Let’s Get Cozy

‘The weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful’.

I don’t know what it does for anyone else, but those words, while painting a cozy little picture of domestic bliss and protection from winters beautiful fury, remind me that those little individual marvels of natures creativity, called snowflakes, are busy covering my car, driveway and sidewalks causing an increased anxiety over the thought of all the heavy work I’m going to be faced with when I have to drive out in that miserable stuff. Also, it makes me hungry for some hot soup.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Chicken Corn Chowder with Green Chiles

Cook several slices of bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and let drain on a piece of paper towel. Set aside.

To the bacon drippings, add 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts that have been cut into bite-sized pieces. Add some chopped onion, diced bell pepper, and 2 minced garlic cloves.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add one (4 oz.) can diced green chiles and cook for an additional minute.

Add 4-5 cups chicken broth and 2 cups diced, peeled russet potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Add 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn and stir well.

Pour 1/2 cup all-purpose flour into a medium bowl. Gradually whisk in 2 cups skim milk. Add the milk mixture to the soup and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.

Optionally, Stir in 1 1/2 cups grated sharp Cheddar cheese and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper. Season with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with chopped scallions, grated Cheddar cheese, and crumbled bacon. If desired, break some tortilla chips over each portion of soup.

Smoky Black Bean & Corn Vegetarian Chili

Heat canola oil in a large, heavy pot set over medium heat. Add chopped onions and sauté until tender and light brown, about 10 minutes.

Add ground cumin and dried oregano. Stir for 30 seconds, then add chopped garlic cloves. Stir for an additional 30 seconds.

Increase heat to medium-high. Add chili powder, bay leaves, unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Chop tomatoes from a large can of whole tomatoes and add to the pot, along with the juices. Mix in tomato paste, chipotle peppers, adobo sauce (from the chipotle peppers can), and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove and discard bay leaves. Drain and rinse black beans, and add to the chili, along with frozen corn. Simmer for an additional 20 minutes.

If these soups don’t help warm you up then maybe you just need a few shots of your favorite alcoholic beverage and call it a night. Don’t drink and drive. Cheers.

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Radishes are more versatile than I thought

I tossed some radish seeds in one of my beds about a month ago, along with some lettuce and spinach, with visions of an early winter salad and was able to harvest some of these delectable beauties just this morning. I must say they are quite crisp and tasty. Hmmm. I wonder if maybe the cold weather and recent snowfall has anything to do with that?

One of the varieties I planted, Helios Yellow,

an heirloom with creamy yellow skin, has an

almost sweet and mild taste without the usual

peppery after bite associated with radish.

The other variety, Purple Plum, has a darker reddish-purple skin

and offers the mild-peppery richness I look for in a radish. Both

varieties came from John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds

collection.

Did you know they can be cooked? While I personally don’t have any experience with eating them in any other way than with greens in a salad, and of course alone right out of the garden, they can actually be grated into pasta or bean salads. Or mixed into a vegetable soup. Or, and this really blows me away, sliced thin and baked on a cookie sheet like potato chips! I’m amazed. I just have to try this.

One of my favorite cooking blogs, Kalyn’s Kitchen, came up with this recipe: Roasted Radishes with Soy Sauce and Toasted Sesame Seed. OMG. Doesn’t that sound simply delicious? Roasted radishes? Oh my! Kalyn, you are a genius.

There’s even a salsa recipe that uses radishes.

And as if finding all these wonderful new ways to use radishes wasn’t enough to send me over the edge, I learn that even the leaves can even be used. Yowza, what you can learn from the internet just never ceases to amaze me. The leaves can be sautéed in olive oil (or butter) with garlic, added to potato soup, added to bean and chorizo soup. My mind is simply reeling with new recipes.

Oh, and they can be pickled. I really don’t think I grew enough.

As far as storage goes, if there are any left after initially satisfying my unbridled and admittedly unashamed pigging out of these raw bejeweled prizes, they can be stored, minus their tops, in the chiller drawer of the fridge in a plastic bag for a few days. I’m not one to allow them to get very comfortable in their chilled surroundings just to see how long they will last, I mean really, they are for eating right? So, I don’t know for certain how long they will last but I have heard tales of them surviving for up to two whole weeks.

