Category: CSA

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Eating from the garden weeks 15 and 16

Yep, I missed a week. Things are hoppin’ around here what with the work and the weeds and getting ready to launch Wild Thing in two weeks. The entire crew: Captain Bear, First Officer Bob and me, the lowly pilot and supply officer are planning a September 13 departure for points south and a visit with the folks, Grandma Betty and the 4 legged “cousins”! Departing from my previous “blast south like the devil is on my tail” kind of trips, I intend to meander a bit and take it easy…as if I am actually on vacation :)!

Usually, the prep for such a trip is minimal and amounts to keeping an eye on the weather and work and then going. But Wild Thing is 9 years old and I’ve put a good many miles on her and some maintenance was in order. And the maintenance stuff has been like the proverbial can of worms. I believe we have found the last worm and all is ship-shape and ready to go pending receiving and installing (Billy Bob’s RV doing the installing) one last part.

Meanwhile, I’ve been sharing much of the garden produce and getting a few ready to take over the bounty after I leave.

BUT…the summer stuff is really starting to kick in. A few small cucumbers, some cherry tomatoes, BEAUTIFUL cabbages, green beans, broccoli, larger carrots, some small but tender and flavorful sweet corn and also some small summer squash…along with chard, kale and basil.

Off and on these last days of summer have been hot and smoky and refreshing cool food sounds good. I blitzed green cabbage, broccoli and carrots into a slaw dressed with a simple sweet vinaigrette (olive oil, sugar, apple cider vinegar).

A bit of bacon, with a side of fresh peaches and the slaw made a good lunch.

I cook burgers every 3rd or 4th day as I feed Bear burger/rice/yogurt twice a day. Oh…and hamburger with fries is one of my most favorite meals so I always have a fresh burger on cooking day. As good as my bread, bagels and muffins are, I’ve been using a leaf of chard for a bun to lighten things up and I’m finding I do NOT miss the “bread” at all. The chard from the garden is tender but firm and works very well as a holder for a burger!

Although small, the first of the corn is very good. I couldn’t resist eating one cob (with plenty of butter!) before scraping the rest off to use in a salad…

…or a scramble. Broccoli, corn and scrambled eggs with cherry tomatoes. Although the garden did produce a half pint of cherry tomatoes, these are from a local hydroponic garden, not my CSA.

This weeks slaw is made with red cabbage and the same vinaigrette, but I did experiement with the little cucumbers. Those I dressed in a creamy yogurt-buttermilk-tarragon dressing. Tarragon is a new herb for me and I like it! It did well in this with the cukes….with a bit of chives, cumin, salt and pepper.

I blanched and froze green beans, ate carrots dipped in homemade ranch and put fresh kale in my smoothies.

Some potatoes are still in the bin for a rough mash as it gets cooler and I have 2 little squash that I hope to make into fritters for a zucchini squash fritter benedict in the morning.

***EDIT

The zucchini fritter “benedict”…hardly a benedict, but zucchini cornmeal pancake, sausage, poached egg and a dollop of greek yogurt with a drizzle of chipotle tobasco…worked for me :)!

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Cooking and eating from the garden

The garden and all local produce is hitting its peak.

This week: peas, carrots, potatoes, parsley, basil, salad mix, head lettuce, beets, kale, chard and hiding from me…2 itty bitty zucchini found just in the nick of time. I shared quite a lot as I was still working on some pea pesto, carrots and chard from the week before.

The chard has been wonderful – tender, flavorful and I enjoyed it on sandwiches but especially on this savory version of a basil ricotta creme “pastry” – on the left…the creme topped with fresh tomato slices and a chard/onion saute. On the right, a pastry to save for breakfast: huckleberries!

I had huckleberry or cherry pastries several mornings – all made on the grill. It was mostly a bit warm to fire up the oven. As I am hoping for garden tomatoes and corn, it is a bit easier to take the heat. I pass the farm garden on my road and can see the corn and tomato plants. I think there are cucumbers in there also and I’m waiting. We’ve passed mid-August with the days getting shorter and the nights longer and cooler so it is a race to see if things have time to ripen before the first frost.

A lousy photo but I made two roast veg salads and only took this one photo. One salad with the red potatoes and one with beets. Both I added celery and onion and dressed lightly with a mayo/yogurt vinaigrette. I scarfed the potato salad forgetting to take a photo and only took this one of the beet salad…oops. Aside from the good roasted veg and the light dressing, the celery gave both a wonderful crunch and flavor. I added goat cheese and walnuts to the beet salad to make it a complete lunch.

Later in the week, the last of the kale needed to be used. Fresh kale, left to marinate for at least two hours in a vinaigrette, softens just enough to be crunchy but not tough. In fact, I’ve made a large kale salad and eaten from the bowl for 3 or 4 days. This salad, I used a lemon juice/garlic/vinegar mix, and topped with goat cheese, flathead lake sweet cherries and sunflower seeds.

So, those zucchini! They were hiding under some carrots. I found them late in the week and I was getting ready to make some baked sweet potato fries so cut up one of the squashes and threw it in with the sweet potato. A ranch dip made with yogurt, buttermilk and spices on the side.

Round 2 with the remaining zucchini, I added a coating of bread crumbs (from my broa bread), parmesan, salt and pepper. Same dip – another hit and another good week of cooking and eating from the garden.

And not to be forgotten…spearmint from my herb patch… and ice and white wine. All of this fresh green stuff…it is not bad :)!

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A Thursday

My Wednesday did not go according to plan from the get-go.

One thing that slipped was a trip to town for supplies.

This morning, Thursday morning … in a “kill two birds with one stone” frame of mind, I whistled Bear into Wild Thing for the gathering of supplies, the download of some large files on town’s 4Glte (!!!) and who knew what else.

