siglinde99: (Default)
siglinde99 ([personal profile] siglinde99) wrote2016-07-29 06:17 am
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Cooking all the things!

I love summer, but OMG the garden and my CSA basket are exploding. And I can't resist a bargain... Yesterday's adventures included the purchase of okra because it was on sale. Which meant I needed to buy chicken and look up a recipe for frango com quiabo (chicken with okra, a traditional recipe from Minas Gerais, Brazil). I also have beets cooking up for a cold borscht. I finally sauteed my swiss chard to eat with rice and beans (I hate chard but can't let it go to waste; I have been using all sorts of other greens while waiting for my collards to grow big enough to use, so I figured the chard might work too). Tomorrow I need to get down to the serious business of making pesto, as my basil is exploding. I have discovered that carrot tops make a decent pesto, so I may experiment with adding them too, or I could just sautee them. Usually I just pitch out the green tops, but this year I am trying to learn to use everything.

My freezer will be nicely filled, but I will also have a lot of other foods I need to use up. Summer is the time when my craving for coleslaw kicks in every year, so I bought a cabbage which I haven't had time to use. Last night's CSA basket included a second cabbage, so I will be making cabbage roll casserole for the freezer, just to make room for non-freezable vegetables in my fridge.

How about you? Do you live where summer bounty changes what you eat? Do you prefer old favourites or do you like to experiment^

[identity profile] spikesgirl58.livejournal.com 2016-07-29 01:09 pm (UTC)(link)
It sounds like you are in veggie heaven! Happy sigh.

We live in the Central Valley of California so we are blessed with fresh produce year round and have a weekly farmers market not far from our home.

However, there are still certain seasons. Right now it's all about tomatoes and corn - they are the stars of the market. I'm really anticipating Fuyu persimmons and figs, though. They are never around long enough for me.

I adore experimenting with new recipes, as well as preparing old favorites.

[identity profile] opakele.livejournal.com 2016-07-30 01:56 am (UTC)(link)
A few weeks ago I bought a flat of blackberries (Kotata), raspberries and blue berries. They've been frozen.

Gypsy texted there were beautiful apple (green!) and plum (yellow!) trees at her new house, did I want any? I've wanted to do some applesauce and apple butter and said yes to those. They will keep until I can get up there. I think she is going to pit and freeze the plums for me, too.

Then today at work a co-worker shared some tiny little crabapples with me. I've been trying to grow a crabapple in Raymond all these years and the elk keep knocking it down. I've been wanted to do a crabapple jelly... I'm hoping there is more where these came from...

So, I'll be busy. Probably in September. It will be an all day extravaganza and I will collapse into bed exhausted and fully jellied.