I looked up the health benefits of radish and was again blown away. On a website called Organic Facts I learned they are good for the liver and stomach. They help detoxify our body, cures inflammation and burning during urinating, cleans the kidneys, the list goes on.

This is one very versatile vegetable indeed!

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Green Tomatoes: Ripen Them, Compost Them or Eat Them?

I still have a bunch of green Roma and Grape tomatoes hanging on in hopes of warmer weather that we know isn’t coming. I love fried green tomatoes, but tomatoes this small don’t lend themselves very well to being battered and fried, in my humble opinion.

When the chance of day time temps ever reaching above 60F again have decreased to nil, its time to yank them off the vine and either ripen them indoors, toss them on the compost pile, or cook them up as is. Much has been written about how to ripen your still green tomatoes at the end of the season but I choose to follow the plan C.

I already pinched all the flowers off these plants about 7-10 days ago and there really isn’t much hope left of getting any more this year, especially when our first real freeze is expected this weekend.

If you want to ripen them, there are several methods to choose from, you can take down the whole plant and hang it upside down somewhere such as in the garage to dry out, you can pick them all and place them on a sunny window sill, or wrap them individually in newspaper and layer in a box in a dark corner for 3-4 weeks. But, seriously, these are small tomatoes so I’m not taking this third route. And here’s something I just heard for the first time, place the green tomatoes in a brown paper bag with a ripe apple. The apple gives off ethylene gas, which speeds up ripening. Check the bag daily. I might try a few this way just so I know if it works.

So, on with the cooking them up. You can use them in a green tomato pie, green tomato marmalade, or, as I am going to do, in a soup, recipe follows.

Green Tomato Soup with Ham served with hot cornbread. Yum!
2 T butter
4-6 oz ham (smoked or whatever pleases you)
1 small onion,, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced (I just chop mine. Less work and it tastes just as good)
4 cups chicken broth
8 medium green tomatoes (couple handfuls of green grape tomatoes or green romas)
celery stalk, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat; add ham, onion, and garlic. Sauté, stirring, until onion is tender. Add chicken broth, chopped green tomatoes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Working in batches, pulse in a blender or food processor until almost smooth. Pour back into the saucepan and add celery. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Taste and add salt, pepper and, if you want some heat add some Tabasco sauce.

Whichever way you handle your end of season jewels, keep in mind that tomatoes don’t have to be red to be enjoyed.

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Frosty mornings and a Long Todo List

Last nights temp dipped to 35F! Arrgh, this is coming on all too quickly. I still have so much to do.

Perennials need to be trimmed, seeds collected.

I just read a very timely and informative blog called Choosing Voluntary Simplicity about growing Hollyhocks. In the article Shirley informs us that she collects seeds from her Hollyhocks and I thought, duh, why didn’t I think of that. I am still such a newbie at this stuff that I didn’t even get this idea on my list of things to do.

I don’t have nearly the collection of Hollyhocks Shirley has (and it is a beautiful collection), but I hope to correct that oversight.

My one lonely Hollyhock needs company. So, I’m going to see to it that next year it will be surrounded by more beautiful Hollyhocks.

Since I have never collected seeds before I’m a little stressed over getting to them before freezing weather kills them off. Her instructions on how to handle the seeds and store them has given me confidence to go for it.

My compost pile needs to be spread out into the beds where it will do the most good. This clay soil desperately needs this stuff every year to improve its poor drainage. After that, I’ll be able to empty about half my freezer of all the compost material I’ve been collecting over the past few weeks. It really is amazing how much compostable stuff my wife and I can create. For instance, I drink several cups of coffee a day which creates quite a bit of coffee grounds along with the paper filters. We eat a lot of vegetables so the trimmings from all of that adds up. Egg shells, extra pancakes (because I can’t seem to make just enough for two of us).

