Garden Inspired Meals

A walk through the garden is my favorite way to begin planning dinner. Today was my first day home after being out of town for nearly a week.  At this time of year things change quickly in the garden. In my absence Reyn has been busy getting a start on our Fall/Winter garden.  Since we harvested the garlic last week he has planted brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, purple and red carrots, five varieties of greens, and two types of bush green beans.  We are now just beginning to harvest our summer crops and this year we have learned a valuable lesson.  Our three week vacation has taken it's tole on the garden.  The plants didn't receive enough water while we were gone, and were really set back.  They are just now beginning to look vibrant and healthy, but are smaller than usual for this late in the summer. I walked through the garden this morning a spotted a few gems to use in tonight's dinner. 

The swiss chard is abundant and ready to be eaten.  I also found the first of our summer squash, two small perfect patty pans, one round french courgette, and one yellow zucchini.  I insist on picking them when they are very small and oh, so delicate - no giant summer squash for me. I also selected a beautiful, crisp and tender carrot along with it's neighbor, a nice large beet.  This treasures, along with a few fresh herbs, formed the basis of our dinner.  Now, to put it together.

The Menu
Grilled Portobello Mushrooms stuffed with a wild and brown rice pilaf
Swiss Chard Rolls filled with a carrot, beet, and fresh herb saute
Simple Grilled Summer Squash

Swiss Chard Rolls -To make the chard rolls I cut the carrot and beet into small dice.  I then sauted them with a little chopped sweet onion in a small amount of lemon infused olive oil - using separate pans to preserve the color of the carrot.  I removed the stems from the chard, blanched the leaves briefly in boiling water, rinsed them in cold water, then left them to drain.  I mixed the crisp/tender  carrots and beets together with some fresh herbs and a touch of balsamic vinegar.  I then layered two chard leaves together, filled them with the carrot/beet mixture and rolled them up.

I placed the rolls in a saute pan with about two tablespoons of water and gently heated them.  A drizzle of balsamic vinegar was the final addition.  This is one I'll surely do again.  It was beautiful and delicious.

Garlic and Onion Harvest

The Harvest begins in earnest this week - As we head through July I can see that Reyn is becoming eager to move the garden along.  Our garden is carefully divided into 4' X 8' sections with walkways in between.  Each year he prepares a master plan, plotting out where each vegetable will be planted while taking into consideration the previous year's plan in order to assure proper crop rotation, and to allow easily for successive planting. The month of July offers the opportunity to plant crops that will ripen in the Fall and Winter -- but before those can be planted, our earlier crops must come out.  This process has been somewhat delayed because of our cool weather and also our vacation.  I could tell that Reyn was anxious to yank plants out and prepare for the next planting.  This was the week. The peas came out first, and were replaced by bush bean seeds.  Next came the lettuce, followed by onions and garlic.

Onions - We always plant Walla Walla Sweet onions - they are probably the thing I use most often from the garden.  I pull and use at least two each day, starting in early spring when they are very young scallions.  Reyn always plants a lot, and I cook with them all summer.  This year we planted both onion sets and seeds.  As you can see from the photo, those planted from sets are now ready to be harvested. He pulled them up and let them lay out in the sun for a day to dry out.  We'll keep them in our cellar and try to use them up quickly, since these are not very good keepers, but are delicious to eat.

Lettuce - We continue to have good lettuce, but it's days are numbered.  The hot weather is causing it to bolt.  Last week I cut and delivered 68 heads to a local food bank.  We still have more than we can eat in the garden.  It's hard to believe that we grew that many lettuce plants.

Garlic -  The last of the garlic was harvested today.  It has been dug, shaken off, bundled, labeled, and hung in the garden shed to dry.  We counted 122 heads.  That should get us through the winter.  Last Fall we enjoyed ourselves at a garlic tasting party hosted by our local farm and garden store. They offered samples of many different varieties of garlic with bread and olive oil, along with samples of garlic mashed potatoes, garlic soup, and even garlic ice cream.  Needless to say, we came home with several, actually 6, bags of garlic to plant.  Reyn carefully labeled them and kept them separate when he planted.  He made a planting diagram and kept information about each type.  Our plan was to be able to identify which varieties we liked the best after they were harvested and used.

