First Yard Long Beans

The yard long bean plant has been doing well (see recent growth). This week, we had some grow enough that I just had to harvest them and have a taste.

It was just two beans so I couldn’t do much with them. I just chopped them and sauteed in a little bit of olive oil for a few minutes.

Then added some pre-made potato leek soup and simmered until hot.

They had a nice flavor – the rumors are true that they have a similar taste to asparagus. Also they were nice and crunchy even after cooking. They didn’t get soft like bush beans usually do.

I’m looking forward to getting a bit more creative with them once we have a significant harvest. There are at least 4 more beans growing so I think we’ll be in good shape pretty soon.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

A simple salad with cubed watermelon (fresh from the garden), feta cheese, sliced olives, and sesame seeds. Refreshing, and nice flavors with the sweet watermelon and salty cheese.

The pumpkin plants are huge

The pumpkin plants have grown like crazy in the past month. Take a look at it back at the end of July (last photo).

Now look at them – they are taking up almost the entire front yard!

Pumpkin plant

Are there any fruit yet, you ask? We didn’t think so, but upon closer look we found one lone fruit just beginning to grow.

First pumpkin starting to grow

The plan was to have the pumpkins ready to harvest in mid-October in time for Halloween. I’m a bit nervous they might be ready before then, but we will keep an eye on things in the next month to see how things go. Gourds do tend to grow slower, so it might be perfect timing.

Nachos inspired by peppers and tomatoes from the garden

We headed over to the community garden yesterday and picked a bunch of peppers, which continue to do very well. We got Mexi bells, red bells, jalapenos, and fresnos.

Our plan was to make nachos using some of these, so we also picked some cherry tomatoes from our own garden.

For the nachos, we placed round tortilla chips on a baking pan covered with non-stick foil. We topped with shredded cheese (cheddar, monterrey jack, and mozzarella blend from TJs), 1 orange bell, 1 red bell, 1 fresno and 1 jalapeno (seeds removed). Also added some sliced olives, and my partner’s half included bacon bits.

Nachos ready to go in the oven

We baked for 5-10 minutes at 325F until the cheese was completed melted and the chips got slightly brown on the edges.

Then topped with the fresh stuff – quartered cherry tomatoes, sliced avocado, and some of our homemade salsa.

Baby hornworm?

Look what I found in the Thai basil bunch I picked a few days ago.

Little jerks like this guy have been munching on the leaves of our tomato plants and our edamame plants. They haven’t made much of a dent yet, but it makes me nervous. Time to get out the Bt spray.

(We had hornworms back in June but managed to get them under control – well, they are back!).

Garbanzo bean, tofu, and avocado salad

I put together this bean salad for dinner using something like the following:

1/3 can garbanzo beans
1/2 avocado
1/2 a piece of Trader Joe’s baked tofu
A handful of feta cheese
A handful of chopped cucumber (from the garden)
Half a crown of broccoli
1 small red mexi bell (from the garden)
1/2 a vine ripe tomato
1/2 stalk celery
4 springs of cilantro
3 leaves red leaf lettuce

I chopped & tossed all the ingredients except the lettuce in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, fresh ground sea salt & fresh ground pepper. Scooped over a small bed of lettuce. I enjoyed having a really hearty salad that wasn’t lettuce-based for once!

Mediterranean Couscous Casserole with Artichokes, Basil, Feta, and Tomatoes

This dish was adapted from a recipe in The Best 125 Meatless Mediterranean Dishes, Artichoke and Rice Casserole with Fresh Basil, Feta, and Tomatoes (p.284). I used whole wheat couscous instead of brown rice and added some Greek oregano and cherry tomatoes from the garden.

Yields 4 main-dish servings.

1 14oz. can artichoke hearts in brine
1 28oz. can whole peeled tomatoes in tomato juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 dried red chili, chopped finely
1/4 tsp. freshly ground sea salt
1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup feta cheese, cut into small cubes or crumbled
3 tablespoons Romano cheese, grated
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped (from the garden)
4 cherry tomatoes, quartered (from the garden)
1 tsp. fresh Greek oregano (from the garden)

I heated the vegetable broth to boiling then slowly stirred in the couscous, covered, and removed from heat.