Yesterday, I made Butternut Squash soup from a recipe our daughter gave us which created even more leftovers for the compost pile. By the way, I saved the seeds from the squash. Just remove all the pulp, lay them out in a cookie sheet for 3-4 days, turning them once a day. Then put them in a paper bag, inside a plastic bag and keep them in the fridge or freezer until next spring. From what I have read these should keep for a couple of years. Tip: place a few seeds in a wet paper towel inside a plastic bag and see if they sprout after a few days. This way you know the seeds you are keeping are viable.

This morning I cut up a cantaloupe my sister-in-law gave me and I will save these seeds as well. Plus, more for the compost pile.

The tomatoes need to be covered, still a bunch of green ones after our huge harvest two days ago. Whatever is left will go to the, you guessed it, compost pile.

This year I think I may plant some cover crop in my vegetable beds. This will be another ‘first’ for me. I used to think my space is too small for such things but I figure size really shouldn’t matter. I’m sure the benefits will be worth it, even if it is not on a grand scale. A couple of suggestions are Hairy Vetch, Winter Rye.

From Organic Gardener: ‘You must kill your cover crops before they set seed and the top growth gets out of control. That's right, kill them.’ Now this just scares me. I can picture myself not getting to the crops in time and having Hairy Vetch all over my backyard. Mowing is not an option because these will be planted in raised beds. Maybe I can use a weed whacker or pruning shears.

Oh, a very important point I just stumbled upon, some cover crops such as rye are allelopathic, which means they inhibit seed germination. Great to know BEFORE buying a bag of rye. Now I need to research which cover crops don’t inhibit seed germination.

Well, I’ve procrastinated enough. So, with my coffee mug held tightly in my fist, it’s time to face the chilly morning and plan my day.

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Recipe For Making Your Own Peanut Butter

With all the food scares we keep reading about, it’s beginning to look like making all of our own food is becoming more and more necessary. I’m developing a recipe file of homemade foods and this one just got added. Hope you enjoy.

I love peanut butter and although the latest recall doesn’t affect jars of it, my wife and I are getting a little leery of buying any processed foods. I used to believe that food processors would do whatever it takes to protect the highest quality and safety of their food products (without lying) but after reading this we’ve lost our faith. Boy, what a rude awakening we have gone through.

Organic peanut butter is expensive so we don’t buy it very often. Peanuts are not nuts, they are legumes and their use in peanut butter often produces a high fat, high sugar food that is addictively tasty but not good for your health. By making your own, genuinely nut-based nut butters you could eat better, save money and know exactly how your food has been processed.

This recipe is good for any kind of nutmeat, such as almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pistachios or walnuts. There is also tips for roasting and sweetening the nuts.

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Back from vacation into the hot sun

Went to California to visit family, had a great time. It is really good to be back. While we were gone our garden struggled to 90 to 100 degree heat but my neighbors, bless their hearts, pitched in and help make sure everything was watered. I am happy to say that everything came through beautifully. Now it's payback time! We have such wonderful neighbors.

I found this wonderful site while surfing and thought I would share it. http://gardeningtips.org/February/recipe.shtml It has a lot of old recipes, free stuff, garden trivia, garden crafts, herbal remedies and of course helpful tips for what to do in the garden on a month to month basis.

This is the time of year when we start thinking about shade. Some plants struggle through the intense heat delivered at the hottest part of the day and can really benefit from a bit of shade. Even those plants that like full sun can benefit, especially while they are trying to establish themselves. I found some old screens at a yard sale and they gave me an idea. I can make a teepee type structure out of bamboo poles and use twist ties to attach the screens to the poles and set the teepee over those plants that need the shade. Like my newly planted shrubs. I have a couple of viburnum that look like they are not going to make it through this summer. What is really funny about this is that I was just sorting through my mail that was delivered while we were on vacation and the latest issue of Garden Gate magazine is in the pile. In that magazine they talk about this very topic. They show another great idea for making shade, they stand a screen up like a room divider in front of plants. They also say that I may need to place some shade cloth over the screen if it isn’t able to block enough sun. The shade cloth is rated at varying degrees of sun protection so be sure to choose the right one for your application and can be found at any home improvement store.

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