Today was the day we dug them, bundled and labeled them, and hung them to dry.  It turned out to be one of those "Who's on first" kind of days.  122 garlic plants x 6 varieties x 8 bundles x 7 labels, x 2 ideas about what's what = ???  Seems workable, but somehow it turned into a complete puzzle. The diagram was helpful only if you were in the garden facing the right direction.  It was easy to differentiate the garlic, but oh so easy to forget which type came out of ground in what order and which bundle should have which label.  In the end we managed, but we can only guess that those labeled Nookta Rose are true to the name.  But really, with 122 heads of lovely garlic, do we really care?

Life on the Road

Out of the tiniest kitchen comes some pretty good food. We are the proud owners of a 1969 21' Airstream Globetrotter.  We bought it about 14 months ago;  found it on Craigslist. It had been owned by only one other family and had been sitting unlicensed and unused for the past 20 years. The inside was covered with mold, the cushions rotted, the wood interior faded and dry; but, with a little clean up and adjustment, all of the systems worked.  We found a fabulous RV technician who helped us restore this little gem to its'  former glory.

Our first big road test was a 3 week trip through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.  We had a fabulous time and were pleased with our little mobile cabin-in-the-woods. Starting out, my dilema was how to transport and prepare healthy, delicious, and fresh meals in a rolling tin can.  You can see the size of the kitchen.  The opposite wall features a beneath-counter refrigerator powered by propane or electricity, a work space, with a small storage cabinet above.

I had carefully planned and stored frozen meats, canned salsas and the like, dried rice mixtures, bulgar, and pastas, and thought out the purchase of fresh produce and dairy products so that they would be completely used up and waste the least amount of our precious storage space. I had also included a good supply of herbs and spices. Thankfully, it worked out really well.  We enjoyed tastey fresh meals right up to the last day.  This is one of the dinners we had at the end of our trip.  I might add that we spent a week at this particular place, but had only planned to be there a couple of days.  We were 28 miles from the nearest store, and running out of supplies when the last piece of chicken breast came out of the freezer.  This is what we ate:

Menu

Grilled Chicken Kabobs with Zucchini

Wild and Brown Rice Pilaf

Carrot and Apple Salad

A nice bottle of Red Wine

This salad was composed of the last stalk of celery, the last apple, the last carrot, and the final smidgens of parsley, tossed with a little oil, some chile seasonings, and the juice of our last two limes.  It was a total surprise, and it was delicious - enjoyed in the sun, along side the Snake River.  Unfortunately, being out of food meant that it was time to head for home.

I started out with meal plans and ingredients for 21 meals.  The meals were all easy to prepare using a small stove and outside grill. The frozen food fit into a  freezer compartment approximately 5" x 18".  We had really good snacks and three fresh, delicious squares a day.  Watch for more details to come in future posts on how to travel and eat really well along the way.

Starting to get hot

It's warm outside-  The weather has finally changed. Last week it was cool, cloudy, and damp.  Today we could fry eggs on the sidewalk. This has surely been a year for strange weather patterns.  We had warm, balmy spring-like weather in February and March, regular spring weather in April, then rain, rain, rain all through May and June.  We took advantage of the unseasonably, unreasonably early warm weather and started our gardening very early -- knowing full well that things could change.  Although, at the time I was sure that we would continue to bask in the sun.  Well, change they did.  The seedlings that we had coddled and nurtured sat dormant in the cold rain after being transplanted into the garden. We wondered if they would survive.

Reyn and I bravely put our garden in the hands of another and headed out for a three week vacation in June- sometimes the only way to get through a wet June in Western Oregon is to just leave, knowing that summer has arrived in many other parts of the country.

Although it continued to be gray and cool here while we were gone, it apparently did not rain much.  We had decided not to turn on the watering system before we left, and it is appears that the garden did not get enough water.  Things were rather sad looking when we got back.  The result being that we will not have peppers or eggplant this summer, and the cucumbers are getting a very slow start. *Thankfully, we did have a great vacation.*  No regrets.  Well, actually, not too many. Fortunately, as July brought summer weather and we have begun our watering protocal the plants have perked up and look good.  We also gave them a good dose of our magic fish fertilizer.  All is well.

Today I was happy to harvest and deliver to a local food bank over 40 beautiful heads of lettuce.  Reyn harvested one variety of garlic - Polish Jen, and planted bush beans in its place.  He also transplanted basil into the garden.  The garlic is drying in our garden shed.

My job today?  I used an ice cream scoop to measure out portions of Garlic Scape Pesto - see earlier post for recipe -  and froze them.  What a good idea!  So nice to have next winter.  Garlic scapes are such a sort lived wonder.

