Falling for Fall Greens

So the weather may be chilly, but that's not stopping the green stuff from overflowing the weeds in the garden. Here it is the middle of October and I am up to the tops of my Wellies in greens of all sorts.

Kale, with it's dark silvery-green leaves that prickle when you tear them from the stem are growing tall and proud. They are great sauteed with olive oil and garlic or tossed into an impromptu soup. For a quick meal, open a can of your favorite soup and stir some in, even butternut squash soup! Seriously, don't knock it till you try it.

Rainbow Chard is also coloring up the garden nicely and our plates as well with its magenta, gold and white stalks. The variety I have is called "Bright Lights" and it sure is pretty. Full of vitamins and a great way to get more color in your diet which is highly recommended by nutritionists, Swiss and Rainbow chard makes a great substitute for tired spinach. How to cook it? Olive oil and garlic, of course! You can braise it, steam it, boil it, poach it, whatever. It tastes pretty good any way you choose.

Mustard greens are having a field day in the garden and I am adding them to everything. The kind I have is called "Osaka Purple" and it is a big, fat leaf tinged with purple as the name implies. Mustard Greens can be a tad bitter, so you might want to blanche them in some lightly salted water before you saute them in.....what else? Olive oil and garlic! (Noticing a trend here?)

Since they have the name "Osaka", I also saute them with ginger and a splash of soy sauce at the end....If you boil or blanche them, you'll find your water tinged a beautiful blue color from the purple and green. I save this water to add to soups. Who knows, might be some vitamins in that there water! The greatest thing about these greens is that they come back every year! I only had to plant them once and now they're coming up all over the place. Weed? Nah, just a user-friendly plant.

The last but not least in my wonderful family of cold-hardy green things is the Bok Choy. Aside from being fun to say, (fast like a Samurai warrior), it instantly Asian-ifies (made-up but very cool word) any meal. It's crunchy and yummy without being too cabbagey, although it is in the cabbage family. Break off the stalks first and then add the leaves toward the end so they don't get over-cooked. How to cook them, you ask? Maybe you can guess! Olive oil or sesame oil, garlic, ginger, a little soy and/or fish sauce and a splash (teeny) of rice wine or rice vinegar. This last ingredient can dull the bright green color, so it's optional.

So check out your farmer's market or your produce section for these fall favorites that pack a nutritional punch and instead of bypassing them, you can....

GO GREEN!

Ahhhhhh.....

That's ahhhhhhh as in refreshing! As we are enjoying this lovely break in the heat and humidity, you may not feel you need such a refreshing beverage, but it is still summer, people, so it's a perfect excuse to make yourself an adult beverage that quenches your thirst while battling the heat.


It's also a way to use up some of that unruly mint that's taking over your garden, flower beds and lawn. What's that? You don't have that problem? Oh, must just be me, since I was dumb enough to put it in my garden with my other herbs. It has gone through the fence on one side and into my strawberry patch on the other, but it smells heavenly and I use it a lot. I just don't use enough to thwart its progress, but that's my problem, not yours so here is my recipe for a Mojito!

In case you are not familiar with mojitos, they are the perfect balance of tart and sweet with a refreshing kick of mint. It was a favorite drink of Cuba-phile Ernest Hemingway, so if you want to impress your friends (that is if you have friends that need impressing or really care that they think you're an intellectual), you can tell them, "This was the drink of choice of Ernest Hemingway, dahling." Make sure you add the "dahling" and talk like Thurston Howell. You know, from "Gilligan's Island"? Oh, I forgot, you're trying to act like an intellectual.


You could also say, "This here's the drink of that dude that wrote all those books we were supposed to read in high school. You know, the one whose name was on all those Cliff Notes?"


That should get them peering over their glasses (drink glasses) at you with awe and amazement and feeling so lucky to have a cosmopolitan friend like you to hang out and drink Mojitos. Or, make mojitos, but after the first one, you'll be over the work and tell them to make their own.


