Category: Veggie

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Winter Squash Vegetable Medley

Recently I designed a recipe using winter squash. I like it with ingredients we have saved from the garden. But it can be made with any 6 cups of veggies + the winter squash. Enjoy!

Winter Squash Vegetable Medley

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 butternut squash, peeled, quartered, and cut into 1/2 in. thick slices; other squashes or pumpkins will also work
  • 2 cups snowpeas, in bite size pieces
  • 2 cups green beans, in bite size pieces
  • 2 cups Swiss chard or other leafy green veggie, in bite size pieces
  • Olive oil or other fat

Instructions
 

  • Prep veggies.
  • Put oil in Dutch oven, covering the bottom well. Heat over medium to high heat. Saute squash in 1 layer for 2-3 minutes one side and about 2 min on other side. Move squash to another dish or plate, do more squash, repeat until all squash is sauteed. If other veggies are not cooked, lightly saute them in batches, adding oil as needed.
  • Mix all veggies together, adding oil. Stir or toss as best you can.
  • Cover and cook over low heat. Check and stir every 5-10 minutes, until all are cooked and soft, probably around 30 minutes.
  • OR Put in a crockpot and cook on high for 1 hour, then turn to low until ready to serve.

Variations

  • This can be made with any 6 cups of veggies – frozen veggies, sauteed veggies, canned veggies, fresh veggies – whatever you have available.
  • This can also be doubled or halved and still taste good.

Notes

This was fashioned after reading about sauteing winter squash in Ruffage: a practical guide to vegetables by Abra Berens. 
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Garlic Scapes

It is garlic scape season again!  This is a 2-3 week period in June and July about a month before the garlic is ready to harvest.  Scapes are the flower umbrel of a hardnecked garlic. Since we want the energy of the plant to go into the garlic clove, we remove these and eat them.

Garlic scape in the garlic bed

  • Uses for Scapes –  We use scapes in 2 ways – as a green vegetable and as a major ingredient in pesto. Raw, scapes taste like a solid green garlic. They are rather strong. Cooked, they mellow in flavor. The texture is somewhere between cooked green beans and cooked asparagus. The flavor sort of resembles a garlic-y green bean.
    • Green Vegetable – We chop the scapes to a size similar to green beans and cook them in a similar manner. They can be steamed, sauteed or boiled. They can be added to soups, stews or stir-fries. They can also be blanched and frozen – we blanch them for 2 minutes.
    • Pesto – For our family, I take 1 part scapes to 1 part nut or seed to 1 part cheese to 1/2 part oil. I blend these together in the blender or food processor. The blender takes more oil, the food processor less. I have found that any nut/seed, cheese or oil will work. We don’t like the traditional pesto nuts and cheeses, so we use the ones we have, usually walnuts, cheddar cheese and olive oil. The flavor of this mellows with refrigeration. It can also be frozen. We eat it with veggies, crackers or bread OR eat it plain.
  • Just for reference or planning, 1/2 lb scapes chopped = about 2 cups.
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Starting Seeds

March is time to start some seeds! So far this year we have started tomatoes, gourds, and rosemary.

We built a little plant nursery in our basement a few years ago that we raise our plants in. A string of outdoor Christmas lights are in the bottom to keep the soil warm. And overhead lights are on a timer to simulate sunlight. The plastic tent covering can be peeled back into a large opening. This lets us soak everything well with a hand sprayer.

Hopefully these young tomato plants will be producing fruit later this summer.

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Indoor Sprouts – 2019 Update

We are in our 3rd year of growing soil-sprouted greens during the winter. Here is the page describing the process.

Here are some of 2019’s adaptations:

  • We are using paper egg cartons to hold the dirt and we set these on trays to protect the shelf or table surface.
  • In addition to sprouting peas, we are sprouting other seeds, including beets/Swiss chard and beans. Peas are still our preferred sprout, but the others give a variety of flavors.

Top to bottom: Peas, beans, beets

  • We have a multishelf in a sunny window.
  • After our first harvest, we let the sprouts grow a 2nd time. Some resprout. Others weren’t harvested the first time and are the 2nd time. After the 2nd harvest, the whole container is composted.

The Farmer plans his summer pea bed for at least 2 fifty-foot rows. One row will be for us to eat as a raw or cooked veggie. The other will go to seed. He will save some of the seed to plant the next summer and will save most of it for us to sprout in the winter. Gray Dwarf is the current variety we are sprouting.

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2019 Plans – Seeds

In early January we make our main plan for what we will grow in the coming summer.  We tweak this until finally we plant things.  Part of January’s plan is placing the seed order.  We primarily use Fedco Seeds, because we like their small farm sympathies and because we get a significant discount with the group that we are part of.

