kiwiberries

Boxing Day, September 30 & October 7

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

I’m posting the plans for the past two weeks, and then going to figure out what to make for dinner tonight by planning for the coming week. Whirlwind time indeed!

Currently here

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Kiwiberries
  • Banana Peppers
  • Broccoli Rabe
  • Green Acorn Squash
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • White Cauliflower

Expecting soon

  • Asian Pears
  • Empire Apples
  • Kiwiberries
  • Beauregard Sweet Potatoes
  • Fennel
  • Green Romaine Lettuce
  • Green Zucchini
  • Habanada Peppers

Community Produce

  • Sweet potatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Zucchini
  • Onion
  • Pears
  • Oranges

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Heirloom tomato, red tomato
  • Cucumber
  • Peppers
  • Fennel stems
  • Greens: Lettuce, Bok Choy
  • Leeks
  • Onions
  • Beets
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Oranges
  • Kiwiberries

Expected at the Garden

  • Collards
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • Tomatillos enough for one batch of salsa
  • Parsley that should be left for the swallowtails
  • Eggplant
  • Radish
  • Assorted non-spicy peppers
  • Hoping for Bundles of Dahlias

Open Preserves

  • Fridge still organized!
  • Fridge still not inventoried!
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Pickled peach
  • Fermenting curdito again

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen. Again.

  • I bought pomegranate from the grocery store so we can make the roasted cauliflower and pomegranate dish from Ottolenghini.
  • Okay, but also, I’m cooking the calypso beans and there’s a recipe in the Q1 Rancho Gordo Newsletter for Calypso Beans and Caulifower. Hmmm… maybe freeze some beans? Maybe buy some frozen cauliflower?
  • We still need to make the leek soup. Maybe try this one with the calypso beans?
  • Remember the brussel sprouts roasted with grapes that the one friend of a friend introduced us to back when we lived in the apartment? I’m thinking of that, but finishing off the muscadines and using the broccoli rabe.
  • Sweet potato with celery salad!
  • Pickle the banana peppers! Use them the next time we have cauliflower.
  • I’m getting better about making a quick salad for dinner. If the dressing is premade and toppings prepped, washing the lettuce when we’re home is the biggest step. Let’s keep that going.
  • Feel like I’d love to use the zucchini and potatoes together. Smitten’s focaccia is tempting! And poison for you. (BUT THE TEMPTATION.) No? This isn’t time with your travel? Fine. Can we buy the fancy cheeses and make this project of a meal? (Or maybe I make the focaccia for my lunches.)
  • Not sure how we want to use the habanadas this go round.

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 23

planorcanLeave a comment

Dear John,

We made it to the garden! It has not (yet) died. We need to do some more service hours, attend a workday. But I am feeling reasonably confident that we won’t get kicked out/will be allowed to return next year. Which is the main goal. Truly, the longer we care for the garden plot, the more grateful I am that we do not rely on our own luck and skill to provide our food.

But we do rely on our own skill to prepare most of our food. Shall we dive in?

Today’s Box

  • Bartlett Pears
  • Kiwiberries
  • Green Beans
  • Green Romaine Lettuce (Swapped one head for Golden Beets)
  • Leeks
  • Red Tomatoes

Community Produce

  • Week off

Things in the fridge

  • Sunchokes
  • Muscadines
  • Green tomato, heirloom tomato
  • Wax beans
  • Peppers
  • Fennel stems
  • Greens: Lettuce, Bok Choy, Kale
  • Onions
  • Peaches
  • Pears
  • Apples
  • Oranges
  • Kiwiberries
  • Fingerling potatoes, potatoes

In the Garden

  • Collards
  • Cherry tomatoes
  • The season’s last ground cherries
  • Tomatillos enough for one batch of salsa
  • Parsley
  • Eggplant. Some shiny. Some the yellow of overripe.
  • Assorted peppers (including jalapenos? rescued from the compost pile)
  • So Many Dahlias
  • A bit of rosemary to go with the potatoes
  • A bit of Thai basil from the communal plot to go in a curry

Open Preserves

  • Fridge still organized!
  • Fridge still not inventoried!
  • Fig jam
  • Preserved eggplant
  • Pickled banana peppers
  • Pickled fennel
  • Pickled peach
  • Fermenting curdito again

Pantry Beans

  • Yellow Split Pea
  • Split Red Lentil
  • Black Caviar Lentil
  • Garbanzo Bean
  • Buckeye Bean
  • Black Calypso
  • Good Mother Stallard
  • Pinto Bean
  • Christmas Lima
  • California Corona
  • Royal Corona
  • And maybe one more on the shelf?

Cook something. Somehow. Somewhen. Again.

