What are you eating from your garden?

[Gary350]

Corn on cob, peas, sliced tomato, fried turkey burger.

[Gary350]

Dinner was, Roma Flat Beans, French Fingerling Potatoes, Pork Roast.

[imafan26]

I picked my first okra yesterday and ate it raw. It was pretty good, nice and tender. Okra is not that popular because of the slimy texture, but once it starts producing there will be more than enough. I just have to find people who like it.

I had Joe E Parker pepper (2 of them) for breakfast yesterday. I made a pepper, spinach, and cheese omelet. The pepper is not hot. It is a good frying pepper, it stayed fairly firm with cooking. Sadly, I will probably not be growing this one again because it does not have resistance to bacterial spot.

[applestar]

I took some of the cherry tomatoes and figs to give to my mom today. She’ll share with her room mate at the LTC.

She said the head chef has been coming around to their table to serve tomatoes harvested from their community’s vegetable garden, saying these are tomatoes from the seed-started plants I gave him in spring.

[pepperhead212]

Yesterday, made a creole type dish, to use up that okra I had been accumulating for a while. I was originally going to make some Szechwan eggplant - something I've been having a craving for, and something I'll have when I'm finished with this!

Not a one dish meal, though it does end up in one dish. I started by cooking a lb of chopped up andouille sausage, then setting it aside in a bowl, then starting 1¼c of parboiled basmati rice in some salted water, in a saucepan, and turned that of after 20 minutes, to add to the dish at the end. Meanwhile, I cut up a large onion, and started sautéeing that in the Instant Pot, adding 2 diced green bell peppers, and cooking those while chopping up the end of my celery and the leaves (about 2 c total), and adding this, and cooking, while mincing up 6 cloves of garlic, and cooking this about a minute, with a half tsp of cloves, a quarter tsp of ground bay, a tsp of ground Thai peppers, and 2 tsp thyme. After a minute, I stirred in a little over a lb of tomatoes, puréed coarsely, and brought to a boil, while getting the okra washed, trimmed, and sliced into 1/2-3/4" pieces. This is stirred into the sauce, I added a little more salt, in the form of soy sauce, and a little more Thai pepper powder. I covered and sealed the IP, set on Manual/4 min, then let pressure reduce naturally (cooks quite a bit more before and after). While this was cooking, I cooked a lb of sliced mushrooms - washed and drained, then steamed them briefly in a wok, with only a tb of water (more comes out of the mushrooms, from the washing), and as soon as the water is almost gone, 2 tsp oil is added, and they are sautéed about 7 minutes, and they browned very well. When the okra was done, this is stirred in, along with the sausage, then about 2/3 of the rice was stirred in, then the rest (turns out, I guessed right!). The salt I put in the rice was enough, and it didn't need any more salt or heat. I let it sit 5 min, to absorb some of the liquid, and this made it just right.
About 3 cups of okra, trimmed and cut up. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Some onions, garlic, and 2 bell peppers, cooked together, then a pound of puréed tomatoes, and a lb of sausage added, to cook with the okra. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished creole type dish, with okra, andouille, mushrooms, tomatoes, and rice. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

Haha My family is not big on Okra so I’d tapered off growing them — another hot weather summer crop I have difficulties with in any case.

Before, a member named “gumbo” from New Orleans used to keep my interest going on growing them. Now, all your lovely cooking has revitalized my curiosity.

I’ll see if I can get those Little Lucy (was it) seeds for next year and ink them into my garden plans.

[pepperhead212]

Today I made one of my absolute favorite dishes, that I was craving recently - that Szechwan eggplant dish. I just bought some cheap pork loin, and ground it all up - only had to trim a little over 8 oz of thick fat off one - the rest, were so thin with fat, they wouldn't even be good for sausage! I saved a pound, from the 10+ lbs of ground pork, for the eggplant dish.
The rest I sealed in the Foodsaver bags, 4 half pound, a 12 oz, and the rest 1 lb bags.

