then I soaked, and cleaned up, and chopped 3/4 oz boletus mushrooms, saving the rinsing water, and adding it to the soup (this made it even darker), and some chana dal, and some whole mung beans, along with the greens, and slowcooked another 2 hours. Meanwhile, I cleaned up, quartered (or less, with those large ones) and cooked 1½ lbs of creminis, adding a chopped up onion, and some garlic minced with a small amount of rosemary, towards the end of cooking. When the dal and mung beans were almost done, I added the mushroom/onion mix, 1/2 c black quinoa, and about 1/3 c masoor dal, to cook about another hour, and thicken it some, adding the cut up bok choy stems, and about 1 c cut up turkey, for cooking just the last 10 minutes. I served this with some reggiano grated on the top.
Finished mushroom barley soup, made with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished mushroom barley soup, before topping with some reggiano cheese. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

I finally got around to roasting my vegetables today. I am using rosemary and Jamaican oregano for seasoning. I forgot to harvest my leeks. Otherwise it would have been roasted too. I have roasted potatoes, sweet potato, okinawan seet potato (that was from the ones I grew too) , celery, bell pepper, carrot, onion, and garlic. I seasoned with sprigs of rosemary and Jamaican orgegano, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, lots of Mrs. Dash garlic and herb seasoning, cumin, poultry seasoning. This is the first time I am trying cumin as one of the seasonings.

I went to the store to do some shopping last week and also to Costco and Sam's club. Plain salt is hard to find and also some seasonings. I find a lot of grill mixes. I could not find poultry seasoning, so I ordered it from amazon. It is something I do use a lot. I guess I need to plant another sage and thyme.

[Gary350]

Wife made this very quick lunch. Sausage cut into 1/4 thick slices fried in skillet. 1 package of stir fry vegetables. About 100 sugar snap garden peas. Stir fry sauce. This is very good.

This bug with 18 black spots came into the house with the peas.

[applestar]

I think that’s just a ladybug with more spots. Only time you need to be concerned is if they are the bean beetle kind — yellower with (I think) 20 or maybe 24 small round black spots — they would have left white/tan colored stacked-square scrape marks on the leaves.

This one was probably patrolling your peas for aphids that proliferate when temps cool down until actual freeze. When there is a thaw during winter, ants bring them out of their nets to pasture on plants as well.

[pepperhead212]

I had some leftover dal, from a couple nights ago, and tonight I made something to go with it, using the smallest butternut squash in my collection (I was just looking them all over for any bad spots, but all look fine, so I just took the smallest). I saw a recipe recently, that I wanted to try, which called for 500g of "pumpkin", and I had just over that (537g) of butternut, once it was cubed, so I just used a little extra, of the rest of the ingredients. Here's the recipe it was based on - just used a mild Numex chile I had, since it looks like a mild pepper like the Kashmiri, in the pictures in the recipe, though it doesn't specify.
https://www.kannammacooks.com/parangikai-kari/

Other than the squash, there wasn't much prep work, besides measuring, and grinding up that paste. I used some frozen coconut, for the fresh coconut called for.
Mis en plas for a simple butternut squash curry, with a masala paste, based on coconut and sesame seeds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Coconut sesame masala paste. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Butternut squash added to the spices and ready to cover, and steam for about 8 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The steamed butternut, after adding the masala paste, to cook off a couple of minutes, stirring frequently. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Butternut ready to serve, after cooking the pasta down for 2 just minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Pumpkin curry, with sesame and coconut sauce, served on brown rice and millet. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

Looks good!

We had one of the smallest butternut squash, too, in a veg soup. That soup morphed from a simple veg soup —> add 1/2 loaf dried up sourdough bread that was buried in the freezer with rice milk (yeasty, thick stew with most of the potatoes and squash completely falling apart) —> add wide egg noodles and whole wheat penne with chicken broth, along with butter and paprika (made with smokey roasted dehydrated peppers), being reheated with new cycle of “Slow Cook” at MED each time. We finally finished the pot last night.

[pepperhead212]

I had a little of the butternut squash dish I made last night, reheated, to go with the more soupy sambar dish I made tonight, from the radishes I harvested today. The recipe I based it on called for some radish greens, but I'm not crazy about those, so they went into the compost, and I used some cabbage leaves, I also harvested some small plants of. I had about a cup of chopped greens, 1½ c of diced radishes, and a generous cup of chopped onions. I started by cooking 3/4 c toor dal, in the Instant Pot, with 1½ c water, and 3/4 tsp each asafoetida and turmeric, with a little salt. When finished, I whisked it to smooth it out some, and let it cool, while cutting and measuring out all the rest of the ingredients. I used about a cup of chopped up, thawed tomatoes, and used the juice drained from the tomatoes, as part of the water in the dish.

