Garden Surprises!

So I finally got outside yesterday to do some long-overdue work in the garden. The peas are coming along nicely, the tomato plants are holding their own, and the strawberry patch is full of green berries getting bigger all the time. I've gotten a bit of a late start on the garden this year, but I was surprised to find that the garden had really started without me.

Here is what I found:

Two little Golden Chard plants that decided to come back up. I wasn't planning to plant chard this year because we just didn't use that much of

it last summer, but these two plants should give me just enough.

A whole bunch of little dill plants had sprung up from the seeds dropped by last year's plants. I was planning to plant some anyway, so I dug and moved the seedlings into a semi-neat row.

Last year's parsley has come back (well, it is supposed to, being a biennial, but I guess I never expected it actually would come back) and has already grown big and bushy.

The biggest surprises, though, were these:

twin green onions that sprouted from seeds I planted last spring, and a carrot that I apparently missed pulling in the fall and which had sprouted a nice new top!

Inspired by my garden surprises, I decided to use them in my fried rice for dinner. The green onions were great, but (surprise!) the carrot was really terrible. Apparently, overwintering your carrots and using them in the spring is a bad idea.

Of course there are always some bad surprises in the garden, like when you realize the red, ripe strawberry you saw yesterday was eaten by a chipmunk, or when the late blight kills all of your tomato plants before you harvest a single one. Most of the surprises are good, though, like finding that first sugar snap pea, the very first produce from your garden (and of course this is best if you are by yourself and don't have to share the first one with anybody else- it is your garden after all); or finding a hilariously large cucumber that your husband totally didn't see when he was tending the garden while you were away; or seeing that perfect row of seedlings pop up one day, when they weren't there the day before.

Soon there will be summer surprises in the kitchen as well, like those pea greens I wrote about last summer. I'll try to post recipes as they spring up!

From Pea Greens to Teeny Beans-- Secret Treats for the Gardener

As I was working outside this morning, getting closer to putting my garden to bed, I decided it was finally time for the green bean plants to go. About six weeks ago, I had pulled most of them because I thought they were finished producing and they were getting in the way of other plants, particularly the jalapenos, which were just starting to produce peppers and were begging for more sun.

For six weeks, I have been picking a few beans here and there from the remaining plants-- not so much a "harvest" per se, but more like what my husband refers to as me "foraging" in the garden. So today, as I was cutting down the remaining half a row of bean plants, I foraged out a big handful of teeny tiny green beans-- the kind you refrain from picking all season long because you know they will grow much bigger if you leave them for two days. Finally, as the plants are going to the compost pile, I have free license to pick and eat the teeniest of tiny green beans, all by myself, for lunch, not sharing with anybody. So, just as I did with the pea greens that were my first garden "treat" this year, I sauteed my beans with garlic and butter, and sweet memories of another summer gone by.

Teeny Beans with Garlic (one small serving)

one big handful of very small green beans

one small clove of garlic, crushed but still in one piece

one small pat of butter

one small shake of salt and pepper

Melt butter over medium-high heat in a small saute pan. Add green beans and garlic. Saute until beans are bright green and the smallest ones are starting to brown. Add salt and pepper. Discard the garlic (unless you want to eat it).

Soup Season

So I have to confess that, as seasons go, fall is my absolute least favorite. In warmer climates, fall can be lovely- a break from the oppressive summer heat, a chance to get outside and enjoy nature. But here in Vermont, summer is PERFECT. Fall, on the other hand, is cold. And dark. This year... rainy (at least on soccer nights). Of course there is the FOLIAGE, but when it's gone, everything is just dead. And you know, the foliage would be just as pretty if the leaves turned in November instead of October.

Feel free to disagree with me about the season. It does have at least one redeeming quality- the return of SOUP! Our family's favorite weekend lunch. Here are some recipes that have gotten a lot of use lately.

