Category: Food

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 :)!

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 :)!