2012 MVG Harvest BBQ

This year the MVG Harvest BBQ was a hit with neighbors and friends. There was lasagna, beans, cupbread, and a big plum cobbler for everyone to nibble, munch, and devour. But let's follow the order in which my family and I cooked the vegetable filled mounds of food.

Morrison Victory Garden 2012

My first entree, VEGETABLE LASAGNA! Yum! I used the following steps when preparing and cooking the lasagna.

Golden on the top. This lasagna is done.

Ingredients: Green indicates items found and used from the victory garden

• 1 gallon Ziploc bag of frozen tomatoes (skin off)
• 4 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 1 chopped sweet white onion
• 1 chopped bell pepper
• Salt and Peppers
• 3 medium zucchini thinly sliced the long way
• 3 large yellow squash thinly sliced
• eggplant thinly sliced (amount depends on size of fruit)
• big tub of ricotta cheese
• big bag of shredded mozzarella cheese or use a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar cheese

lasagna layers

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, mix tomatoes, basil, oregano, garlic, bell pepper, onion, salt, and pepper.  Bring to boil and stir constantly until sauce becomes thick.
2. In a large casserole dish, lay down a layer of sauce at the bottom.  Follow with a layer of zucchini, ricotta, sauce, squash, mozzarella, sauce, eggplant, ricotta, sauce, zucchini, mozzarella, etc. Your final layer should be shredded cheese. You may insert lasagna noodles into the layers.  I found a box with four lasagna noodles in my pantry. I cooked the noodles and placed two on the bottom layer and two in the middle layer. The long zucchini slices can be used in place of the lasagna noodles too.  It all depends on what you want in your lasagna or have on hand.
3. Cover lasagna with tinfoil to keep the cheese from burning. Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Remove tinfoil and cook for additional 30 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

Veggie lasagna is good!

The PLUM COBBLER was next on my cooking list.   I have never made cobbler but have watched my father make plum pie and cobber. I wanted to make sure I did not mess it up.  I searched online for a recipe that was easy and quick.  I found a recipe posted by Elise on Simply Recipes.

The outcome was fantastic. Many of my guests saved room for the cobbler or started the feast with a great fruit appetizer. I served the dish at room temperature since the day was warm and sunny.  During the winter months, I will heat up the cobbler and serve it with whip cream. I also think a scoop of vanilla ice cream is a great pairing with this dish.

Cobbler was sweet with a hint of tart. Yum!

Now time for the sides! A variety of beans from the garden were stir-fried and tossed with a lemon  herb mixture. I used the following steps when making the BEAN TOSS.

Ingredients:

• 4-5 cups of beans*, washed and cut into two-inch pieces
• 2 tablespoons lemon zest
• juice from a large lemon or 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 4-8 cloves of garlic (I like a lot of garlic and use the max)
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary
• 3 tablespoons fresh chopped Italian parsley
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt

Directions:

1. Bring salt and water to a boil.  Boil beans 5 minutes. Remove beans from water and run under cold water/place in ice bath.
2. Combine zest, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary and parsley in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a wok, heat oil on medium heat.  Add beans and cook beans until tender.
4. Remove wok from heat.  Toss bean with lemon herb mixture.
5. Serve and enjoy!

*I used a mixture of Blue Lake, Burgundy, and Scarlet Emperor beans from the garden.

The ears of corn and pesto were the most consumed item at the MVG Harvest BBQ. I boiled the corn for 5 minutes.  Guests were given the choice of plain corn or Elote.  Elote calls for lime mayo, Cojita cheese and hot sauce. I personally love Elote but give my guess the option to try it or not.  To make Elote you do the following:

1. choose your ear of corn.
2. lather the corn with lime mayo.
3. roll the mayo covered corn in a plate of finely grated Cojita cheese
4. sprinkle or douse your ear of corn with hot sauce.
5. eat and enjoy!

I used a 8-oz. plastic freezer jam jar of frozen pesto and a thawed quart of whole Juliet tomatoes when making my PESTO PASTA. Read my Pesto. Pesto, Pesto! blog post for the pesto recipe. I cooked and drain one box of whole wheat spaghetti noodles. In a large bowl, I toss the noodles with the pesto, tomatoes, and a handful or two of pine nuts. I top the aromatic pile of noodles with a generous sprinkle of goat or feta cheese. If you like basil, mix fresh basil (leaves or roughly chopped) with the cheese before topping off the dish.

I also made zucchini squash bread using cupcake tins. I like to call the dish ZUCCHINI SQUASH CUPBREAD  This makes the bread easy to handle and easy to transport.  I like to send my guests home with goodie bags.  I always wrap a few in tinfoil and place them in the bags. I referred to my Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook when making these cupbread delights.  I followed the zucchini bread directions but made the following alterations:

• use 2 cups of thawed zucchini and squash shreds**, for every cup of zucchini requested
• add 50% more oil (if recipe requests a cup add an additional 1/2 cup of oil)
• add in dried fruit mixture chopped up into small pieces ( use anything from dried coconut to dried mango to dried plums)
• Cook cupcakes at recipe temperature for 15-18 minutes.
• an occasional combination - add in 1/2 cup of granola but follow recipe zucchini measurement when using the thawed zucchini squash shreds**.