I drained and chopped the artichokes, and drained and chopped the canned tomatoes, saving the tomato juice for another time (I think I’ll make gazpacho this week…)

In a skillet over medium, I combined the chopped canned tomatoes, garlic, dried oregano, chili, and salt. Simmered for 5-8 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked down.

Tomatoes, garlic, dried oregano, chili, and salt

At this point, the couscous was also cooked and just needed to be fluffed with a fork. (Also took 5-8 minutes).

I lightly coated a 2-quart casserole dish with the olive oil. In a bowl, I tossed the couscous, artichokes, feta cheese, and basil until well combined.

Couscous, artichokes, feta, and basil

Transferred to the oiled dish and patted down to make an even layer.

Couscous mixture in casserole dish

I poured the tomato sauce over the top. The recipe said to shake the dish to settle the sauce a bit; mine wasn’t too saucy so this didn’t seem to actually do much. I ended up pouring on a little tomato juice after the first cook time, worried that the couscous might get dry.

Casserole ready to go in oven

I sprinkled 2 tbs. of Romano on top, covered, and baked for 20 minutes. The recipe didn’t specify heat so I put at 375F.

I removed the lid and sprinkled on the top the rest of the Romano, the cherry tomatoes, and the fresh oregano. Then baked for another 10-15 minutes at 350F.

Casserole ready to eat

I really liked this dish. The couscous was moist, and the artichoke, feta cheese, tomato and basil went really nicely together. Comforting, filling dish with a nice combination of fresh flavors.

Growth of Yard Long Bean and Edamame Plants

Just wanted to show a couple of photos that show how quickly these plants have grown in just a few weeks (we planted seed at the end of July). They both are getting flowers and it shouldn’t be too long now before they produce some fruit…

Yard long bean plants

Edamame plants

Soy & Black Bean Chili

Despite the warm (record-breaking) weather, we were in the mood for chili last weekend. So I busted out the slow cooker which has been gathering dust for months.

Inspiration came from the spicy black bean chili recipe in Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker (a great cookbook, by the way).

But my recipe was more like:

1 Tbs. olive oil
2/3 red onion, chopped
2 small mexi red bell peppers (from the garden), seeded & chopped
1 corn on the cob, corn cut off
3 jalapenos (from the garden), seeded & chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 Tbs. chili powder
2 lbs. roma & cherry tomatoes (from the garden), chopped
2 cups vegetable broth
1 piece of supreme dark chocolate (90% cocoa)
2 Tbs. barbeque sauce
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
A handful of crunchy tortilla strips

First, I sauteed the onion, garlic, and bell peppers in olive oil for 5 minutes, covered.

I added the chili powder, stirred to coat the vegetables with it, and cooked for just another 30 seconds. I then put it in the slow cooker, then used the same pan to heat most of the tomatoes for about 10 minutes, covered, until they cooked down.

Everything then went in the slow cooker, including  handful of uncooked chopped tomatoes, the corn, the jalapenos, the BBQ sauce, the vegetable broth, salt & pepper, and the piece of dark chocolate.

I didn’t have a full 6-8 hours, so I put it on high for about 4 hours. And it turned out lovely.

Topped it with the tortilla strips.

 

Thai Basil Flowers + Greens

Our Thai basil plant continues to be huge (see Herbs post). I trimmed all of the flowers off last weekend and ended up with a bunch, so rather than composting right away I made a nice little vase of them to brighten up our dining room.

Thai basil flowers in vase

And then used the greens in some Thai spring rolls, also called summer rolls. I love these things. (Posted about them months ago).

The fixins included the Thai basil and peppermint from our garden as well as regular basil and cucumber from the community garden.

Also cilantro, ginger, garlic, spring onion, shredded cabbage, and shredded carrots.

All the fixins

Just rolled them up in soaked rice paper and they are ready to eat with a side of peanut sauce (Annie Chun’s is my favorite).