Please don't cop out and buy one of those pre-mixed bottles of mojitos or the mojito-flavored malt beverages. We're not in high school, I mean, college anymore, people! We, of the intellectual Mojito-sipping, Cliff Note and cheesy sitcom show-referencing set do not drink malt beverages! Is Zima even still on the market? Ah, memories......

OK, so enough chatter! I'm cutting into your happy hour, I know.


This recipe was slightly lifted, but I will tell you this: make some mint-infused simple syrup! You'll be glad you did if you want one of these and don't feel like going to the garden or the store for fresh mint or the mint you have has wilted and gotten moldy. Fresh mint does not keep well, that's for sure, but it really makes the drink and looks so pretty, too and last time I checked we were concerned with appearances, Lovey. You can find a simple syrup recipe anywhere but I'll be nice and put one here.


You can also use Blue Agave syrup but then you lose that extra mint flavor, but it's supposed to be better for you. You may substitute vodka for the light rum if you want to make Mr. Hemingway turn fitfully in his grave. But some of us don't tolerate it well, so you do what you gotta do. And these can be kid-friendly if you leave out the mint. Oh, I mean, if you leave out the rum. Right, go to sleepies, children....


MOJITO MANIA!!!!!!


2 tablespoons (1 ounce) fresh lime juice


2 heaping teaspoons superfine sugar (powdered can work well)


1 cup crushed ice


12 fresh mint leaves, plus 5 small sprigs for garnish


1/4 cup (2 ounces) white rum


2 tablespoons (1 ounce) club soda


In 10-ounce glass (such as Collins or highball), stir together lime juice and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add 1/4 cup crushed ice. Rub mint leaves over rim of glass, then tear leaves in half and add to glass. You may use a muddler or wooden spoon to mash them into the ice. Gently stir for 15 seconds, then add rum, remaining crushed ice, and club soda. Gently stir for 5 seconds, then tuck mint sprigs into top of glass and insert tall straw.

SIMPLE SYRUP:

1 1/2 cups packed fresh mint leaves1 cup sugar1 cup water
PreparationChop mint. In a saucepan bring sugar, water and mint to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Simmer syrup, undisturbed, 2 minutes. Pour syrup through a fine sieve, pressing hard on solids, and cool. Syrup keeps, covered and chilled, 2 weeks.


NOTE: some people put a sprinkle of bitters in their recipe and the original authentic one calls for it, but I leave it out. It's a matter of preference. Also, if using simple syrup it can be added to taste and will mix in easily enough that you can add it anytime.


CHEERS!

Summer's Bounty

Shout out to all tomato lovers! Thankfully, this year's tomato harvest hasn't been a total bust for me like it has for all the commercial growers. Unfortunately, their problems came from a panic and salmonella scare. I had some water, groundhog, and hornworm issues, and grow tomatoes that have smallish harvests, but overall, some pretty good quantities.

The tomatoes I grow are heirloom and some have limited production, but others do just fine for my needs and some have small numbers but big fruits.

I figure you can get standard types in the store and most farm stands, so why not grow the unique and varied heirloom types that have a myriad of flavors and colors. Also, growing without pesticides means more opportunity to be plagued by pests, diseases and fungus. All in a summer's work! I'd rather lose three plants to any of those things than ingest pesticides if I don't have to, right?!

So, today I filmed another segment for LHOV on our local station with Tab. We talked about what to do with all those tomatoes and other abundant produce from your garden.
I made gazpacho, salsa, bruschetta topping and mojitos.

Wait, did I say MOJITO???? Where does that fit in? Well, it's a refreshing Summer libation (that can be alcohol-free if you wish) that makes use of all that crazy, spreading, garden-choking mint!
And I thought it went well with all the things I made.

That may not have been conveyed int he segment, but hopefully nobody minds if it doesn't seem cohesive!

Anyway, here are the recipes for the items I made today. Keep in mind I am not good at measuring and with things like these: salsa, gazpacho, etc., you have to do a lot of it to taste until you get it how you like it. Some people like their salsa mild, some like it screaming hot. Some people like a tart Mojito, some like it super minty and some like it really sweet.

So play with these until you them just right, or have a guinea pig handy to try them out on. That way, if you get the salsa too hot, you don't have to suffer!

