Pickling

Tonight was all about the pickle. I've been wanting to can for a while, but I never had anyone to teach me, and I always heard it was very hard, time consuming, HOT, and very possible to make someone sick. So I guess I was a little scared off. But, I planted pickling cucumbers in the garden because I wanted to make pickles, how hard could it be?

And we've been getting lots of cucumbers in the garden, but I keep having to toss them because I pick them but then just leave them in the fridge. WHAT A WASTE! Pat was getting annoyed, and I was feeling guilty.

So I poked around the web, asked a few friends, and bought my supplies. And today, I faced my fear.

that's right, 14 jars

As nervous as I was, the more I talked about pickles, the more excited I got. And the more I wanted to go further than just a few dills. So today, I went to my favorite local pick your own farm and stocked up.

I know, you're thinking, "but wait, don't you have these things in your own garden?" Well, I do, but I figured go big or go home (we bought a 12 pack of jars and already had the other 2), plus I wanted everything to be really fresh.

The final count was 7 jars dill pickle spears, 4 jars green beans, 1 jar cayennes, (I used the same brine liquid for all of these) 1 jar bread and butter pickles, and 1 mini jar watermelon rind (these both used the same brine also, which sounds a little weird).

dill spears

The dill brine was 2 cups white vinegar, 2 cups water, 1/4 cup salt and lots of seasoning (dill, mustard seeds, bay leaf, cinnamon stick, whole clove, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and who knows what else, I looked at so many recipes that I just created my own with what had.)

You're supposed to use a non-metal pot to boil the brine, so I just kept remaking it because I didn't have a very large pot .

One thing I did read somewhere was to cut off both ends, it keeps them from getting as soggy.

bread and butter style

For these, you're supposed to use apple cider vinegar. But I didn't make a shopping list, so I forgot it. Instead, I used rice vinegar, and I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed. I used 1 cup rice vinegar, 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 2 tbsp salt, and some seasoning. (I used mustard seeds, a little turmeric, coriander, and whole clove.)

pickled watermelon rind

I don't know much about pickled watermelon rind, but I figured it was worth a shot since I did have the one small jar. I used the exact same brine and the "bread and butter" style pickles. We'll see how it goes.












For everything, I put the veggies in the sanitized jar, then filled with brine, capped and boiled for 10 minutes. Then, I put them all upside-down (except for when I forgot, and I heard one pop! Oh no! Guess I will have to eat those first!) to leave overnight.

Now I can't wait for the next 3 weeks to pass.

(Oh and by the way, it was HOT and a little time consuming, but not so bad.)

Salmon with Zucchini and Tomatoes

salmon with cherry tomato salad and zucchini

Today I picked some cherry tomatoes and a zucchini from the garden. Salmon was on sale, so we had that in the fridge, so this super simple meal seemed obvious.

I sliced the zucchini super thin, and sauteed that with a little olive oil and Old Bay seasoning (I'm from Baltimore, I put it on everything!) Then I put the salmon, with just a little salt, in a second pan, skin side down (this way the skin gets nice and crispy and you can eat it). I didn't time anything, but I think the salmon cooked for about 6 minutes on the skin side, 3 on the opposite.

For the tomatoes, all I did was slice them in half and toss them in a little olive oil, salt and lemon basil, and put them right on top of the salmon.

Our Garden

We had a nice little greenhouse to start seeds

We got started early this year because the weather was so warm so early. I bought a ton of seeds online starting in January, and started reading gardening ideas to see how to improve on last year's garden (which was my first garden ever.) Then, we started some of the seeds the first week of March and kept them in a little greenhouse in front of a window. The boxes at the bottom are wooden wine crates I got from the restaurant where I work. I loved the idea, but I didn't think to seal the wood. Because they were in such a humid environment, I was worried about mold, so I lined them in plastic, but then there wasn't proper drainage, so they didn't work out very well. If I try this again next year, I will seal the boxes and drill holes in the bottom. I think this would be best for herbs or lettuces because they don't have very deep roots.

