Garden - Week 1, March 15

It's time to start the garden! Can you believe it? It has been such a long, cold winter, but there are some things you can plant as soon as the ground can be worked, and if you have raised garden beds, the ground can probably be worked now.

Tomato, Chard, and Goat Cheese Tart

I was drooling over this recipe on the Times and couldn't wait to try it with my tomatoes. Due to time restraints and some fresh swiss chard I had, I switched it up a little by adding sauteed swiss chard and onion and doing it in a frozen pie crust I had in my freezer. While I'm sure it tastes better with the olive oil pastry, this was pretty delicious. Served it with a salad full of more tomatoes. It was great and light, and I love the combination of savory tarts and salads in the summer.

Ingredients:
1 large bunch swiss chard, chopped, stems and leaves separated
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
olive oil
frozen pie crust

Vegetable Garden Week 4

After being away for about a month, I went back out to the country last weekend and got to see my garden. Apart from being super dry, it looked great! (Especially once I watered it.) Four of the five brussels sprouts I planted sprouted, a perfect line of beets popped up (I'll need to thin them next weekend), and all the peas had sprouted! So exciting.

Brussels Sprouts

Beets

Peas

I planted another row of beets and carrots, a row of swiss chard, zucchinis, and cucumbers. I also set up a little trellis for the cucumbers and planted some lettuce underneath.

Rustic Hearty Fall Pasta

Jamie and I had some sausage from Faicco's for breakfast on Sunday which inspired me to make a pasta with sausage. I love using sausage with Swiss Chard or kale, so I decided to make a fall pasta with Swiss Chard, sausage, butternut squash for sweetness, and some white beans (because I had them). It was a good Sunday night dinner and we had plenty leftover. I used orecchiette because Jamie loves little pastas and it goes well with sausage.

Ingredients:
1 hot and 1 sweet sausage link (can use more if you want)
1 shallot, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch Swiss Chard, rinsed and chopped, separated into leaves and stems
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth/stock
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
orecchiette (or your choice of pasta)

Directions:
Line a baking sheet with foil and preheat the oven to 450. Toss butternut squash with 2 tbsp olive oil, the red peppers flakes, and plenty of salt and pepper and roast until tender (about 30-45 minutes).

Vegetable Garden Week 20

May garden was looking a litle downtrodden last weekend with the deer and all of the hot sun, but it looked a lot better this weekend. The Swiss Chard came back and there were lots of tomatoes and a big eggplant. There are a few little jalapenos growing and some zucchini that will probably be the perfect size next week. There was a beautiful yellow brandywine tomato that still had to ripen a bit, but I picked it to ripen in the city off the vine because I was afraid it would fall off during the week. I may make more Babaganoush with my big eggplant because it was so tasty last time, although I'm tempted to grill it too because it's so fresh and sweet. We had some Swiss Chard sauteed with garlic and chorizo last night - with a drizzle of maple syrup - and some crispy fried zucchini blossoms. Also some great August corn (not from my garden, but really really fresh and tasty).

Vegetable Garden Week 17

After being overloaded with zucchini last weekend, this weekend I only had one little baby! These are the fruits of the garden this week. There are still a few little rainbow Swiss Chard, although most of them have been smothered by the monster zucchini plants. The Green Grape Tomatoes are doing really well and taste amazingly sweet and delicious (I'm planning to make salsa tonight with the Green Grapes and the jalapeno - hopefully it'll carry the same kick as its predecessor.) The eggplant will either be marinated in olive oil and garlic and grilled in slices or made into babaganoush tonight, not sure which yet. This is the second eggplant I picked this weekend - the first was a little bigger and we tossed it with olive oil and salt and grilled it - tangy, fresh, and sweet. So much firmer than those you get at the grocery, but as I've said, watch out for the thorns up top!

I've also been having fun with my hipstamatic app on my iPhone and here is my adorable niece Grace proudly holding the eggplant (looks better on the small iPhone screen). I wish I had a video because she was waving it around in the air saying, "Robot robot, robot robot," for no apparent reason - so cute.

Garden Dinner

I picked my first veggies from my garden last weekend, but I didn't have too many so I had to supplement at a farm stand. I picked up local Long Island scallions and sugar snap peas at the stand. Then at my place, I picked some small Swiss Chard and some basil. I wanted to make a fresh, easy, summery pasta for Sunday night. I sauteed it all together and tossed it with pasta and it was delicious - a real fresh, simple, garden dinner. Feel free to substitute whatever fresh veggies you have!

Ingredients:
a handful of Swiss chard, chopped
4 scallions, halved lengthwise then cut into 1 inch strips
a bunch of sugar snap peas, bigger peas halved
olive oil
red pepper flakes
small bunch of basil, thinly sliced
grated pecorino romano (or parm)

Directions:
Heat about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a big skillet. Add the stems of the chard, the scallions, and the snap peas. Saute until they start to soften, then add Swiss Chard leaves, half of the basil, and pepper flakes to taste. Also add salt and pepper to taste and saute a little bit longer until leaves are wilted.

