Happenings in the wee patch.

Picked this week.

Okra flower- gorgeous!

Funny little curvy baby cucumbers.

Ready for picking soon!

Happy Marigolds.

Baby Habenero Peppers.

Blue Hubbard Squash growing very slowly.

The only malabar squash seedling, from six seeds that were planted.

See those pretty zucchini up above? One of them was picked off the plant that was labelled "Yellow crookneck squash" when I bought it from the plant nursery. Sigh. This is the third plant to be mis-labelled from this place.

I figured out a great way to use up just a few okra at a time. I don't eat it, but the patient man half does. I just haven't been able to pick enough to make an actual recipe. But I came up with a keeper- take what okra I DO have, cut the stem top off, slice down the center. Douse in olive oil, hot sauce, salt and pepper, and roast at 400 degrees until crispy. I did this with just four okra, and included it as a lil side dish with some leftover casserole for the man half to take to work with him. He gave it two thumbs up!

Farmer's Market Weekly Trip

Carrots, tomatoes, purply peppers, dill, peaches, spaghetti squash, gluten free parmesan focaccia and a gluten free pizza crust. The focaccia was a bit mealy, smelled delicious but strange to eat. I hope the pizza crust is better. 

Homemade sausage and roasted maple-balsamic squash and fennel

Dinner one night last week consisted of homemade pork sausage patties, and maple-balsamic roasted fennel and patty pan squash from the farmer's market. (And mac n cheese from a box. So sue me, it was GOOD.) The sausage turned out ok. I used THIS recipe, only I used fresh fennel fronds instead of dried seeds. And I added some finely chopped fresh apple. They were bland. (I may have forgotten to add salt??) I will make them again in the future, but I will pre-saute the apples if I add again, and I won't cook as long. The squash turned out great! I didn't really follow a recipe- I just sliced the fennel and the squash into bite size chunks, and stirred in some olive oil till fully coated. Then I added in equal parts maple syrup and balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and roasted in a very hot oven for 20-30 minutes. Came out delicious.

Food harvests over the last week

Two huge cucumbers, chapstick for size.

The monster zucchini lurking in the back, with the first of the okra, a few beans, and what may be the last of the tomatoes (the chocolate cherries, in an unappetizing color but tasty!)

The first and only pepper (jalapeno) one lone, pathetic lil yellow pear tomato and a gorgeous red okra.

Homemade chicken stock, and the soup it makes.

So, the other night I roasted a chicken in the crock pot. Might sound strange but it comes out great! Very juicy and tasty. It doesn't get that lovely crackly skin, but it is fall off the bone tender. I use this recipe: The Best Whole Chicken In A Crock Pot. For this particular chicken, I also stuffed the cavity with fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic cloves and lemon. In the crock pot under the chicken, I put a chopped onion, and some fennel stalks. Last time I made this, we ate it with rice pilaf and some sort of veggie, if I remember correctly. This time we make soft tacos with sour cream, cheese, shredded red cabbage, sliced radishes and cilantro. Yum! 

Once the bones were picked clean, it was time to make stock!  I tossed the carcass and the bits that had been stuffed inside the cavity back into the crock pot with the leftover soggy onions and fennel. To this I added more onion, more garlic, some chopped celery, and carrot. Some salt and some peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves and a chunk of fresh ginger. I think that was it? I have a tendency to cook with an "everything but the kitchen sink" style, so I may have added other stuff from the fridge. Next, the crock pot was filled with water and turned on low.

Magic in the making.

After cooking for a very long time (I cooked mine for 12 hours, but mostly because I was too tired to deal with it in the morning, so it continued cooking till afternoon) I poured it through a strainer into a large bowl. Then I poured it through a mesh strainer to make sure I got all the non-stock bits out. You can skip the second strainer step if you have a large enough fine mesh strainer, but I do not. So two steps it was!

White strainer, purple bowl, incredible scent.

The stock, and the "bits".

Straining, step two, to get all the wee gross bits out.

Now you have homemade stock! You can do this with any meat bones- beef, pork, even fish heads. You can also make veggie stock easily this way. Homemade stock is healthy and so dang nutritious.

After finishing the stock, I threw together a small pot of soup, to celebrate. To three cups of stock, I added some chopped potatoes and brought to a simmer. I then added some chopped yellow farmer's market carrots and some celery. After these had cooked through, I added some beautiful farmer's market chard, some celery greens (also from the farmer's market and a favorite of mine!) and some of the leftover chopped chicken. Simmered for a few more minutes and then it was ready! This was so great. I know if I had made the same soup using purchased stock or stock cubes, it would have been tasty, but the homemade stuff really elevates it.

Zucchini!

I may have to move out of the house soon, the zucchini is getting so big it might just move in, take over the couch and start helping itself to drinks from the fridge.

See those suspicious tooth marks?

Well, I got me a zucchini plant. There is no denying it. I also have a zucchini stealing dog. Last week, I put up a cheap little fencing thing-a-ma-jig to prevent any dog related shenanigans. Two nights ago, I stuck the dogs out to potty, and when I went to let them in, Betty was laying on the ground, resting her head on the little fence. The above zucchini, still on the plant, was less than a foot from her face. She was attempting to act very innocent. "I'm just resting here, this is what dogs do." *eye roll* When I went to look closer, the fencing was smooshed around where she was trying to steamroll through it, and this zucchini had tooth scrapes on it! What a terrible dog. The zuc could have used another day or two to get bigger, but I went and rescued the poor thing anyway. No one's teeth marks are allowed on these except mine and the patient man-half's! 

