Now We're Cooking with Veggies

Kitty Garden - Bandit's First Look

2011-06-10T18:05:00.000-04:00

Last time I was at Ace Hardware, I saw a seed mix called "Cat Treats - Gourmet Mixed Greens" and the cats on the front certainly looked like they were having fun playing with and eating the results. The mix includes rye, oats, barley and wheat. Bandit doesn't like a lot of regular treats so I figured it was worth a try. I planted them last weekend and the firs greens were up today so I brought the tray inside for him. He seemed to know right away that it was for him. Here's his first reaction:

So I'd say they were a hit. Good thing I have more seeds.

Kale & More Kale - First Week Back with the CSA

2011-06-08T19:05:00.006-04:00

It was the first week back with Great Country Farms CSA plus I finally got everything planted in the garden and on my patio. If everything comes in from the garden, I'll definitely need to get the vacuum sealer and get a lot more in the freezer this year.

I planted more herbs including chives, savory, cilantro and lemongrass to go along with the tarragon, rosemary, sage and mint that's already thriving. I put in handfuls of pumpkin seeds plus sweet potatoes to join the potatoes already there. I'm trying onions instead of shallots this year (though I may still add some shallots - they were a treat last year). I'm trying different eggplant this year, 2 squash, cucumbers again (let's hope they do better this time), more tomatoes, and some beans that Sonya said "just scatter the seeds." So that's what I did. Sadly, one one of my artichoke plants made it through the winter so we'll see what happens. I'll keep trying. On the patio I have more tomatoes, lavendar, a few herbs and a kitty garden for Bandit. I'm also trying a few melons since they always got eaten by the voles at the garden. We'll see if they fare any better here.

I cut my first greens and had salad all week (mostly red and butter lettuce) from the garden and the farm all week. And over the weekend, I made myself a treat - eggs and asparagus.

But then there's the kale. And I have to use it all before the weekend, because we're getting collard greens next week. (I love greens, but they do come all at once at the beginning and end of the season.)

I've made kale chips a couple of times (such a great alternative to chips when you want something crunchy). Just tear the kale into bite size pieces and toss lightly with olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (I line mine with parchment) and sprinkle lightly with salt or other spices. I just tried a batch with Penzey's Turkish seasoning and they were amazing. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

I also found a great recipe for Chickpea and Kale soup. I modified it a bit - since I'm not vegan and wasn't particularly looking for a fat free recipe, I sauteed the vegetables in a swirl of my good olive oil and used the onions we got in our boxes this week. And I used chicken stock that I'd made earlier in the week. And half the fun is playing with the seasoning - I used aleppo peppers, smoked paprika, tumeric, cinnamon, ginger and saffron and then ground some pepper over it all. The kale took a bit to soften up, so I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. The smoked paprika added a flavor and aroma that make it seem like it had been cooked over a fire for hours - perfect even on a hot summer day.

I still have more kale though. I guess I'll just make a batch of my green chicken chili and blend it in with the chicken broth - it's a great way to add more fiber and vitamins to the chili. I could also make kale-sesame salad. But I know I'll be doing that with the collard greens next week.

Community Garden

2010-04-05T13:38:00.000-04:00

Out of the blue I got an email the other day. "You may not remember signing up for a community garden plot almost 3 years ago, but one just became available if you still want it." Heck, yeah!

So, $50 later I have a 300 square foot community garden plot in Arlington. I'm so excited! I have my seeds ordered and I've been working on clearing it out so I can get it tilled. I'll be planting several varieties of heritage tomatoes, lettuce, peas, melons and as an experiment, artichokes. I'm also going to grow sweet peas since I think the flowers are pretty.

And I've signed up for the CSA program from Great Country Farms again. I'm counting the weeks until pickup starts and especially until Strawberry Jubilee at the end of May!

Break Week

2007-07-12T00:18:00.000-04:00

Each year the farm takes a break from deliveries (over the 4th of July), so nothing to report this week. They did host a barbeque out at the farm on Sunday for Members Day, so Jeanette and I headed out in the heat and enjoyed some chicken, hot dogs and potato salad in the Berry Barn. They had a really good zucchini casserole that I'd like the recipe for (Kate - if you're reading this, that's a hint.) It's always interesting to see the terrific variety of people who choose to join the CSA and support the local farm.

We said hello to Wilbur, took a walk through the yard to say hi to the other animals, and sat in the shade and just relaxed. But the gnats and the heat got the best of us and we headed back into town after a couple of hours and then I took a long nap.

More to report after Saturday's box and picking. And then I've arranged for a friend to pick up my vegetables while I'm away for a few weeks. Perhaps I can prevail upon her to guest write - she's a better and more interesting cook so it would be good to get some new ideas of what to do with the vegetables.

Picking Peas + Broccoli, onion, swiss chard

2007-06-26T13:55:00.001-04:00

There weren't many strawberries left this week, so I only picked about 1/2 pint (and I'd stopped at the farmers market, but more about that separately), so I concentrated most of my time in the field with the English peas. I did much better this week, picking peas that were much further along and actually looked like peas. And this week's allowance was a whole bag.

