I haven’t had a chance to try it but I’m intrigued. Thought some of you may be interested as well.
Angry Chicken’s homemade deodorant recipe.
Honeyrockdawn.com has a variation that is a little firmer and can be used as a stick.
It certainly has been an interesting winter so far. From 5o degrees yesterday to 20 and windy today. Strange, strange! We’ve yet to see how it will end, but we’re planning for all possibilities. The seed order for 2012 is all in. So I’ve uploaded the 2012 Vegetable List.
Among other things, we’re adding gold beets, a new variety of red cherry tomatoes, and an extra early salad tomato to the roster.
Check it out!
I don’t know about you but the warm temperatures have me dreaming of spring. And planning for it! I’m busy scouring the seed catalogs. Doing price comparisons and deciding what varieties have been performing well and which new ones to try.
Right now I’m looking at beets and considering adding golden colored beets to our assortment. They’re supposedly very tasty and they don’t bleed their color like red beets do. If we do add them, this season, it will be a smallish amount so we can see how they taste and if you all like them before taking up more space in the garden with them.
I like this part of the season, it’s full of ideas, and plans, and figuring out the best way to implement them.
Signs of spring are flying through the mail, before winter has even started!
Got our first seed catalog today… let the planning begin!
Well, the 2011 season has finally wrapped up. It was a long and interesting season. Going from severe storms containing torrential down pours, hail, and winds, to record breaking heat and humidity, and ending with a very early freeze followed by extremely dry conditions.
In spite of the challenges the garden rose to the occasion, pumping out huge amounts of cucumbers, melons, leeks, shallots, lettuce, eggplant, and greens, and certainly decent amounts of carrots, beans, sweet corn, potatoes, beets, peppers and all the little things that make for fun cooking.
I want to take this opportunity to thank you all so much for your support of the farm. Your emails thanking us for our hard work and just letting us know that you’re enjoying the vegetables were much appreciated.
As always, the coming weeks will be filled with preparing the fields for next season and reviewing our strategies from this season. Looking at what we did, and how it worked out, always trying to improve the quality of the vegetables we produce.
I hope you all get out to enjoy the coming season. It can be hard when it gets so cold out, but it helps to recognize the beauty in each time, and there is always something new to learn.
Have a great fall and winter, see you next year!
Just dug this perfectly heart shaped carrot out of the garden today.
Fall sure isn’t slowing us down! We had another enormous harvest today and included in the baskets this week were a few more unusual vegetables.
Spaghetti Squash
If you haven’t seen spaghetti squash before you might be a little confused when you cut it open. It’s a kind of winter squash, that, as the name implies has a spaghetti like appearance when cooked.
As you can see in the photo above, appearances can vary from warm yellow to white to mottled green and yellow. The paler ones may not be quite ripe, so leave them in the pantry for a few weeks. Even ripe squash can be stored for quite a while if the skin is unblemished.
Cooking is super easy, all you need to do is cut it in half and put it face down of a rimmed baking sheet or pie pan and bake in the oven until tender. Let it cool and pull out the inside with a fork. You can use it to replace spaghetti noodles, or add feta, olives, tomatoes and garlic, and eat hot as a pasta dish.
Also in some of the baskets:
Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi is a member of the cabbage family and tastes like a sweet cabbage heart. Make sure to peel the tough outer layer before eating. It’s great for snacking on raw and fresh with dip, or add it to a salad.
I hope you’re enjoying the bounty this fall, there is still a lot more to come!
My good friends Tim and Necole sent me this recipe with the note that it was delicious. They both have fabulous taste so I’m going to give it a try!
2 long purple eggplants (1 1/2 pounds each)
8 fresh kaffir lime leaves, minced, or 1 teaspoon lime zest
½ cup fresh lime juice
¼ cup soy sauce
1 red Thai chili, minced
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 Hass avocado- halved, pitted and thinly sliced
1 large carrot, julienned
1 medium English cucumber, thinly sliced crosswise
½ pound cherry tomatoes, halved
½ medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 teaspoon snipped chives, for garnishing
½ cup roasted cashews, coarsely chopped
~Directions
Light a grill. Using a fork, prick the eggplants in a few places. Grill over high heat, turning occasionally, until the eggplants are very soft and blackened all over, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a baking sheet and let cool slightly. Cut the stems off the eggplants and scrape off the charred skin. Tear the eggplants into long strips and discard the seeds. Transfer to a bowl.