I made a double recipe today (as usual), and I used a very large amount of garlic chives, and about a half cup of regular chives, in place of chopped scallions - not traditional, but works great in these things, and I have large amounts of those things out there. And in place of the minced garlic and ginger, I start most of these dishes with, I start with that garlic/ginger paste, I keep in the freezer, mostly for Indian dishes, but I start the oil at a lower heat, then add the Szechwan chili/garlic paste first, then the garlic/ginger paste, and the Szechwan peppercorns and whole peppers, to keep that from browning too quickly. After choking temporarily, I added the meat mix, cooked that about 2 min, then added the eggplant, and SFd that about 2 min, added the sugar, and SFd another 2 min. Then I stirred in 3/4 c water, and loosened anything off the wok, covered, and cooked on medium, stirred a couple of times, for 13 minutes.

Meanwhile, I put about 3½ qts of water on to boil on Sauté/high in the Instant Pot (puts out less heat, which I'm doing enough in that wok!), and when I cover that eggplant, I put in a little salt for the pasta, put about 20 oz of pasta (a good amount for this dish, as you'll see), set it to boil for just 2 minutes, then stop it, and cook it 6 more minutes, then drain it, and rinse it.

When the eggplant is finished, I rinse the pasta briefly (to add a little more water), then dump in on top of the EP, and SF it another minute or so, to absorb the sauce. After a large helping (!) I have a 2 qt and a 1 qt container of leftovers! The kind of things I often eat for breakfast!
About 3 c of garlic chives and and regular chives, in place of scallions, for the Szechwan eggplant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Other ingredients ready for the Szechwan eggplant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The ground pork, with the chives, soy, and sesame oil, cooking with the garlic, ginger, and hot ingredients. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

A little over 2 lbs of eggplant, cooking with the meat and seasonings, sugar added the last two minutes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's the pasta, ready to fold in finished Szechwan eggplant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Szechwan eggplant dish, mixed into spiral pasta. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

okra, green onions, sweet potato, tomato,eggplant, peppers.

[Gary350]

We made Mexican Enchiladas for dinner. I am glad garden tomato plants are producing only 2 to 4 small to medium size tomatoes per day this time of the year. I bought 1/2 lb. of dry Enchilada chilies $4 at the Mexican flea market. We used our garden garlic & onions also. I made the sauce & wife cooked the meat then we both assembled the Enchiladas. Bake in oven long enough to melt cheese they are ready to eat. I forgot to take a pic of the pan of enchilada sauce. I grew enchilada chilies in the garden about 5 years ago it is less work to buy dry chilies at the flea market. 1/2 lb of chilies will make enchilada sauce 10 times, remove, stems, seeds, vanes.

[imafan26]

Looks like a good recipe. I always buy enchillada sauce because I don't make it much. Usually, I make chile rellenos instead of enchilladas. Even so, people think it is hot ( it is not, Anaheim chiles have very mild heat), so I don't get a lot of takers.

[Gary350]

Dinner, garden corn, garden potatoes, peas, pork chop.

[pepperhead212]

Besides that gazpacho I made a couple days before, to take to my friend's place on Labor Day, I took that Thai sweet and spicy dipping sauce, for the grilled chicken and I made a batch those Mahogany fire noodles, that I used some ground pork in, instead of chicken, and only about 8 oz of the dried rice noodles, so 3 of us ate all those up. All that gazpacho is gone, too! Here are those fire noodles - not the hottest I've made, so those Thai Dragons I grew this year weren't as hot as most.
A variation of the Mahogany fire noodles, I made for 3 of us today, only one other person tasting it, despite the warnings. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And that gazpacho, I took a couple of cups out of before, because I couldn't resist.
Another batch of gazpacho, but too late to cool for today. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

Today I was trying to use up a good portion of those smaller tomatoes, in a pasta/lentil dish, using up some more of those garlic scapes, in place of the garlic (amazing how long those things store in a fridge!). I pre-cooked those chana dal (I usually replace a lb of pasta with 1 1/3c legumes, pre-cooked) in the Instant Pot, in slow cook, so I could watch them, and catch them just at the right time, and stop them.

