Month: September 2021

Boxing Day, September 16

planorcanLeave a comment
Peppers pale, peppers dark, and peppers bright.

Hi John,

Last week, was not a week when sitting down and considering ingredients actually happened. Instead we learned about iNaturalist (fun for identifying plants/critters AND the data can be used by scientists). We rode our bikes up a long hill, and later whizzed back down. We (yes, both of us) worked on a white paper about open source software licenses. (To be clear, you wrote. I revised.) Food was cooked and consumed, my only prepared food orders were pastries and bagels. It just wasn’t planned.

In The Box

  • Kiwiberries
  • Stanley Plums
  • Celery
  • Green Acorn Squash
  • Green Butterhead Lettuce
  • Mixed Bell Peppers
  • Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Mixed Cornito Peppers
  • Rattlesnake Beans
  • Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes

What We Ate

  • Spaghetti squash was stuffed with kale stem pesto, cherry tomatoes, and a gluten free white sauce.
  • Carrot cake from Flavor Flours. I tried to make Stella’s cream cheese frosting, but did not read the comments and ended up with soup. I am still baffled that mixing cream and cream cheese could end up with a texture closer to cream than cream cheese. It was just so thin!
  • The failed frosting did turn into a success though. Made a crust with pistachios, oatmeal, brown sugar, and butter. Patted into the bottom of a 8×8 pan and prebaked it. Frosting got blended extra goat cheese and a couple of eggs. Poured it into the crust and baked at 325 for a while. Topping with slices of figs from the garden. I’d probably try the drizzle of honey on top, but it’s already on the sweet side from all the sugar in the frosting.
  • I did a pepper cleanout by making a big pot of pepperonata. Some of it’s been frozen. Some went on a grits bowl. Some has teamed up with sliced delicata squash to top a pizza.
  • Variations of celery salad with chickpeas. My favorite was making a recipe from Six Seasons and adding chickpeas.
  • I wasn’t sure if the rattlesnake beans would be better served as shelled beans or string beans. Started shelling, then decided that was the wrong choice. Ended up roasting them in the oven along with potatoes (and once a hot pepper and chopped tomato). Topped with a soft boiled egg and the pine nut vinaigrette from Six Seasons.
  • Popped the plums on the dehydrator to make our very own prunes. I’m eating them so much quicker this way!

Garden Update

The rosemary’s flowering. And the basils, all going to seed. Peppers feel like they’re just getting going. The volunbeans are spreading everywhere, pulling down any pole they can reach. And, wow, does it feel like they can reach every pole.

I pulled up the cucumber plant one day. A few days later, you turned the compost and tried to rescue some kale volunteers. Placing them where the cucumber was. I was doubtful on Tuesday. But on Thursday, three of them had a sturdy-ish leaf. Wait, water, and see.

I’ve scattered carrot seed (it all fell out of the packet and just adds to the crumbly dust at the bottom of the garden bag). The are sprouts where I tried. Maybe carrot sprouts? Maybe weeds? Who can say when it’s the first two leaves.

Some of our fall beans are already producing, tiny as they are. Alas, the one that was the largest looked extra sad yesterday. We’ll see. Even if we only eat seven of its bright red beans, it’s still a miracle. I only planted three.

The tomatoes are slowing down. It may be time to pull most of them and make a green tomato chutney. Visit the local shop and see what Brassica starts they have for fall. Consider garlic bulbs or shallots or onions. Radishes or beets. We signed up for a smaller CSA share for fall so we shouldn’t be overtaken by the produce. Which means we can plant even more!

~Sarah

Boxing Day, September 23

planorcanLeave a comment
Welcome to fall. The watermelon have disappeared and the squash have arrived.

So John,

On Monday evening, I told a friend there was a 30% chance we’d end up buying a house by the end of the year. After a tour on Tuesday, I had our odds up to 50%–pretty likely actually. At least until we talked to our agent again today and decided not to write up an offer after all. Even in this market, 18% annual interest is a lot. Especially when it was just bought two years ago.

I’m thankful for working with an expert who tells us not to buy a place that’s overpriced. Or another place that will be awful to try to sell. Or that has more deferred maintenance than the price suggests.

I’m thankful that we have the flexibility to stay. Even if I never expected the housing search to take a year. Or if it did it was because we were losing bids. Not that we weren’t putting in offers. Nevermind winning bids and then failing inspections.

For now, I’m putting our chances of 2021 homebuying at 29%. The listings posted today weren’t inspiring. That’s okay. We’ll keep looking.

