“There are things people just need to be told, and that get danced around too often. Some of these are uncomfortable, some “gross,” some thing you just don’t talk about in polite society. Unfortunately, these silent issues are hurting our national health, our individual health, and most especially our kid’s health.
This is going to be unpopular. ” Read More…
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Breakfast: 2 eggs (tiny, they were from Bantams) w/nutritional yeast. Raisin English muffin with coconut oil. Green tea w/fresh lemon and honey.
Snack: Almond milk. banana w/almond butter.
Lunch: Veggies with hummus. Sliced cheddar.
Dinner: Anda masala over brown rice.
We’ve had some great weather for this year’s garden. Plenty of rain (keeping our water bills low!), a decent amount of sunshine, not too hot despite a few odd days. All and all, my plants are happy.
In addition to the obvious concerns of what would grow well for us, our garden plan for the year was to grow things according to the following criteria:
1. We had to be able to grow enough of it in our small space to actually do something with. Low-yield things that take up space, like bush beans, were ruled out.
2. It had to save us money. This meant super cheap and readily available items, like zucchini, were out. We can buy local, sustainable zucchini and yellow squash in abundance at a very low cost.
3. It had to be something that we would either use most of while in season, or that we could readily preserve for winter. This meant not an overabundance of delicate greens that didn’t freeze or can well.
4. It had to fit into a rotational plan that would let us make maximum use of the garden for all 4 seasons.
5. We wanted to do as much heirloom as possible. We did use some non-heirloom, but only where it was impossible to get heirlooms (sunchokes being the best example).
What we came up with for the spring/summer rotation was a whole bunch of tomatoes (almost all from last year’s seed), leeks (which we love but are super expensive here), snap peas (which take almost no room and are prolific producers), some high-yield hard winter squashes, sunchokes (very expensive, hard to get, but ridiculously easy to grow), various greens, carrots, and onions. As some of these are harvested, we have plans for the fall and winter crops to go in.
And here’s how it looks so far:
The leeks are doing incredibly well. We have three rows, which should give us enough to use and freeze.
Our sorrel is out of control. We love it, but holy cow. This is only 4 plants, and we’re having a difficult time keeping up. I’ve already begun freezing it for winter!
We have about 30 tomato plants. This wasn’t intentional. I’d planted some that were really pretty spindly, and so planted some extra thinking the less-hardy ones would die. We only lost one plant total. We’re going to need more canning jars.
We’re using the California weave method to support the tomatoes.
I didn’t get pictures of anything else because it started to rain; but, I promise, there’ll be more later. The herb garden is going especially crazy, and I need to do some pruning before it gets entirely out of hand. My carrots have failed entirely for some unknown reason. Not a single sprout. No idea why, but I’ll give it another try. And, my basil is awful (I’ll be planting new basil plants this coming week).
How is your garden growing?
This is, hands down, my all-time most popular post. It was also one of the most controversial, which surprised me . The comments got a bit crazy with people taking things to extremes (like the one person who talks about how dare I and other readers say you shouldn’t cut veggies up for toddlers so they don’t choke, which clearly no one ever said), but many are worth reading (note, there are a lot of them).
I stand by my stance than hiding vegetables by pureeing them beyond recognition and combining them with cheese or in sweets that otherwise wouldn’t call for them (obviously, zucchini bread is called that for a reason) and then pretending kids are eating vegetables is ridiculous, and teaches kids nothing about good eating. I have no idea how some people took that to mean that if you cut vegetables up and put them in a soup or casserole I think it’s an issue. I don’t. It’s making the vegetables totally unrecognizable as vegetables and tricking kids into eating them by pretending they’re unhealthy foods (and, incidentally, losing most of their nutrient value and usually adding a pile of calories in the process) that is the issue. So, what do you think?
“NPR did a story about what a great idea it is to get kids to eat vegetables at school by adding vegetable puree to the school lunch cheese sauce at lunch time. There’s a whole movement, including cookbooks, on how to get your child to eat vegetables by hiding them in brownies, cakes, cheese sauces, etc. I can’t even begin to express how much I loathe this entire idea. It’s faulty from it’s toes to it’s nose, it’s destructive, and it’s just stupid.” Read more…
Tuesday was kind of a catch-up day for me. There was a lot of “domestic” stuff that had piled up. I won’t bore you with the details of my day, but I will say I was so productive I almost got ahead of myself. Almost. Nothing warranted a full post, but I did get some pretty pictures, and since I had nothing particular planned as a blog today, I thought I’d share:
Above: washing kale. Below: the end result, kale chips!
I also got some pictures of the garden, which will be up next week.
A quick, healthful dinner when you crave Asian, but not that chemical- and MSC-ladden buffet stuff. The flavors here are subtle, smooth, and very “adult.”
Ingredients:
2 tbs coconut oil
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken (thighs or breast)
Chinese 5 spice to taste (2-4 tbs)
Your choice of vegetables, about a half pound, chopped
1 can coconut milk (I don’ t really like light with this recipe, but you can use it)
1 tsp sugar or sucanat (optional. I don’t use it, but some people prefer it)
1/4 cup flaked, unsweetened coconut, divided
Directions: Cube chicken into bite-size pieces. Heat oil in large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, and add chicken.
Cook for 3 minutes, then add 1 tbs Chinese 5 spice, and stir. Cook chicken through, stirring occasionally. Add vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Add another 1 tbs of spice, coconut milk, and half of coconut. Add sweetener if using. Stir, turn down to a simmer, and allow to cook until vegetables are al dente.
In the meantime, in a separate dry skillet, toast coconut.
Coconut before toasting.
Dark toasted coconut. You can toast it less if you prefer.
Stir frequently and do not allow to burn. Put chicken mixture over rice, and sprinkle with toasted coconut just before serving.
I had a great picture with the toasted coconut, etc. But, it got lost. So, you get this instead. Sorry.
We love fresh strawberries and shortcake, but neither of us have ever liked the super-sweet style most people are familiar with. All that sugar hides the wonderful flavor of the season’s best strawberries. It’s fine for the kiddies, but I like something with more depth, something that accentuates the fruit rather than hiding it.
If you come to our house for strawberry shortcake, you’ll get a bowl full of homemade sweet biscuit (often with lavender, rosemary, or cinnamon), vanilla marcapone, and balsamic-vinegar macerated strawberries.
Maceration breaks down the cell walls of fruits and vegetables using acid. For this dessert, we hull and slice the strawberries, add just enough balsamic vinegar to cover, add about 1 tsp. sugar for every pound of strawberries, the stir and cover. We like to let it sit for at least a few hours, but overnight or longer is better. And, as a bonus, any leftover vinegar sauce is an amazing salad dressing!
I never got around to writing a part II, but this reminds me I need to do so.
“I am incredibly tired of hearing people talk about how we need GMO crops to “feed the world,” and of being told I am a “bleeding heart” or “hippie idealist” because I am “more concerned with those damn animals” than “feeding the world.” So, this is specifically addressed to all those folks who clearly have no idea what the hell they are talking about when they espouse The Production Myth.” Read More…