I cut up well over 3 lbs of mostly those Bronze Torch hybrids, and about a third of it the red Juliets, and a few of those Sunsugars, for color and sweetness. I stirred some salt into those, in a colander in a sink, to drain a little of the water out, while I was getting the rest ready. The garlic scapes I cut the tips off of, then sliced through the fibers, before putting about 1/2c of this into the food processor, to chop up finer, then added some salted capers (soaked from the beginning, then rinsed and drained), and a bunch of anchovies, and made a paste out of it. I stirred this into the tomatoes, along with that kalamata olive paste, and about half that of the green olive paste, and a little more good olive oil.

The medium shell pastas are my favorite for this, or anything else that will trap those pieces. I cooked that, and poured it over the chana dal, to make it hot again, then stirred into the tomato mix in a large bowl, along with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper. Definitely didn't need any more salt!
Over 3 lbs of the smaller tomatoes, cut up for the pasta, with the 2 olive pastes, and the paste of scapes, capers, and anchovies, before mixing. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Over 3 lbs of tomatoes, with the pastes, some olive oil, and a lot of chopped up basil, mixed in. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Pre-cooked chana dal, drained, to pour pasta over, to re-warm. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The finished pasta dish, with the pasta and chana dal mixed with the tomato mixture. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished pasta dish, ready to eat! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

We’re eating figs and persimmons practically every day. We SHOULD be eating tomatoes everyday, and nobody wants to eat cucumbers raw anymore, so I’m pickling them.

I’m looking at the 6 NutterbutterX and Greek Sweet Red squashes in the house and have decided to start demolishing the immature ones that won’t cure properly.

[Gary350]

Garden green beans, Garden fried potatoes, baked chicken.

[pepperhead212]

While waiting for the shade to get over the entire garden today, I made a batch of gazpacho, as I was planning to do, though it only put a dent in the tomatoes I had! And I was going to pick another 3 qts later. Here's the 4 qt bowl with the gazpacho, plus the diced cuke and red bell pepper, to chill for tomorrow.
Another batch of gazpacho, only thing I had to buy for it again was the bell peppers. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[pepperhead212]

I threw together another one of those Creole style dishes today, using a bunch of things from the garden, plus a few other things I had in the fridge, to use up. And I started by browning some bacon in an 8 qt pot, eventually removing it to a PT to drain, then removed most of the fat. Then I added a large chopped onion, cooked until golden, then added about 2 c of diced green bell peppers, 1 c of finely chopped carrots, and 6 cloves minced garlic, and the spices, plus 7 fresh bay leaves, and cooked on medium for about 5 minutes, or until I got all the okra cut up - a little more than 2 c - then while that was cooking, I cut up 2 Ichiban eggplants - a little more than 2 c again - and cooked that, stirring frequently, then added 5 c of tomatoes, puréed coarsely, and rinsed the blender out with at least 2 c water, and added the drained bacon. I brought it to a simmer, and added 1 c whole mung beans, and 3/4 c whole oats, and added salt to taste, and set to simmer on low for 40 min. Checked after 30, but definitely needed more, ending up to about 55 min, and could have used a little more, but I left it slightly al dente, so re-heating won't make it mushy. While that was cooking, I cut up, and cooked the lb of mushrooms I had for a while, and put them in for the last 10 min. This was the only thing that kept this from being one of those one dish meals, though it finished in the one dish. And I would have done this in the Instant Pot, and much quicker, but I have a batch of yogurt in there!
Creole dish started, with all the veggies, except for the tomatoes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Creole type dish, using some bacon, onion, garlic, bell peppers, carrots, okra, eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, mung beans, and whole oats. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished Creole dish, with a lot of okra. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

While daily “haul” might be sometimes small or not exactly what I wanted for that day, we’ve been eating so much harvested from the garden.

Tomatoes of course, very small offerings of peppers and eggplants but they are being enjoyed by Dd2 as well as adding extra touches in various dishes even if not as the main ingredient.

The main cucumbers have been done for a while, but the hoophouse gherkins are still coming in for occasional treat.

Culls as fall greens (lettuce, Asian greens) and root veg (carrots, turnips, daikon — greens and small roots) are thinned,

Mini heads of cabbages and broccoli side shoots.

Persimmons (last two fruits harvested yesterday). Figs will continue until frost.

