Harvest Time

I worked in the garden for about 5 1/2 hours today.  Displayed below are some of the items that were harvested.  The first is lots and lots and lots of lamb's quarter seeds.  Right now I have them on a sheet but I plan on suspending them above the table (if I can find some extra time).

I also harvested some of the turnips.  I used turnips, celery, kale, leeks, garlic and carrots to make a yummy vegetable soup.

I picked a basket of tomatillos, tomatoes  and a few hot peppers.

There are still plenty more tomatillos in the garden.  Sage and mint make a great tea.  I made a huge stock pot of tea.  I am freezing it in ziploc baggies for the challenge.

I chopped lots of chives and rolled them in plastic wrap (like a tootsie roll).  When I want to use some in cooking during the winter, I just untie the string from one end, break off the amount I need, and then tie the string back on.

There were a few strawberries left in the strawberry patch.  They were very sweet.

Squash???

I planted lots of different kinds of squash.  Unfortunately, none of the acorn or butternut squash plants produced any fruit.  However, I did get a few zucchini and eight nice spaghetti squash.

Saving the Sunflowers

Well, the squirrels were having a feast on the sunflowers.  I found the carnage all over the yard.  Here are the rescued sunflowers.  The sunflower in the front looks like a purple heart.

Beans & Rice

I'm moving in a month or so and I decided that I would use up most of the food that I have in my kitchen. I've also received gifts of free produce from my mom which I am able to use in my recipes. I make a couple recipes over the weekend and freeze the rest in individual portions to have later. These are not for the challenge but I just wanted to demonstrate how versatile beans and rice can be.

This is what I have made using plain old beans and/or rice:

Spanish rice
Jamaican split peas and rice
Green peppers stuffed with lentils and wild rice
Unstuffed cabbage (rice)
Jamaican split pea soup (2 different kinds - one flavored with thyme and allspice, the other has coconut milk, pumpkin and scotch bonnet pepper sauce)
Chili (kidney beans)
Chipotle black bean soup
Quinoa chickpea patties

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Last night I was up wayyyyy too late making Sweet Potato Pancakes.  My friend, Michelle found the recipe on the web.  No sugar, no flour and oil is optional.  I changed it a little.  I just used 4 eggs and omitted the 1 egg white.  I also added walnuts (pecans would be nice), and because the mixture was a little thick, I added almond milk to make it thinner.  The recipe is at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sweet-Potato-Pancakes-2/Detail.aspx?evt19=1.  I got a little creative because it was late and I was punchy.  So, I made the last few pancakes into Teddy Bears.  I used banana slices and black grapes for the eyes and nose of the bigger bear.  I used raisins for the eyes on the smaller bears.

Challenge Marathon

This past Sunday, I decided to cook and preserve food.  I washed and sliced and cooked and washed dishes and washed and sliced and cooked and sealed and froze and washed dishes from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 p.m.  Here is what I prepared for the challenge:
Roasted Vegetable Soup

Zucchini Soup (It tastes better than it looks).

Herb Stuffed Zucchini

Zucchini Bread

Peaches

Carrots

Green Beans with Garlic and Tomatoes