The blog has taken a bit of a hiatus this summer. I've spent most of my time with grandsons and garden, sometimes simultaneously ( but the novelty of pulling carrots and digging potatoes wears off quickly--even for city boys--when they are 6 and 8, and then Grandma has to figure out something else to amuse them).
I went a little overboard with my first garden, just like I went overboard with everything else rural when we first moved from Manhattan to a small town in the Hudson Valley 36 years ago. We had goats, a rabbit and even a pony named Smoky, which my kids rode about three times before they got bored. We ended up giving the pony and rabbit away. I would have given the garden away too, if I could have. The first year, we planted about a 1/4 acre with the usual tomatoes, cucumber, greens and zucchini, but also pumpkins and corn and, for some reason that escapes me now, horseradish. The next year, the garden was overrun with weeds and horseradish. Given that most people are not that fond of horseradish and nobody likes eating weeds, I ended up buying my veggies at the local farm stand...much less labor intensive. But I should have gotten the Mom of the Year Award for driving a goat (and her milking stand) to my daughter's kindergarten class for show-and-tell.
I went a little overboard with my first garden, just like I went overboard with everything else rural when we first moved from Manhattan to a small town in the Hudson Valley 36 years ago. We had goats, a rabbit and even a pony named Smoky, which my kids rode about three times before they got bored. We ended up giving the pony and rabbit away. I would have given the garden away too, if I could have. The first year, we planted about a 1/4 acre with the usual tomatoes, cucumber, greens and zucchini, but also pumpkins and corn and, for some reason that escapes me now, horseradish. The next year, the garden was overrun with weeds and horseradish. Given that most people are not that fond of horseradish and nobody likes eating weeds, I ended up buying my veggies at the local farm stand...much less labor intensive. But I should have gotten the Mom of the Year Award for driving a goat (and her milking stand) to my daughter's kindergarten class for show-and-tell.
So now, 30 years and 364 miles away, I seem to have turned into a real gardener....in fact, a cliché of a gardener. I drool over garden catalogues in February, can't wait to put my seed order in, lovingly drag seaweed up from the beach to enrich the soil, compost each spring, and gleefully squish Colorado Potato Beetles with my bare hands and drown Tomato Hornworms in soapy water.
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Have you ever seen a Tomato Hornworm? They're hideous, and when they take a bite out of a tomato it looks like a large rodent has done the damage. They can also decimate a tomato plant, stems, leaves, and fruit in one night. They have an incredible camouflage, blend in perfectly with a tomato plant, and you can only spot them because of their poop on the leaves. So, two years ago I found one on a tomato plant, plucked it off, put it into a jar and showed my husband. He thought it was gorgeous and begged me not to kill it. The next day, the tomatoes were virtually destroyed and I found 12 more of the monstrosities. Since the tomatoes are actually his pride and joy, he conceded to let me get rid of the hornworms but didn't want me to tell him how I had done the deed.
By Daniel Schwen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11470387
The next year he had the brilliant idea to plant a second patch of tomatoes, at some distance from the garden, just for the hornworms. Uh, yeah, with a sign that said "Eat these, not those"? No, didn't happen, but I think the hornworms got the message. We haven't seen them since.
Anyway, the garden is my miracle each year. It's an incredible thrill to put tiny seeds into the ground and have them turn into the basis of a season's worth of meals just a few short months later. This year, we grew potatoes for the first time; digging them was like searching for hidden treasure (but only for about 5 minutes for the aforementioned grandsons).
Anyway, the garden is my miracle each year. It's an incredible thrill to put tiny seeds into the ground and have them turn into the basis of a season's worth of meals just a few short months later. This year, we grew potatoes for the first time; digging them was like searching for hidden treasure (but only for about 5 minutes for the aforementioned grandsons).
Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes, Basil and Paleo Feta
Serves 2
If you are eating Paleo, your pasta options are few: You can buy packaged Paleo pasta (for about 9 bucks a box!); make your own with a pasta maker, using nut flours ( I tried this, but didn't fasten the pasta attachment correctly and the dough ended up on the ceiling); pretend that spaghetti squash is real spaghetti, or...try Miracle Noodles. For me, this is the best option. And, with the addition of Jane's Healthy Kitchen Paleo Feta, I can eat my very favorite pasta dish again.
Ingredients
2 packages Miracle Noodle Fettucini (follow the easy directions on the package, and don't be put off by the fishy smell of the noodles when you first open the package; the odor washes away)
Assorted heirloom tomatoes, about 2 pounds, chopped
Chopped fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
One recipe Paleo Feta:
(Reprinted with permission from Jane's Healthy Kitchen, janeshealthykitchen.com):
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 tsp sea salt
Ground black or white pepper to taste
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar1/2 tsp vitamin C crystals
2 tsp nutritional yeast
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil3/4 cup coconut butter, softened
1. Place all the ingredients except the coconut butter in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth
2. Add coconut butter and blend until smooth
3. Refrigerate to firm up.
Recipe
To assemble dish, mix tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Mix into Miracle Noodles (after you've followed directions on package which is basically to rinse, plunge briefly into boiling water, and then drain), then mix in chunks of Paleo feta.
2 packages Miracle Noodle Fettucini (follow the easy directions on the package, and don't be put off by the fishy smell of the noodles when you first open the package; the odor washes away)
Assorted heirloom tomatoes, about 2 pounds, chopped
Chopped fresh basil
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
One recipe Paleo Feta:
(Reprinted with permission from Jane's Healthy Kitchen, janeshealthykitchen.com):
1/2 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
3/4 tsp sea salt
Ground black or white pepper to taste
3 TBS fresh lemon juice
1 tsp apple cider vinegar1/2 tsp vitamin C crystals
2 tsp nutritional yeast
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil3/4 cup coconut butter, softened
1. Place all the ingredients except the coconut butter in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth
2. Add coconut butter and blend until smooth
3. Refrigerate to firm up.
Recipe
To assemble dish, mix tomatoes, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Mix into Miracle Noodles (after you've followed directions on package which is basically to rinse, plunge briefly into boiling water, and then drain), then mix in chunks of Paleo feta.
Variations on a Theme
Serve these Miracle Noodles with your favorite Paleo pasta sauces like pesto or tomato sauce. One of the easiest ways to serve is to sauté some sliced onions in olive oil, add lots of sliced summer squash (and most gardeners have plenty of that by the end of summer), add some chopped basil, salt, and pepper and sprinkle with a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast (adds kind of a Paleo "Parmesan" taste). Then mix with a bag or two of Miracle Noodles. As an alternative, roast sliced vegetables like carrots, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil , at 425 degrees until soft and slightly browned and then mix with the noodles. Voilà: Dinner!
Collard Green Wraps
So, this isn't really even a recipe. I don't know what I was thinking when I planted so many collards. I've already sent them home with our summer visitors, donated armfuls to our local soup kitchen, and still have lots in the garden. This week, I'm going to blanch and freeze most of them, but fresh leaves make really good wraps.
For the wrap in the photo above, remove the rib from the center of a collard green leaf. Some people like to blanch the leaves in boiling water and then cool them. It makes for a more supple wrap, but when I want instant sandwich gratification, I don't bother with this step. Anyway, mash some avocado and spread on both halves of the leaf. Top with sliced barbecued chicken or turkey, then top with sauerkraut and roll up the leaf halves.
No-nitrate bacon, heirloom tomatoes and avocado would also be good wrapped in a collard leaf...mmmm, tomorrow's lunch, I think.
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