Myoga (Japanese ginger) flowerbuds are coming up and trying to bloom (you’re supposed to harvest BEFORE) they bloom. I am using them like onions — about 4 loose cups went in a pork stew yesterday —cut in 1/4’s and floated in large bowl of water to release any dirt or grit that snuck in, then drained and chopped, and sautéed with meat being browned before adding liquids.

With the vines starting to die off, the squash have been ready to harvest one by one. These are to be fully cured, with kabocha expected to last for 2~3 months (I’d put expiration around January) and the butternut types expected to last all the way to beginning of next season (around May).

I’ve been cooking up the prematurely harvested squash that are not likely to cure properly, including that one torn down off the vine by an animal back in July.

I was pleasantly surprised to see it had managed to “cure” after thorough washing, rub down with rum, and thoroughly sprinkling with ground cinnamon and wrapped in plastic food wrap, and then put in a nylon fabric produce bag to hang in dark part of the kitchen.

It had actually turned buff color and developed waxy bloom. Even deep scratches calloused over. However, the seeds were not ripe and not filled and the flesh while solid was starchy and tasted similar to potato or a firm summer squash. But it worked well in a tomato-based pasta sauce.

One of the other runty immature still green squash went in that pork/myoga stew along with a small daikon. (Also, cabbage, garlic, Fish and Manganji peppers, basil and marjoram.)

[PaulF]

We are down to tomatoes...very few ripening these days, peppers still doing well until frost and the regrowth of spinach in the raised bed. A couple of apple trees are loaded and should be ripe in another couple of weeks. They will become applesauce. I do eat one off the tree every few days just to see if they are ready. Our second planting of green beans provided desert for the local deer population since I forgot to put up the barrier.

[Gary350]

I decided to make salsa today. I have 28 ripe garden tomatoes, frozen cilantro, frozen onion, frozen Jalapeno peppers. We still have garlic in the pantry.

Recipe is;
3 large ripe tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 medium onion
1 Jalapeno
1/4 cup Cilantro
1 Tablespoon lime juice.
1/2 tsp salt

Boil, tomatoes, garlic, Jalapeno, onion, 15 minutes, turn off heat allow to cool 1 hour.

I used 15 of our largest ripe tomatoes, about 1 cup of onion, 8 garlic cloves, 1 Jalapeno with no seeds. When cool to room temperature pour into a large food processor, add 1 cup chopped cilantro, 2 tsp salt, pulse food processor a few times then put in refrigerator for 24 hours. Mild spicy it is perfect, it taste as good as salsa at the Mexican restaurant. I have about 1½ quarts of salsa.

Put 1/2 cup of salsa in each Small zip lock bag to freeze to eat later.

[imafan26]

My recipe is similar to yours except mine has lemon juice as well. Pickings are slim in my garden because I haven't had the chance to plant anything yet. I am eating okra and asparagus (raw, in the garden. it never makes it into the house.), Calamansi, lemons, jalapenos, Thai peppers, Joe E parker peppers, super chili (mostly I am giving these away). green onions, sweet potato leaves, and kale. The worms are getting the bitter melon leaves and most of the sweet potato leaves. I must be doing something wrong. A lot of the dasheen I harvested are rotting before I get to use them. I dried some bay leaves, so I will be good for awhile.

[pepperhead212]

Today, I made a batch of pasta/tomato salad, using 2 c of chana dal, cooked for 12 min in the Instant Pot, while getting some of the other ingredients ready. After the pressure released on the dal, I let it drain in a colander, while cutting up the rest of the tomatoes, and those things for the seasoning paste - basil, a little Thai basil, garlic, anchovies, green and Kalamata olives, and some more olive oil. This is all mixed into the tomatoes, and let sit, until the pasta is cooked, is drained on the dal, to heat that up again, then it is all mixed with the tomato mix, to slightly cook that. Maybe the last batch of the season, though I do keep getting more tomatoes.

Over 3 lbs of tomatoes, with a paste of garlic, 3 basils, green and kalamata olives, and anchovies, ready to stir in. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The tomatoes with the paste stirred into them, along with about a tb of red wine vinegar, plus 4 tb EVOO. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish, with 2 c chana dal, cooked and drained, and a lb of spiral pasta, cooked al dente, and drained on the dal, then stirred into the tomatoes. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

Okra . Lemons are falling off the tree faster than I can use them. Green onions and peppers.

