growLively

Time to make pepper relish...

Back to those peppers taking over my refrigerator...last night I managed to get the first batch of pepper relish made and canned some up. I still have bowls of peppers in the fridge and plenty yet out in the garden...but it's a start!

Pepper relish has plenty of vinegar in it, so it's not mandatory that you have to process the jars, but, if you want to store them for a long period without refrigeration it's a good idea to go ahead and water-bath process for about 10 min. 

There are lots of different ways to make relishes with peppers. My mom makes a highly blended pear/pepper relish that is to die for. So you can be creative about mixing other ingredients. I kept this one pretty straightforward.

Lots of peppers (mild, hot..and one habanero! You can mix whatever peppers you like)
A few cloves garlic (I'm not crazy about onions, but they are what most people use)
1 Tablespoon of sea salt
2 1/2 cups organic apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar.
2 cups organic sugar (less if you want a not-so-sweet relish)

• Food process or hand chop (with gloves!!) the peppers. Remove seeds.
• Place peppers, garlic (or onions) and salt in a 6 quart pot. Cover with boiling water and let sit for 10 min.
• Sterilize your canning jars in the canner with water boiling (you don't have to process your jars if you're just going to keep them in the fridge, but you should still sterilize the jars or run through dishwasher first)
• Strain water off peppers and place back in 6 quart pot. Add vinegar and sugar to peppers and bring to a boil. Let simmer for 20 min.
• Pack pepper relish into sterilized jars. Pack down to press air bubbles out. Wipe lip of jar clean with dishtowel. Place lid on jar and secure ring, not tightly, onto jar.
• Place jars into water bath canner and process for about 10 min. Start counting processing time when water comes back to a boil. 
• Or, just fill jars and place in the fridge. Again, the relish will last a long time in the fridge even without canning.

Super yummy!!!!

 

It's a Pesto Party!

It's getting chilly out there folks...that means that very soon, all that beautiful basil out in the garden is going to take a nosedive. You know what that means right? Time to make Pesto...lots of it! I started making batches last night and will continue to do so until we get a frost. Basil can suffer from cold damage at temperatures of 40F or below, so just remember to use it before it gets too cold.

Here is one bunch I picked last evening. A few different varieties mixed in there. Sweet basil is the large-leafed variety. 'Sweet Aussie' the small green leaves, 'Pesto Perpetuo' the small variegated leaves and some 'Purple Ruffles', the dark purples leaves. All basil varieties have a different flavor and fragrance so its nice to have several to choose from.

I'm not very recipe oriented when it comes to making pesto.  I just sort of throw it together. Have on hand some garlic, EV olive oil, Parmigiano-Reggiano, roasted pine nuts, a little salt and LOTS of basil leaves. I use my one "as seen on tv" gadget purchase, my Magic Bullet, LOL, to make my pesto. It's all I use it for but it's totally worth it! I quarter a couple cloves of garlic, throw in a table spoon or so of pine nuts, a pinch of salt, a healthy helping of olive oil, a few chunks of the cheese, then stuff the jar full of basil. Pulse this combo (or process in food processor) until it reaches your preferred consistency. You'll just need to adjust the ingredients to reach the flavor you like best. Some prefer more or less garlic. Then, you can simply freeze portions of pesto in an ice cube tray, covered with plastic wrap. Once the cubes are frozen, put them in a freezer bag and seal. You can keep it for about 6 months in the freezer. That should keep you in homemade pesto until next spring, when you can plant fresh basil plants. YUM!

Fresh Peppers = Skillet stuffed peppers for dinner...

It's that time of the fall season where I find myself overrun with peppers. Peppers of all sorts. Which is wonderful, but then I'm in a rush to use them and preserve them. I've been picking them for days and, like the "squash incident" of summer '09, they are starting to take over my refrigerator! Tomorrow evening I'll be making a batch of pepper relish to can...mmmmmm.

 

This evening I decided to take a few of the nice large bells and make stuffed peppers for dinner. For me anyway, the husband won't touch 'em! His loss! I made the filling from Quinoa, black beans, tomatoes, peppers and seasoning. Topped with some Fiscalini cheddar I found in the fridge. As I'm gluten free right now, I topped them off with some polenta instead of bread crumbs. Pre-heat the oven to 350, then bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on the heat of your oven and till the peppers are tender. YUM.

I'm going to sail my zucchini boat away....

Here is what happens when you forget to stay on top of your zucchini/squash harvesting...you begin to find zucchini the size of boats in the garden! Ah, but the good thing about zucchini is that the rind doesn't get tough on you past the size of a cucumber like most summer yellow squash do. You can let these babies get huge and they still taste great...and you can float them to the Bahamas, which is where I wish I was floating away to right now! Or Paris..Paris would be good...but I don't know if my zucchini could get me that far...hmmmm...

Anyhoo, this is a really outstanding bush type zucchini I'm testing. For those of you who have limited space, or haven't had much success with the vineing types of squash/zucchini, try sticking with "bush" types. They make plants about 2 1/2 feet tall and wide, so they are great for containers or small space veggie gardens. I fried up some of this zucchini two nights ago and it twas superb...MMMMM, nothing like summer vegetables giving me the excuse to eat something fried. Now I have to go run it off!!

Nikki Teases You with Talk of Potatoes

 

Ok, so I lost my camera yet again and have no proof, BUT I harvested about 5 lbs of potatoes. I figure it's a standard grocery plastic bags worth. I planted Yukon Gold back in February or so and decided to pull them out tonight.

