Showing posts with label swiss chard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swiss chard. Show all posts

Monday, November 1, 2010

Harvest Monday 11/1/10

I am surprised in this last week of October to still have tomatoes ripening from the box I picked at the beginning of the month. I got another pound and a half of tomatoes. With some from last week and a few from the freezer I was able to make a fresh tomato soup on Saturday. 2 oz of carrots went into the tomato soup too.
The other harvests are slowing. I know the chard will be done soon. The leaves are smaller and more crinkled. I picked 6 oz of it this week.
I picked 4.5 oz of arugula, mizuna, mache, & claytonia to make a base for this Lentil & Pumpkin Salad.
I used a small pumpkin and even smaller butternut. We really enjoyed it and will be making it again. We did put goat cheese and toasted seeds on top too, but its easier to see the squash in this photo.

Total this week: 2.27 pounds
Total this year: 443.9 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Harvest Monday 10/25/10

This week I got over 2 more pounds of tomatoes ripening from the green tomato box.
I picked 8 oz of kale, including some red kale that leafed out. It overwintered from the previous owners garden, went to seed,I saved seeds, and now it is producing again.
I picked 11.5 oz of leeks, 6 oz of chard, and 1 pound of brussels sprouts (not pictured).
Now that the garden is winding down, I'll sometimes share what we're eating from what we saved from the garden. This weekend we roasted our first jarrahdale pumpkin. It was a 15 pound one. My husband cut it in half.
Then we quartered it and scooped out the seeds. I roasted it in the oven for over an hour until the flesh was soft. This photo is before it was baked.
The flesh was good, not stringing, not too strong either. The only downside was the seeds. They looked wonderful, but some how different. When we roasted them we found they were too tough.
We roasted apples and onions after the pumpkin was done and used them all to make soup with a stock made with apple cores and pumpkin scrapings. It was all pureed to a smooth soup. We had plenty for a gathering of 8 adults and 12 kids and still some left over to freeze.

Total this week: 5.08 pounds
Total this year: 441.69 pounds
You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Harvest Monday 9/13/10

The tomatoes are still coming this week with over 29 pounds of slicing tomatoes. I made another batch of Annie's Salsa this week and plant to make tomato sauce next week.
I also harvested more arugula, carrots, dried beans, leeks, chard, tomatillios and the first winter squash( a buttercup).
The large pile of dried beans have not yet made it in to my totals because I weigh them after I shuck them. The forecast calls for rain tomorrow so I figured I should pick them while they are semi dry.

Total this week: 36.12 pounds
Total this year: 239.2 pounds

You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Harvest Monday 9/6/10

This was the week of the tomatoes. Here's Tuesday's harvest. I've started picking some of the Amish Paste as soon as they get color because the slugs are getting to the low hanging fruit.
On Wednesday, I picked over 6 pounds of chard to blanch and freeze. It was a big pile but it cooked down to about 3 quarts once it was blanched. I also harvested over one pound of pineapple tomatillos because some of the plants fell over and rather than tie them up, I just cut off the plants. I didn't weigh the green ones because I'm not sure if they are going to ripen. I picked the ones that felt plump off the plants I cut down.
Thursday was even more tomatoes which allowed me to take my tomato photos. I harvested 32 pounds of tomatoes this week. This week I got enough tomatoes to make a double batch of Annie's Salsa. It made 11 jars. Mmmmm it is good. It looks like it will continue into next week at and I'll have enough to make some more salsa and even some sauce.

On Friday I picked some nice large beets, over 2 pounds. They'd been forgotten for a while and sure have grown in size. Not all the ones out there are this large though. I also picked some shelling beans, and of course, more tomatoes. I ended up with two photos because I didn't pick enough beets for the recipe the first time ;)
Saturday's harvest has some arugula hiding at the bottom, with a few cucumbers, and tomatoes.The hot peppers went into my salsa.
Sunday brought more tomatoes and some dried beans, both black and scarlet runner. The light brown are from the dragon tongue beans.
The weather has turned this weekend and it feels like Fall. I'm tempted to go out and pick some winter squash. However, the season in my garden is still summer for just a few more weeks. The peppers are finally setting more and more. The eggplants are blooming again and setting also. The tomatoes will bear heavily this next week too. We have just a few weeks until our first frost date. Winter squash will have to wait their turn.

Total this week: 47.08 pounds
Total this year: 203.12 pounds (Yay! I crossed the 200 lb mark!)