The morning was beautiful: cool and misty as the sun rose over the mountains and through the woods.

Bear was ALL in for a bit of RV adventure!

We stopped on the way for a walk, parked in a shady spot near the grocery for the download and supply gathering…we both had our breakfast “on the road” – and then headed for home to make it just in the nick of time for a late morning work/meeting session.

Later…

Thursday, is CSA garden day.

Yesterday, I got to thinking about it being August… and we’ve had some heat and sun and …WOW, the garden might start spewing forth some different things pretty soon!

And it did! The bag felt like 10 pounds: beets (WITH greens!!), ‘taters, peas & carrots, a head of lettuce, parsley, basil, KALE!, some “spring green” mix. I called on neighbors and friends to share.

Last week’s bag was good and I used it all…nothing new to report but I continued to enjoy the shredded carrot salad, the pea pesto (my absolute favorite non-basil pesto), a broccoli salad, chard-spinach-mushroom stir fry…

Next week’s cooking from the garden – it should have some new stuff.

Meanwhile, Thursday evening…Bear did his “it is too hot” version of the perimeter patrol and then found a shady spot to have a treat. I let Bob out and he sprawled near us on the porch. I told them, that their nearness to each other and me – it was the absolute BEST birthday month present they could give.

We all sat together and enjoyed. It was 85 but not unpleasant in the shade with a soft breeze and my good boys. Actually, it was heaven to me.

Bear ultimately decided the cool of the house had appeal. I got the camera and tripod to capture a moment with Bob…who has apparently forgiven my passe taste for white wine…well, I am the one who dispenses the food, allows access to the bed, puts fleece cat blankies hither and yon…

A Thursday.

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Eating from the garden (and the orchard!) : week 12

Years ago when I subscribed to an organic vegetable delivery, I learned that it was interesting and fun to plan my meals around the week’s delivery. I’m doing the same this summer and it has resulted again in discovering new ways to use the garden bounty. It is actually easier now with the plethora of food and cooking blogs.

I am not a fan of what odd ingredients can we mix in this week…BUT, then here I am with some unusual – at least to me – combos this week.

Carrots have been in the garden bag for the past several weeks. First there were a few baby carrots. They have been getting bigger but are still wonderfully sweet and flavorful. I have shared some with neighbors and the rest munched as a snack or added to my pasta salad.

This week, though, I remembered a potluck salad of grated carrots, raisins and ??? I looked at a number of recipes and then made a carrot-dried cranberry-chard-walnut mix with a pineapple ginger creamy vinaigrette dressing. Oh boy… I was glad to see in the garden email this morning that there were carrots again this week because this salad was goooodddd!

I paired it with some Copper River Red Sockeye Salmon and raw – fresh from the garden – peas.

Peas…there were still some peas. Fresh peas – so good and sweet.

My recipe searching turned up several variations of sweet pea pesto. You’d think I would have had enough pesto, considering I’ve turned every green thing from the garden into pesto…but no. I took from several recipes and ended up blitzing the peas, lemon juice, sunflower seeds, sunflower oil, parmesan, salt, pepper and garlic. And then… I used that sweet pea pesto on a pizza…

Sweet pea pesto, leftover salmon, Vidalia sweet onion, mozzarella…AND SWEET CHERRIES!

It was so good, I had 3 of the same this past week although the last 2 did not include salmon. The sweet pea pesto and sweet cherries was the bomb!

And last night, Wednesday, August 1…the first full moon in August night…I finished pitting my twenty pounds of cherries purchased last weekend. Some have been blitzed with basil and sugar into syrup and frozen. Some just frozen. Some used on the pizza and some in my cereal and some eaten as a snack. I hope to make either Cherry Preserves or Cherry Marmalade this weekend. The rest I hope are a wonderful surprise treat through the winter.

This Summer has been going well. It got a bit of a late start which is fine with me. Since then, the heat has been moderate and short-lived…broken up by cool spells. Eating from the garden – the research and planning has helped me enjoy a time that is not my favorite.

This morning was cool and beautiful. Bob and I have been having some time together on the front porch as Bear does not like to be out when the sprinklers are going. He has a thing about spraying water…

So, Mr. Bob and I have our quiet time together while Bear takes a morning nap.

The sun rose through a few clouds into a blue, blue sky.

Smile Bob!! Time to start Thursday… well… I think that is his “sit down and drink your coffee and stop pointing that darn camera at me” expression. So, I did. Happy Thursday!

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Eating from the garden: week 11

Raspberries!!! So good right off the bush and into my mouth!

There was a pint of raspberries in week 11’s garden bounty. I ate a few or so as I was washing them. I had a few in my before bedtime cereal and in my “get some food in my stomach” first thing in the morning cereal. And I grabbed a few every time I opened the frig.

And then there were none.

Sad, but true.

Elsewise, I continued as I have been: chard and kale and mushrooms sauteed on pizza, in scrambled eggs, over rice. Carrots and peas in pasta salad. Cilantro whizzed with tomatoes and green onions into pico de gallo. Basil whizzed with a bit of olive oil and frozen for winter pesto or ???. I shared some greens and carrots with my good neighbors and that was week 11 from the garden.

Other than food…a very full week which included motorhome maintenance (A/C and install of a new on board surge guard), dental surgery (canine tooth is gone and titanium implant in place awaiting healing and a brand new toof :)! ) and preparation for an assault on thistles, St. John’s Wort and a few other noxious weeds that have sprouted in unusual abundance in the woods :( …. AND a VERY full work schedule. All in all, a good and busy week. Bear, Bob and I are very much looking forward to a bit of relaxing this weekend after some necessary chores tomorrow (Saturday) – hopefully concluded by early afternoon.

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend to all of you from all of us.