Don't be fooled. This is a cold, hard zucchini thief. 

Current goings on in the garden

Little zucs.

Monster cucs.

Hubbard squash growing like a champ.

The last of the chocolate cherry maters. I really hope this plant puts out more blossoms soon. These are my favorite. But, while three of the tomato plants are growing taller and looking greener, there are no new blossoms yet.

I planted six malabar spinach seeds. This is the only thing that has come up. 

My basil started to look lovely again, after I cut it down to stubs to make pesto.

Worms! I always put any worms that I find into my compost bin.

I replanted my rosemary and oregano into bigger pots. The poor oregano was so root bound!

Gardening as a subversive act.

Some older videos, but very cool ones! Interesting and inspiring.

Now I can't stop watching TedX farming videos. Good thing I had nothing better planned for this afternoon!

Farmer's market, yall. Peaches, corn, kale, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, celery greens, chard, fennel, patty pan squash, and eggs. I love it when the seasons change, and you start to see the produce change. Right now, we are seeing the last of the cool weather crops, mingled with the beginning of summer crops. We will be eating very well this week!

Dinner last night

What to do when you haven't been to the store and need dinner? Pantry frittata! Though this one came mostly from the freezer and included kale, ham, peas and butternut squash. Also mixed in- one package of whole grain rice pilaf- one of those prepacked, heat-in-the-microwave pouches that has been lurking in the back of the pantry.

Instructions- Using a stainless steel skillet, I sauteed the frozen butternut squash in a little bit of butter until thawed, then added the peas, chopped ham, and chopped kale. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Mixed in the rice, and stirred till hot through. In a bowl I cracked six eggs and seasoned with salt and pepper. I dumped the eggs onto the mixture in the skillet, and stirred for just a quick minute, then transferred the pan to a 400 degree oven. When the eggs were mostly cooked, I added some shredded mozzarella on top (I prefer cheddar, but we were out!) and baked for a few more minutes. This turned out delicious- the man half ate two giant pieces.

Everything is better with cholula. 

Woohoo!

First harvested zucchini!! Yay!!

So, apparently two of my tomato plants got mixed up, though I am not sure if it happened at home while I was planting them, or while at the nursery. The tomato above was picked off of the plant that I thought was the Fireworks plant. Clearly, this mater is orange, not red. So this plant must be the Orange Oxheart. Sad, as this one mater is lovely, and I don't think I will get any more from the pathetic plant I just took it off. The plant that is supposedly the Fireworks (though who knows? I just realized that maybe it is still an Orange Oxheart and I came home with two of the same, but one had the wrong tag?) is growing and putting on height, but zero buds or blossoms.

Blue Hubbard Squash seedling

Isn't it lovely? I planted two seeds in this big ole bucket, and there is no sign of the other one at this point, but this one fills me with happy.

Recent Yum Pics

Homegrown Sweet and Purple Basil, which was mixed with farmer's market basil and made into pesto for a skillet dinner of crispy potatoes with baked eggs (I also added sausages).  Recipe here.

Both the yogurt pesto and the dish were fantastic.

Farmer's market Purple and Yellow Beans

Mixed with water, dried chicken bouillon seasoning, onion powder, crushed red pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice, chopped bacon, and new potatoes. Simple and old fashioned!

This was so good I literally drank the broth out of the bowl.

Rosemary-Orange Sweet Bread swimming in a pool of orange glaze. Recipe here. go and make this RIGHT now. I'm serious. Then invite me over.

Today's harvest

Ya'll, don't be jealous, now. 

 I am not pleased, as this would have been my first zuc from the garden to be able to harvest. What ate the zucchini, you may ask? Well, it wasn't me. It may have been a squirrel? Though, from the way that a bunch of leaves were smooshed and pushed off to the side, I have my suspicions.

This is Betty. She might be a zucchini thief, and currently her mother's least favorite dog.

Garden Happenings

WOAH you guys! The veggie garden is looking like a veggie garden or something. Too bad it is a month or more behind in growth and production. Here in lovely central texas, we hit triple digits with high humidity every summer and most veggie plants putz out. I am lucky that it has been cooler than norm. I may be able to wring a wee little harvest out of the patch, if I am lucky. This time two summers ago (at my last place of residence) I was pulling bowlfuls of tomatoes and a few peppers every day. So, it is hard not to be sad. But I (and my plants) keep plugging along.

Chocolate Cherry Tomatoes

One lone Fireworks Tomato, starting to ripen! You can see the top of the plant, where it just dies off. So this will probably be the only mater from this plant, unless there is a miracle.

Sweet little yellow pear tomatoes.

One lil jalapeno. The only pepper of any kind thus far, and no blossoms on any other plants currently.

The bounce back green beans! 

Teeny baby red okra blossom bud.

All of the green okra have the same lil blossom buds.

Dare I to hope that this pretty little zucchini won't turn yellow, fall off, and break my heart?

Baby cuke!

Baby cuke! (This long fruit is growing on the plant that was sold with the label "Lemon Cucumber"- meaning it should be short and round. I am going to go out on a limb and say it was mislabeled. No cute round cukes for me this year!