Fresh Pea Soup with Tarragon

yum!

Fresh Pea Soup with Tarragon
Vegetarian Times Issue: April 1, 2008

Serves 4

1 Tbs. olive oil
2 medium leeks, white and light green parts thinly sliced (1 1/2 cups)
1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
3 cups fresh or thawed frozen peas
1 Tbs. tarragon leaves
3 radishes, thinly sliced

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks, and sauté 7 to 9 minutes, or until soft. Stir in garlic, and cook 1 minute more. Add vegetable broth and 1 cup water, and bring to a simmer. Cook 15 minutes, stir in peas, and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat, and cool 30 minutes.
2. Purée soup in blender with tarragon leaves until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or chilled, with sliced radishes on top.

Nutritional Information
Per SERVING: Calories 139, Protein 6g, Total fat 3.5g, Carbs 22g, Cholesterol 8mg, Sodium 366mg, Fiber 6g, Sugars 8g

Tea Sandwiches with Avocado and Radish

Perfect summer sandwich, especially when made with garden fresh radishes, and avocados from your neighbor's tree!

Tea Sandwiches with Avocado and Radish
Vegetarian Times Issue: January 1, 2007 p.58

Serves 6 (3 sandwiches per person)

1 sourdough baguette, sliced
1/3 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1 lemon, zested and juiced
3 large eggs, hard-boiled, thinly sliced
3 radishes, thinly sliced
18 fresh basil leaves
1 small avocado, thinly sliced
2 shallots, chopped (about 3 Tbs.)

1. Preheat oven to broil. Place baguette slices on baking sheet, and toast 3 minutes on each side, or until lightly browned. Whisk together mayonnaise, 1 Tbs. lemon zest and 2 tsp. lemon juice in small bowl.
2. Spread mayonnaise mixture over cooled baguette slices, then top with
   egg slices. Season with salt and pepper. Top each sandwich with radish slices and a basil leaf. Place 2 avocado slices on each sandwich. Sprinkle shallots over each, and serve.

Nutritional Information
Per SERVING: Calories 218, Protein 6g, Total fat 14g, Carbs 16g, Cholesterol 106mg, Sodium 436mg, Fiber 2g, Sugars 1g

Mmm...Garlic

Planted the rest of the garlic today: georgian crystal, georgian fire, polish red, and german red.

Harvest: 12 radishes.

Homegrown Vegetables

Garden looks good. Very lush. I feel lucky to eat fresh homegrown vegetables.

Harvest: 1 lemon boy tomato, 11 yellow pear tomatoes, 1 bambino hybrid eggplant, 1 scarlet globe radish, 4oz of red russian kale, and 10oz mix of mibuna asian mustard greens, deer tongue lettuce, tom thumb lettuce, and arugula.

Garden Salad

Harvest: 7 yellow pear tomatoes, 2 scarlet globe radish, and 6oz mix of mibuna asian mustard greens, deer tongue lettuce, tom thumb lettuce, red russian kale, and arugula.

Tomatoes and Greens

Harvest: 10 yellow pear tomatoes, 1 lemon boy tomato, 1 baby oxheart carrot, 1 scarlet globe radish, and 3oz mix of mibuna asian mustard greens, deer tongue lettuce, tom thumb lettuce, and arugula.

Fresh Salad

One of my favorite things about having a garden is being able to make a fresh salad at any time.

Harvest: 2 red grape tomatoes, 1 scarlet globe radish, and 3oz mix of arugula, deer tongue lettuce, and tom thumb lettuce.

Long Bean

A friend just recommended that I try growing long beans.

This is what I've been able to figure out about them:

Vines are rampant growers (growing to 3' tall) and produce an enormous crop of long, slender, round pods the thickness of a pencil requiring full-sun and well-draining soil. Delicious young green beans are tender when picked at 12-15 inches long, and of fine flavor and quality as snap beans. Long Beans mature in 70 days.

Maybe next summer...

Harvest: 10 yellow pear tomatoes, 3 red grape tomatoes, 2 bambino hybrid eggplant, 2 scarlet globe radishes, 6 heads of baby prize choy bok choy, 1 cucumber, 1 superstar muskmelon (cantelope), and 1oz mibuna asian mustard greens.

Lots o' Greens

Lots of greens today.

Fresh salad for lunch - yum!

Harvest: 20 yellow pear tomatoes, 6 red grape tomatoes, 1 bambino hybrid eggplant, 2 scarlet globe radishes, and 10oz of a mix of arugula, deer tongue lettuce, tom thumb lettuce, and mibuna asian mustard greens.

Peaceful Day

Tropical Storm Hanna is long gone and today another storm took her place. Constant rain but thankfully little wind.

The winter squash plants keep getting larger and larger. One already has a blossom!

The insects seem to have left and my arugula and radishes appear to have recovered nicely.

If the latest science is correct, then the effort those plants had to spend warding off the bugs means they will be more nutritious!

Nothing to harvest today.

After the Storm

Tropical Storm Hanna left us about 2 inches of rain and minimal damage in our garden.

A few tomatoes were ruined and a muskmelon was split open.

Eggplant, peppers and cucumbers look to be fine.

Must remember to harvest before the storm.

Harvest: 1 cucumber, 3 Radiator Ray's Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, 5 lemon boy tomatoes, 4 red grape tomatoes, 21 yellow pear tomatoes, 1 superstar muskmelon (cantelope), 2 scarlet globe radishes, 3oz of a mix of arugula, deer tongue lettuce, and tom thumb lettuce.

Radish Butter Sandwiches

mmm....

Radish Butter Sandwiches
Vegetarian Times Issue: July 1, 2002 p.44

50 Servings

6 to 8 radishes, varicolored, with leaves intact
4 Tbs. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
Sea salt to taste

1. Wash and trim radishes. Set a dozen or so tender, fresh leaves aside. Remove stems. Thinly slice radishes into rounds. Slice these crosswise into narrow strips. Each strip should be tipped with color. Chop or sliver leaves.
2. Beat butter with lemon zest until well combined. Stir in sliced radishes, radish leaves and sea salt.
3. Spread butter on slices of crusty baguette and serve.

Nutritional Information
Per SERVING: Calories 50, Protein 0g, Total fat 6g, Carbs 0g, Cholesterol 15mg, Sodium 40mg, Fiber 0g, Sugars 0g

1 radish

Not much to harvest today.

Not much weeding or other work to be done either.

Harvest: 1 scarlet globe radish.

Cooking from the Garden

Need to learn some recipes to consume the plentiful kale.

Radishes look ready to harvest and eat. Don't know any radish recipes either -- I just eat them in salads.

Peas planted two weeks ago are ready to be trained up the tomato cages. Must check on them daily.

Onions planted three weeks ago have delicate shoots and purple flowers.

Harvest: 13 red grape tomatoes and 8 yellow pear tomatoes.

More Bugs

What are some organic ways to ward off pests? Particularly flying insects off of arugula and radishes.

Our patience with our bambino hybrid eggplant has been rewarded with 7 or 8 eggplants coming on this week -- more than twice what we have harvested all summer!

Bright Blue Skies

Three straight days of grey skies and endless rain have given way to bright blue skies.

Peppery radishes ripe for the picking.

An abundance of arugula and deer tongue lettuce.

Delicate carrot tops hint at the beauty below.

Bugs still swarming the arugula and radishes.

Harvest: 5 red grape tomatoes, 8 yellow pear tomatoes, 6oz of a mix of arugula, deer tongue lettuce, tom thumb lettuce, and mibuna asian mustard greens.