My 5 year old immediately screamed for potato chips, but I think I'll be roasting them. I plan on eating all of them at once. I imagine they will be THAT delish! I just toss with olive oil and lemon pepper from this guy. Btw: he'll be at North Haven Gardens this Sunday for Farmer's Market for 10am-2pm.

So, here is what happened. Les, maybe you can explain a few things...

1. the green plant part was turning brown and falling over. I got maybe 3 blooms on all the potatoes I planted. What's up??? Should I have left them longer? The plants were just too ick.
2. none of the potatoes were actually found in the straw. they were below the straw, half in the soil. (i planted them in a 4" trench about 5' long.) But, my soil is pretty good. Nice and crumbly. I've been amending obsessively for about 3 years.
3. I had mostly about 3"-4" in diameter potatoes and a handful of .75" ones.  
4. of the 10 or so potatoes i planted, only about half produced plants. 

So, there you go. I have potatoes. Now, if I could just figure out where my dang camera was... 

Lovely dinner salad...

Ok, I do actually have things other than squash in the garden right now! This was my dinner last evening...still harvesting the last of the salad greens, baby style. Pulling the last round of carrots young as it's getting quite hot here now. Peppers, Swiss chard, basil and the first an orange cherry tomato. YUM. All varieties are test subjects for OG magazine, so you know the drill, can't tell you what they are or else I'd have to kill ya. Exceptions: 'Spicy Globe' basil and 'Big Bertha' pepper. The carrot is a long and slender type which, in our soil/climate, needs to be grown either in containers or raised beds. I usually grow the stubbier heirloom Chantenay types because they are easier to grow here. But this variety is doing well so far. The tomato is super tasty, although plants are kind of wimpy.

Here comes trouble

Let me just confess that a respectable percentage of my reason for blogging here is to get free advice from Leslie without driving her to acquire a restraining order.

Having said that, I'll introduce myself. I'm Julie, and my oldest child has referred to me variously as a "salad geek," a "compost-obsessed weirdo," and a "crazy chicken lady." Which is probably all the introduction I need. Mine is not the garden of a professional horticulturist, by any stretch. It's full of nutty experiments -- straw-bale raised beds, cucumbers growing on the compost bin, and hey, what happens if you bring home all the stale bread from church and stick it in your compost tumbler right before leaving town? (Answer: rats have amazing teeth.) I have three little helpers and one very busy husband who's always willing to help but seldom available. I aspire to create this in our patch of East Dallas, but for now I'll settle for a really good homegrown salad, like the one I made for dinner last night.

The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

Ok gardeners and enjoyers of local farmers markets, etc....if you're not paying attention to this now...you'd better. Regulating small local farmers...and potentially down the road backyard food production...out of existance is the last thing this country needs right now. We need to speak up on this one. If you're not familiar with the Act, you should be.

The Bill

Here is a good article from Rod Dreher in the Dallas Morning News:

Rod Dreher: Food safety shouldn't kill farmers markets

Dinner from the garden...

Just in case those of you living in Texas don't realize how much you can grow here in the winter, all winter, this is what my dinner plate looked like last night. Straight from the garden to the plate. YUM. I dedicate this plate to Rod and Julie Dreher...as I think this is what they'll be eating for the next month!

What to do with turnips?

So if you veggie garden on schedule here in Texas, you should be harvesting turnips right about now. I'd say most people my age would ask the question: "What the .... do yo do with TURNIPS?" Well, they're actually quite tasty, and super easy to grow here. Just sprinkle the seeds directly into the garden in fall and late winter (now), then the seedlings and then just leave 'em alone until they mature. Don't let the turnips get too big before you harvest them, the flavor is better when they are medium sized.

You can make a "mash", as the British would say"...I like to combine potatoes and turnips together to make a mash. Boil your potatoes and turnips (seperately) to a mash appropriate softness. Drain and mash or blend with some butter, fresh parsley, salt and pepper, a bit of cream and some horseradish. MMMM. yes horseradish, that you also grew in your garden and processed...and is sitting in it's jar in you fridge.

OR, you can make these yummy Potato and Turnip cake's from her majesty Martha Stewart:

Serves 4

• 1 pound russet potatoes (about 2 medium)
• 1/2 pound white turnips (about 1 large)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions

1. Coarsely grate (with a box grater or a food processor fitted with the grater attachment) potatoes and turnips, all scrubbed and trimmed. Squeeze to remove as much moisture as possible; transfer vegetables to a medium bowl. Toss with coarse salt and ground pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Form potato mixture into four tightly packed patties; place in skillet, flattening gently with a spatula to a 3/4-inch thickness. Cook patties, turning once, until browned and cooked through, about 10 minutes per side (reduce heat if patties start to brown too quickly, and add more oil to skillet if necessary). Transfer to paper towels; sprinkle with salt.

OR, how about this Turnip Puff from Cooking for 2's website:

• 3 cups cubed peeled turnips
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 egg
• 4-1/2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Dash pepper
• Dash ground nutmeg
• TOPPING:
• 2 tablespoons dry bread crumbs

2 teaspoons butter, melted

 
Place turnips in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain; mash with butter. Cool slightly. 

Beat in egg. Combine the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, salt, pepper and nutmeg stir into turnip mixture. 

Spoon into a 3-cup baking dish coated with cooking spray. Toss bread crumbs and butter; sprinkle over casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 375° for 30-35 minutes or until heated through and a thermometer reads 160°. Yield: 3 servings

OR you can roast or broil them with some olive oil and salt. Super yummy. They are also good mixed into soups or stews like you'd use potatoes. The greens can be braised or steamed with a bit of garlic, butter and lemon juice.

I know, I know...turnips can be an aquired taste. I think it's time we aquire it.