Category Archives: Garden

The BRAT diet blahs

Eating an easy-on the-digestive-system diet presents a challenge when you have a pantry full of whole grains and a fridge overflowing with garden produce.

Matthew has been cooking some lovely meals for us, and the most I can do is try a few small bites before returning to my bowl of rice noodles.  On Saturday, he brought home a large cooler stuffed with beautiful kale and Swiss chard.  We’re struggling to eat all the leftovers and fresh produce with only one of us really partaking.  Instead of eating for two, I’m eating for about 1/2 a person.

On Sunday, we picked over a gallon of red raspberries, but guess who shouldn’t be eating any?  😦

Given my ongoing GI pains (8 days and counting, woohoo!), I’m trying my best to be good and stick to simple foods, but it’s not easy right now.  The other food is tantalizing, but anything more than a bite or two sends my stomach into knots a few hours later.

This too shall pass . . . right?
As some consolation, the garden production shows little sign of slowing (in fact, I’ll post more about our crazy garden later this week).  There will be more raspberries, more kale and Swiss chard, and more lovely dinners prepared with garden bounty.

Spring on my plate

Best way to eat asparagus?  Broiled, hands down!  Grilled is also great, but pulling out the grill just for a few pieces of asparagus would be silly.  The broiler setting on the toaster oven makes perfect asparagus for two — just brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt before broiling.

Main dish (not so local, but yummy): quinoa with portabello mushrooms and artichoke hearts, plus lots of our garlic chives.  I bought the portobellos at City Greens, but I forgot to ask about their origin — they MAY have been locally grown/foraged.

On the side, we ate a simple salad with greens from our garden. I’m loving all of this fresh, local goodness.

Speaking of which, I don’t have photographic evidence, but I spent last Saturday in the kitchen (barefoot and pregnant 😉 ) with 12 quarts of gorgeous, delicious strawberries.  I saved some for eating fresh, but most are topped, bagged, and frozen, ready for eating throughout the year.

Surviving the gardening blitz

Going into it, I honestly wasn’t sure how I would hold up during Saturday’s garden blitz.  We had one shot to get in our potatoes and spring crops — one day where the soil was dry enough (barely), we had a tiller, and all of the stars aligned just so = tons of work!

With only one tiller and three helpers, I spent I good bit of the morning waiting for the ground to be ready to plant.  Matthew and Pam did all of the tilling — there’s no reason I couldn’t have joined in, but the machine scared me a bit.  I did help spread some soil amendments, including lime, gypsum, and some alfalfa-based fertilizer.

 

That's not just dirt you're looking at -- it's four rows of potatoes, plus a bed of garlic!

Once the soil was prepped, we planted six rows of potatoes, a bazillion onions, some cruciferous seedlings (sadly, we had to buy these, as ours bit the dust once again, but we have a plan of attack for next time), and artichoke seedlings.

 

Artichoke!

Other than playing photographer (and a little help with clean-up), planting the artichokes was my last garden-related act for the day.  After that, my aching lower back and I retreated inside to bond with a yoga mat, while Matthew and Pam toiled for a couple more hours, planting peas, carrots, and more onions.

From left to right . . . far upper left corner: artichokes; then seeds: carrots, lettuce, peas; potato rows; the biggest green things = Egyptian onions; then rows of onion starts; a cage of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower; our low tunnel.

They finally called it quits when dusk turned into full dark, and the raindrops grew a bit more insistent.

We finally arrived home, feeling more zombie than human.  A hot shower and a hot meal (PTL for leftovers!) only slightly eased the zombified state for me.  I finally made it into bed, and despite not-so-great sleep, I woke up Sunday feeling surprisingly good.

How I survived:

  • Hydration
  • Frequent snack breaks
  • Frequent breaks
  • Stretching my back at the end of the day
  • And, last but not least, being the gardening slacker — from skipping some garden days altogether, to taking it easy when I’m there, between the three of us, I win the slacker award, hands down 😉  Matthew and Pam are the garden super heroes!

Eating garden fresh in February

I’m always delighted when I look at my plate and realize that a large portion of the food on it came from our garden (or local sources).  A couple nights ago, we tossed together a relatively quick meal, almost all home grown.

From the top: roasted, shredded beets with butter and salt(actually from my father-in-law’s garden), a veggie saute made from frozen green beans and corn, plus roasted winter squash (sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with fresh ginger, horseradish, and soy sauce), and noodles with canned sauce from our garden tomatoes.  Yum 🙂

Two for two

Sauce Magazine, my favorite StL foodie mag, scores high points for the recipes in its February 2011 edition.  On Sunday night, we made Acquacotta, a delicious and hearty soup, though it left us wondering what kind of Italian peasants can afford 10 oz. of dried porcini mushrooms.  We made it with our homegrown celery, herbs, leeks, and tomatoes, plus some local dried mushrooms — though we did not have 10 ounces!

Last night, Matthew made Navratan Korma, an Indian vegetable dish.  We both enjoyed it and think the leftovers will be even better, as the flavors have more time to meld.   Matthew dug into our freezer for garden/local green beans, carrots, yellow squash, and cauliflower, plus potatoes from our crop and our canned tomatoes.

This is the time of year when all the work of chopping, blanching, and canning, plus Matthew’s work in the garden really pays — in delicious dividends!