From Garden to Table

A notable meal - We reached a milestone today in the garden, our first meal prepared entirely (practically speaking) from ingredients grown on our own little plot of land. It was a simple, but very nice meal.  Prepared  from plants which were started from seed, carefully tended, closely watched, guarded from pests, and eargerly anticipated.  It must truly be summer.

Menu

Garden Fresh Potato,Spinach and Feta Frittata
Salad of mixed greens with Radishes and Scallions
Raspberries, off the vine

The inspiration for this dinner came from our harvest for the day, which began when Reyn decided to pull up a small, sad looking potato plant that seemed to be dying. Under the plant he found a stash of beautiful little purple potatoes.  He has been clearing space to make room for the next round of planting ,so after the potato he moved on to the aging spinach plants.  These yeilded two sizable bags of very nice spinach leaves.  We also came up with one small onion that found itself growing  in the wrong part of the garden.  Add to that a bounty of salad greens, some nice radishes and we're off to a start on dinner.

Garden Fresh Frittata

1 clove garlic, slivered
4 -5 small potatoes - mine were purple, halved then sliced in 1/4" slices
1 small onion, halved, then sliced
1 bunch of spinach, washed, leaves stacked, then sliced into 1/2" strips
1/4 cup feta, crumbled
3 - 4 eggs - farm fresh
3/4 - 1 cup milk
                                                       fresh garden herbs, chopped -
                                                       parsley, thyme, chives, savory...

In a non-stick frying pan saute the garlic, potatoes, and onion in 1 Tbs olive oil over medium heat until the potatoes are just barely tender and the onions cooked.  Place the sliced spinach on top in a layer - it will fill the pan, but will shrink as it cooks.  As you go sprinkle each layer with a little salt and pepper.  Cover the pan with a lid and cook gently until the spinach as wilted. Crumble the feta cheese atop the spinach.

In a small bowl mix the eggs, milk and herbs.  Pour this over the potatoes and spinach in the frying pan.  I started with 3 eggs, but ended up using 4 to get the volume of liquid required to cover the potatoes and spinach.  Cook over medium/low heat with the lid on until the eggs begin to firm up around the edges.  I use a spatula to lift the edges and tilt the pan to let the still liquid eggs run to the sides of the pan. Don't cook too quickly or the frittata will become too dark on the bottom.  When most of the egg is firm, but till loose in the middle, pop the pan under the broiler for a few minutes to complete the cooking process.

Cut into quarters and serve.

Our dinner was completed by a large green salad.  Dessert was a slow, edible, walk through the raspberry patch.

Today's Harvest:

Purple potatoes

Spinach

Radishes

Onions

Scallions

Oregon Sugar Pod Peas II

Red Sails Lettuce

Romaine Lettuce

Butter Lettuce

Mixed Baby Greens

Strawberries

Raspberries

A Lavender Kind of Day

After the 4th, a laid back lazy kind of day. Nice weather, not too hot, no clouds, and a slight breeze to keep things comfortable.  This was the kind of day we live for here in the Willamette Valley.  And believe me, sometimes they are few and far between.  Today was perfect.

It seemed like the kind of day to do a little slow, easy work in the garden.  Reyn and I both did a little weeding then he harvested the remainder of our overgrown Oregon Sugar Pod II peas.  These peas have been remarkable.  We started with less than an ounce or two of peas to plant and ended with more peas than we can eat.  Today's harvest was over 10 pounds.  Granted, because we were gone, the peas have grown beyond the ideal time for picking, much larger than we normally allow them to get, but they are still sweet, tender and crisp.  We've been eating them fresh from the garden, in salads, and cooked in pasta dishes and with potatoes.  Nothing is better than fresh peas.

 If you ever want to try a garden plant that is sure to be a big winner we can hardily recommend Oregon Sugar Pod II.  They go in the ground early and require very little tending other than some form of support. A big bang for your buck.

This was lavender day for me.  I have several old lavender plants that flower at different times.  One of my favorites grows just next to the back steps.  When the plant gets heavy with flowers it hangs over the steps so that you brush against it as you decend the stairs.  I always enjoy and look forward to the burst of fragrance released as I brush by.  However, not everyone in this family finds it quite so charming. If I don't get around to picking the flowers soon enough I often find that someone has been by with the hedge trimmers clearing the stairway.  I'm usually in a hurry and don't feel like I have the time it takes to painstakingly cut each flower to properly harvest them.  Today I allowed myself the pleasure of sitting quietly, cutting each stem individually while basking in the warm sun and taking in the full impact of that wonderful lavender frangrance.  I was rewarded with a beautiful bouquet to put on my mantle and a few zen moments as well.