Homemade Tomato Soup

olive oil

1 small to medium onion, chopped

4 pounds tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes, chopped

fresh basil

salt and pepper

1/4 cup heavy cream (optional but oh-so-good)

sugar (optional)

Heat about a teaspoon of olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook until soft but not brown. Add tomatoes with their juices, and simmer about 20 minutes, or until tomatoes are soft. Transfer to a blender or food processor and puree. Return to pot and season to taste with fresh basil (or pesto from your freezer if your basil plants all died from the frost last night), salt, pepper, and sugar. If you like a creamy tomato soup, add the heavy cream. Enjoy!

Potato-Leek Soup

4 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, chopped

2 leeks, chopped

4 medium potatoes, peeled and diced

4-5 cups chicken broth

salt and pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (optional but oh-so-good)

Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and leeks and saute until very soft and lightly browned. Add 4 cups chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until potatoes are soft. Transfer soup to a blender or food processor and puree. Return to pot. If soup is too thick, add more chicken broth to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper. Return to heat briefly and stir in the cheddar cheese, until melted.

Leftover Turkey?

Another Thanksgiving come and gone, but the turkey leftovers are still around. If you're like me, you get pretty tired of plain old turkey, especially after the gravy is gone! So here is a turkey recipe that you can make now, quickly, with no cooking, and freeze for later (like the week before Christmas when you are running around like mad, trying to get everything done).



Easy Turkey Enchiladas



1 1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 cup jarred salsa of your choice

8 oz can tomato sauce

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 cup shredded cheddar or jack cheese, divided

6 flour tortillas (6-inch)

Cooking spray



Combine salsa and tomato sauce, cumin, and chili powder in a small bowl. In a large bowl, combine turkey, cream cheese, half of salsa mixture, and half of shredded cheese. Scoop about 1/3 cup of turkey mixture onto each tortilla. Roll up and place seam-side down into a 9x9 square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Spray the tops of the enchiladas lightly with cooking spray, then cover with the rest of the salsa mixture and top with the rest of the cheese.



If baking right away, bake covered at 375 for 10 minutes, then uncoverd for 10 more minutes. If you are freezing for later, cover tightly and freeze. Thaw in refrigerator overnight, then bake at 375, 15 minutes covered and 15 minutes uncovered, or until heated through.

The kids absolutely loved the squash recipe. More fall recipes coming soon...

Check out my website www.simplygourmetvt.com

Preparing for an Avalanche of Winter Squash

I've finally gotten around to starting my blog, and there are so many things I could be writing about, in fact, had meant to write about all summer, what with all the beautiful produce we've been getting from the CSA at Maple Wind Farm this summer. But alas, summer has gotten away from me and although we are still getting beautiful greens, potatoes, beets, etc., there is now the issue of what to do with the overabundance of winter squash.

Here's the issue: my kids don't love it. Well, to be more blunt, they just won't touch the stuff. And these are kids that love veggies. They even eat kale! So how will I get them to eat all of the butternut, delicata, acorn, kabocha, pie pumpkins, and whatever other squash we get over the next few weeks? The easy answer is that I should just puree it all, freeze it, and use it for pumkin bread, which they do like. But, always up for a challenge, I am determined to find some ways to prepare winter squash that my kids will love.

My first attempt will be using kabocha squash as a substitues for sweet potatoes in their favorite casserole:

Pecan Crumble Sweet Potato Casserole (recipe originally from The Pampered Chef)

5 pounds sweet potatoes (4-5 large potatoes) (or in this case, a large kabocha squash)
1/2 cup (125 mL) butter, divided
1 cup (250 mL) coarsely crushed graham crackers
1 cup (250 mL) pecan halves, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (125 mL) packed brown sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground black pepper


Preheat oven to 350°F . Prick sweet potatoes with fork. Microwave on HIGH 18-20 minutes or until very soft. (Alternatively, bake the sweet potatoes for 1 hour 15 minutes at 375. OR if using squash, bake until very tender). Let stand until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, melt 5 tbsp (75 mL) of the butter. Combine melted butter, graham crackers, pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon in small bowl; set aside.
Peel sweet potatoes and place in large bowl. Mash sweet potatoes with remaining 3 tbsp (45 mL) of the butter, salt and black pepper. Spoon sweet potato mixture into baking dish; top evenly with pecan mixture. Bake 20-25 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

12 servings

I'll keep you posted on whether the kids will eat this one!