Harvest Monday: August 8, 2016

I've had two new harvests this past week, but the main story is all about the peppers.  They are starting to turn colour in larger numbers.

Super Red Pimientos:

Gypsy (a variety of sizes from different plants):

Plus a few King of the North bell peppers as well as the first of the jalapenos and a few Feher Ozon, both shown below.  The three Feher Ozon peppers (on the right) were on a plant that was falling over and had only the three peppers so I picked them early (they should turn a deeper orange, maybe even red).

The beans above were the second harvest of the week.  And on to the new harvest!  I decided to pull out the collard plants due to poor growth so harvested what I could of the leaves.  They have been well nibbled, mainly slugs.

And on the right is a plant that I had not intended to grow, but was given seeds by a friend early in the season so popped a few in the ground.  This is Blitva, or Croatian Chard.  Blitva is also a traditional Croatian dish with the greens paired with potatoes (which is likely how I'm going to use this batch).  It has grown much faster and larger than the Swiss Chard plants I have in the ground, which I've barely had a chance to harvest any of.

And last is just a small bouquet of bunching onions hanging out on my counter until they get used.

I'll be linking up with Harvest Monday hosted by Our Happy Acres.  Stop on by to see what other gardeners are doing this week!

Green Beans with Bacon and Hard-Boiled Egg Vinaigrette

This yummy side dish was inspired by one made now and then by Dave @ Our Happy Acres, Asparagus Mimosa.  Mimosa, as defined by my go-to culinary reference Larousse Gastranomique, is a salad (presumably dressed with some sort of vinaigrette) topped with chopped yolk of a hard-boiled egg.  So this is a quickie variation on that with the entire hard boiled egg chopped then mixed with a vinaigrette.  It's a great way to add some protein to a veggie side dish (maybe healthier without the bacon, but come on ... it's bacon!).

I used a vinaigrette I had made recently for a massaged kale salad.  But really any vinaigrette (preferably homemade) will do.  Try this link for a simple method for making your own. 

Dice one or two hard boiled eggs and stir in 2 Tbsp vinaigrette per egg.  If you are making the vinaigrette at the same time, add the eggs to the vinaigrette before shaking it together to help it combine.

Just boil the green beans (which are actually these Royal Burgundy beans from my garden that turn green when cooked) just enough so they still have a good bite to them.  Arrange on a plate and top with some pieces of cooked bacon.

Spoon over the beans and bacon and enjoy.  It's a delicious appetizer!

Harvest Monday: August 1, 2016

Despite having a long weekend away from work (today is a Civic Holiday), I haven't had as much time to harvest as I'd hoped but for good reason - enjoying BBQ's with friends most days. Still, I've managed to pick a good variety of goodies from the garden, including these potatoes shown above (L to R: Linzer, Pink Fir Apple, Irish Cobbler).  This harvest was a result of cleaning out one bed of potato plants that had died off a few weeks ago (prematurely it seemed to me).  I still have those same three varieties in one other bed plus individual potato bags as well.  So hoping to get some more substantial harvests later on.

And I've had just a few tomatoes to nibble on as most are still green and need some time.  These chocolate cherry tomatoes were devoured quickly, still hot from the sun.

I have been giving away beans and only keeping enough for the odd meal.  Last year, I had blanched some and froze them in bags.  Most got used throughout the winter, although sometimes a bit reluctantly.  I'd rather let friends enjoy them fresh now without bothering to save myself any.  And I still have just a couple of beets now and then; I still struggle to grow them very well but do have a few more on the go.

This little bit of kale was just perfect for a large salad.  And that little side shoot of broccoli?  Well, I am happy to get a little bit of broccoli but hardly enough to do anything with at any one time.  I only grew broccoli this year to use up the seeds as I've generally given up on ever being successful with broccoli or cauliflower.

I would prefer to focus space and energy on one of my favourite crops - peppers!  They are generally pretty pricey and can easily be frozen.  Although I do need to look into purchasing a smoker as last year I had some challenges with my single burner BBQ unit.  Or maybe a dehydrator?  I need to decide what to do with these Feher Ozon - a sweet paprika pepper - as they seem to be rather plentiful.  They are also very top heavy so I've had to do a quick fix recently to keep them from toppling over (I may or may not stake them, these wood pieces seem to work for now!).

And lots of other peppers on the way (I feel like I keep saying that ... it does take a while to ripen up!).

Ancho

Gypsy

Hungarian Hot Wax

Jalapeno

Xanthia

Another Feher Ozon - turning orange!

And finally this ridiculous scene - I can't believe I have actually started to feed this thing because it's so darn cute.  I've been giving this baby squirrel some leftover nuts and it comes back every few days for more.  But I soon came to my senses after thinking it was so cute running around my feet looking for more food and then it tried to nibble on my toe ...