Roasting: Cabbage & Pork


Thanks to Pinterest we stumbled upon a new way to cook cabbage: sliced into large chunks and then roasted. If only we'd found this suggestion this time last year! By the end of May our garden had more cabbage then I knew what to do with. (I'll admit that my "know what to do" was limited to kimchi, coleslaw and soup.) This new recipe is simple and evokes a Brussels sprouts flavor. Check it out here: HERE!

Oliver paired the cabbage with chili-roasted pork (he made the chili paste himself by putting a variety of dried peppers into the blender with a lot spices, chicken stock and garlic). Along with the cabbage and pork we also had sides of sauteed spinach and rice. I'm looking forward to eating it all again tonight! YUM! But before that... I must be heading to the gym before it gets too late.

End of summer garden update


Three of the four tomato plants have made a surprising recovery. In the next two weeks we'll have at least another dozen new tomatoes ready to pick. But as the weather grows cooler my enthusiasm for tomato sandwiches wanes while my ardor for the rose-like beauty of a mature cabbage grows. The seasonal changes in my garden never cease to amaze me.

Dinner from the garden: first cabbage!

Hooray! Three months of dedication have led to my first harvested cabbage! A 5 pounder at that. It was chopped into jalapeno coleslaw and used to top Oliver's grilled Amberjack tacos. Since we had company over for dinner Oliver broke out fancy beer for dessert too (Founders CBS is divine).


Today is a very good day. Hoping you all can say the same. XO - Cullen 



CABBAGETIME!

We've got five awesome heads of cabbage quickly coming our way. Unlike the dozens of lettuce plants, I don't plan on pawning these darlings off on anyone. I've got plans for these leafy greens!


Foremost, I want to make kimchi! I've been looking up recipes. It seems like it may be a challenge but not impossible. If it goes well I'll be gifting jars of kimchi to my friends and family for the rest of the year.


Then I want to try sauerkraut. We don't have a fermenting crock but I've found a recipe or two that doesn't require one. 


And finally, my jalapeno coleslaw!


In other garden news: the eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, spinach and leeks are looking great! Although I'm at a loss at to what to put in the cabbages' place once they're gone. Needs to be short, must do well in 8 hours of direct sun and should be front yard/main intersection appropriate. Any suggestions?


  



Spring Garden 2012: Week Eight



I took pictures of the garden just before I picked salad greens for our party on Saturday. Our lettuces are at their peek. We have so many that I think we're about to start giving them away to our neighbors. (If anyone wants some free organic lettuce give us a shout!) If you compare the photos of  arugula from two weeks ago with those taken today you'll see that the plants grew a foot and bloomed. I just pulled out two and bagged the leaves for salad later this week. In their place we added more eggplants and peppers. The cabbage are still a big source of pride for me. I showed them off to every party guest that would humor me (thanks you guys). They're just so unexpectedly BEAUTIFUL! They've certainly added a new level of interest (to me) for cool weather vegetable gardening.

NO! You worms leave my cabbage alone!

Anyone who successfully grows anything organically has my full respect. If my organic goods were to appear at market they'd be chockful of pest holes. My five seasonal attempts at vegetable gardening have made me appreciate that every extra  dollar paid for an organic fruit or vegetable was well deserved. BRAVO to those who can do it and do it well!


As you might be able to tell - I'm having some pest issues; specifically with my cabbage.




We first spotted holes in the cabbage on Monday. Oliver Googled them and thinks they're most likely Cabbage Worms. The underside of our biggest leaves are pocked with the craters of opened eggs.  The organic solution is to (and I quote) "hand-pick and destroy any worms you find". Hi, for my more girly friends and readers, as well as those who consider them self squeamish, the organic solution to save my beautiful and cherished cabbages is to pick off increasingly large worms with my hands and squish them between my fingers. Oh great.

Monday, Oliver and I both took a turn thoroughly looking over every single cabbage leaf and smooshing every worm we found. Tuesday and Wednesday it was looking like our work had paid off. But today there was sudden resurgence in worm destruction. As soon as I got home from the office I threw on long pants and a long sleeve t-shirt (over my work clothes) and planted myself on all fours in front of our garden. The next six weeks it may be me versus the worms; welcome to battle at the GARDENDOME! It's worm smooshing season.
*Note: the three worms shown in my photos are not the smallest ones I squished.