The vegetables were sautéed in a couple tb of oil for 6 minutes, over medium heat. Then the cooled dal was stirred in, with a cup of the rice/millet mix I made last night, plus 2 1/2 c water, and once simmering, I cooked for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Then I made the tarka, by heating 1 tb oil with 3/4 tsp each mustard seed and urad dal, and once it was crackling, and the dal was golden, I added 4 broken byadagi peppers, cooked about 10 sec, then added the curry leaves - about 15 - and cooked about 15 sec, until crisp, then put it on the sambar, followed by some cilantro.
A few radishes, plus 2 small cabbage heads, just forming, about 3-4" inside the greens. Last day of Nov. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Toor dal, after pressure cooking and cooling, and whisking until mostly smooth. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Sambar masala powder and Kashmiri pepper powder, added to the radishes, onions, and cabb by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The radish sambar, after adding the cooked dal, and about a cup of the rice/millet mix from by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients for the tarka - mustard seeds and urad dal, some byadagi peppers, and curry leaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The sambar after simmering 10 min, topped with the tarka. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A generous amount of cilantro added to finish the sambar. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I made that Swiss chard salad - a recipe that I saw in bon apétit:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/swiss ... asta-salad

I had 12 oz of ditalini left from something, so I just increased everything in the recipe a little, and still didn't use all of the chard. Turned out really good, and I'll definitely be making this in the summer, when I love to make these kind of salads, with some variations, like some grains or lentils, replacing some of the pasta. This time, I used hazelnuts in place of pistachios, since that's what I had in the freezer, and they were really good.
The sliced up stems from the Swiss chard, starting to cook for the pasta salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The chard stems cooked for 4 minutes, with the hazelnuts added, and cooked about 2 minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The chard leaves after cooking about 2 minutes in the residual heat, until wilted. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Swiss Chard pasta salad. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[Vanisle_BC]

Harvested a nice Miyashige daikon today, that weighed 1 lb. Slices of it added a pleasant, mild 'kick' to the scalloped potatoes we had with our Latvian stew tonight.

[imafan26]

I have some red aconcagua peppers that I used in my beef and macaroni recipe. The peppers are crisp and look like they would be good for stuffing. I have enough to last 4-5 days.

This was the first time I have successfully grown them. They must be good, the birds ate one of the red ones.

I made a salad of lettuce and cucumber for dinner. The lettuce is starting to bolt but because the weather is cool, it isn't bitter yet. I may keep one of the lettuce again for seed.

[Vanisle_BC]

Nearly everything left in the garden is 'finished' - small & stunted. The beds look like a worked-out neglected disaster but here's what I got today and there's lots left:

Kale, cabbage leaves, arugula, small broccoli, carrots, daikon, tiny beets, leek, turnip, rutabaga and bok choi. I'll be adding store bought potatoes, onion, peas & noodles for tonight's stir fry/chop suey. Tempted to harvest the Brussels sprouts but I'm saving those for Xmas.

[digitS']

Kale.

kale.jpeg (126.95 KiB) Viewed 445 times

For dinner … It’s time to start making use of “what is there” in the way of garden veggies. Otherwise, it’s frozen or purchased.

The fingers crossed for some nice, big Gai Lan didn’t help. Mild out-of-season weather (coldest 19°f, -7°C) so far but the Gai Lan looked bad as soon as daily freezing began. They are all but dead, now. Not So, for the Scotch Kale - of course. The one that has surprised me for several years now are the Collards. There are mustard greens in a greenhouse bed and the mild temps have allowed the lettuce in there to continue. I don't intend to heat or even cover that little bed so the lettuce may not make it far into the Winter. The mustard should be just fine.

And, kale. We have quite a few plants, even in the flower beds.

Steve

[imafan26]

Cucumber, peppers, green onions. My old kale is just stems now and my new kale is only 3 inches tall. Feast or famine around here. Yours looks nice and tender.

[imafan26]

I decided yesterday to make nishime. I was not going to do that because I already have a lot to eat. However, it is a traditional New Year dish and it is about the only time all of the ingredients are available. I had araimo (about 4 1/2 months old, so a little early) and a daikon ready in the yard.

