Tomatoes out the wazoo! Plus - More updates

This garden experiment has taught me some things. The biggest surprises have come with my squash plants. I have a million of them. They've all flowered. But some just haven't produced fruit, like my zucchini plant and my yellow summer squash plant. The summer squash did have several small fruits on them, which shriveled up and died. Hm. The plant next to it is thriving. Same soil, same sun. I'll have to try again next year because I think both of those varieties are kaput for me. I have a couple other squash plants that are producing fruits. The problem? I don't know what kind they are! I bought little plastic plant markers and wrote the types in Sharpie on them. The rain washed the Sharpie off somehow. So now they are mixed up and I don't know what is where. I'm pretty sure this is a butternut squash, but isn't it not supposed to come til Fall?

Maybe an acorn squash?

I guess we'll have to see as they grow!

Peppers are growing huge still and starting to get some color. Haven't eaten any yet.

Brussels sprouts are starting to come through.

And tomatoes.. TOMATOES! I have a million of them. 4 varieties- though they also got mixed up and I have to wait for them to ripen to know which is which. The cherry tomatoes are going crazy - there must be 100 fruits on there. I've already harvested about 25.

Several larger varieties too.

These will come in handy because I'm entering a salsa making competition in a couple weeks. I am practicing my recipes this week and will post them after the contest, lest someone actually looks at this and steals them! Ha! Let's just say they aren't the typical salsa.

As for my rabbit problem, problem solved! For my birthday, Ben & his dad fenced in the garden area for me. It doesn't seem right typing that because it was an ordeal that took them an entire day (or more). Ben's dad bought some fencing at a garage sale. He made the posts himself and also made this awesome gate himself!

Did I mention that the guys did this on one of the hottest days of the year? I don't know how they stood being outside from about 7:30-5:30. They were soaked with sweat and quite tired after that! I'm a lucky gal to have such nice people in my life!

Speaking of that, part of the reason I haven't blogged at all this month is that Ben & I got engaged on July 2! I'm still pinching myself when I think about what a wonderful guy my future hubby is and how lucky it is that our fates collided. We decided that we wanted to get married in the fall, and there is no way I wanted to wait until Fall 2011, so we are getting married on November 6- which happens to be the day that I posted the fateful ad that brought us together 2 years ago. I've been busy planning away. It will be a crazy couple months, but the outcome is worth it!!

The garden groweth!

The garden is doing GREAT right now. The only problem I've been having is with my broccoli and cauliflower getting eaten by bunnies, though I still have several broccoli crowns growing.

 

No brussels sprouts yet, but the plants are doing great and growing like mad. I'm just waiting for the little sprouts to start- the time is near!

The squash plants are all growing a lot too. I do have some growing already, which are a couple inches long, though most are just vining like crazy now. I expect a lot more soon.

While I don't eat pickles, I accidentally ended up with some pickling cucumbers one day, so planted them with the intention of making pickles for Ben & my sister and whoever else wants some. There are massive amounts of tiny cukes growing right now. I think I'll end up with a huge harvest of them. It's hard to see in the picture but they look really small and spiny.

 

The tomato plants are also growing at a rapid rate. You can really smell them when you are in the garden. I have 4 varieties of tomatoes growing and two varieties have small fruit on them, while the others are blooming now. See the tiny green tomatoes? Even though I don't like tomatoes, I plan on trying them from my garden.

Today I was surprised to see lots of small peppers growing. I hadn't noticed them before. This makes me happy!! I can't wait!!

Catching up/New Creations

I've been so busy lately that I haven't updated the blog. Between my second teaching job, finals, giving two big presentations at a conference in Minneapolis and starting a garden, I have just started trying some new things in the kitchen. Look for the garden update later this week.

Since I am starting a garden, I need to be able to prepare the veggies I'm growing to my liking. One thing I'm attempting is Brussels sprouts. I've really only eaten them about 3 times in my life, all being deliciously prepared. Two times Ron made them on special occasions and the other time I had them at Niche (for non STLers, it's a very upscale restaurant that is very "hot" right now). Don't ask me why I decided to grow them. Just sounded interesting. Anyhow, I bought some and prepared them and now they are my new favorite veggie! Ben also gives them 5 stars and even asks for more. I definitely think they get a bad rep. Anyhow, my first try at them, I just sauteed them with some butter until they were nice and caramelized. I also made squash (summer and zucchini) risotto with barley instead of rice, which worked out really well. I know I need to work on my presentation, but here is my finished product:



Tonight I decided to make risotto again since it turned out so well the first time. This time I put broccoli and Brussels sprouts in it.



While I was chopping veggies, I noticed that my dog Ruby was nowhere to be seen. Whenever I'm cooking and she isn't there, I know she is getting into SOMETHING. So I walk into the living room and realize that she is playing with something green. And she doesn't have a green toy. Hmmm. Turned out that she really likes broccoli!



Making the risotto was the second thing I thought to make. The first thing was beer bread, which my friend Brooke gave me a recipe for a month or so ago. I had asked for it because she made it at Mardi Gras 2009 and I remember it being delicious. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't like it as much considering things usually seem to taste better when tipsy, which I was when I had it at Brooke's. Anyhow, I followed the directions and this is what I came up with:



The bread was warm and soft and delicious! The whole meal looked like this and was freaking awesome.

My New Toy!

I got a new toy.

I've acquired some new cooking utensils and gadgets in the last month to make cooking more efficient and do some cool things. My latest addition is an immersion blender, which is basically a little gadget that you stick into (aka "immerse") into the bowl/pot you have food in to blend it up. It's very low maintenance, easy to clean and use. And only cost around $30.

So Ben and I have eaten like toothless old people this weekend! I pureed and blended the crap out of our food, using any excuse to use my new gadget. Saturday night, I made a sort of root vegetable soup with squash, yams and parsnips. It was ok, but I honestly wasn't the hugest fan. The best part about it was using my new toy.



I also made apple crisp, which was much yummier. The last time I made an apple dish (applesauce), Ben commented how good it would be to put some vanilla ice cream on top. So I granted his wish this time, stopping at Oberweis for some delicious vanilla to top off the crisp.



Last night (Sunday), I decided to make a Pair of Purees - potato puree and butternut squash puree. Both were quite yummy! I also made applesauce - this time, I didn't have to spend forever cutting them up. Just let them bake and then blend them up with the new gadget. The consistency was perfect- just like real applesauce. Yum!! Served all three with some asparagus. Delicious!