Surprise! Surprise!

Just a quick follow-up to my last post as I've since noticed two more surprises growing in my back yard!

Here's the first:

Not sure if you can quite make out what that little nubbin' is, but in a few months, it's going to be a pear! We planted the pear tree when my oldest turned 1 and five years later it bore its first fruit. Last year it produced nothing and we were kinda bummed about that but we had heard that pear trees only bear fruit every two years. When we saw this little fruit we were so excited to see it! There were so many flowers in bloom on this tree, it's hard to believe only one pear is growing but we'll take it!

My second son was born in the winter so when the soil was ready in the spring, we planted a cherry tree. That was 5 years ago and this is the first year I looked up and saw these:

I counted 20 cherries! I've since gone back and noticed a few pits on the ground, I think the birds may have gotten to them. I'll have to figure out a way to protect them if I want to harvest them for my family!

What's Growing 2011

I had been wanting to write this post for a while now but due to circumstances outside of my control - my son dropped the laptop, the hard drive crashed, sent it in for restore... - so 3 weeks later, here it is! 

Chives

I wanted to share what's growing in my garden this year. The returning champions are: asparagus, chives, parsley, thyme, cilantro, sage, kale, onions, lettuce, leeks, Jerusalem artichokes and dill. Oh. The. D-i-l-l! Last summer when it went to seed, I cut off the tops and tossed them back in the garden. When spring came around and I was watching the first little greens pop out of the frozen ground, I noticed what seemed to be dill covering half my garden. Sure enough, it's dill. It's dill carpeting! Unless someone can share their dill inspired dish, I will be pulling dill for the rest of the season.

Borage

Planted once again this year: tomatoes, marigolds, basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, zucchini, peas, red lettuce, radishes and beets. These are so simple to maintain, aside from spreading some eggshells  and coffee grinds around the bottom of the tomatoes and the copper wiring around the lettuce to keep the slugs out. Oh! and giving the peas a little climbing structure or else they'll grab on to whatever they can, like the onions! The only finicky ones are the basil plants, they need a lot of water and their flowers need to be snapped off to keep the leaves growing. I planted the marigolds to keep the bugs away from the tomatoes. This really works. I bought this book to learn more about companion planting: Carrots Love Tomatoes.  I used it to select different plants for the garden this year including: savory, potatoes, echinacea, pumpkins, lovage, borage and sunflowers. 

Around the side of the house we have mint, raspberries and rhubarb, all growing together and left to battle it out for space. The raspberries actually popped out from under the wall barrier and are now growing in the grass! We've pretty much eaten all the rhubarb already, I've made quite a few compotes. After I harvested the rhubarb, I couldn't help but admire the colour. Wouldn't you love to have a dress that starts in light green and finished in a deep shimmery reddish-pink?

I also have lavender growing in the front garden and I've planted chamomile and calendula  to accompany the lavender in my bath salts and bath fizzy production this year. The borage should be a fun addition as well. 

So. That's what's growing in my garden in 2011. I was trying to keep it simple this year since I have my CSA baskets that will continue to be delivered. Believe it or not, it's less than what was planted in 2010, more focus on flowering plants to bring beneficial bugs to the garden. There is a huge bumble bee that visits daily and we've already seen a beautiful yellow and black butterfly. I'll try to snap a picture if I can but there's never any guarantees with the wildlife. I'd love to know what's growing in your garden!

Mangel Mystery

Well, well, well... What do we have here?

Turnips? Nope. Beets? Nope. What ever could they be? I receive these little mysteries in my latest CSA delivery. I quickly checked the farm's website but none of the pictures resembled what I received. So off I go to Twitter to send the picture around and hope that one of the many foodies can help me out. No one guessed it right but many were very curious. Then I turned to Facebook for help. I posted the picture but still, no correct guesses. Well, the only way I could get an answer was to email the farm and of course, I got my answer. They are mangels! Mangels? Yup. Also known as sweet beets.

I'm told they're to be cooked like beets. I'm always nervous to try beet-related recipes since my beet and chocolate ice cream epic failure this past winter. I peeled them, chopped them up into little cubes, tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper and herbes de Provence. I wrapped them in foil and placed them on the BBQ on low heat. The verdict? Good stuff! I left them on the grill too long and the undersides burnt so I had to cut off the bits before serving but I don't think it impacted the taste at all. So what did the taste like? While it's true that they're kind of like beets, they're more watery, more sweet and less pasty in texture.