[pepperhead212]

Tonight I wanted to make something with that choy sum I harvested from just 2 plants, and looked in Seriouseats, to see if there were any broccoli recipes with mushrooms (I also have a lb of 'shrooms in the fridge). Choy sum is not something I'm expecting to see recipes for, but it's another flowering brassica, so I checked broccoli. Then I found a recipe I made a few years ago, that was really good, so I based it on that - I'll have to use the mushrooms another time. Here's the original recipe, and I used a bunch of choy sum, as you can see, and a little less than 8 oz. of bean thread noodles.
https://www.seriouseats.com/dinner-toni ... oli-recipe

The bean threads I simply soaked in not quite boiling water, while prepping the other ingredients. The leaves I cut the stems from, and cut them into about 2x1/2" pieces. The flowering sections I chopped fine, and those stems into about 1/2" pieces, which gave good crunch to the dish. Not as strong as broccoli, but definitely stronger than bok choy. I only cooked this 3 minutes, before adding the bean threads, and added about a tb of dark soy sauce in that last minute. This, and a tb instead of 2 tsp chili paste (as always, I increase this!) was all I did different from that recipe, plus the different greens.
The choy sum from 2 plants, leaves chopped about 1/2x2", stems into 1/2" pieces, and flowering parts chopped fine. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Ingredients lined up, other than the noodles - onions, garlic, carrots, shallots, vegetable broth, with some soy, ginger, 5-spice, and sesame oil mix. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

After cooking the onions until golden, and adding the garlic, cooking a minute, then adding the remaining ingredients, before the noodles and scallions. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished dish, after tossing the cellophane noodles and scallions over med-high heat, before adding a little dark soy, and chopping noodles some. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Served bowl of choy sum, with cellophane noodles and 5-spice seasoning. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Funny thing - just yesterday I tweaked my 5 spice powder mix, because I had gotten some that needed more star anise, and didn't even have any pepper or Szechwan peppercorns in it! And the star anise I had was ancient, so I had to get a fresh batch, and when I got it yesterday, I ground some up, added it to that 5 spice batch in a bowl, and added some finely ground Szechwan peppercorns, until it was well balanced, put some in the jar I keep it in, and vacuum sealed the rest in a bag, to refill the jar from, later on.

[Gary350]

This morning I cooked another French Crip in a cast iron skillet using 2 French Fingerling potatoes. These are crunchy like potatoes chips and are good with breakfast.

[imafan26]

Looks good. I just harvested lemons and limes. Well, technically, they are falling off the trees. I add them to ice tea or freeze the juice in ice cube trays for later. I usually make lemon meringue pies with them. I put green onions and a few of the ripe sweet peppers in my omelet and I am still getting one or two pods of okra a day. I harvested more araimo/dasheen.

[applestar]

‘Flying Dragon’ “biscuits” — based on recipe that was all in metric and celsius, so am assuming these are “cookies”?

Subbed ‘Flying Dragon’ trifoliate orange juice for lemon juice and zest and replaced 1/3 of sugar with Lakanto monks fruit + erythritol.

Also dipped fingers in additional “flying dragon” juice while shaping into balls.

1 recipe was supposed to make 36, but x1.5 recipe yielded 24+28=52 yummy 1” balls.

…Also made an iPot full of basic from-scratch chicken soup, using a couple of harvested garlic cloves and adding one of the 9/13 harvested NutterButterX squashes — seeds removed and cut up. Left the rind on but basically melted into the soup. I had overfilled it because I forgot the squash was going to release a lot of liquid, and the pot was nearly a little over the max line when cooking cycle was completed

…Last I checked the pot was nearly empty — maybe two servings left…

[applestar]

Also, strictly speaking, I’m not “eating” this, but ….

I made rosemary extract tincture with older storebought organic rosemary from the cupboard + 91% rubbing alcohol, and “yomogi oil” with harvested and dried mugwort + extra virgin olive oil.

Diluting the rosemary tincture 1:1 with filtered water and adding 10% by volume of yomogi oil in a small spray mister, shaking vigorously and spraying on face and hands after cleansing.

During the summer, I was needing to control oily skin and skin restoring/after sun care so the rubbing alcohol base and “plantain oil” at 1% by volume.

