Friday, March 5, 2021

Cooking the Harvest

 

Turnip and Radish Saute

Remember the planter that the naughty kitty liked to sleep in, even after I stuck some branches in it in hopes of keeping him out of it?


Kitten

In the Planter

Naughty Kitty

Not surprisingly, the  radish and chard seeds that were planted in there didn't do too well, but, still, I managed to get about 5 or 6 radish plants from that planter.  Today, I picked the last of the radishes that were growing in there and sauteed them, along with the turnip I picked the other day!

I heated up a little vegetable oil and sesame oil in a pan, added the sliced radishes and the cut up turnip, along with their greens (chopped up a bit), seasoned it with chili flakes and soy sauce, etc., and sauteed it.  The turnip greens were a bit bitter, but, eaten with rice, chicken curry, and peach chutney, my daughter said it was quite palatable.

The broccoli floret and the chard leaves that were picked along with the turnip were added to a pot of boiling water in which some frozen cheese ravioli was being cooked and served with leftover spaghetti sauce.

I am grateful for:
- This year's vegetable harvest!
- Every leaf, stem, root, and pod from the garden that is added to our meals 
- Water for the garden
- Fertile soil and soil amendments
- M's help with tending the garden

Today's joyful activity was picking a few more vegetables from the garden, and cooking and eating them!

22 comments:

  1. Great job with your garden Bless!

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  2. Your stir fry looks tasty. I should do that more often.

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    1. Thank you, June. It's a quick way to prepare a mixture of vegetables and/or meat. :)

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  3. From soil to plate! You've done well to use every part of the plant. I'm not a great lover of turnip but have never thought of spicing it up a bit so may try that at some stage in the future. Thanks for the idea Bless xx

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    1. Thank you, Eileen. Yes, I'm determined to use every edible part of the vegetables that I am growing! I considered making a curry with the turnip, but, there wasn't enough for that.

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  4. How great that everything form your plants were used! I usually just make veggie broth out of the leaves and such.
    It is time to start serious gardening thoughts here so I need to get the soil ready to seed.

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    1. Anne, I did consider adding the leaves to a soup! I have two ongoing containers of various items waiting to go into a soup, one of these days. I'll see what is growing in the garden at the time I make the soup and add them!

      I, too, should make plans for the summer vegetables; I have several packets of seeds (tomatoes, squash, and 2 types of okra - regular green and burgundy!), but, I want to try and get some green beans, as well.

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  5. I still have a dog-eared copy of the "More with less" cookbook and at the beginning of the section on vegetables, someone wrote from Zambia describing eating beet tops and pumpkin leaves chopped and cooked in water with a little salt and chopped peanuts!
    I've been wrestling with a rutabaga (we called it a swede in England). I don't buy them often as they are so hard to cut, but they are very nutritious. I used some in a stew and yesterday I cut some up with a potato and made a mashed veggie to go with the pork from the crockpot. I read that you can roast cubes or "fries" of rutabaga so I might try that with the rest of it.

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    1. Bushlady, yes, both beet leaves and pumpkin leaves are edible. So are carrot tops and zucchini leaves (tender leaves are less bitter). I have eaten both beet leaves and carrot leaves, but, I don't think I've eaten pumpkin leaves (because they are not easily available unless you grow them, yourself). It's interesting to find out what's edible and not, isn't it? Suddenly, the vegetable plot yields double or even triple! :)

      Maybe you can make air fried rutabaga in your air fryer! :)

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    2. Air fried rutabaga was exactly what I had in mind! :)

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    3. :) You'll have to tell me how it turned out!

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  6. Your meals always sound so delicious, Bless. Radishes - strangely I was never able to eat them, don't know why.

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    1. Thank you, Ratnamurti. I am not that fond of radishes, myself, especially raw radish, but, I like them when cooked. My daughter loves radishes and is happy to have fresh from the garden!

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    1. Yes, it is a blessing to be able to grow, harvest, and eat what you grew, isn't it? :)

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  8. The cat looks so comfortable sleeping there! I'm glad you managed to get something to grow there.

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    1. It does look very happy with it's bed, doesn't it? I was happy that at least a few of the plants grew!

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  9. Little kitty looks very happy there :)
    Your stir fry sounds delicious. Home grown vegetable are so tasty. I expect I will regret not growing my own this year. X

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    1. The kitty was most unhappy with me for taking away his napping spot!

      Thank you, the stir fry turned out well. Was there a specific reason why you wanted to plant only flowers, this year? Perhaps you can compromise and plant some edible flowers? Like nasturtium or calendula - you can add them to a salad, for example. Or, if you are planting more sunflowers, like you did last year - you can eat more than just the seeds! :)

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  10. The stir fry looks very nice with your garden vegetables and greens.
    I laugh every time I see that cat in the pot.
    Oh well, it's her spot now. Nothing you can do about it.

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    1. Thank you! In my opinion, the greens tasted better than the turnip, which was a little bitter. That cat is a treat! Daughter said that it sidled up to a possum, the other night (the possums are the clean up crew, eating the leftover kibble), thinking it was another cat, until it realized that the possum wasn't a cat and then it took off like a streak! LOL!

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