We are having pepper success this year! Maybe we bought more plants? (I’d have to go back to the garden journal to check.) But more importantly we have them in an area where they aren’t being overshadowed by the taller plants.
Maybe we can add eggplant to that section in the future?
Cooking things down, before we leave town
So, with lots of hot peppers, comes lots of hot sauce? I have a pint jar with ~cup of peppers fermenting on the table. I made a serious eats hot sauce. And we still have a five cup container of peppers in the fridge.
It’s a lot of green beans. I’m copying from last week. Maybe the usual way with tofu. Maybe a variation. Oh! Maybe in a curry. It’s been a while since we’ve done a curry and now I want that. Add some peppers and some squash?
I was wondering how to do the corn and then looked at smitten kitchen and now I know. (Though corn enchiladas sound good too.)
I grabbed an extra spaghetti squash. You know how I like the baked spaghetti squash bowls. Bet we could do one with chard?
Saturday we had a garden workday–focusing our efforts on the communal areas instead of our plot. We did a quick harvest before we left. (I didn’t pick a bouquet, nevermind deadheading for the flowers.) When we got home from the garden, we weighed the produce we picked from our plot. Not quite ten pounds! The water from the tomatoes and tomatillos adds up. Good thing some of our cooking shrinks it way down.
Cooking things down, before we leave town
I made twotypes of salsa this weekend. Please note that when they are pulled from the freezer, they would both benefit from some cilantro.
I also made this ratatouille over the weekend. We got more eggplant today and I intend to make more ratatouille tomorrow. That should make a dent in our tomatoes and peppers and zucchini as well. Last time I added one habanero that was threatening with some bad spots. The oil was surprisingly spicy. Do it again!
We’re just about to finish off the last cabbage in lunchtime salads. Hurrah! Let’s do it again with this one.
These are the plums to dry for prunes. Because we have plenty of other fruit and enough other veggies that I’m not buying cauliflower to try out the recipe I want to test from Pulp.
Our next home project is on the horizon. (Pun intended.) As I finish brainstorming meals, you’re reaching out to different contractors to see about getting quotes for solar panel installation. As a child of the 90s who read and re-read 50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save the Earth, as an adult who now attends climate action protests, hopefully as an elderly adult far in the future, it feels really exciting to be able to make this visible step toward taking care of the planet.
It’s weird to enter the pricing process with a clear favorite, but part of me hopes that the bid through our community’s Solar Switch group is the clear winner. I really like the idea of group purchasing! I like feeling like part of a bigger effort, even if I’m not meeting with the other neighbors buying this year. It’s the type of action that gives me hope. And as I keepbeingreminded, the way through this is hope-fueled work.
Today’s Box
Orange Seedless Watermelon
Plums
Yellow Peaches
Banana Peppers
Collards
Green Bell Peppers
Italian Eggplant
Red Grape Tomatoes
Things in the fridge
Cinnamon Basil
Plums
Donut Peaches
Nectarines
Peppers: Green bell, banana
Bottom halves of Centercut Squash
Celery
Cucumber and lemon cucumber
Fennel bulb
Greens: Cabbage, kale
Red Potatoes
Green plums
Green tomatoes (starting to pink)
In the Garden
Early peppers. Another couple Cochiti and fallen Habanero.
If this keeps up, we’re going to need to make some tomato sauce/paste to can/freeze. But for this, the first week of tomato bounty, we are savoring them. The classic tomato sandwiches. The spicedtomato salads. Panzella made with cornbread so you can enjoy too. In tacos. With eggs. On sunchoke burgers pulled from the freezer.
Speaking of the freezer….tomato ice cream? This feels like the time in high school when we were thing to figure out how to use up a bunch of cushaw. Turns out pumpkin ice cream is really a thing. Why not tomato?
The cherry tomatoes are tempting to go ahead and pickle. Copy thecopycats of a restaurant dish that I still dream of?
Two weeks worth of bell peppers getting stuffed. (Adding extra tomatoes and chickpeas to the Greek filling mix from Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room.)
I think there’s a good chance we’ll pick some zucchini from our neighbor’s plot while they’re out of town this week. If we do, I want to use the eggplant for ratatouille. If we don’t, the eggplant tomato cheddar stacks from Simply in Season.
Also grabbed a savoy cabbage and some banana peppers from the swap box.