Have fun and enjoy and remember, it doesn't have to be PERFECT!!!!!


SALSA!! OLE'!

• 2-4 tomatoes depending on the serving size you would like, diced with peel and seeds


• 1 red onion of medium size, diced


• a bunch of cilantro, torn and chopped (just the leaves)


• 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced and mashed (to get the juices going)


• one 5.5 oz can of low sodium V-8


• 1 -3 sweet bell peppers: I like to use a variety of colors and use about a 1/2 of each one and save the rest for something else. Seed and dice


• 1 jalapeno (seeded and diced) or other hot pepper that's available; you can add heat other ways if they are not available, or use canned minced green chilies


• 1/2 to a tsp. of cumin powder


• 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp. of ancho chili powder


• 1-2 dashes of chipotle chili powder


• pinch to a 1/ tsp. of cayenne


• Jane's Crazy Mixed-Up Salt (in the spice section of your grocery) to taste!


• 2 grinds of fresh pepper (the multi-colored peppercorns are the best)

Mix everything in a bowl. That was hard. Whew. I'm pooped. Pass me a margarita. Okay, so start small on the seasoning and hot pepper amounts and work your way up. Use generous amounts of cilantro and use as much V-8 until you get the consistency you want. I like it chunky, but enough V-8 sauces it enough to hold it all together and get your chip wet without being too watery. Watery salsa is not fun. It's a drag actually, so this solves the problem. And you get your 8 servings of vegetables on a chip and nobody hits you in the head.

If you want to be healthy, there is a yummy multi-grain sea salt tortilla chip out there and Plocky's makes a good one too that is multi-grain, but pricey and found in gourmet stores. Frito-Lay now makes a baked Scoop!, so that's good news for all of us.

The rest of the recipes from this segment will be in the next post!

Back, Jack, do it Again.....

Steely Dan is in my head as I come in from planting the second round. I have not usually planted a second garden in one growing season, but since our summers are so much longer now and since I had so much destruction from squash bugs and Mr. Groundhog, I feel like I didn't get as much out of it as I deserved.

Last year I came back from a trip and was so sad to see everything obliterated with no promise of any harvest for the next several hot summer-like months.

I wasn't finished eating Caprese salad! I hadn't even made gazpacho once. My peppers had just started taking off. Hadn't they?

I am lucky enough to have a Kenneth, my garden guru who gives me (sometimes unsolicited) advice, guidance and helps with some of the big work. I use a small Stihl tiller for weeding and in between jobs, but for the massive tilling at the beginning and end of the season, an industrial size tiller is required and I just don't have the skill or strength to operate one.

So when I told Kenneth to go ahead and till up the garden, I didn't expect EVERYTHING to be gone when I came back. There were sad little red tomatoes laying on the ground! My blueberry vines were gone! Where was my Autumn Sedum and my wildflowers and sunflowers the birds had been enjoying?

SO, LESSON LEARNED! Specify next time! Needless to say, plants are amazing and my blueberries came back as did the rest. It amazes me every year that even after being pummeled into oblivion, onions, fennel, even parsley and tomatoes come back the following year.

As I write this, I am working on another zucchini bread (yes, I am addicted to it) with my last 2 zucchinis.

The tomatoes have been hit and miss this year, but some are producing better than others.

What can you plant the second time around? The opinions vary and it seems that everybody I ask has a different set of guidelines about what can go in and what can't.

So I went down to the seed and supply store and lo and behold found tomatoes, squash and cucumber seedlings, plus all the seeds were still out. So I bought some of everything.

I still had seeds left from the beginning of the season, so I decided to use some of those, too.

This is what I have planted so far from seed:

• Peas: sugar snow and sugar snap


• Beets: Choggia, Bull's Blood, Scarlett


• Okra: red and spineless


• Cilantro


• Beans: bush, pole and runner


• Zucchini: black


• Broccoli: Nutri-bud and purple


• Broccoli Rabe (also called rapini)


• Spinach: long-leaf


• Lettuce: Four Seasons ( a red-tipped leafy)

I planted seedlings, too:

• Tomatoes: Longkeeper, Roma and some heirlooms are coming by mail


• Summer squash: Straight-neck yellow


• Cucumbers: Hybrid and a burpless


• Mini peppers

I haven't planted the pumpkin seeds I got yet, as I thought it was too late, but there are some you can plant this late in the season.