Berries for Breakfast

Raspberries, Strawberries and, soon Blueberries - Hooray, the day has finally arrived - Berries for breakfast, berries for snack, berries for dessert.  As many as we can eat.  It's so nice to begin the day with an early morning trip to the berry patch.

For many years my favorite breakfast has been a large buttery scone served shortcake-style with vanilla yogurt and lots of berries.  Oh, yummm.  Now that I've given up butter it's harder to make a luscious scone.  I do miss them and may decide to indulge once in a while, but for now I'm chosing to eat my berries on fresh granola, often topped with yogurt.  Very satisfying and cholestoral friendly.

My granola recipe seems to vary each time I make it, but  here is a close approximation of the recipe:

Susan's Homemade Granola

6 cups organic old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup, or more, shredded coconut
1 cup chopped almonds
                                                       1 cup raw sunflower seeds
                                                       1/4 cup flax seeds
                                                       3/4 cup olive or canola oil
                                                       1/4 cup frozen apple juice concentrate
                                                       1/2 cup honey
                                                       2 tsp. vanilla
Mix all ingredients together until the nuts and oats are coated.  Pour onto a large baking pan or cookie sheeet with sides.  Bake at 350F for approximately 45 minutes, making sure to remove from the oven to stir or turn the granola every 15 minutes (or 10 as it begins to brown), so that it brown evenly.  Watch closely near the end so that it doesn't over cook.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Then stir in any variety of raisins, dried cherries, dried apricots, etc. of you choosing.  Serve with milk or yogurt topped with berries!

                                                      

Garlic Scapes Revisited

Carbo loading with style - I'm planning to run a 10K road race on Sunday, so tonight was my night to fill up on pasta.  This meal was soooo good and so easy that I just have to share it with you.  I also wanted to tell you about the three ways in which I used the Garlic Scape Pesto that I wrote about yesterday.  This dinner was thrown together at the last minute using ingredients on hand : The Garlic Scape Pesto which was just waiting in the  fridge, and spaghetti with a sauce of Roasted Tomatoes with Garlic that I had made with our tomatoes last summer and stored in the freezer.  The dinner was definitely full flavored.

I had originally planned a more complicated adaptation of the sauce, but was sidetracked by weeding and pruning.  I got off to a late start so I simply thawed the tomatoes in the microwave then popped them into a saute pan and simmered them to reduce the liquid.  Last summer I had blanched, peeled, and quartered the tomatoes, then put them in a roasting pan with slivered garlic, a little olive oil, salt and some fresh basil leaves.  I then roasted them at 425 F for about 45 min to 1 hour, until their volume was reduced, the flavors concentrated and they were slightly carmelized.  Then I simply put them into plastic storage containers and froze them.

While waiting for the sauce to thicken we indulged in a tastey appetizer of Butter Bean Dip and Garlic Scape Pesto on crackers (use #1).  I was concerned that the Garlic Dip would be too strong alone, but in fact it was quite nice.  It was a nice counterpoint to the milder bean dip.

I also used the Garlic Scape Pesto to make garlic bread.  I spread it on sliced baguettes, wrapped them in foil and heated for a few minutes (use #2).  Worked like a charm.

After the pasta was cooked and drained, I stirred in a spoonful of the Pesto (use #3).  The oil in the pesto kept the pasta from sticking together and the pesto provided a round full garlicy taste which complimented the tomato sauce.

So, an easy and delicious meal.  I must add that this sauce was fabulous.  I am always so glad to have those roasted tomatoes in the freezer.  The roasting process reduces the juice and concentrates the flavor to a rich, round tomato taste that can't be beat. I really had to stop after every bite, take a deep breath, and sigh with pleasure.  The roasted tomato is truly a gift to those who love to eat.

Garlic Scapes

Back to the garden - Soon after pulling into the driveway we were out perusing the garden.  A lot can happen in three weeks, and that includes weeds.  We had made arrangements for someone to water as needed and pick produce in our absence, but evidence of picking was hard to find.  We were greeted with an abundance of greens- romaine, butter lettuce, and red sails, spinach, swiss chard, and a nice, but a little overgrown, bed of mesclun mix.  We had expected the lettuce to be past it's prime by now, but were pleased to find that it is still quite nice.  The pea patch has produced a huge number of peas which are now quite large, but still sweet and tender, I suppose thanks to the cool damp weather that persisted while we were gone.  Our tomatoes look rather sad, the squash plants are not as large as we expected, and the cucumber plants have disappeared.  But, really, things look pretty good.