Dear John,
It’s a week of visitors. We’ve got plans for a pasta bar night, a taco bar night, and a potato bar night. Dips and crackers and veggies for lunches. And letting the hotels cover continental breakfasts.
We’ve got a red sauce and a green sauce (pesto from the basil above). Squash and corn taco filling. Black beans cooked up. Chard sauteed. Hummus hummed and dips ready to blitz.
We made a garden trip on Friday. It’s amazing how well our plot is doing, considering how much less attion we’ve been able to give it this summer. Would the beans be doing better if they got regular waterings? Probably. Ditto the tomatillos? Perhaps, but we’ve still made at least four cups of salsa verde. The tomatoes? Almost for sure, but there’s still enough coming in that we’ll make a pasta sauce sometime this week. When I tried pulling up garlic, it wasn’t yet ready for harvest. Now the remaining plants are blooming. Ah, well. It’s a hobby plot not a sustenance plot. The flowers are pretty and make the pollinators happy.
We started our first rows for fall radishes and turnips and lettuce. Planted the last of the stir-fry greens seed pack–the one whose previous planting gave us kale all season long. I forgot to pack cilantro. We need to see if we can pick up heirloom collards at our local store or if we should order. Seasons are changing and still full of the promise.
Today’s Box
Bartlett Pears
Italian plums
Magness Pears
Delicata Squash
Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
Rainbow Chard
Red Little Gem Romaine Lettuce
Things I think are in the fridge
Peach
Cantaloupe
Pears
Nectarines (farmers market)
Blackberries (farmers market)
Roma tomatoes
Cranberries
Celery
Spaghetti squash
Jerusalem Artichokes
Coming in from the Garden
Basil
Kale
Tomatillos
Roma tomatoes
Green tomatoes from when I pruned some errant tomato stems
Occasional ground cherries
More peppers?
Dahlias and marigolds
Papalo when we want it
Rosemary
Open Preserves
Preserved eggplant
Lacto-fermented green cherry tomatoes
Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
This week I curled up with a storybook. Layers of tales, echoing past each other. Before the hardback was returned to the library, I’d downloaded the audio reading.
The next book I picked up is for book club. It is not a book for Sarahs. At least not yet. We discuss it in a week and I’m thinking there’s a good chance I won’t finish it.
That switch, from the story that I want to rehear over and again to the story that I struggle to get in, is so familiar. I think it’s why the beloved stories are treasured so. Their power to imagine a world that I want to experience, to explain a part of existence, to create the actions required.
In This Week’s Box
Bartlett Pears
Empire Apples
All Blue Potatoes
Collards
Edamame
Green Beans
Green Cabbage
Mixed Yummy Peppers
Spaghetti Squash
Sungold Cherry Tomatoes
Garden Potential
Starfish pepper
Deciding how long to wait on the final jalapenos
Lombok peppers if we want them
Few tomatillos, hopefully
Volunbeans
Maybe a tomato?
Dahlias
Still in the Fridge
Apples: Honeycrisp?, Gala
Greens: NONE. We ate them all.
Herbs: Fennel tops
Peppers: Yummy, Lombok, Starfish
Squash: Delicata, Red Kabocha, Carnival
Sweet onions
Garlic
Fingerling Potatoes
Celery
Sunchokes
Open Preserves
Preserved eggplant
Pickled cucumber skins
Lacto-fermented & Lacto-fermenting green cherry tomatoes
Lacto-fermented blueberry jalapeno hot sauce
Lacto-fermenting habanda jalapeno hot sauce
Pickled red onion
Pickled banana peppers with oregano, basil, and black pepper
I pulled up the cucumber a few weeks ago. Then you helped turn the compost and rescued some volunteer greens.
They tried, but they didn’t survive.
We took out a basil and a tomato that were done. Stopped by the store to get some seeds.
And now we have sprouts!
Radishes. Carrots. Spinach. Stir-fry mix of greens.
I’m not sure what will make it. The soup beans we planted mid-summer are dying instead of climbing. I put a second batch of radishes in the center of their tent-poles. Willing the roots down deep.
I’ve been thinking about Rachel Held Evans’posts on Madeline L’Engle’s reflections on planting onions. L’Engle was talking about planting onions in the spring being an act of faith in the future when she was afraid for our planet. But I’m considering planting them this fall, and the faith it requires that we will come through winter to more growth. (Confession: I did not heed the warnings in the emails and did not reserve shallot bulbs. Maybe we see if we can plant from the garlic the CSA sent last week? Maybe we let it go for this season.)