In a small bowl, mix the lime leaves with the lime juice, soy sauce, chili, brown sugar, garlic, and lemon zest. Stir 3 tablespoons of the dressing into the eggplant. Arrange the eggplant, avocado, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and red onion on a platter. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the vegetables. Sprinkle the chives, mint, and cashews over the salad and serve.
Try this recipe! Don’t be intimidated by the length of the recipe, it’s actually very simple to make.
Layered Eggplant, Zucchini and Spinach Tortilla
From Food and Wine Magazine
8 Servings
Every Spanish housewife has her recipe for this tortilla cake (a kind of omelet) served with creamy tomato béchamel sauce. Usually one of the layers is tuna, spaghetti or macaroni- to make the kids happy. Victoria Amory strays from the classic by making her filling all-vegetable.
~Ingredients
2 T butter
2 T flour
1 ½ C milk
2 T tomato paste
salt & pepper
¼ c plus ½ T extra virgin olive oil
10 ounces spinach, large stems discarded
2 med. zucchini, cut into 1/2 ‘’ dice
2 med. Asian eggplant, peeled and cut into ½’’ dice
1 doz. large eggs
Preheat oven to 300. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over moderately high heat. Whisk in the flour until blended. Slowly pour in the milk, whisking constantly until smooth, and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat, whisking often until no floury taste remains, about 10 min. Whisk in the tomato paste until smooth, then season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat, cover and keep warm.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 1 T of the olive oil until shimmering. Add the spinach, season with salt and cook over high heat, stirring, until wilted and moisture has evaporated, about 3 min. Transfer the spinach to a work surface and coarsely chop it. Add 1 T. of the olive oil to the skillet and heat until shimmering. Add the diced zucchini, season with salt and cook over high heat, stirring, until just tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a plate to cool. Heat another tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet until shimmering. Add the dice eggplant, season with salt and cook over moderate heat until browned on the bottom, about 3 minutes. Stir and cook until tender, about 2 more minutes. Transfer the eggplant to a plate.
In a medium bowl, beat 4 of the eggs with a pinch of salt. In an 8-inch nonstick ovenproof skillet, heat ½ T of the olive oil. Add the chopped spinach and cook over moderate heat until sizzling. Pour in the beaten eggs and stir to combine with the spinach. Cover and cook over moderate heat until the ‘tortilla’ is partially set, about 5 minutes. Using 2 spatulas, carefully flip the tortilla and cook over moderately high heat until completely set, about 1 minute. Transfer to a large baking sheet. Repeat with ½ T of olive oil and 4 eggs at a time to make 2 more tortillas, one with zucchini and one with eggplant. Rewarm the tortillas in the oven.
Reheat the creamy tomato sauce over low heat. Transfer the spinach tortilla to a large cake plate and spread a thin layer of tomato sauce on top. Top with the zucchini tortilla and a thin layer of sauce, then cover with the eggplant tortilla. Pour some of the sauce over the layered tortilla, letting it drip down the sides. Cut the tortilla into wedges and serve with the remaining sauce.
The recipe can be prepared through step 2 one day ahead. Refrigerate the creamy tomato sauce and each vegetable separately.
Our harvest baskets for the last several weeks have featured a lot of eggplant, both the traditional large globe type and small striped Asian varieties. So I thought I’d put an extra recipe up here to help you get the most out of them.
My favorite way to enjoy eggplant is sliced, battered, fried and served with a delicious remoulade sauce. The recipe works equally well for zucchini and green tomatoes. I usually have a bag of fried veggies in the fridge that I can pop in the toaster oven and enjoy for lunch or a snack.
Fried veggies
~Ingredients
2 eggs, beaten
2 T milk
1 c flour
1 c cornstarch
Salt & pepper
Peanut oil, for frying
~Directions
Slice the veggies of your choice (eggplant, zucchini, green tomatoes, or some of each) into 1/2” rounds. Mix the flour and cornstarch and sprinkle it with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs with the milk.
Coat the sliced vegetables with the egg mixture, then the flour and cornstarch mixture, then back into the egg, and back to the flour.
In a large skillet heat the peanut oil until just shimmering. Place the slices in the hot oil and fry until lightly browned. Flip the vegetable slices and cook the other side until browned.
Place the cooked slices in a single layer on a plate or baking dish covered with paper towels.
This is my all time favorite remoulade recipe to serve with fried veggies: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/remoulade-sauce-recipe2/index.html
Enjoy!