The garlic is nearing the end of it's growing season and most of the varieties have sent up lovely garlic scapes - that's the curly tendril-like stem which produces a flower and later seeds.  To obtain nice large garlic bulbs it is necessary to cut these scapes.  Fortunately, the delicate shoots are tender and mild and can be eaten at this stage of development.  I think that I'm a little late in picking them, the stems are a little large and some are tough, a week earlier would have been better.  That's not going to stop me from experimenting to see if how I might use these interesting morsels.  Garlic Scape Pesto seemed like a good idea to me.  I was right!  Here's how it's made:

Garlic Scape Pesto

Cut off and discard the flower end of the scape.  Chop the tender lengths into 1/4" pieces
In a food processor place:
1 cup chopped garlic scapes
1/3 cup of chopped walnuts or almonds ( I used walnuts)
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
 Process until the combined and the texture of pesto.  Add parmesan cheese if desired.  The pesto is delicious spread on fresh bread or may be added to pasta.  We have an abundance of overgrown oregon sugar pod peas, so I sauteed them with a few stems of the garlic and tossed it all with pasta.

I'm planning to make more pesto to freeze for later use.  A little goes a long way and unlike pesto made from basil, it keeps it's vibrant green color.  I'll freeze it in small portions for use in soups and pasta dishes next winter.

After all, you can never have too much garlic. . . . . .

Home Again

We made it back, safe and sound.  The trailer has been unloaded, the laundry sorted, and three weeks worth of mail received and awaiting disposition.  Re-entry is always such a shock.  We had very comfortably settled in to life in the great outdoors, 21 feet of living space to keep together, and the biggest issue being when to move on to the next gorgeous spot.  We had a really lovely trip, and even though we were both ready to head home the adjustment takes a little time.  I really liked my beautiful 21 foot abode - neat, tidy, organized, and easy to keep clean.  I think I'm in training for the retirement home.  Small spaces seem to suit me.

This was really our inaugural journey with Lucky II, our recently restored 1969 Airstream. And, let me tell you, Lucky turned out to be a real gem.  It was like having a cabin on the lake - every night! We traveled at a relaxed pace, choosing back roads over freeways whenever possible, and were awestruck day after day by incredibly beautiful country.  Washington, Idaho, Montana, and back to Oregon.  The Northwest simply can't be beat for beauty!

As you all probably know, food is kind of an issue for me.  One reason we have chosen to travel with Lucky is for the convenience of cooking our meals.  I really can't handle highway restaurant food for more than a day, two at the most - it makes me very crabby.  I continue to be dismayed by the poor quality of prepared food in this country.  Anyway, it makes me feel bad, so I just choose to cook my own.

In preparation for this trip I had been collecting recipes which could be prepared easily in a small kitchen from ingredients that were transportable.  I carry a small file with me and on the back of each recipe card I write a list of necessary ingredients so that I may quickly update my shopping lists.  I had a list of recipes and basic ingredients for over 20 dinners, organized loosley to make the best use of leftovers and things like thawed chicken breasts that could be used for more than one meal.  We shopped for fresh produce, milk and the like about once a week.  I was surprised and delighted with how well my system worked.  We ate really good food nearly every day, mostly a pared down version of our meals at home.  I had hoped to blog about the trailer/cooking experience as we traveled, but we ended up being far from civilation most of the time, away from phones or wifi. I did manage to keep track of our meals and may compile some notes later.

We most often ate my homemade granola for breakfast - until it ran out during week 2- and sandwiches for lunch.  Our final week was spent in Hell's Canyon along the Snake River in Idaho, 28 miles from the nearest town.  We had planned to be there only a few days, but it was just too nice to leave.  As luck would have it, we ran out of bread (and a few other things) before the week was up.  I had flour and yeast along, so I decided to bake bread one day, not entirely sure how my lilputian oven would stand up.  I had the luck of baking on a rather cool day, the oven worked beautifully, and the bread was great, even if burned on the bottom. *I must remember to get an air cushioned baking sheet, since it sits right over the flame.

On driving days, at lunch time, we would pull over, break out the sandwich makings, and have a picnic.  This is one or our favorite lunch spots just near the National Bison Range in Montana.