And when I saw how much broccoli was in my box, I figured I'd better use peas and broccoli in another batch of curry along with the pak choi (I've been eating a lot of curry - it's a good thing that's a flexible recipe). My neighbor's basil went to pesto that's now in my freezer.

Another batch of stamp pot (which turned out really well) will take care of the rest. And Kate sent along a recipe for swiss chard and gnocchi that looks really good.

Can Strawberries be an addiction?

2007-06-25T13:59:00.000-04:00

I went to the farmer's market in Arlington on my way to the farm on Saturday. And even though I said last week that I felt like I'd made good use of strawberry season, seeing the last of those really red ripe berries, I couldn't help myself. I bought 3 quarts (yeah, I know - that's a lot) plus a pint of raspberries to have with my yogurt this week.

I knew I didn't want to get into another round of jam making, so I made strawberry muffins, strawberry sour cream ice cream, strawberry-walnut bread, and ate a bunch of strawberries including with my yogurt for two days before switching to raspberries. Which was good before I went hiking on Sunday up in Seneca Park.

I've been giving the muffins away in my office because I'm eating the strawberry-walnut bread and not the muffins - that's made me pretty popular. And the ice cream is still in my freezer, but that will be really good later this week (I think this is the longest it's lasted.)

Okay, now I'm ready for strawberry season to be over. (We'll see if that's still true when I get to the farmer's market on Saturday.)

Stamp pot

2007-06-19T21:09:00.001-04:00

When I told my friend Leslie that I was planning to make stamp pot for dinner, she said, "I think you're the only other person I know who knows what stamp pot is." Basically, it's mashed potatoes with kale, onion, and sausage. (I'm sensing a European theme of sausage, kale and potatoes.)

It seems like there are a variety of preparation methods for stamp pot - some including bacon. I cut up potatoes and started them boiling for 15 minutes, added the chopped kale for another 10 minutes and set that to drain. Then I melted the butter and sauteed the onion, added back in the drained vegetables and mashed everything, stirring in about 1/2 cup of milk. Add in sliced sausage (I heated mine up in the oven but the recipe I had suggested steaming) and salt and pepper to taste and there you go - stamp pot. It was quite tasty. I divided the remainder up into four tupperware containers, so I have stamp pot for 4 meals and 1 more container of chicken curry. That will get me through Friday dinner (no surprise we're going out for pho).

So I guess I'll be making more kale-walnut pesto and freezing it because the stamp pot didn't use up all my kale and I'm already stirring berries into my yogurt for breakfast. Today's newsletter from the farm said we'll be getting kale or swiss chard in our boxes this week - I'm kind of rooting for swiss chard in mine. And my neighbor is leaving town, so I'm getting his pak choi (more curry) and basil (more pesto).

Cucumber, Kale, Beets, Onion, Green Onion, Strawberries

2007-06-17T20:01:00.000-04:00

This week's box was stuffed full of kale plus a few other things. Luckily I'm now prepared with more kale recipes and I stopped at Wegman's on my way home from the farm to pick up what else I needed including more tupperware containers. I'm taking my lunch to work most days so I can use my vegetables.

One of the things I like best about Wegman's is that the people there actually know what they're doing. So when I went to the sausage counter and told the nice man there that I'd be making Stamppot for the first time, he immediately recommended a good German sausage for that. And he helped me pick a different chorizo for my next attempt at the Portuguese green soup.

Tonight I took a break and made Nigella's curry (I threw in a potato and used chicken), and the strawberries are macerating for the ice cream.

They Grow Up So Quickly

2007-06-17T19:50:00.000-04:00

This is Wilbur. Just last week last week, you could still feed him from a bottle. Now he's big and running around his cage squealing. Soon I think he'll be moved when he'll have more room to run around. He's still friendly and likes to be scratched. He's a messy eater but his teeth are starting to come in so it's not so much fun when he gets hold of your fingers any more. But he's another reason I like going out to the farm each week.

Picking Strawberries, English Peas and Black Caps

2007-06-16T18:54:00.000-04:00

This was I think the last week for strawberries, and I feel like I took full advantage of strawberry season this year. I picked four pints and got another pint in my box. I'm making ice cream and strawberry walnut bread (recipe from King Arthur Flour) and will use the rest over my yogurt and granola.

The English Peas I ate last night - just sauteed with a little shallot and butter and served over black rice. (Sorry the photo is a little fuzzy - I'll have to work on that.)

I also picked some black raspberries - what we called black caps growing up. They grow on thorn bushes and the darker the better. It made me remember one hot summer day when my brother and I were picking black caps along the fence line between our yard and our neighbors and we both got covered by these huge black ants attracted by the berry juice. I still like the berries. Another neighbor used to make dumplings with them, but I'll just throw them on my yogurt too. As the season progresses, I'll follow Lindy's example and try some small batch preserving.

Kale Soup & a Cucumber

2007-06-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

The kale soup is almost gone - I think there's enough for one more bowl. If I don't go out for pho tonight, I'll finish it. I think that next time I would use chicken or vegetable broth instead of just water and I'd probably opt for the spicier chorizo (I wasn't sure how spicy to go since it was the first time). Oh, and I'd try to have my apartment cleaner so I could invite people over for dinner so I wouldn't have to eat the entire pot myself.