In This Week’s Box

  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Arugula
  • Butternut Squash
  • Cilantro
  • Fennel
  • Mixed Yummy Peppers
  • Purple Fingerling Potatoes
  • Sweet Onions
  • Habanada Peppers

Garden Potential

  • Starfish pepper
  • Paprika
  • Jalapenos
  • Lombok peppers if we want them
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans (let ’em dry!)
  • Last of the Roma tomatoes?
  • Vorlon tomato
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Cucumber
  • Figs
  • Greens: Butterhead Lettuce
  • Peppers: Banana
  • Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Acorn
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Fingerling Potatoes
  • Herbs: None
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Quince jelly
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermented & Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Sunchoke relish
  • Quince jelly
  • Kicky cranapple chutney
  • Peach jam
  • Apple butter
  • Quince jelly
  • Veggie stock
  • Probably still more uninventoried

Starting points

  • I’d forgotten the cucumber. We should use the cucumber! It’s the last cucumber from the garden. Classic cucumber, onion, and yogurt side?
  • Squash + cilantro = we can do the mole verde butternut squash. Or acorn squash. Or Kabocha squash…
  • Other cilantro + tomatillos + jalapeno for another green salsa.
  • Apple fennel salad. Because this fennel cannot last as long as the previous one did.
  • I want something light for the lettuce. Tomato and sweet pepper with a sweet vinaigrette.
  • Whereas, I thin the arugula can go loud. Blue cheese and honeycrisp and roasted sweet potato with a balsamic.

~s

Boxing Day, September 9

planorcanLeave a comment
I plum forgot the plums. Whoops

Hiya John,

So turns out that preparing on Thursday to go camping on Friday leaves little time for considering what to eat in the week ahead. It also turns out that wild cranberries and wild huckleberries and dehydrated apples combine to be an amazing oatmeal for breakfast prepared on a campstove. So not complaining. Just know that tomorrow’s still in the fridge list will probably be long.

Speaking of, since I don’t remember what was in the fridge last Thursday, we’re going with what I think is there now.

When this is how I wake up, I’m not complaining at all.

In This Week’s Box

  • Stanley Plums
  • Yellow Seedless Watermelon
  • Banana Peppers
  • Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
  • Delicata Squash
  • Italian Eggplant
  • Red Bell Peppers
  • Red Grape Tomatoes
  • Red Kabocha Squash

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherry
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes (The Amish paste plant is doing still thriving)
  • Jalapenos as we want them
  • Dahlias

Still in the Fridge

  • Pear
  • Watermelon
  • Greens: Carrot
  • Peppers: Cubanelle, jalapeno, bell
  • Green Beans (which I, for one, had forgotten about until now)
  • Kohlrabi
  • Carrots
  • Herbs: None (because I tossed the fennel out)
  • Onions: white and red
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes
  • Spaghetti squash

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
  • Lacto-fermenting blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Quince jelly
  • Peach jam
  • Veggie stock
  • Corn stock
  • Plenty of others that I just haven’t inventoried

Schemes for the things

  • There was a twitter thread asking for favorite quick, pantry meals. (I submitted dragon noodles, pasta e ceci, and enfrijoladas.) Most of the suggestions were meat that we wouldn’t eat. But the Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potato caught my attention. Adapted to do the 8-minute sweet potato linked to at the bottom of the post. And using the miso-tahini dressing that’s already made. And subbing carrot greens for parsley. So, y’know, totally the same dish.
  • We’re getting so many tomatoes! More pasta with cherry tomato sauce!
  • More tomatillo salsa. When the oven’s already turned on.
  • I’m nervous that this might be the last eggplant we get this season. Nevermind that the eggplant in the garden has two babies. The beans have shaded them and I just don’t trust that we’ll get the fruit I want. I’m mostly craving the soba noodle eggplant, but I want the soba noodles that you can’t eat. Roasting for a spread seems reasonable too. I dunno.
  • Pickled banana peppers? That’s what you do with banana peppers, right? Unless they go in a salsa with the tomatillos….
  • I’m leaving the squash inspiration for tomorrow’s self to come up with.

I’m still not sure what dinner’ll be tonight. Probably a squash dish just to spite myself.

~s

Experimentation

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

Greetings from our home laboratory. While you’re sitting at the computer presenting on your simulations, I’m a room-length away, mixing and chopping and scheming. While these concoctions simmer, I’ll be a dutiful scientist and document my four experiments. Maybe it’ll make it easier to plan something in the future.

#1 Growing

Our cilantro has all flowered and faded. We’re left with the seedheads. And, while coriander is a pantry staple, I’m more excited about the possibility of more cilantro this fall. The plant does better in cooler weather anyway, right?