I’m trying to save seeds, even though we can’t do the isolated crops that are recommended. Beans are obvious, easy. Just don’t eat them all. Cilantro was straightforward. Basil’s proving fiddly to separate, since we don’t have a screen. I’m currently fermenting seeds from our volunteer cherry tomato. Doing the action that faith calls forth.
I’ve held off on decreeing it soup season. But consider making a sweet potato, peanut, and kale soup only with squash instead of sweet potato and collards instead of kale.
Similarly, is it risotto season? Because a squash risotto is always yummy. Can use Six Seasons recipe, but be mindful about the fat if we want to dehydrate for backpacking meals.
Cabbage season is starting up again I see. Using the cabbage is low priority, it’ll keep. But consider the braised glass noodles when we do.
It might be time to quickle the fennel stems. Though maybe that’s next week’s project. There are still a few fronds to adorn salads.
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.
July 29: Purple peppers and cucumber disguised as a very ripe mango.
Dear John,
This August is our month of summer adventures in the time of covid. Hosting family who it has been far too long since we’ve seen. Backpacking in the hills. Visiting friends with kids who are at ridiculously different life stages than when we last saw them. Attending the burial for the funeral we tried to livestream months ago. Paddling in our local rivers. Looking for parts for bicycles*. Finally, meeting our plot neighbors at the garden.
A couple of weeks back I realized I probably wasn’t going to be comfortable with the plans to eat indoors during our travels**. We talked it over, set a threshold for case rates where we’d push through the discomfort and take the risk. Then, we checked the numbers for the county in question and went on a dehydrating spree. It worked for clearing the leftovers out of the fridge at least. And for keeping us from eating in situations where we don’t feel safe. Somedays it feels like enough.
Off-camera, an extra cantaloupe and bonus bunch of beets bequeathed by the guy picking up his veggies at the same time as me.
In This Week’s Box
Athena Cantaloupe
Nectarines
Orange Seedless Watermelon
Anaheim Peppers
Bicolor Sweet Corn
Fairytale Eggplants
Mixed Heirloom Tomatoes
Purplette Onions
Red Beets
Red Grape Tomatoes
Garden Potential
Ground cherries!
Volunbeans–Yesterday, I harvested the two bean pods I was letting dry. Now we get to cook nine beans and see what we think.
Cherry tomatoes!
Cucumber
Tomatillos, haven’t been picked yet. I think they’re still growing.
Basil! Thai or lime or purple or Italian
Cilantro/Green coriander
Figs from the community tree
In Last Week’s Box
* = In the fridge right now
Athena Cantaloupe
Donut Peaches
Little Baby Flower Watermelon
*Indian Cucumbers
*Islander Pepper
*Italian Parsley
*Red Potatoes
Red Tomatoes
*Sweet Onions
Yellow Straightneck Squash
*Jalapeno Peppers
Still in the Fridge
Blackberries
Peaches
Blueberries
Herbs: Fennel, Dill
Onions: white, red, sweet
Kohlrabi
Sunchokes
Meals for now (and maybe then)
Raw corn salads. Picnics using each of the corn salad recipes in Six Seasons. One with tomatoes and one with walnuts and peppers. Both with all the herbs.
While I’m writing this, you’re working on the letter to friends who will look after our garden plot. I confess, I’m a little jealous of the produce they’ll get. The eggplant might ripen! And the jalapenos! And the paprika! They’re just starting to blush.
But, I know there will be more when we return. And besides, food is better when it’s shared.
One watermelon. Two cucumbers. Three peaches. Three eggplant. Three peppers. Three onions. Three kohlrabi. And many, many beans.
Happy Saturday John!
I started planning for this week on Wednesday, after we received the predicted contents email. Thursday I was focused on doing the things in the kitchen. Yesterday, as you just reminded me, I was too busy looking up bike parts for you.*
So here we are, easing into the weekend. Me planning meals and you debating which dessert we should make for tonight. Later we’ll go kayaking and bike to an open house. Sometimes, having three bikes actually feels reasonable.