And I forgot that I'd also gotten a cucumber in my box, so I cut that up along with a kohlrabi from my neighbor's box and had that with a curry dip (just some of my homemade yogurt with a dash of Penzey's curry powder stirred in). That was great for munching while the kale soup was heating up the other night.

Off to the farm tomorrow for another box and hopefully to pick strawberries and English peas.

Strawberries, Spring Onions, Mint, Kale & Beets

2007-06-13T19:52:00.000-04:00

While I'm not quite experiencing strawberry fatigue yet, I just turned this week's strawberries into ice cream and split it with my neighbor (because that can stay in the freezer).

There was a lot of kale, so I went looking for recipes in addition to the kale-walnut recipe that Kate provided with the newsletter (which froze nicely into little batches for future use). I found a Portuguese green soup recipe that uses chorizo. It's amazing how a little bit of chorizo flavors an entire pot of soup with potatoes and kale and collard greens (you roll them up and slice them - it's called a chiffonade). The soup is great but very filling. I have it with a bit of baguette. I may end up having to freeze some of it as well just because I'm not eating it fast enough. I replaced the onion in the soup with my spring onions.

Last night I had roasted beets (just a little olive oil in a 425 degree oven until soft) with my dinner - they were so sweet and tender - it's amazing how different they were than what we always think about beets. I hope we get more beets soon.

The mint has just been going in iced tea. It's very refreshing. I have a bit of mint left and maybe a spring onion, but I can use that to top the soup. Otherwise, I've cooked everything this week. Now I just have to eat it all.

Spring Onions, Collards, Asparagus

2007-06-08T13:59:00.000-04:00

Asparagus is easy - steamed and gone quickly. The day I picked up my box if I recall. Spring onions go a little here and a little there. Some in an omelette, some with the greens.

Now, the greens. There's really only one way I know how to cook greens and that's with pork. So, out comes the bacon from the last Bacon Dinner and a pork chop, I made smothered greens served with mashed potatoes and the pork chop. And washing greens is no easy trick. It took about three rounds in the sink to get them clean.

Unfortunately that didn't use up all the greens, so I had to keep them until I figured out what else to do.

Strawberries & More Strawberries

2007-06-01T11:47:00.000-04:00

Okay, I may have overdone it this week. I picked up my box (that had strawberries in it), went strawberry picking while I was at the farm, and went to the Arlington Farmers Market and picked up a flat of strawberries from my favorite farmer there.

So basically, I ended up with a lot of strawberries. When I got back from the farm (where I also played with the new baby pig Wilbur), I got to work. I immediately started a batch of jam, started two batches of strawberries macerating for strawberry sour cream ice cream and strawberry granita (like a grown-up snow-cone). More than 15 lbs. of sugar later, I ended up with 36 jars of strawberry jam, strawberry ice cream, and strawberry granita, and I still had strawberries left for my yogurt all week.

Spinach, Stawberries, Asparagus

2007-05-30T13:30:00.000-04:00

The first week is always interesting as you remind yourself that you're no longer planning menus and then going shopping. It's more like Iron Chef - you get ingredients and then have to build your meals around your featured secret ingredient. Now Kate at Great Country Farms is great because each week she sends out an email early in the week with a note about what will be in that week's box and even a couple of recipe ideas so you can prepare yourself or pick up any other items you might need. She also includes what the free allowance is for members to pick at the farm that week so you can be sure to make the trip if it's something you're especially fond of - like strawberries.

Which brings me to the first week. Spinach, strawberries and asparagus. I have to honestly say if I were going to be restricted to eating three foods (hopefully in a variety of permutations) for the rest of my life, I could happily choose these three - as long as there was a dairy cow for some cream and butter in the vicinity.

After I triple washed the spinach to get out all the sand (now I know why the bag spinach in the store is so expensive), I made a spinach omelette, spinach salad, steamed spinach, and creamed spinach (using Emeril's recipe from food.com). The asparagus I just steamed with a touch of butter. And the strawberries just got sliced over my morning yogurt and granola.

Begin at the Beginning

2007-05-19T09:37:00.000-04:00

I decided to join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) again this year. Basically the idea is that before the season starts, you pay the farm for the vegetables you'll get all summer long. The farm uses this money for plants, seeds, equipment, labor, etc. And in return, you get a share in the harvest. Some years, it might not be great. And some years, it might be more than you can eat. But, it's a way to support the local farms and know where your food is coming from and how it's being grown.

I chose Great Country Farms out in Bluemont, VA. Since they also have a picking allowance each week for CSA members, I've opted to pick up my share at the farm each weekend rather than have it delivered. This will get me up and out on Saturday mornings (which I wouldn't otherwise do). Plus it means I get a nice drive in the country and a connection with the farm each week.

A friend (who can't cook, by the way) has joined Bull Run Organic Farm and picks up his share at Dupont Circle each Tuesday.

Each week I'll talk about the vegetables, the trip to the farm, and the attempts (hopefully successful) to use up all the vegetables in appetizing ways with pictures and recipes.