I've always wanted to have a garden. The idea of walking outside and picking some fresh vegetables to add to dinner seems so quaint and charming and well... inexpensive. I have tried several times over the last years. But TRIED is the key word because each time... I have failed. Or very nearly failed. When we moved to Texas, I set out (without a lot of confidence) to build my little garden box and plant away. Texas has nearly a year-round planting season. I had a few crops come in last fall, but nothing much. But then this spring... SUCCESS AT LAST.
Well... as successful as a little 4X4 box can be. But I must say it is thrilling to check each morning and see little buds popped up over night and, now, to see new fruit has emerged or ripened. It is a miracle to observe.
For dinner last night we had taco salad's. From our garden.... onions, lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers. Delish.
Now I just need help knowing what to do with my excess cucumbers and tomatoes. It isn't enough to can. Any ideas? So far.. most of the cucumbers that we didn't use in salads went into these yummy shakes. My sister told me to try these a few weeks ago and we have now had one almost everyday.
The basic recipe is 60% fruit, 40% veggies. Then cover it with juice (or milk) and blend it up.
Fruits we have tried: apples, oranges, bananas, kiwis, strawberries, pineapple and peaches.
Veggies we have tried: Spinach, cucumbers, carrots (didn't like this so much), zucchini and squash.
Liquids we have tried: milk, orange juice, apple juice.
Andrew and Sam guzzle these drinks.... and we have fun naming them depending on the color they turn out to be. So far we have lucky drink (green ones) and sunshine drink (orange ones).
And here is my other latest discovery. Homemade mayonnaise. I didn't even know you could do that. Kind of a cool chemical reaction when you blend the eggs and oil in the right way. Awesome. Since we like homemade ranch dressing, and my family tends to go through ranch dressing incredibly quickly... this is a great find for when I run out of mayonnaise. I haven't decided yet if it is cheaper than buying mayo, but I am still excited about it.
So what's next? Does anyone have some fun cooking suggestions that I should try? Especially involving veggies. Please share.
5 comments:
Your sister must be pretty awesome and smart and amazing to have given you such a great recipe that is changing the life of you and your family. You should tell her how much you love her. Just an idea...
Yay for gardens, I get such a rush feeding my family on food we've produced. One thing you can do with excess tomatoes is dry them (in a dehydrator or the oven) and you get sundried tomatoes, or you can grind them up and reconstitute them as tomato paste or sauce.
Your extra tomatoes and cucumbers could be the starting point for a chilled summer soup (guessing that might be welcome in the heat of Texas). I'll email you our favorite recipe if you'd like. You can also freeze tomatoes for use in soups and sauces later in the year. Just peel (cut an X in the skin, drop in boiling water for a few seconds, then in ice water and they peel right off), cut in half and put in freezer bags. This is great becuase you can add a few a day as they ripen. As for the smoothies, try adding some peanut butter and yogurt and you've got a great breakfast. If the kiddos are weirded out by them being green, add some cherries--they'll turn the greenest smoothie red!
Thanks for your comment. That's funny you say Cam and Riley look alike, cause everybody always tells us that they don't look alike. Yes, Riley is a chunk-isn't he cute? And yes, he looks pretty much exactly the same as me when I was that old. See you in 9 days!!!!
Don't worry, I'm with you. I happen to think they do look alike in some ways. And I'm their mom...so there to everybody else.
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