I’m attempting the trick we learned from Ros of starting seeds in plastic bottles. I took a couple of water bottles out of the recycling, found a flatter circle going across the diameter and used it as a guide to cut them in half. Bottom half got a handful of potting mix. Four to six seeds poked in with a chopstick. Splash of water. I cut a slit at the top of the base so I could squeeze it together and put the top half of the water bottle back on top. Voila window sill greenhouse.

Next question, will we get sprouts? Tune back in 7-14 days.

#2 Fermenting

We decided to take the CSA jalapenos and try fermenting a hot sauce. Here’s what went in the jar:

  • 340 grams jalapenos
  • 35 grams red onion
  • 140 g wrinkly blueberries (I’ve been putting the mushy berries in the freezer. This seems like the right use for them)
  • ~1 gram of coriander seed from the garden (That which did not get planted)
  • 3% brine
  • Dash of brine from last year’s fermentation

Waiting a week, or two, to see how it tastes.

#3 Cooking

Enough of the volun-beans have dried on the vine that I can cook with them as a dry bean. I took a half cup of beans, covered them with water, added some dried rosemary, salt, and pepper corns. It’s been simmering on the stove for a while now. To be fair, I didn’t give them any soaking time. That’s supposed to be the great equalizer of beans. I figure we know these dried beans are fresh.

They’re not done yet, but the ones I’ve tested seemed nice. Trying again in, let’s say, 7-14 minutes.

#4 Reducing

Recipes for canning tomatoes start with at least a few pounds of tomatoes. Although our harvest is coming in quicker than our consumption, we haven’t amassed that much. But since the collection on the counter is all paste tomatoes and since some of them were starting to pass their peak, I’m trying my hand at making a paste. Mostly following the conserva recipe from Six Seasons. Cut them up, put them in the dutch oven with a put of olive oil. Currently they’ve cooked to sauciness. Next step is to dig out the food mill and use it to separate the seeds and the skins. (And yes, I’m going to try making tomato skin salt.) Then keep up the low and slow cooking. Decision here, maybe 7 hours. Who doesn’t love a theme?

Boxing Day, September 2

planorcanLeave a comment
Confession: The cherry tomato box was half-filled from our garden before the CSA’s topped it off.

Dear John,

It’s been another week. Another food pantry distribution date. Another protest to stand in solidarity.

Another game night. Another book club. Another small group meeting.

Another tour. Another storm. Another meal to feed body and nurture soul.

In This Week’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Red Seedless Watermelon
  • Artisan Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
  • Cubanelle Peppers
  • Green Beans
  • Green Kale
  • Jalapeno Peppers
  • Mixed Sweet Peppers
  • Orange Carrots
  • Yellow Tomatoes

Garden Potential

  • Ground cherry
  • Few tomatillos
  • Volunbeans
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Roma tomatoes (The Amish paste plant is doing better than the San Marazano)
  • Sad-ish eggplant
  • Jalapenos as we want them
  • Bell pepper
  • A final cucumber (or two?)

Still in the Fridge

  • Blueberries
  • Figs
  • Canary Melon
  • Green Chard
  • Centercut Squash
  • Kohlrabi
  • Herbs: Fennel
  • Onions: white and red
  • Celery
  • Sunchokes
  • Spaghetti squash

Open Preserves

  • Preserved eggplant
  • Dill pickle
  • Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
  • Pickled red onion
  • Radish kimchi
  • Plenty of others that I just haven’t inventoried

Make something with it all.

  • Red curry with tofu and green beans and cherry tomatoes adapted from Dinner (but online version here)
  • Pickled jalapenos? Just a question of doing it in vinegar or lacto-fermenting them. Maybe some more peperonata with the cubanelles. The batch from last week was delightful on corn mush and on eggs.
  • Carrot greens! Let’s do the carrot top walnut pesto from Scraps, Wilts, and Weeds. (Just because the granita took us forever to use up last time. It was good though.) Carrots themselves are being saved for your birthday cake.
  • Spaghetti with cherry tomatoes for a sauce! Six Seasons has a recipe.
  • Speaking of, do we have enough tomatoes to make a sauce? Do we want to make a sauce? A salsa? (My tomatillo salsa verde last week was too little for the blender, so I’m waiting for more tomatillos than what we have so far.)
  • Gonna roast that eggplant and blend it up. Baba ganoush style? Hard to be too sad with roasted eggplant.
  • Some of the centercut squash from last week got roasted for tacos. Repeat of something like that? Or roast it with zaatar and serve with hummus?
  • Kale starts feeling like we might be heading toward salad possibilities again. Let’s try cooking some of the dried volun-beans to go with it.
  • I picked three figs from the community tree. Pair them with pears for a tart. It’s that or make a fancy looking cheese tray with some of the pickles to round out the meal.

Love,

~Sarah