But my skin gets so dry as the season changes and need more nourishing so yomogi oil at higher ratio.

Very nice.

My next batch of rosemary tincture for the winter months is steeping in Everclear. And my next batch after that will be made with harvested rosemary.

[imafan26]

Pepperhead your recipe looks a lot like a vegetarian version of chop chae. While cellophane noodles can be used. Korean noodles hold up better for Japchae. Here, I do have to go to an Asian specialty market to get it.

https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/japchae

Choisum can be used in stir fry similar to beef broccoli.
You could use chicken/beef/pork with choi sum.

https://nutritioncenter.ctahr.hawaii.ed ... -stir-fry/

A vegetarian choi sum with garlic stir fry. Actually almost any choi can be stir fried with garlic.
https://www.madewithlau.com/recipes/cho ... ith-garlic

I made keto chili. It was o.k., but I am not used to a meat chili or chili without rice. I ate it with roasted vegetables (broccoli, carrots, asparagus) Today, I took the easy way out. I got $5 Friday 8 pc. fried Chicken from Safeway. That is about 4 meals. I also got a plate lunch of Kalua pork (roast pork) with cabbage and beef stew mix. ( That is good for another 4 meals ), so I am set for the next few days. The only thing I am making is a tossed salad and maybe add some lemon or calamansi to my tea.

[Gary350]

I made a very good sandwich for lunch with a few garden items. Sour dough bread, romaine lettuce, green carrot tops, cilantro, honey mustard, Texas peat, gouda cheese, sliced chicken, sliced salami.

[pepperhead212]

Not a dinner (had some leftovers, as usual), but a side dish, which will probably probably make this my new favorite greens - Wu Choy, this variety "Dark Horse". It is supposed to be hardy to 14° F, and flavor is supposed to improve when the temperature gets from 41-23° F. Since it has been quite cool some nights, and the plants are getting large, I harvested the outer leaves from 3 plants, to get 30 leaves and small stalks, which I cut off, then cut the stalks into 1/2" pieces, and the leaves into about 1' pieces. I stir-fried them in just a couple tsp of oil, starting with the stalks, and after a minute added the leaves, and about a tb of fish sauce (probably should have used 2 tsp, as this was a little much salt), after 30 sec or so, then I added about 2 tb nam prik pao, stir-fried it another 30 sec, and that was it! There was no bitterness at all, like with some similar greens, like tatsoi, and had great flavor. I might plant some in my hydroponics, if I have room.
First wu choy harvested this fall, 30 leaves from just 3 plants, leaving a lot of each plant. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Starting to SF the chopped up wu choy stems, about 2 minutes, before adding the chopped leaves. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Adding the wu choy leaves, about 3 quarts chopped up. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The wu choy leaves, after cooking only about 30 seconds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Adding about 2 tb nam prik pao, before stir frying another 30 seconds. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Finished wu choy, as a side dish, with great flavor, and no bitterness at all. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

Lemons, green onions, lettuce. I made roasted vegetables so I also used a couple of sprigs of rosemary. I had to throw my thyme away because it was infested with root mealybugs. I usually would use rosemary or thyme for roasted veggies.

[Gary350]

Tacos for dinner with garden, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, mild chili powder, onion, and grilled meat with cheese.

[Gary350]

Another garden sandwich with a lot of lettuce and Kettle potato chips. Kettle potato chips are thinker than other chips and twice as crunchy. I love crunchy food.

[imafan26]

Lemons, adding to my ice tea. Green onions were used to make Lion's Head Soup, and I harvested the first of the buttercrunch lettuce for a salad yesterday.