You can see what other gardeners harvested this week at Daphne's Dandelions.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Harvest Monday 8/23/10

This week was the first week of large tomatoes. Just a few ripened but more are on their way. I enjoyed my first BLT sandwich for a late breakfast on Saturday morning with a large pink heirloom tomato. It was delicious. We also enjoyed the purple calabash tomatoes that ripened. All together we picked 1.8 pounds of large tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes continue to be prolific, even after they took a beating when the support fell. I harvested over four pounds of them this week. They were used in salads, as the basis for a sauce and any way I could find. The tomatillos are ripening faster. I have a bowlful filling up on the counter that I should make some fresh salsa with. The fruit themselves are tiny so there is not enough to can. This week I harvested 6.5 oz of them.
This week the harvest is less, mostly because we didn't pick as much. There are beets and beans out there, but we didn't need them for any recipes, so I didn't pick them. We picked just 2.5 oz for carrots for a soup one night. I picked zucchini, cucumbers, tomatillos, and tomatoes as they ripened, but other things stayed where they were unless they were needed. There also weren't any big harvests like potatoes or onions.
In this harvest photo from Thursday you can see a pound of Swiss chard, golden zucchini, cucumbers, tomatillos, purple calabash tomatoes, green zebra tomato, and cherry tomatoes.
Total this week: 10.38 pounds
Total this year: 127.5 pounds

You can see other gardeners' harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Harvest Monday 8/2/10

This week cucumbers took the prize for the most weight in the harvest totals. I picked over seven pounds of cucumbers. I made one batch of bread and butter pickles, and started a crock of cured dill pickles. This is my first time crock-curing pickles so I'm excited to see how it goes. The recipe called for grape leaves to help aid in crisping and I was thankful for my grapevine on the front fence. I harvested about 3 oz of grape leaves.
Also in the photo above you can see my first raspberry. It made it in the photo but didn't last long enough to get weighed. This is the first year for my ever-bearing raspberries and I don't expect much but I was pleased by the large size and flavor of the berry.

The cucumbers took the prize in weight this week, but can't sit securely on that pedestal because I did not weigh my harvest of onions. I picked all my yellow and white onions and they are in the process of drying. I'll weigh them in the coming weeks and add them to my totals then.
Behind the cucumbers in terms of weight were potatoes, with 5 1/2 pounds. I harvested all my Irish Cobblers that were left and sampled some Yukon Gold and All Blues as I cut back their foliage this week.
Other harvests this week include zucchini, but I have stopped photographing all the zucchini I pick. They only make it into group shots like below. It was just over one and half pounds this week as I'm trying to stay on top of them and pick them when they are small.

Other harvests this week include chard, cilantro, basil, arugula, romano beans and cherry tomatoes. I'm still waiting for my green zebra to fully ripen, and then I'll still be waiting for the first large red tomato. I probably have another 2 weeks to go.
Total this week: 15.7 pounds
Total this year: 58.1pounds

You can see other gardeners' harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Garden Dinners

Lately our dinners have been relying heavily on the garden. Last night we had Swiss-Chard Zucchini Soup which used onions, chard, zucchini, potatoes, and cilantro from the garden. We base it on this recipe, but use the chard in place of spinach, add lemon thyme from the herb garden, add crushed red pepper and serve it with cheddar cheese. Above is the harvest that went into the soup, with some of the potatoes you'll see below. The tomatoes made it into another meal.
Tonight we enjoyed Oven Potatoes on the Grill. We love potatoes with our burgers, but I didn't want to heat up the kitchen with a hot oven. So instead, I used up the small potatoes, or cut others into chunks.I used our first All-Blue potatoes, with the last of our Irish Cobblers. I tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme before skewering them. It made skewering a little slippery but it made the coverage of the oil more even. Here they are going on the grill.
We cooked them on the grill over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally. They were nice and brown on the outside and tender all the way through when finished. They were delicious. Looking back to find the link for the recipe I make in the oven I realized we could have put beet sections on here too and those would have been good also. Next time!


We also had Romano beans stewed with cherry tomatoes, onions and basil. I sauteed the onion and a bit of garlic in a pan, added quartered tomatoes, and the beans, half the basil and just a bit of water. Covered, they simmered for 5 to 10 minutes until they were tender. I added a half teaspoon of sugar to cut the acidity and topped with more fresh basil.
We're looking forward to even more garden dinners.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Harvest Monday 7/26/10

The harvests continue to grow. This week I picked over 2 pounds of zucchini, yellow and green. There were also over 2 and half pounds of cucumbers, which were made into the first pickles of the year. This cucumber was missed the day before and was as large as a small zucchini.

My romano green beans started to produce this week, and my sugar snap peas continue to give a few as well.
I picked 1.7 pounds of potatoes and some onions as well.
I picked 10 oz of kale for a soup along with 2 small zucchini that I wanted to prevent from becoming monsters while we went away for the weekend.
I harvested over 2 pounds of chard with which I made Spanakopita Pie and some was frozen. Also in the basket is basil, more beans, peas, lettuce, and the first slicing cucumbers. The lettuce is rather bitter, but it still works on sandwiches. We got another couple cherry tomatoes also.
The garlic which was spring planted only amounted to 3 oz. and went into a Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic recipe from Joy of Cooking. I've already ordered my garlic for the fall to be certain of a better harvest next year.
I also picked 2 oz of mint to make this Mint Chocolate Chip Ice cream. It was very good.
Total this week: 11.4 pounds
Total this year: 42.6 pounds

You can see other gardeners' harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.