I only planned to make a little, but you know that almost never works out for me.

I don't grow gobo. I have grown it in the past. It is actually not hard to grow but it is hard to harvest. I think I will have to add araimo to that list. I actually grew a few big ones and those broke a sweat to harvest. Smaller ones are not that hard to harvest. The daikon was transplanted so it wasn't straight but it was just right in size and it came out in one piece. Good thing the araimo and daikon were in pots. It would have been even harder to get them out of the ground.

I still used the frozen nishime vegetables because I did not want to put in a whole hasu or two gobo roots. I did add more shitake mushrooms and more aburage.

I make a more traditional nishime that does not have a lot of gravy. My family likes the one my mom makes which is swimming in soy sauce. I also did not add any salt or aji and I only have low sodium soy sauce. So this nishime is actually low salt compared to what it would normally be like. I normally make this with pork, but this time I made it with chicken.

My sister came this morning to raid my garden for green onions to make chicken and long rice. She had come from the farmer's market but they did not have any green onions.

[Gary350]

Bake bean sandwich is very good with coleslaw. Garden celery is growing better now than it was in summer 100° weather, it survived 20° winter temperatures. Wife made coleslaw with garden celery and I cooked baked beans with onions and garden paprika. I wonder what cold temperature kills celery.

[imafan26]

Bean sandwich, I've done that many times when I want something fast and fiilling to eat.

[imafan26]

I have a lot of vegetables in my frig
Yesterday, I made kale with bacon, onions, and garlic, stir fried in oil. Kale is not bitter at this time of the year. I had it with my breakfast eggs
I had half a plate lunch leftover so I made some coleslaw as a side for it. I still have some cabbage left.
Today, I finished off the remainder of the bagged salad I had. I pan fried a boneless pork loin and ate half of it in the salad with somen dressing. I make my own dressing. I have soy sauce, but I don't add any additional salt and I am using truvia for the sugar.

I am thinking of making one of these:

chow fun. I have carrots, onions, beans, peas, celery, a choice of mustard or Kale. I can add the remainder of the cabbage as well. I can use the cooked pork loin for the meat

Alternatives to chow fun would be fried noodles, chow mein, chop chae,

Lions head. I have the won bok (Napa cabbage) that I got from the farmer's market. I have Ground pork and tofu to make the meat balls. I think I have everything else I need to make it. I have dried shitake mushrooms, bouillon, Xiao Xing wine, and most of the rest are pantry ingredients. I don't have water chestnute though.

Stir fry any protein or vegetarian and any vegetable.

I could make chicken long rice or
add vegetables and protein to ramen noodles.
Regardless of what I make I have a lot of vegetables to get through in a short time.

I have bananas I got from my bonsai club (they were supposed to be ice cream, but they are not. They are a cooking banana, but not saba.) I have been making smoothies with those. But I can use them in tapioca pudding or make banana fritters or pancakes. Lots of choices, where to start?

[applestar]

What lovely bounties you are enjoying @imafan!

Makes me excited for the new season that is starting for us.

I put the broccoli side shoots from the hoophouse in tomato sauce and meatballs pasta sauce accented with sweet marjoram trimmings (also store bought sugar snap peas) yesterday. I was planning to use the cabbages and another harvest of broccoli side shoots with some pork today, but hubby decided to order sushi delivery.

I think the pork and cabbage will be Korean or Chinese style since we had Italian and Japanese.

[imafan26]

That's an idea. I never thought to put broccoli in pasta sauce.

Today, the only thing I used from my garden was lemon for my iced tea. It was huge. I got four pieces out of the one lemon.

[imafan26]

I wanted something hot for breakfast this morning so I made ramen noodle soup. I used 2 packages of ramen noodles, but only one dashi packet. I chopped up all of the Swiss chard I picked the other day, added some chopped ham, added a little more light soy, oyster sauce, and pepper. I made enough so I can have the rest of it later today. One more vegetable down. cabbage, Tokyo Bekana, bok choy, snow peas, beans, won bok, bananas, avocado to go.

[Gary350]

I have been eating seed tops on my pac choy - boc choy. I break the stems off with 3 or 4 leaves and eat 30 of them standing in the garden. I even eat the ones with yellow flowers they all have a very good flavor. They look like tiny broccoli but tastes much better. Boc choy is easier to grow than broccoli and seed tops grow back over and over much faster growing than broccoli. No cooking required it is very soft easy to eat.

Seed package says, pac choy - boc choy. I assume pac choy is the same as boc choy?