In This Week’s Box
Apricot
Little Baby Flower Watermelon
Yellow Peaches
Fresh Sweet Onions
Green Beans
Malabar Spinach
Mixed Cherry Tomatoes
Mixed Specialty Eggplant
Purple Bell Peppers
Purple Kohlrabi
Slicing Cucumbers
Garden Potential
Ground cherries, sometime soon I expect them to be coming in for real. Not just one at a time.
Volunbeans–let’s keep picking as they come. Except for the ones closer to the rosemary. Those I still want to see how they cook up as shellies and how they dry.
Cherry tomatoes
Cucumber surprised me last Sunday. Two appeared seemingly overnight. I didn’t notice any yesterday, but five days from now? Who knows
Tomatillos, maybe before next week. Probably not. But maybe.
Basil! Thai or lime or purple or Italian
Cilantro/Green coriander
Blackberries from the communal briar patch
Still in the Fridge
Blackberries
Peaches
Blueberries
Herbs: Fennel, Dill
Greens: Savoy Cabbage, Lacinato Kale
Onions: white, red, sweet
Carmen Peppers
Asian Cucumbers
Zucchini (only half a zuke left. But half a zucchini left)
Centercut Squash
Celery
New Red Potatoes
Beet
Sunchokes
And now for some bean sprouts
Last week we stopped by the garden store and picked up a packet of dried soup beans. Our first intentionally planted beans in this plot! The packet said 7-10 days to germinate, and here they are.
The carrots, planted on the same day, have not yet appeared. But we’ll keep trying to plant those every few weeks until frost is nigh.
Meals for now…and for later
You just said that the apricot pistachio squares look interesting. Though we may still do a peach tart from Flavor Flours or Baking. That is, if I can remember what I baked when Kathy stayed with us two years ago.
The smashed cucumber salad was a hit last week. We did not try the other cucumber salad recipes. And I do believe we are going to be eating it again.
Slicing cucumbers are the ones we’ll use to actually go back for the celery and cucumber salad in Six Seasons
Purple bell peppers, huh? I think the idea of stuffing them is the right idea. I’m not as big a fan of bell peppers, so I don’t know what to do with them beyond top salads or pizza or stirfy. Especially when we don’t yet have tomatoes. There is the roasted pepper panzanella in Six Seasons that would use some pepper and red onion and some oregano. Which may make it enough of a winner right there.
My memory of the malabar spinach is I didn’t love it raw. Let’s cook it with some rice and beans and use it to stuff the bell peppers. Maybe with some roasted centercut squash.
Oh! I bet we can dehydrate zucchini for backpacking. For a pasta recipe. Maybe something like this or a peanut noodle dish? Actually, maybe we toss the rest of the cabbage in the dehydrator while we’re at it. I’m sure we could use it in a stirfry this week, but maybe let it be a backcountry experiment. [Edit: dehydration complete!]
Especially since we can slice the kohlrabi for another salad this week. Saute the last of the kale and you’ve got my old favorite.
Speaking of the kohlrabi, see all those leaves in the picture? I cooked them up with some lentils, garlic, onions, and spices. Squeeze of lemon, handful of raisins. Served on rice for dinner on Thursday. Leftovers are already dehydrated for us to use as a cold soak salad for a backpacking lunch.
Our other dehydrator experiment this week was a smoothie. Yogurt + peach + a little bit of banana + frozen mango + some fresh ginger = My delicious breakfast this week. Poured into the dehydrator the fruit leather it turned into was yummy. Crumbled into the spice grinder and turned into a powder that smells divine. We’ll see next month how rehydrating on the trail actually fares.
The eggplant is beautiful. Dining In has a recipe for fried eggplant with harissa and dill and honestly, that sounds like it could be amazing. And we have dill that needs to be used.
If we buy an avocado, we could probably make a green gazpacho pretty easily
Watermelon by itself. Watermelon with feta and pickled red onions and basil. Mmmmmm watermelon.
I have no plans for the cherry tomatoes. They are already half eaten. They are summer’s gift and my belly is happy.
~s
Baby cuke do dooo do do do doot
* It is a sign of how much Covid messed up supply chains that the bike shop told you that they don’t expect to get the part for you bike for a year. My internet sleuthing suggests they might be overly optimistic–the supplier’s website says the inventory system is wrong and that they expect more of this $30 part in 2023.
Planning Inside The Box 