Curious to know if anyone else has ever tried mangels and if you have any interesting recipes!

About Ewoks and Springtime in Ottawa

Finally! The sun is out, the ground is thawing and I really think Spring is here. A sure sign? Fiddleheads arrived in our CSA box last week. It was so nice to see the fiddleheads because they were truly something new for all of us. Although I had eaten them before I had never cooked them. Best way is to boil them until bright green then strain and drop in a bowl of ice cold water. I sauteed them with garlic butter for a few minutes and they were ready to eat. 

Question is: How would I get my boys to eat them? If you've never had fiddleheads, they taste like asparagus but they have a chewy texture. Two strikes against the fiddlehead for "who wants to try some?" Fiddleheads are the furled frong of a young fern and are only available for a few short weeks at the beginning of May. They look like violin curls. You know what other curls they look like? That's right... Princess Leia's curls!! Oh! when I made that remark the boys were so curious. I told them we were eating Princess Leia curls for dinner and they bought it. Well the older two did anyway, my little Flip just throws all green veg on the floor. My Mac then asked where they came from and on the spot somehow I came up with: "they grow in the Ewok forest". Yup. They bought it :) My oldest had TWO servings!!

May the fourth be with you ;)

Parsnips, parsnips, parsnips

I must say that up until recently I was never a big fan of parsnips. Probably because I never ate them as a kid, my mom thought they were disgusting. You know how it goes, whoever cooks gets to pick what's on the plate. I don't think I even tasted a parsnip until I was 30! 

These days, my fridge is full of parsnips. Let me qualify full: 3. My bi-weekly CSA vegetable home delivery by Bryson Farms has meant a whole new adventure in tastes, mostly because I don't decide what's in my basket but I plan my meals around what I receive. This has made meal planning quite a bit easier. What has happened over the past few weeks has been the consistent serving of (at least one) meatless meal per week. I have discovered the best weeknight recipe in the world: the frittata. Why serve it for brunch when you can have it whipped up and ready to eat in less than 30 minutes?? 

Swiss Chard, Parsnip and Cheese Frittata

4 Swiss chard leaves, stems removed and chopped (to chop them, I roll the leaves length-wise and slice them across - like a jelly roll - plus one chop across the middle.)
3 small parnips
1 small onion
7 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 piece of Gruyère cheese (about the width of 2 fingers - sorry, I don't usually measure)
1 clove of garlic
Olive oil, salt & pepper


Preheat the oven to 375F.


Peel the parsnips then use the potato peeler and peel the parsnips into long strips. It's easier to rotate the parsnip as you peel. You probably won't be able to use the whole parsnip, it'll be hard to peel it when you get to the core. Slice the onion in half then slice it into long strips. 


In an oven-proof frying pan, heat one tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high heat. Add the onions and parsnip strips. Add a bit of salt. Stir them frequently so that they don't stick to the pan. When the onions have softened and the parsnips have started to wilt and turn a golden colour, add the Swiss chard. Cook until the Swiss chard is wilted (you might need to turn down the heat).


In a medium sized bowl, whisk 7 eggs. Whisk in the milk slowly. Shred the cheese or chop it into small cubes (I prefer the cubes cause it's one less dish to wash). Finely chop the garlic. Add the cheese, garlic and a bit of pepper to the egg mixture. 

When the vegetables are soft, add the vegetable mix to the egg mixture. Return the pan to the medium-high heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and pour the veggies and egg mixture into the pan. Cook for about 4 minutes until the eggs are set around the sides then pop it in the oven for 10-12 minutes until set. 

Serve with a mixed salad.

Enjoy!!

A Taste for Everyone

Tonight's meal was going to be nice an light. Some roasted fish with dried herbs and garlic and some zucchini "fettucine" with tomato sauce from the freezer. Outside... there was a snow storm and to be honest, I really didn't feel like a light dinner, I felt like having greasy pub food. And I heard that little voice in my head saying "the boys won't eat that roasted fish. They will come home, ask what's for dinner and say yuck". Then I had a flash of inspiration! 

