Garden Update 4/29/12

Today we raised the hoops over the indeterminate tomatoes (they usually get MUCH taller than the determinate ones). Then I staked the indeterminate tomatoes, I had already staked the determinate ones on Friday because they only need a short stake. Everyone seems to be doing well:

Overview

Indeterminate tomatoes

Martian Giant Slicer Tomato

Super Sweet 100 cherry tomato

(the one I overwintered in the house)

Roma Tomato

 Borage

 Mucho Nacho Jalapeno

 Zucchini!! costata romanesco variety



 LOTS of artichokes!

 One of my lady bugs doing her thing!

(I released several on Friday hoping they

would help me with my aphid problem)

Artichoke Close Up

 Red Kidney Bean

Something is trying to eat them before they can even get started!

 Greek Oregano

 

Sushi

We have been experimenting with making sushi at home! The maguro we have been getting here is decent but not as fabulous as they make it sound:

Catalina Offshore Products


I've been making sushi rolls (spicy tuna rolls, California rolls, etc.) with this nifty device (which I purchased on Amazon). I tried a bamboo mat with very poor results.

Sushezi Sushi Press

Spring Pizza

I found a pizza recipe we LOVE! It's fairly low in weight watchers points, certainly lower than ordering a pizza for delivery. It would appear half of the pizza is approximately 20 points. I modified two recipes from www.eatingwell.com here they are. Yes, the picture is of the one I made!:

Spring Pizza

5 servings | Active Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch asparagus (about 1 pound)
• 1/2 cup snipped fresh chives (from 1 bunch), divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound whole-wheat pizza dough (recipe to follow)
• 1 cup shredded Sargento brand reduced fat 4 cheese Italian

Preparation

1. Position rack in lower third of oven, place a pizza stone or large pizza pan on the rack and preheat oven to 450°F for at least 15 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine 2 tablespoons oil and garlic in a small bowl; set aside. Trim asparagus spears to about 6 inches long; slice any thicker stalks in half lengthwise. Toss in a bowl with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil, 1/4 cup chives, salt and pepper.
3. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to about a 14-inch circle.
4. Carefully remove the pizza stone or pan from the oven and set on a heatproof surface, such as your stovetop. Place the dough on the stone or pan and brush with the reserved garlic-oil mixture. Arrange the asparagus in a circular pattern on the dough with the tips facing out. Top with cheese and the remaining chives.
5. Carefully return the stone or pan to the oven and bake the pizza on the lower rack until crispy and golden and the cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough

Makes 1-12 ounce dough | Active Time: 5 minutes | Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

To make 12 ounces dough:

• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3/4 cup bread flour
• 1 package quick-rising yeast, (2 1/4 teaspoons), such as Fleischmann's RapidRise
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2-2/3 cup hot water, (120-130°F)
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Combine hot water and oil in a measuring cup. With the motor running, gradually pour in enough of the hot liquid until the mixture forms a sticky ball. The dough should be quite soft. If it seems dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water; if too sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour. Process until the dough forms a ball, then process for 1 minute to knead.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Coat a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place it, sprayed-side down, over the dough. Let the dough rest for 10 to 20 minutes before rolling.

Garden update 4-16-12

We had really nasty weather last week. Sadly the zucchini I planted might not make it, they were not under a hoop house. HOWEVER the tomatoes, jalapenos, borage, and lemon balm were! It's getting a little warm in there even though I opened the ends (around 91 - 105 degrees F) but they seem to like it for the most part. All of the plants in there have doubled in size! I crawled around inside today and took some pictures. The white powder is diatomaceous earth, it's working fairly well to deter slugs and earwigs so far.

Baby Jalapeno

Whole Jalapeno Plant

(I think I have 5 this year)

Lemon Balm

Roma Tomato Plant

Borage

(has quadrupled in size!)

Outside of the hoop house some things are doing well:

Artichokes

Greek Oregano

Chives

Harvest

This weekend we enjoyed romaine lettuce and cauliflower fresh from the garden. I've never grown either one before and I grew them both from seed! The romaine is a do over! So sweet and the texture was great. The cauliflower wasn't really much better than store bought :-(

Artichokes!

Last year I planted 4 tiny little artichoke plants. I didn't get a single artichoke though... The plants got HUGE between then and now. Last week I noticed baby artichokes popping up! Yay!

Pleasanton Farmers Market

If you are ever near Pleasanton, CA between 9am and 1pm on a Saturday I highly recommend their farmers market! It's year round, and a little crowded (so get there early!). They have all sorts of goodies! Goats milk soap, fresh organic veggies, beautiful cut flowers, and tons of other great stuff!
Pleasanton Farmer's Market

Hoop house spring 2012

All of the veggies in the hoop house are perky and happy. I also installed a hygrometer/thermometer unit inside the hoop house today so I could make sure no one gets to warm. As always Bobby had to help.

