Good Food, Full Freezers & A Few Garden Dreams

Are you bringing loads of veggies into your home from your garden?  September is often a month of heavy production.  You can freeze or can your tomatoes for winter use in a variety of ways.  I cut up tomatoes, with the skins left on and freeze in 4 cup amounts for use in soups and stews.  There are so many recipes for salsa and sauce floating around!  Your January self will love the time you put into preserving food from your garden.  

One of my favorite ways to cook and eat green beans is to roast them whole, after removing the stem portion, with a light coating of olive oil and sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Roast at 400 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes.  The little ones will get crispy.  Roasting vegetables is a great way to bring out their flavor and if you have an abundance, freeze the leftovers for later use.  This retains the nutrients rather than blanching which pours a lot of great vitamins and minerals down the drain. 

Here is a beet recipe to try.  It’s called Beet-O-Rama.  Roast 3-4 beets in the oven, sliced ¼ to ½ inch thick with 3-4 slices of bacon all on one tray covered in parchment paper.  Meanwhile sauté garlic, onion and cut up beet green stalks in olive oil in a cast iron skillet.  Add a cubed potato and 2 cups chicken broth and cook until the potato is tender.  Add chopped up beet greens and let them wilt in the mixture. Don’t forget your beets and bacon.  Remove them when the bacon is cooked and the beets are tender.  This takes about 30 minutes at 350 for the beets but less time for the bacon.  In a serving bowl, pour in the contents of the skillet, crumble the bacon, place the sliced beets and finish with a dash or two or three of cider vinegar, freshly ground pepper and crumbled feta cheese.  Yum!

Taking notes on what worked in your garden, what didn’t, what you loved eating and growing and what you didn’t, is a great way to keep track of your garden progress and your dreams and wishes for next year.  This can be done easily on your phone or keep a notebook handy.  I have always thought that adding watercolor and ink sketches to my notes in my old notebook would be lovely but so far this hasn’t happened in part because I paint much better with plants than with painting tools.  Happy harvest, garden friends!