I first met Jennie (@really_life) on Twitter last fall when I was tweeting for advice about what to do with all my apples. She is the one who introduced me to the crockpot apple butter recipe and showed me how to can my butters (see September post: Apple Overload!). Last night I was reading her most recent post about challenges for personal improvement. The one thing that really jumped out at me was this: 


Diet
-Try one new recipe that contains ingredients that in theory EVERY member of your household will eat. Aim for it being a healthy recipe.


So mom? What's for dinner? (Beer-battered) Fish sticks and zucchini "fries"!!! Ok, well, I admit, fried food is not healthy but lets start with baby steps. I don't have a deep-fryer (yet!) so I used a large frying pan. The way you know if your oil is ready is to put in a 1 inch piece of bread. If it turns golden within 20 seconds, it's hot enough. For the zucchini "fries" I only used the recipe as a guide, I liked the idea of sprinkling them with with the flour mixture in advance. I had plenty of batter for 2 large fillets cut into 8 servings plus one good size zucchini. I fried everything in small batches (starting with the zucchini) and once the pieces were drained on the paper towels I transferred them to a baking stone in a warm oven (170 F). Everything remained crispy, I was very impressed!

I didn't have any tartar sauce so I made my default "homemade cheater aioli". Here's the recipe:

 1/3  to 1/2 cup store-bought mayonnaise (I prefer the one that is made with free-range Canadian eggs)
Juice of half a lemon (fair-trade or organic if you can)
3 cloves of finely chopped garlic (if you can make a paste with the side of your knife, even better)
1 Tbsp olive oil

 Mix all ingredients to combine and let it sit for about 20-30 minutes so that the ingredients all blend together. If you're making this recipe for a veggie platter dip or a sweet potato fry dip, I suggest you double it ;)


Of course, not everyone appreciates garlicky mayonnaise so out comes... the ketchup! (Side note: just realized that although my ketchup is organic, it is not made from Ontario tomatoes... Going to have to take a good look at my jars...)


So, the verdict: Not only did all the boys eat everything on their plate, JJ & Mac had extra servings of fish, fought over the last piece and tried to sneak leftovers off daddy's plate!! I couldn't believe it. There were absolutely no complaints, the boys were super happy and chatty and told us about their school day.  I need to make this (not so slimming) dish more often!! 

Thanks for the challenge Jennie! We really enjoyed our family dinner :)

Read Jennie's "challenge yourself" post here: http://reallyjennie.blogspot.com/2011/03/get-your-shit-together-challenge.html

Winter Is Almost Over Soup

Spring is just around the corner and the boys are outside playing with the last piles of snow in the backyard (or at least they were when I started typing this sentence but they have since come in and want to paint...)

I really want to have a nice bright soup and finish up all the winter vegetables I have hanging around because it won't be long before we see some green!! 

Recipe for Coconut Curried Turnip Soup

1 ugly-looking inexpensive local wax turnip
1 local sweet potato (if you don't have local sweet potatoes, you could use a local white potato and a local carrot)
2 local cooking onions
1.5L homemade chicken stock (or enough to cover the vegetables + a bit)
1 can (400 ml) coconut milk - not local but also not locally available - buy organic or fair trade if you can 
Curry powder (likely not of local origin)
Salt
1 Tbsp Olive or Vegetable oil


Cut vegetables into small chunks. Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high. Add the onions and sprinkle with a bit of salt. Once you can smell the onions, add the turnips and sweet potato chunks. Turn heat to medium, fry them up for a bit so that they start to sweat. Don't let them stick to the bottom or burn so stir them a few times. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Cook until the sweet potato and turnip are soft (you'll probably have to turn the heat back down to medium or medium-low). Turn off the burner, remove from heat and use a hand blender to make a puree. Stir in the can of coconut milk and add curry powder to your liking. I use about 1.5 tsp. If it needs a bit of salt (which can be the case if you use homemade stock) then go ahead and add some but I like the sweet curry taste of the soup.


You could top with a dollop of plain yogurt if you like the hot/cool combination.


Tip: turnip takes longer to cook than sweet potato so cut the pieces smaller.