Delicata Squash in my Container Garden

Last fall, I was in Las Vegas and stopped by Whole Foods, looking for delicata squash. I was able to purchase some, and we absolutely loved it! I saved the seeds so that I could try my hand at growing it.  I've been somewhat frustrated trying to get it to grow past what you see in the above picture. It is growing in pots, so if I don't get the water just right, the little squashes just shrivel up. Image my happiness when I noticed a huge delicata squash growing!

I've finally picked it, and I'll serve it with dinner tomorrow. I will make a post tomorrow on how to prepare it in a simple, delicious way.

Have you had success growing delicata squash? Post a comment if you have and let me know how successful you've been growing it.

Green Bean, Cucumber and Cherry Tomato Salad

Hopefully, like me, you have plenty of cherry tomatoes growing in your garden. I love eating them just picked from the garden, so it is amazing that any make it back into the kitchen! I'm not growing green beans this year, but I got some locally grown for this recipe.

This salad is a perfect side dish, or can be eaten as a main course. I like to include it as one of several salads for our evening meal.

Green Bean, Cucumber and Cherry Tomato Salad

1-2 cups green beans, blanched and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

1 large seedless cucumber, chopped

1/2 c. chopped flat leaf parsley

3 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1 TBSP lemon juice

4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Assemble all vegetables in a bowl. Mix balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper into a small bowl and whisk until blended; pour desired amount of dressing over the vegetables.

Dr. Hyman's UltraBroth Recipe

Dr. Hyman is best known for his book, The Blood Sugar Solution.  I came across a recipe on his website for UltraBroth.  I decided to give this recipe a try, as I had most of the ingredients on hand. I only had to purchase the shitake mushrooms (found them at my local Harmon's).  I have to say that the flavor of the broth is really quite nice. I did strain the broth but used the vegetables up in a stirfry later. What I like about this recipe, other than the fact that it is low in calories, is that it is vegan.

Here is a picture of the broth that I have stored in a quart mason jar. The recipe produced about 2 quarts plus another cup worth of broth.

UltraBroth in Quart Mason Jar

UltraBroth

For every three quarts of water add:

1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
1 cup of daikon or white radish root and tops (ideal, but optional)
1 cup of winter squash cut into large cubes
1 cup of root vegetables: turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas for sweetness
2 cups of chopped greens: kale, parsley, beet greens, collard greens, chard, dandelion,
cilantro or other greens
2 celery stalks
½ cup of sea weed: nori, dulse, wakame, kelp, or kombu
½ cup of cabbage
4 ½-inch slices of fresh ginger
2 cloves of whole garlic (not chopped or crushed)
Sea salt, to taste
1 cup fresh or dried shitake or maitake mushrooms (If available; these contain powerful immune boosting properties.)

Add all the ingredients at once and place on a low boil for approximately 60 minutes. It may take a little longer. Simply continue to boil to taste. Cool, strain (throw out the cooked vegetables or blend them into broth using an immersion blender), and store in a large, tightly-sealed glass container in the fridge. Simply heat gently and drink up to 3–4 cups a day.


Nutrition Facts Per Serving:
STRAINED: Cal: 5 Pro: 0 Fat:0 Carbohydrate: 0
BLENDED: Cal: 60 Pro: 0 Fat: 0 Carbohydrate: 14

My Container Garden July 2012

Unfortunately, I've been remiss in posting these pictures of my container garden. I actually have containers throughout my backyard that I grow vegetables in.

I love how tall the cherry tomato plant has grown. This particular plant came from Costco, and has done very well. At least I've been able to harvest quite a few cherry tomatoes throughout the summer.

On another plant in a different area of the yard, this cherry tomato is suffering. I look all over for the hornworms or caterpillars, and can't find any. Of course, it is in the 90's so it is tough standing in the heat trying to find the culprits.

It is just so easy to grow Swiss Chard, and it is so nutritious! I made a great batch of chili using Giada's White Bean and Chicken Chili recipe. However, I left out the chicken! On purpose of course. It still tastes great! If you do eat meat/poultry, I'd use ground turkey in place of the chicken.

Swiss Chard

Kale Slaw

I had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy of Tana Amen's Cookbook, Change Your Brain, Change Your Body Cookbook.  I came across this recipe for Clever Kale Slaw, and it really tastes great. I have three large containers of Swiss Chard in my garden, and I used the Swiss Chard in place of the Kale in this recipe.

I started out shredding the cabbage (I just used green cabbage) and used a chiffonade technique on the Swiss chard to make it fine enough to resemble the cabbage. Here it is in the bowl, below. Click on the picture to make it bigger.

