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It's Homegrown, Man
One of the easiest things we have grown is garlic. This years harvest looks like double last years harvest and I just finished last years harvest a couple weeks ago. The bulbs this year are huge. Larger than what you would buy in the grocery store. After they dry a couple weeks, Honey will peel off the dirty outer layers, trim the roots and stalks, separate a few bulbs for replanting in October, and store the rest in mesh bags in the basement for later use. This really cool garlic site has plenty of tips for growing your own garlic.
This year we also tried a few new "crops" from seeds friends had given us. We planted a 2 1/2 foot row of spinach and a 2 1/2 foot row of mixed lettuce. Both rows have provided us with weeks worth of young mixed greens for salads. The spinach also provided stuffing for flounder and this week it will provide a couple layers in ricotta cheese for a nice vegetable lasagna.
What is this? A Chinese lantern plant? No, it's the newest addition to the garden. A tomatillo plant. The tomatillo is a relative of the tomato and is used in green salsas (salsa verde). We have about 8 plants and I'm looking for recipes for canning since we might have an abundance of tomatillos.
Well, Honey happened to knock a few tomatillos off a branch that bent because it was too heavy from the fruit. So he managed to use them in a really delicious way, BBQ Chicken with Tomatillo Corn Relish.
I don't have the exact recipe but I think he said he used tomatillos, onion, a small hot pepper, a couple Tbsp. fresh parsley, and fresh corn from off a cob. This was really good.
Last year Honey and his brother (the brick layer) replaced the landscape timber frame of our smallest garden plot with these blocks. It turned out great so we tried our cucumbers and last years new garden edition, green beans. Just this small row of green beans gave us several meals.
This year we squeezed in more bean plants. Enough to make a batch of Hungarian Green Bean Soup and five side dishes of my all time favorite green bean recipe. Catty's favorite green beans: 2 Cups green beans cut into one inch segments, 1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh dill, 1/4 C. chopped onion, salt and pepper, a tsp. of butter (optional), 2-3 Tbsp. water. Microwave to desired doneness. I cook mine about 5 to 7 minutes.
Happy gardening!
Happier eating!!
Wow, what nice things you've grown. It all looks beautiful and delicious.
I'm especially impressed with the garlic! How nice is that? Let me know
how it tastes and how strong or mild it is. Very interesting, but then,
Catty is always interesting. What a nice surprise it was for me to
randomly visit Blog City and find a new post from you. Glad you are
enjoying summer and it's bounty.
Wow, very cool. I wish we had half that in our non-existant garden.
YUM!!!
Looks delicious. There's nothing tastes quite like home-grown food. There's
a lot of work in growing veg like that - I'm not as keen so I tend to go
for soft fruit, which often grows itself (almost). All those recipes and
descriptions though ...
Catty, you've done what I've suggested the whole country get into due to so
much of our food coming from outside the country. When you're eating
something you've grown, there's a special feeling of self worth derived by
providing for yourself in this way. It goes back to the basics of
existence.
Y'all're just GROWIN' FOOLS! Fabulous, Catty and major yum. Thanks so much
for sharing them with all of us. :)
Nutsy--Hey there! It sounds like you have been enjoying your summer too.
The garlic is pretty pungent. I'll roast it in the oven for a sweeter
mellower flavor. Tonight I'm making Honey's favorite roast garlic mashed
potatoes: about 6 medium potatoes peeled and boiled till tender, 2 T
butter, 4 oz. cream cheese, 3 to 4 cloves roasted garlic, milk if potatoes
are too stiff. I also have some bacon left over from breakfast yesterday
that I'll be crumbling on top. Yum!