Corn is good for the tummy!

Corn!

Corn is a staple in many diets around the globe.  In my household corn is craved, demanded, and savagely consumed around the barbeque.  On May 3, 2011, I planted 7 rows of corn in anticipation of a small harvest this year.  I always hope for a harvest that yields 100 ears of corn.  This year the victory garden gave birth to 127 ears.  This count only includes ears that have kernels wrapped around the entire cob and the wrap of kernels are at least 5 inches in length.

I counted at least 30 gnarly looking ears of corn that are great for the grill when eating cooking up burgers.  The gnarly ears usually have kernels on one side of the cob and/or the kernels are spread far apart.  I also feed the notorious Chewy Nho, bean bandit and traveling guru,  a gnarly ear to keep him away and preoccupied while the ears are being husked and cleaned.

When storing corn for the winter, my family blanches each ear and freezes the entire cob.  The frozen cobs can be thawed, cooked, and eaten.  I usually wrap the frozen corn in tinfoil and place them on the grill for a maximum of 25 minutes.  Of course you can always boil or steam the frozen cobs too.  It all depends on what you are eating with the corn.

The victory garden as a whole has produced quite a bit of fruit.  With that fruit, my family and I have cooked, stored and eaten quite a big this summer.  The rat hole count currently stands at:

Chop chopping the Salsa Mix

Corn frozen - 92 ears/21 gallon freezer bags (8 bags with 5 ears and 13 with 4 ears)

Salsa Mix frozen - 4 quart freezer bags (2 batches of salsa per bag; 8 bell peppers and 10 pepperoncini per bag)

Zucchini Relish canned - 1 quart and 3 pints

Bread and Butter Pickles canned - 3 pints

Bread and Butter Veggies canned - 5 quarts (zucchini, squash, cucumber and green beans)

Pickled Pepperoncini canned - 2 pints

Veggies sliced frozen - 5 gallon freezer bags (zucchini and squash)

Veggie Stir-fry Mix frozen - 8 quart freezer bags (zucchini, squash, bell pepper)

Mixed Veggies dehydrated - 3 quart freezer bags and two pint jars

Bread and Butter Veggies

Coccinellidaes and Mantodeas fight to save the victory garden from alien invaders

 

In a galaxy far far away lives an ancient civilization of Aphidoidea.  Aphidoidea are vicious warriors whose purpose in life is to eat and take control of all others with their mind controlling goo.  The Aphidoidea are from a planetary nebula called NGC 5189, more commonly known as the Spiral Planetary Nebula, located 3,000 light years away in the Musca constellation.  No one knows when the Aphidoideas first came to this planet but scientists have found Aphidoidea fossils dating back hundreds of years.

The date was August 14th and I saw my first Aphidoidea space ship hovering over the cornfield.  The ship hovered for a moment and then disappeared into the waving yellow tassels atop the corn stalks.  As I approached the field I became overwhelmed by the site of the Aphidoidea army covering the corn stalks with a dark blanket of bodies and translucent goo.  This goo is not visible to the naked eye but signs of the mind controlling solution attracts most Formicidae who are a common ally to the Aphidoidea clan.

 
I immediately had to call in reinforcements.  I knew I needed an army that could withstand the high numbers of Aphidoideas and would be resistant to the sweet smell of their psychotropic liquid.  After much searching and with a little training from the mighty general Chewy Nho and his first lieutenant Mooch I was able to form a 1500+ army of Coccinellidaes and Mantodeas.  The Coccinellidaes are ready to fight and will form the first wave of the attack.  The Mantodea have chosen their fiercest ninja warriors to participate in the second wave of battle.  The Mantodea are cunning and stealth-like in their attack methods.  While the Coccinellidaes distract the Aphidoidea, the Mantodea will conceal two egg sacks within the victory garden.  After a few days, the ninja Mantodea warriors will emerge from the egg sacks and will form our second wave of attack.  The Aphidoidea won't know what hit them.

My general and his first lieutenant are now warming up for the battle and will soon lead the charge against the alien invaders from Musca.  Wish my army luck!

Bring on the bitter in the bitter melon!

The bitter melon have reached record sizes in the victory garden.  Each one is about 12 inches long with a shorty coming in at 7 inches.  I think this plant produces the coolest looking fruit.  The skinny vines of the plant and the round bulbous green warts lining the outer surface of the fruit are two markers of how different this plant looks in and out of the garden.  When cooking this delectable fruit, my family stuffs the long green spiky bodies with a mixture of meat, veggies, rice noodles, fish sauce and additional seasonings and submerges them into a broth to cook.  The melon cooks and bobs into a soup bitter from the fruit yet sweet from the meat.  We also pop the stuffed bodies into the freezer for winter time munchies.  Warm bitter melon soup is good on cold days.