first planting

In early April, we started the garden. It measures 11'x31' and is surrounded by wood, stone, dirt and netting. I would love for it to all be surrounded by stone, but that's so expensive! Anyway, we bought a few plants from the garden store and put them in the ground this early, even though I was still a little nervous about frost. We planted broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts and lettuce, figuring most of these plants could survive the low temperatures.

we gradually added more plants

By early May, I planted the peas and some beans, kale, corn seeds (that never took), a few store bought tomato plants and cucumbers (in the pots in the front right). I think we bought a hot pepper plant or two, and put those in too.

cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts

Within a few weeks, we were eating fresh veggies!!

about 10 different types of heirloom tomatoes

We planted so many tomatoes this year because last year so few made it from seed, so we had no idea how many would take. Well, a lot grew. To support them, we had some tomato cages from last year, but we decided to build trellises for the rest, and as the tomatoes grow, I plan to add more twine.

the garden today

Now that it's July, things have changed quite a bit. We're learning about canning so we can pickle the cucumbers and make sauce with all the tomatoes that will soon be ripe. This picture was taken today while I sat outside with the dog and worked on plans for next year's garden.

Citrus Blueberry Pancakes

pancakes with blueberries, lemon juice and keylime Greek yogurt

We still have some of the blueberries we picked last week, so for breakfast this morning, we decided to have pancakes. We normally have Greek yogurt in the house because it is so high in protein, and I thought this would be a great addition to the normal pancake recipe.

Mix 1 egg, 2 tbsp oil, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c keylime Greek yogurt, 1 tsp lemon juice.

Separately, mix 1 c flour, 1 tsp powder, 1/2 tsp soda, 1/2 tsp salt.

Add wet to dry ingredients and mix lightly. Fold in 1 c blueberries. Cook on griddle or nonstick pan.

You don't need to add sugar because the blueberries are sweet and there's already sugar in the yogurt. You can really taste the sweetness of the keylime and with pops of blueberry.

Lamb's Quarters

I recently decided I wanted to get into foraging. Call me a hippie if you want, for me it is partially because I know that some of the weeds in my yard are better for me than whats in the fridge, but I also love the idea of being able to fend for myself if I ever had to (hello, my dream desert island companion is Bear Grylls). Anyway, great idea, but you can get really sick (even die!) if you don't know what you're doing. So far, I've only eaten a few things out of the yard that I didn't plant. Lamb's quarters were one of the first, and are probably one of the best weeds for you.

This is a baby lamb's quarter, looks pretty much the same as the more mature plant below, with a smoother leaf. But you can eat this whole.










I would try to avoid eating any of the half-eaten or discolored leaves.

This is a more mature plant. Be more on the lookout for bugs on the larger leaves. Pinch or use shears to snip off the leaves, and either eat raw or use in place of spinach. When the plant gets even bigger, you can find black seeds inside the stem. These can be eaten as well. Cook them like quinoa.





Lamb's quarters are a lot like spinach, both in flavor and in nutrients, but way better for you. We tested and found that they are actually heavier than water. Really! They are full of water and tons of nutrients. The leaves are rich in vitamins A, B, C, K, iron, calcium and potassium (great for any other non-meat eaters!) The seeds are high in protein, calcium, phosphorus and potassium.

Like spinach, you can eat them raw, but the larger they get, the better they taste cooked. It may be hard to find a lot in the yard, I try to let them grow freely in the garden if they aren't in the way of the plants, so, a great idea is to mix lamb's quarters into spinach you buy at the store. Or, my favorite idea? Add them to an egg white omelet. You don't need a lot for an omelet.

Corn Succotash

Baked corn and veggie "succotash"

It seems silly, to me, to go to one of the many farms around here and buy just two of anything. So when I went and picked these ears of corn, I couldn't stop at two. Once I had picked two, I thought, "that was fun! I need to do that again!" And while there are only two of us around here, I always think "oh well, we'll use them." But, it's so often that I never do. Obviously, I've been trying to avoid throwing so much amazing produce away.