[pepperhead212]

When I got up this morning, I could still smell that meat that I browned last night, for that pasta dish - the sort of Italian sausage, that I made with venison! I started out by cooking a cup of kidney beans and 1/3 c barley in about 4 c water in the Instant Pot, while getting the rest ready. I thawed the sausage slowly in the MW, ground up about 3 lbs of the last of the tomatoes I had (still have some of those Juliets and Bronze Torch hybrids), went out and harvested the last of the basil (ended up a little over ½ c chopped), and chopped up a large onion, and about minced about 2 tb garlic. When the pressure was down, I drained the beans and barley, then rinsed the pot out, and in a couple tb of olive oil on Medium Sauté, cooked the onions 'til starting to brown, then cooked the garlic for a minute, then added that tomato purée, some salt and about a half tb of pepper flakes (added more at the end), along with over half of the basil chopped up fine, then let it cook down. While doing this, I browned the meat in just a small amount of olive oil, since that venison is so lean, and when totally cooked, I deglazed the pan with just a small amount of water. When the tomatoes had cooked down by about a quarter, I added the meat, 3½ c water, and a pound of pasta, put the lid on the pot, set on Manual for 3 minutes, and when time is up, released the pressure. When pressure is released, I removed the lid, and stirred in the beans and barley, to reheat them, then stirred in about a quarter cup of chopped basil. I served with a little more basil on top.
Finished pasta dish, after adding the pre-cooked kidney beans and barley, to heat through. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The last quarter cup of the basil from outside this year, after cooking about the same amount in the tomato sauce. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

The finished pasta dish, with a little more basil on top. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[applestar]

I squeezed the juice from last of the Flying Dragon trifoliate oranges using same method as outlined previously. The 8oz of straight juice went in a canning jelly jar and I tried “pasteurizing” it in the warming cycle of the Instant Pot which is set for 165°F at HIGH. FWIW the lid has vacuum sealed after cooling so hopefully it will stay good for a few days until I have chance to make something — thinking of combining recipes for “grapefruit bars” and “graham cracker layered lemon squares”

I rinsed the squeezed shells and seeds like last time and added sugar to keep in fridge and use as ”Flying Dragon-ade” concentrate, which is also great to add a touch of citrusy flavor to my tea.

…Extracting the rinsed rinds and seeds in Dr. Bronner’s Sal-Suds, which is a fir and spruce scented liquid cleaning soap (now plus citrus ) hoping it will be good to use for the winter holidays.

[applestar]

Made a Japanese-inspired meat and potatoes today, modifying/combining some recipes to use about 2.6 Lbs. beef chuck seasoned with freshly ground black peppers, basil salt and celery salt, yellow potatoes, onions, carrots, and adding garden harvested purple Bora King and Cheong Du daikon and red and pink turnips, garlic, stems of the turnip greens (saving the tender leaves to use with pork chops), and the Kurin mini kabocha that had been harvested on 9/20.

Sautéed the cubed and cross-grain sliced beef in EVOO to brown, then added onions, daikon, and turnips with minced garlic, then carrots and chopped turnip stems. Added cubed potatoes and added the coconut aminos soy-free sauce and brewed mirin, plus some grated ginger. (No other liquid added)

Topped with the mini kabocha cut into 1/8 wedges, MEAT/STEW setting at HIGH pressure for 55 minutes, then 20 minutes to naturally release in Keep Warm, mode then release pressure manually to open and serve.

Even though the recipe called for one part sugar to the 2 parts each soy sauce and mirin, I didn’t add any since the vege’s and the mirin as well as coconut aminos added plenty of sweet flavors already.

It’s been a hit with the family.

[imafan26]

Green onions and ginger.
I finally got to the end of the rotisserie chicken. I used the carcass and remaining meat to make a chicken stock. I added celery, ginger ( I also grew the ginger), garlic, and carrots, and two packets of no sodium bouillon powder and about a quart of water and simmered it for two hours.
I used it to make Chicken Long Rice
Strained the broth and deboned the chicken meat. I soaked about a dozen dried shitake mushrooms and rice noodles ( vermicelli made from mung beans) Added it to the chicken and stock along with a tablespoon of soy sauce, a tablespoons of oyster sauce, and a packet of truvia ( I don't use much sugar) Simmered for another 5 minutes and added the green onions off the heat.

Usually when I use a rotisserie chicken to make stock it isn't very good, but this time with the added vegetables, ginger, garlic and bouillon and a lot less water, it was pretty good.

[applestar]

Today’s dinner was pork loin stewed with turnip greens, kohlrabi greens, carrot tops, celery stalks and greens, last of the apples, dill salt, dried sweet marjoram, as well as storebought onions and potatoes.

…served over medium width egg noodles