Another culinary triumph has swept through the victory garden.  During the 2009 season, my family canned a variety of pizza and pasta sauces made with ingredients only found in our garden.  That season brought us "The Great Tomato Harvest" and we did not have enough time to eat and give away all of the tomatoes.  Needless to say we canned many jars of sauce that season. 

Flash forward to this week.  As I was rummaging through the pantry I found the last jar of Morrison Victory Garden 2009 pasta sauce.  I took this discovery has an opportunity to create a spaghetti sauce made from only ingredients from the victory garden.  I grabbed the jar, popped it open, and poured the pasta sauce into a large deep skillet.  I then picked, washed, chopped and added the following items from the victory garden: basil, chives, black bell peppers, squash and zucchini.  I let the entire mixture of sauce, veggies and herbs simmer down to a thick mass of goodness.  I placed cooked noodles on a plate, dumped a spoon full of veggie pasta sauce on top of the noodles, sprinkled the mound with Parmesan cheese and accented the dish with a long toasty piece of garlic bread.  TA DA!  You have a spaghetti dinner with sauce made from the victory garden... mmmmm!

Blanching & Freezing Vegetables

I like to eat veggies during the winter but found that my favorite vegetables are only available during the summer months.  So what should a summer veggie person do?  This is where a pot of water and the freezer come in handy.  I have blanched, packed and froze about five gallon bags worth of squash and zucchini this year.  The bags are accumulating in the freezer and will soon be eaten in stir-fry, in soup and from the grill.  Here are the steps I took when preparing, blanching and freezing the veggies.

Preparation:

• a big pot
• large spotted spoon
• colander
• cutting board
• knife
• water
• Ziploc freezer bags
• lots of veggies
•  black marker

Directions:

1. cut the veggies into thick slices
2. boil the water
3. place veggies into water for 30 seconds, stirring occasionally
4. using the spotted spoon place veggies into the colander
5. rinse veggies under cold water
6. place veggies in Ziploc freezer bags
7. write the date on the bags with a marker
8. lay the bags flat in the freezer

Sound simple?  It really is.  I had no idea how simple the blanching process is for vegetables.  The veggies I blanch do not need to be in the water for more than 30 seconds which makes the process even less time consuming.  I was told and have read that veggies which are cut too thin or blanched for too long will get mushy after thawing out.  I do not want this to happen so I am cutting the squash and zucchini into 1-2 inch slices and the bell peppers into quarters.

I have to admit that my first few blanching efforts were not too impressive.  Before doing any research I cut up thin slices of veggies and blanched them for 5 minutes.  Everything seemed to be fine until I was packing the veggies into the freezer bags.  I noticed the veggies were very soft.  I had to be extremely careful not to squeeze hard or else the veggies would fall apart.  Needless to say, the first two bags of frozen veggies will be used in soup.

On a positive note, I have created different vegetable mixtures that could be used for specific dishes.  For example, I have three quart sized bags labeled "Stir-fry Mix."  This mixture includes bell peppers, eggplant, squash and zucchini.  This mixture could be fried with meat, tofu or alone.  I prefer frying the veggies with oyster sauce, minced garlic and red pepper.  I then add cooked drained noodles and let the mixture fry for an additional 5 minutes.  This recipe makes for a good side dish during lunch or dinner.

Since the squash is rockin' this season I have many more bags of squash than any other vegetable.  In this case, I place different cuts of squash into separate freezer bags.  I am then able to use the long slices of squash for grilling or barbeques and the smaller round slices for ratatouille, soup, salads, or any other recipe calling for squash.

Chewy Nho - Mugshot

Victory Garden Alert!  Victory Garden Alert!  Bean robber caught!  The elusive bean robber is no longer hiding from the authorities.  At 12:15 PM authorities announced that the bean robber is Chewy Nho.   Chewy was caught on the surveillance cameras stealing a bean at 9:05 AM.  He was then apprehended by the authorities and charged with "theft of a bean."  Chewy was placed in the dog house for 18 minutes until he broke out with help from his associate Mooch.  Mooch, the catnip pimp, was though to be the bean robber by authorities on July 16th until a footprint found at the crime scene ruled him out.  The following images were taken by the newly installed surveillance cameras.

Chewy running from the authorities.