Here is how YOU can help us:  What have we grown that you have enjoyed?  What would you like us to grow?  Think about greens, root veggies, pumpkins, squash, herbs, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and flowers; in short, any vegetable, herb, or flower that might grow in this region.  We make no promises that we will be able to grow it, but we will seriously consider it. Email to let me know.

Jarrahdale Pumpkin – Grown at a customer’s request; excellent as a vegetable and a pie

Here is how WE can help you: You can place your own order with our group for seeds, potatoes and exotics, and growers supplies. Seeds tend to have 15% discount, potatoes and supplies 5-10% discount.  Shipping is free for seeds, but will be spread out over the group for the potatoes and supplies.  Email me your interest, so that I can let you know how to be part of the group.

Here’s to planning for our 2019 summer!

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The Tall and the Short of It – Revisited

In an earlier post, we showed that our corn had met the “knee high by the Fourth of July” criteria.

We went out one month later, and it must be the weather is the right combination of warmth and water, as the stalks now tower over The Farmer.

And remember the short broom corn that was barely as big as the scissors?  Well, it is now taller than the regular corn!

It is the corn-like plant that is in the back.  Here is a close up of it.

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Spring Scallions

Our over-wintered scallions

Scallions are members of the onion (Allium) family that will over-winter in our climate. When spring (finally) arrives, they green up and make an early spring fresh vegetable. They have a  mild onion flavor and  can be used green or cooked.

These scallions have been transplanted

The Farmer began growing scallions just a few years ago. Here was the thinking: a single scallion grows into a clump of scallions over the summer…the clump overwinters…in the spring, the clump is divided and transplanted…the process repeats…wow-early spring onions without seeds!

What could go wrong?

Continue reading “Spring Scallions”

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Fried Rice

 

Fried Rice

Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Vegetables - 3 cups that could include these:

  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels, defrosted
  • 1/2 cup fresh or frozen peas. defrosted,
  • 1 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables, substitute for corn and peas above
  • 1/2 cup chopped scallions

Rest of the ingredients

  • 2 tbsp grapeseed, canola, peanut, or vegetable oil
  • 4 cups cold cooked rice
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground white pepper
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, almonds, peanuts, or cashews
  • 2 tbsp minced cilantro, opt.

Instructions
 

  • Optional Step - Egg Pancake: There are several ways of adding egg to your finished fried rice. You can simply cook in the beaten egg at the end of cooking, or you can make an egg pancake. To do this, heat the pan and add 1 teaspoon of oil. Swirl in the oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Add a beaten egg and tilt the wok so that the egg covers the surface like a crepe. Cook the pancake about 30 seconds to a minute until it's just set. Use a metal spatula and flip the pancake and cook for 5 seconds or until set. Cut into small strips and add to fried rice near the end of cooking.
  • Heat the pan.  Cook egg if making egg pancake. SEE ABOVE.  Otherwise,
  • Add the Carrots and Stir-Fry: Add the carrots and stir fry for 30 seconds, or until the carrots are bright orange.
  • Add the Corn and Peas and Stir-Fry: Add the corn and peas and stir fry for 1 minute.
  • Add 1 More Tablespoon Oil: Swirl the remaining tablespoon of oil into the pan.
  • Add the Rice and Scallions and Stir-Fry for 2 Minutes: Add the rice and scallions stir-fry for 2 minutes, breaking up the rice with the spatula until it is heated through.
  • Season the Rice: Season the rice with the salt and white pepper.
  • Add the Sauce: Pour the soy sauce around the edges of the wok and stir-fry.
  • Finish the Rice: Add the chopped egg pancake and pine nuts. Toss to combine. OR you can stir in 1 beaten egg. Stir-fry until the egg is no longer wet.
  • Stir in the cilantro.

Notes

Stir-Fried Rice in a 12-inch Skillet: If you are cooking in a 12-inch stainless steel skillet, halve the recipe to prevent rice from falling out of the pan.
Substituting Other Vegetables: Substitute up to 2 1/2 cups of vegetables in place of the carrots, frozen corn, and frozen peas. Leftover meat (shredded or diced small) can also be added.
Original recipe here

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Indoor Winter Greens

Back a while ago, The Farmer found this book by Peter Burke in his local library and took a long gander. (Here is the link to the local library. The author also has a website with supplies and an outline of his method.)

Year-Round Indoor Salad Gardening: How to Grow Nutrient-Dense, Soil-Sprouted Greens in Less Than 10 days

In the book, Mr. Burke shows a simple way to grow sprouts on soil, without the need for grow lights or other expensive equipment.

This is The Farmer’s second winter using the method, and here is what it looks like for him.

Continue reading “Indoor Winter Greens”