  • Review last week’s post. Half of those plans have not been attempted.
  • I needed fridge space for the beets and beans. Chopped up almost all of our remaining peppers and cooked up a batch of peperonata. Let’s serve it with grits and a fried egg. (And freeze some too.)
  • Pumpkin and maple season at Trader Joe’s! I grabbed our favorite gluten free pumpkin ravoli. Cooked it up for dinner with a blue cheese bechamel and kale. Reminiscent of this recipe with next to no actual overlap.
  • Green curry with eggplant and peppers. And tofu? And tofu!
  • Do I want wax/green beans in the above curry? Maybe not. Maybe go for our standard green bean and peanut stirfry? Maybe try fermenting? Miso butter and poached egg might be quicker option.
  • I made a pear-mustard-vinaigrette earlier when I realized there was a pear getting bruised by your bananas in the fruit bowl. It was mushy, but blended up just fine. Let’s put it on salad with some slices of fresh pear. Maybe lentils. Maybe chèvre. Maybe some roasted beets. Maybe some roasted nuts.
  • We have a sweet potato, already cooked, ready to mash. I’m tempted to do the sweet potato + kale + quinoa fritters. But those aren’t good for instant eating upon walking in the door. Sweet potato crème brûlée is tempting and I do not have the time for it in this season. Sweet potato hummus or enchiladas maybe is more reasonable.
  • Potato leek soup. Right?

Love,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 27

planorcanLeave a comment
Beet greens blending with dandelion and kale. But the squash stands out!

Dear John,

The radishes and turnips we planted have sprouted–we should put in more the next time we go to the garden. One of the edamame plants has emerged, the others I’ll assume were eaten by birds. Beans are starting to dry on the vine. The kale that we’ve been eating all season was getting covered in enough bugs that I just harvested it all. The new greens are sprouting. The chard seeds have been put in the ground. They’re spikier than I would’ve guessed! The tomatillos won’t last much longer. The tomatoes, might hold out a bit more. The peppers are dwarfed by the dahlia and the marigold. I cut back the flowers, but not sure it’s doing the peppers much good. I put some cilantro seeds in the ground. Wondering if we’ll eat any this fall, if it will be a spring surprise, or if it will sprout at all.

Little miracles all of them. Larger miracles all of us. And yet still, so incredibly small.

Today’s Box

  • Red Kabocha Squash
  • Ginger
  • Gold Beets
  • Green Dandelion
  • Green Kale
  • Honeycrisp Apples
  • Italian plums
  • Kiwiberries

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Peach (maybe one left)
  • Pears
  • Green tomatoes
  • Tomato from the farmer’s market
  • Potatoes (also from the farmer’s market)
  • Cranberries
  • Spaghetti squash

Coming in from the Garden

  • Basil
  • Tomatillos
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • A pepper! Singular. Hopefully more to come.
  • Dahlias and marigolds and cosmos
  • Papalo when we want it
  • Rosemary

Open Preserves

Some ideas to keep us going

  • Beet falafel from the library’s Clean-Eating cookbook. Served with kale as a salad instead of in pita as a sandwich.
  • Potatoes with dandelion greens. Or saute the greens and use them to top congee. Because it’s been days, well over a week, since I ate rice porridge.
  • Lentil squash soup
  • Kale + apple + red pepper from the garden + beet yogurt + chickpea croutons
  • I looked back at last winter and fall for other ideas of how to use squash with minimal fat. Really, soup is where it’s at, because the roasting wants the oil. Apple, squash, ginger soup from Simply in Season is a traditional easing in to soup season. Tomato butternut bisque (less tempting when I won’t eat grilled cheese). There’s risotto. AKA more rice porridge for me.
  • Was also reminded of the beet and pear salad with mustard vinaigrette. I think we’ll be out of greens before we’re through with salad plans this week.

Love you,

Sarah

Boxing Day, September 6

planorcanLeave a comment
Really excited about the pawpaw. It’s what looks like the largest pear.

Hi John,

In the past week, one of us went to urgent care in the middle of the night and the other of us spent a birthday banished in the basement due to fever. In between the unwell periods, we managed a trip to harvest the garden and used up all of the vegetables from last week’s box. I’m impressed with us.

Today’s Box

  • Kiwiberries
  • PawPaw
  • Yellow Bartlett Pears
  • Bicolor Sweet Corn
  • Red Beets
  • Young Fresh Ginger
  • Green Okra

Things I think are in the fridge

  • Peach (maybe one left)
  • Cantaloupe (just a little bit left)
  • Pears
  • Plums
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Green tomatoes
  • Cranberries
  • Spaghetti squash

Coming in from the Garden

  • Basil
  • Kale
  • Surprise carrots!
  • Tomatillos
  • Roma tomatoes
  • Occasional ground cherries
  • More peppers?
  • Dahlias and marigolds
  • Papalo when we want it
  • Rosemary

Open Preserves

Some ideas to get us started

  • Noting for the future that this is the lima beans in tomato dill sauce recipe that I riffed on. Don’t trust the internal oven sensor. Check the thermometer so it actually cooks.
  • Avocado and cotija mean this Mexican corn kale salad isn’t as low fat as written. But it looks yummy and we can ration the fat out.
  • Despite being from the south, I don’t know how to cook okra. Let’s try this so we can use tomatoes and beans too.
  • Roast the beets. Mix with yogurt. Maybe grate some ginger in there. Have a spread for my crackers or bread. (And maybe try planting some ginger? It seems fun. Though it is harvest time and not planting time.)
  • Currently we have leftover congee and risotto in the refrigerator. If we make more rice porridge, tossing in fresh corn kernels is nice.

Love you,

Sarah

PS We need to do a grocery run to make that salad and the sheet pan recipe on hard mode requires peeling tomatoes and cooking beans. I don’t want a fourth day in a row of rice porridge. Wanna get takeout tonight?