So, as they sat in the crisper, I wondered what would be the best way to use up all three of these extra ears of corn, and on top of the corn, we have so many veggies from the garden. Then it hit me.

Corn succotash.

I know, the frozen corn and lima beans from my childhood sounds terrible, but I think it's perfectly fine to make my own variation with fresh veggies (common', it's 2012!) So, I took all of the corn, all of the veggies from our garden (zucchini, jalapenos, bell peppers, green beans, peas),  added some garlic, onions, salt, pepper, oil,  and dried spices (rosemary, oregano, basil), chopped everything to be about the size of the corn kernels, and threw them all in a large dutch oven. I baked everything for about 45 minutes at 400˚.

I know its a long time to wait, but it's super simple, and all of the veggies were soft and delicious. I topped mine with a little parmesan cheese.

I ate double that amount, and called it dinner...

Cacciucco

Cacciucco

Sorry I haven't posted all weekend! I'm a server and I've been a little busy! I'm sure you understand. Today, we worked at an event at our sister restaurant that showcased local meats and veggies (just my style!!!), and everything was delicious! But when we cooked dinner, we didn't use anything local (slap on my wrist!). So I will instead provide a yum dish we made a few weeks ago.

We made a cacciucco, or seafood stew, with corn, potatoes and tomatoes. We took local canned tomatoes, cooked them down, added potatoes, and slowly added the seafood and corn to make it all cook evenly. If I remember correctly, there were scallops, shrimp, mussels and some sort of white fish. A traditional cacciucco is supposed to have 5 types of fish (that's why there are 5 C's in the name!) but its really not necessary. (And on this occasion I will let improper spelling slide.) The point is to cook down all the fish and tomato flavors and have a delicious stew that tastes like its been cooking all day. This is the Italian version of bouillabaisse, and yum! I want it.

Important tip: don't forget to save some bread to dip into your leftover broth!

Tomato Bruschetta

tomato bruschetta

It's still a little early for tomatoes, but we have gotten a few from our garden, the cherry tomatoes have been ripe for a few weeks, and we finally picked a few Cherokee tomatoes yesterday. I had a little caprese salad with the cherry tomatoes, but Pat opted for a bruschetta with the Cherokee tomatoes.

He bought some bread from a local bakery (scraped out the insides), picked the tomatoes and basil from the garden, diced up some garlic and red onions, and topped with a little Parmesan before browning in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Peach Tartlett

Mini peach tart

We went to a local farm yesterday and picked a ton of peaches, so we're trying out a bunch of new ways to cook and eat them.

I made a simple galette dough (with 1 1/4 C flour, 1 Tbsp. sugar, 1 stick butter, pinch of salt and 1 C + 1 Tbsp ice cold water) and let it firm up the the fridge for a half hour. Meanwhile, I macerated peaches in spiced rum, a little vanilla and just a pinch of sugar.

Once I put the tart together, I sprinkled a little brown sugar on top and cooked it at 400˚ for 30 minutes. I topped it with some fresh orange mint from my garden.

The result was not super sweet, more like a breakfast tart, but Pat told me he thought it was amazing (without being prompted). Next time, maybe a little vanilla ice cream. Yum.


Followup:

Blueberry peach tart

 The next day we went and picked blackberries at another local farm (one of the nice things about living in the "Garden State"). So I took the same recipe but added blueberries and the sliced mint into the peach/rum mixture. This one looks good too, but it could have been cooked a little longer.

Taco Tuesday

grilled peach and fish tacos

We decided to celebrate "Taco Tuesday."

We went to a local farm today and picked peaches, corn and cabbage. Then when we came home, we grilled the peaches, some tilapia and flour tortillas, boiled the corn, and just tossed the cabbage in some lime juice, salt and pepper. We added just a little sriracha (extra on Pat's), and yum!