Collard Greens

I planted several cold weather veggies under a fabric cover over the hoop house. They didn't do much so I switched to plastic. The collard greens, broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower took off! Then the greens started bolting, and the others never produced anything but leaves. Now I read they might not because they got to warm :-( at least I got some tasty Georgia Collards and I learned a few things.

Spring/Summer Garden

Last weekend I mixed steer manure into my large raised bed and put red plastic mulch over it. I keep reading the mulch will increase tomato and pepper production so I thought I would give it a try:

This weekend I planted my seedlings. Tomato (Roma, season starter, yellow pear, Martian, and super sweet 100), jalapeños, canteloupe, zucchini, basil (Thai & cinnamon), lemon balm, borage, and echinacea. Modified the drip irrigation to their needs then put insulating fabric on hoops to keep them cozy.

Chicken vegetable soup

Sadly my divine cuisine has been kind of... stunted since we joined weight watchers on January 23rd 2012. We are both eating healthier and feeling SO much better, but no fancy cream sauces or anything lately for us. I've been examining some of our favorite recipes and seeing if I could make them Weight Watchers friendly.

This is one of our favorite soup recipes and the conversion wasn't to hard. It started out as "El Torito Chicken Tortilla Soup". I would call it "El Torito Chicken Vegetable Soup" now :-) It's a bit spicy the way I did it. If you want it less spicy leave out the jalapeno. The Chipotle Chili in Adobo is important to give it a smoky flavor though so I would try to leave that in if you can. I used a tablespoon of it not a teaspoon! SPICY!!

El Torito Chicken Vegetable Soup

Makes 4 servings

Serving size: approximately 2 cups

WW Points Per Serving: 5

Ingredients:

9 1/2 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast

6 cups O Organics brand Chicken Broth (I used it because it's 0 points, you can use what you would like)

1/2 Medium Red Onion, diced

1 Large Carrot, diced

1/2 Medium Red Potato, diced

1/4 cup Canned Tomato paste (I used Safeway's O Organics brand)

1 Bay Leaf

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1/2 tsp Canned Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce, Pureed (I just chopped it with a knife until it turned to mush)

 1 Tbsp Fresh Jalapeno Pepper, minced

1/2 tsp Dried Mexican Oregano

1/4 tsp Ground Cumin

1/2 Medium Zucchini, diced

1/2 Medium Yellow Squash, diced  (I used Chayote Squash because I didn't like the look of the yellow)

1/2 Medium Red Bell Pepper, diced

1 Tbsp Lime Juice

1 Tbsp Sweet Sherry

1/2 Tbsp Cilantro, chopped

1/2 Tbsp Mint, chopped

Garnish:

1/2 Medium Avocado, sliced into 4 pieces

4 tsp Cilantro

Method:

1. Poach chicken breast in simmering chicken broth until done through, about 10 minutes.
2. Set aside until cool enough to handle and shred.
3. Combine chicken broth, chicken, red onion, carrots, potato, tomato paste, bay leaf, garlic, chipotle and jalapeno chilies, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper in large saucepan.
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.
5. Correct seasoning, if necessary.
6. Add zucchini, squash, pepper, lime juice and Sherry.
7. Bring again to boil.
8. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes.
9. Add cilantro and mint.
10. Stir, then remove from heat.
11. Ladle soup into each bowl.
12. Garnish each bowl with avocado slice and a teaspoon of cilantro. Serve at once.

Seedlings

I'm having a little trouble with white mold, but the indoor seed sproutings are coming along:

Round one of the sproutings have been "potted up"

Mucho Nacho Jalapeno

Lemon Balm

(I hear it attracts bees so I'm going to try to plant it

between veggies it's also used in herbal teas.)

Cinnamon Basil.

I plant sweet basil every year I wanted something different

Martian Giant Tomato

Round 2 of sprouting

(this is where round 1 started out)

(Zucchini, Cantaloupe, 3 varieties

of tomato, and Thai basil)

New Variety of Zucchini is taking over already.

I heard Costata Romanesco was a tasty variety. Home Depot only has Black Beauty every year so I bought some seeds and I'm giving it a try.

The rescued Sweet 100 Cherry Tomato got so big I trained it to rest on the windowsill. I hope I don't regret that later.

Pre-Spring Garden Check

I went out to check on the garden this morning. Almost everyone seems to be very happy with our warmer weather. The veggies I've had under the hoop house all winter are taking off and so is the asparagus:

A few stalks of asparagus are popping up to say hi:

The Cabbage, Broccoli, and Cauliflower look pleased:

Collard Greens, Spinach, and a couple of other items:

Beets.. yeah.. I need to fertilize them or something I think:

Prostrate Rosemary in Bloom:

The artichokes that never noticed it was winter

(I hear they typically die back in the winter)

Our one and only lemon is starting to ripen!!

(hey it's an accomplishment the tree almost died)

Bobby, helping out.