Monday we had an interesting dinner using our radishes.
We used a Betty Crocker Recipe for
Citrus Pasta Salad (link)
The overall impression was that the broccoli and oranges did not go all that well for our taste. Perhaps that is because we used frozen broccoli, but it will most likely not be repeated without some adjustments to the recipe.
Monday Dinner
CSA adventures
Ok due to sickness, schedules etc things got rearranged.
We got the following early last week.
Mixed Greens
Baby Bok Choy
Split Peas
Asparagus
Radishes
Mustard Seed (crushed)
There might have been something I missed.
No interesting Salads but Last Wednesday we had Bul-go-gi (or at least my variation) and included the Bok Choy.
Bul-go-gi is a Korean dish characterized by meat marinated with soy sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil/seeds, salt, pepper and sugar. I can't give a recipe of what I cooked because I tend to be very liberal in the recipe interpretation. The stems of the bok choy were added earlier than the leaves. Sadly the bok choy only provided a mild crunch, and had no other effect. If the ratio had been almost one to one, meat and bok choy, there might have been more of an impact. As usual everyone liked the bul-go-gi, even with the addition of veggies. Served over rice and with salad on the side.
Sunday we braised the Asparagus, but it probably could have used more time as the stems were larger this week. The roast was rubbed with mustard seed, but I think it could have used more. Overall it was very good with the side of small red potatoes.
We will be using the peas in a soup tomorrow and the radishes in a pasta salad today. I also have more pictures and news from the garden, but that will be in a different post.
More culinary adventures
On Friday I was remiss in entering quickly.
Grilled Asparagus with Parmesan
recipe is fairly obvious, butter/oil grill and then serve topped with Parmesan cheese
Thoughts:
Alex like it
Heidi liked it
Wesley thought it was ok
Chris like it
Neil liked it
Overall Opinion: Good one to repeat.
It seems that we have roughly enough veggies for dinners, though currently much of it this week is just having salads. Not a bad thing, just an interesting observation. I don't plan to give reports on basics or simple green salads or other common preparations.
CSA
We recently joined our local CSA Schreiber & Sons and just got our first box. We got a standard share which is designed for four people. My parents are in it with us and we are going to have some fun. I am going to list what we have and our thoughts.
This week we had the following items in the Box:
Baby Bok Choy
Baby Leeks
Chickpeas (Garbanzos)
Mixed Greens
Brown Lentils
Spinach
Asparagus
Wednesday we made the following items:
Meatless Lentil Chili
Recipe from the pamphlet USA Dry Peas, Lentils, and Chickpeas (no recipe link, but they sell a cookbook on their website http://www.pea-lentil.com/)
Thoughts:
Heidi(Wife) likes it as is.
Alex (me) thought it needed more kick (spices or meat)
Wesley(Brother) thought it needed meat (a carnivore to the core)
Chris(Mother) thought it was good
Neil(Father) thought it needed more spice
Overall opinion: Great starter recipe to try again with some variation for personal tastes.
Tomato, Chickpea and Arugula Salad
Recipe found on Schreiber & Son's website (link)
We substituted leek for onion, and spring greens for arugula. Follow directions and layer as we did not and the chickpeas sunk to the bottom of the bowl.
Thoughts:
Heidi thought it was good
Alex thought it was decent, but needed more salt or tomatoes.
Wesley didn't really care for it
Chris thought it was pretty good
Neil liked it
Overall Opinion: Next time layer properly
Now for Thursday night:
Baby Bok Choy with Cashews
Recipe found on Schreiber & Son's website (link)
Substituted leek for onions. Put in a bit much of the sesame seed oil.
Thoughts:
Alex thought it was really good
Heidi thought it tasted to wilted
Wesley thought it was odd, but tasted ok with hot sauce
Neil liked it
Chris thought it was a bit oily but good
Overall Opinion: Would be a great companion to Korean Bulgogi
Lemon Chickpea Cake
Recipe also from the pamphlet USA Dry Peas, Lentils, and Chickpeas (see above in post for link)
Thoughts:
Alex liked it
Heidi liked it
Wesley liked it
Neil liked it
Chris liked it
Overall Opinion: Wow this has chickpeas in it!
Links
I am really looking into edible landscaping. I just have the hardest time with figuring out how to do the front yard.
So here are the sites I have looked at so far, I wish there was more information out there on this.
http://www.communityrootsboulder.com/gardens.html
Spring
So, I have a bit to do now in the garden.
A while back I started Rhubarb, tomatoes, and lemongrass indoors. They will soon be ready to plant in their planters (earth boxes from my father).
In December or so, I started two cherry tomato plants in a large planter indoors. They are now my height and beginning to produce fruit, though none are yet ripe. However I seem to have fungus problem, so I got some spray and things seem to be getting a bit better. I would hope after the next application I will see and improvement.
The compost pile needs to be moved to make way for the herb garden and I need to install the pergola type thing and the fire pit. Then we need to get the trees in, which I finally have measured and marked out. Because of difficulty with cherries in this area, we are planning to do peaches and plums.
I will post more later, and some pictures as well.
Min and Max
Well with a new son, work, and life in general; not everything I want to do will happen. So here is the list of minimum to do and maximum to do for this year, and some thoughts for future years.
Min:
Tomatoes: Red, White, and Cherry
Fruit Trees: Cherry, Peach, Plum
Mixed baby greens
Some Herbs
Max: As above and
Grapes
Raspberries
Rhubarb
Cabbage
Broccoli
Bell Peppers
Watermelon
Carrots
Onions
Garlic
Strawberries
The big difference between the min and max, is infrastructure. I have several large containers for the tomatoes, spots for the trees and a raised circular bed in the back yard ready for herbs and microgreens. So most of the remaining items will need a new bed created. With that is a modification of the sprinklers from being inground yard sprinklers to drip lines etc. Then the grapes require a trellis and I want to have them grow up and over a back porch overhang type thing, which will need to be built.
In future years I want to also grow some winter squash varieties, amaranth, corn, beans, snap peas, potatoes etc. I also need to figure out how to plant some more edibles in the front yard. Perhaps a strawberry ground cover with paths on the side of with the large tree. Because I am a bit unsure of sewer line placement and watermains, I don't want to plant any trees in front and it needs to be presentable to people.
The region is a semi-arid desert but next to several waterways, which makes the area a bit of an odd micro-climate. So a type of desert grass feel might work, with mixed in corn, amaranth, bean bushes, etc. That is in the future however.
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