I'm looking forward to my other seedlings coming, including spinach, zucchini, and tomatoes because I always like to have some back-up plants in case the seeds do something weird.

You can still order plants from Tasteful Garden and seeds from Seeds of Change and plant them, but I would suggest getting them in as soon as possible.

There are charts online that will give you a general guideline of what you can plant and when. It depends on your agricultural zone and your average first frost date. This information can be found at your cooperative extension office.Here is a link that has a good chart for the schedule: http://www.yankeegardener.com/resource/fall-veg.html

Well, my zucchini bread is finished and smells great, so I'm off!

Good luck and happy gardening!

Summer Bounty

It's mid-summer and most of us are deep in the throes of harvesting our gardens. Some items are going gangbusters while others are not doing so well. It depends upon where you are in the country, but here in the mid-Atlantic, there was a cool, wet Spring, followed immeditely by July-like weather.

Tomatoes have been great this year and the peach harvest will be good for orchards. I had a short squash season, thanks to many squash bugs and a greedy grounhog. cucumbers also suffered this year from some wilt and brown scale. My sprinkler malfunction was the final nail in the coffin of my cucubrit family.

For those of you looking for ideas for their abundant harvests, I have posted a couple of my favorite summer recipes. It is just not summer for me without Caprese salad and zuchinni bread. Last year I probably made zuchinni bread 6 times!

Here they are:

CAPRESE SALAD:

Cover a plate with torn romaine lettuce or mixed greens. Top with sliced tomatoes cut into halves. Hand-shred fresh mozzarella and sprinkle generously over tomatoes. You may use the sealed log-type mozzarella found in the gourmet cheese department or the mozzarella balls that are in a tub of water, such as cigliene. The ones in water taste the best. Next drizzle the salad with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of balsamic. Sprinkle with a little salt (I like Jane’s Crazy Mixed-up Salt found in the spice section) and a couple turns of your pepper grinder. Top with a generous amount of hand-torn fresh basil. This is the best part and makes it look extra fresh and pretty. You can leave out the base layer of lettuce for a more traditional Caprese salad, but this makes it much more of a meal. Serve with some sliced hard salami or soprasetta, toss in some garden fresh cucumbers for crunch and you have a refreshing summer meal!


ZUCHINNI BREAD:

This does not tast like squash, contrary to popular belief!

Zucchini BreadAdapted from Baking Illustrated

I made one change and that is a dash of nutmeg and a sprinkle of cinammon.

• 2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting



• 1 pound zucchini, washed and dried, ends and stems removed, cut in half lengthwise and seeded if using large zucchini, each half cut into 1-inch pieces
  

3/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces) sugar

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped coarse

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 large eggs, beaten lightly

1 tablespoon lemon juice

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted and cooled

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out the excess.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, process the zucchini and 2 tablespoons of the sugar until the zucchini is coarsely shredded, twelve to fifteen 1-second pulses. Transfer the mixture to a fine-mesh strainer set at least 2 inches over a bowl and allow to drain for 30 minutes. Alternatively, you can shred the halved zucchini (don't cut into 1-inch pieces) on the large holes of a box grater, toss with the 2 tablespoons of sugar, and drain.

• Meanwhile, spread the nuts on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the nuts to a cooling rack and cool completely. Transfer the nuts to a large bowl; add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and whisk until combined. Set aside.

• Whisk together the remaining 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar, yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and melted butter in a 2-cup glass measure until combined. Set aside.

• After the zucchini has drained, squeeze the zucchini with several layers of paper towels to absorb excess moisture. Stir the zucchini and the yogurt mixture into the flour mixture until just moistened. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula.

• Bake until the loaf is golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 to 60 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool for at least one hour before serving. (The bread can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)