Meanwhile, cook some sort of bite sized pasta (I had elbows, so I used those). When the pasta is al dente, use a spider strainer (or just strain it and add part of the pasta water) and put into the skillet. Grate some cheese on top and mix it all together and serve!

Vegetable Garden Week 10

I don't know if it was least week's heat wave, but the garden is growing like crazy! The zucchini are enormous, the yellow brandywine tomato has grown up to about 3 feet, the green grape tomato is bushy and thick, and the three Better Boy tomatoes are starting really grow (about a foot high now). The Swiss Chard is growing and I was actually able to harvest some - dinner recipe will follow soon.

The peas are getting a little too tall for their trellis, but there are finally peas to be had!

The basil is also growing like crazy, and one of the peppers has its first flower. I can't wait til next weekend when I can start pulling off peas. The mulch (and all the rain) has helped keep the garden moist, and the new marigolds and nasturtium give it a little more color. The zucchinis are starting to have little blossoms, so that'll add some nice yellow/orange flowers. And fried zucchini blossoms are out of this world (recipe will follow). The eggplant is also finally growing, yay!

Jamie behind the peas

 Beautiful healthy garden

 Me with my basil and Swiss Chard - first harvest from the garden

 My pretty rainbow Swiss Chard

Vegetable Garden Week 9

Look at my wonderful garden! Everything is growing well and looks happy and healthy. The peas have grown a foot since last weekend and have a few flowers on them, so hopefully pea pods will be soon to follow. The eggplant looks happier than it did, the zucchini grew a ton and has its big leaves stretched out. The green grape tomato and the yellow brandywine tomato have grown a lot - the green grape especially (right in the middle).

Jamie next to the peas (to show how high they've grown)

Pea flowers

I finished up the planting this weekend, so now it's just a matter of watering and making sure the herbs don't go to flower. I planted thyme, mint, nasturtium, amd marigolds. The nasturtiums and marigolds are good to plant near tomatoes and zucchini (and other veggies) because they keep bad bugs away. Apparently the smell of the marigolds along with a chemical they put into the soil keep bugs at bay. Plus they add great color to a vegetable garden. I watered the garden heavily and applied a layer of mulch which made it look much neater, and also helps the soil hold the moisture and keeps weeds from sprouting. The Swiss Chard looks about ready to start taking a few leaves off to put in a salad, but I'm going to let them get a little better. Of course, before I left to come back to the city, I doused the whole garden with heavy dose of the awful smelling (and miracle working) deer/rabbit repellent. Can't wait to see how big they are next weekend!

Vegetable Garden: Week 7

 My Swiss Chard, Zucchini, and Peas - all from seeds!

After not making out to Long Island for two weekends, I was a little worried about my garden. Luckily there had been a lot of rain. I went out on Saturday and am happy to report that everything is happy! The peas are two feet high and clinging to the trellis, the tomatoes plants look good - not too much change, two zucchini plants emerged from the seeds I planted, and the Swiss Chard finally came up! Aside from a large bunch of weeds, I couldn't have been happier.

After admiring all of my little seedlings, I got to work planting the newcomers. I stopped at the farmer's market on Friday and picked up a 3-pack of Better Boy tomatoes, a 3-pack of zucchini (I didn't know if any of mine had sprouted), and a 3-pack of jalapeno peppers. I also got 2 little basil plants. I planted the tomatoes with cages around them (it's better to put them in early as not to damage the roots) and planted the two basils in between the tomato plants - apparently growing basil with your tomatoes improves the tomato flavor. I planted the new zucchini next to those that I planted, so my zucchini patch will be a bit larger than anticipated. I left plenty of room around the chard because I know they'll get a lot bigger - provided they don't become bunny food. I planted the peppers with lots of space in between. There's a fare amount of free space right now which I think I'll fill with herbs, nasturtiums (pretty and edible), and marigolds (to keep the bad bugs away, also adding a little color).

It's so satisfying to see things you've planted from seeds growing. (My little peppers in the egg shells are growing, just a little slowly. They might stay in the city in pots.) I can't wait to get out there again next weekend to mulch, water, and plant herbs/flowers. Stay tuned!

Vegetable Garden - Week 2

My little peas are sprouting! Just a little thing popping out, but it looked like each pea I planted sprouted, so I'm happy! Just hope the deer don't eat them. No sign of the Swiss Chard, but we'll see this weekend.

And two of my pepper plants have sprouted! Hopefully they'll grow quickly enough to actually get some peppers this summer!

Vegetable Garden - Part One

I had a little back porch vegetable garden last year with a few tomato plants etc in pots and have since been planning my real vegetable garden. Summer tomatoes are so amazing and juicy and red and having them fresh from your yard is such a treat. My tomato plants did pretty well on the back porch, so I'm hoping they do even better with more room to grow. I'm also planning on planting some zucchini, eggplant, peas, swiss chard, hot peppers, and strawberries, along with some herbs. It was a really fun activity - and luckily this early April Saturday was sunny and warm. Jamie was an amazing help, very handy and strong - the bags of top soil and the beams were super heavy.