Next, I grated a carrot into the mix, and added the chopped raw cashews:

For some reason, after that I stopped taking pictures :(.....

So here is the final picture, and I'll add the recipe after that!

Clever Kale Slaw

3 c. shredded kale or Swiss chard

1/2 c. shredded green cabbage

1/2 c. shredded purple cabbage (or use 1 c. prepackaged coleslaw mix)

1/4 c. shredded carrot

1/2 c. chopped raw cashew

1/2 c. Veganaise (or, use mayonnaise or miracle whip)

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)

1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried)

1/3 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp Real Salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 c. raw sunflower seeds

1/2 c. dried cranberries

Combine kale, cabbage, carrot and nuts. In a small mixing bowl, combine Veganaise, vinegar, and spices. Whisk until mixture is blended well.Toss with salad mix. Allow salad to refrigerate for 30 minutes prior to serving if possible so flavors can "marry." Top with sunflower seeds and dried cranberries.



Sprouted, Dehydrated Raw Almonds

Sprouted, Dehydrated Raw Almonds are one of the most nutritious snacks around. They have a satisfying "pop" when you crunch into them. Raw almonds that haven't been sprouted just don't have that "pop."

Start by finding some raw, unpasteurized almonds. You can get these from your own trees or from almonds growers directly.  You are not getting unpasteurized almonds at your local health food store or at Costco. They can sell them as raw, but do to government regulations, they have been pasteurized. Since pasteurization kills the living "seed", you can not sprout pasteurized almonds. Look for almond growers at your local farmer's market.

Soak 1 part almonds to 4 parts of water overnight (12 hours). Drain water and rinse soaked almonds.
Put your soaked almonds into a sprouter or mason jar, rinsing 2-3 times during the day. Rinse again and leave to sprout overnight. The almonds will have a tiny bulge at the narrow end. That is the sprout. These are ready to dehydrate or use to make almond milk.

Dehydrate for 12-24 hours at 105*F. This will dry the almonds but they will still be a living plant. I store my sprouted, dehydrated almonds in ziplock bags or mason jars with lids until I am ready to use them.

For almonds milk, use 1 cup of freshly sprouted almonds and 4 cups of water. Blend thoroughly in your vitamix or other blender. Strain in a nut milk bag, squeezing all of the nut milk out. I use a jelly strainer bag. They are inexpensive, and you can buy them online or at your local kitchen center.

Sprouting nuts, seeds and grains is beneficial.  The nutrition makeup changes once the stored energy source (seed, nut or grain) changes to that of a plant (sprout) in its initial stages of growth. The carbohydrate and fat decreases, and the vitamin and mineral content increases.

Today's Harvest: Lettuce, Tomatoes and Swiss Chard

I love going out to the garden every morning to see what is ready to harvest. Pictured below is one of the cherry tomato plants that I got this year at Costco. They are about 3 feet tall now, and the tomatoes have slowly been ripening the past 2 weeks.

Cherry Tomato Plant in container

Today I was really pleased to be able to harvest some lettuce (black seeded Simpson lettuce). Those plants just keep on giving! I've been harvesting some every week.

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce

I washed it all and gave it a spin in my salad spinner. I had enough to fill a gallon ziplock bag.
Isn't it beautiful? It will be perfect for green smoothies (this variety has a sweet taste) and for salads. Next, I took the scissors to a pot of Swiss chard.....

Swiss Chard growing in a pot

After cutting off the stems (I use the stems in smoothies and stirfry), I washed it and spun it dry (lettuce spinner, again!) and had enough to fill a gallon size ziplock bag. There is such a feeling of satisfaction being able to harvest product from your own garden. I grow everything organically; no pesticides.

Swiss Chard

OK, and then on to my mini harvest of tomatoes...

Red Cherry and Yellow Pear Tomatoes

Don't these look delicious! I remember the first time I picked a cherry tomato. It was in our neighbor's garden in Escondido, California. I was 4 or 5 years old, and our neighbor let us come over and pick some to snack on. I will never forget how good those cherry tomatoes tasted. My lifelong love of gardening started right then! Anyway, there is nothing better than popping a cherry tomato fresh off of the plant into your mouth. Heaven! I did just that while picking these and I can say that these are fantastic.
I also have some sprouts growing. I usually have 3-4 different sprouts going on the counter every week. This week I sprouted lentils, peas, garbanzos and broccoli. Here is a picture of the broccoli sprouts....

We've been eating sprouts at every meal this week. Great taste, nutritious and a perfect addition to whatever we're eating. This particular broccoli seed has been some of the best I've ever sprouted. You can order some at  www.sproutshop.net .  Click here for the broccoli seed page.