** Last season I froze fresh (skin on) zucchini and squash shreds in the freezer.  I place 4 cups of fresh shreds in each Ziploc quart bag.  This season, I placed a bag on the counter to thaw. Once at room temperature, the water and shreds separate.  I drained the water from the shreds.  You now have 2 cups of shreds to add to your baking recipes.

We also had additional items to consume.  My mother made chili with our frozen tomatoes.  We served hot dogs and soy dogs to feature our zucchini relish, kosher pickles, dill pickles, and bread and butter pickles. I also made fresh Ginger-Spice Cucumbers with fresh cucumbers from the garden.

Fresh cut herbs make fragrant center pieces!

Bouquets of herbs were tied.  Food was eaten.  The Morrison Victory Garden was toured. Goodie bags were taken with full bellies and warm hearts.  The feast was a success!

My family and I had a great time with our friends and neighbors at this year's MVG Harvest BBQ. Thank you to everyone who came out to see our garden.  A big thanks to everyone who tried the variety of dishes on the tables.  I am getting better at cooking and hope to one day WOW you in the yummy tummy department.

This pie was gobbled up, mmmmmm.

A big thanks to Deloris for making a fabulous apple pie, with the apples from her apple tree! A big thanks to Esther for the ice cream and doggie treats!

Happy gardening, cooking and eating to all!

Let it rain CORN and BEANS!

The MVG is in full swing and the vertical gardening is proving to be well worth the time and energy to set up.  As you can see in the picture above there is lots of green leaves and plump veggies to harvest.  This week, in preparation for the annual Harvest BBQ, we had our bean and corn harvests!

The bean box has matured and is producing handfuls upon handfuls of long firm Burgundy beans.  These beans are great when eaten raw but also taste good when canned or used in casseroles.  I will be using all three types of beans, Burgundy, Blue Lake and Scarlet Emperor, to make a bean stir-fry for this year's Harvest BBQ.  Additionally, any beans not canned or eaten have been blanched and frozen.

Here is our bean breakdown for this season:

• 4 quarts blanched and frozen
• 2 pints of Bread and Butter beans

Our corn harvest occurred on a cool Wednesday morning.  The harvest went well but is very small when compared to our corn harvests in the past.  We reduced our number of corn rows and used the remaining years-old corn seed when planting this year's corn crop. This decrease in quantity and quality has brought forth a small corn harvest for the 2012 victory garden season.  Luckily we had a great harvest last year and have plenty in storage for the Harvest BBQ this year.  Elote! Horn Corn! Cheese Corn! Mayo Corn! It does not matter what you call the yummy corn dish but one this is for certain... corn, lime mayo, Cojita cheese and hot sauce will be on the 2012 Harvest BBQ menu.

Corn husked and ready to be blanched.

I decided to store only the corn kernels from this year's harvest.  Here is my step by step process for freezing corn kernels.

1. Blanch the ears of corn in boiling water for five minutes.
2. Immediately transfer the corn to a cold water bath to cool down.
3. Once the ears are cool, cut the corn kernels off and pack them in Ziploc freezer bags.

I was able to pack 5 quarts of corn.  It might not sound like much but to eat sweet corn in the dead of winter is sweet delight!

Typical July Harvest

The victory garden is in full swing.  We have daily harvests of zucchini, yellow squash, beans, peppers, a variety of herbs, and cucumbers.  As expected, the harvests are increasing in size.  Today's harvest  (pictured below) produced a sink full of vegetables, strainer full of beans, and one lonely pepper.

I have some good news from the eggplant patch.  We officially have a SECOND GENERATION EGGPLANT growing in the garden! Woo hoo!  Remember my post, Transplanting and Mulch, about the eggplant that survived winter?  That eggplant has grown exponentially and is now giving birth to three eggplants.  There are over ten flowers on the plant and I hope to see everyone turn into a delicious eggplant by the end of the summer.

Second generation eggplant

All of the eggplants grown, from seed this season, have begun to push out flowers or fruit.  I envision lots of BBQ eggplants and eggplant lasagnas filling my table and tummy later this season. YUM!

eggplants are growing bigger each day

The strawberry pot is doing very well.  Each day I pick two to four large strawberries, rinse and freeze them.  So far I have 1 1/2 quarts of frozen MVG strawberries.  These frozen berries taste great in homemade slushy drinks or strawberry jam. I hope to have the second quart bag filled by the end of July.

daily harvest of strawberries

Plum Harvest 2012

Our harvest of plums is not a direct result of my gardening skills. My family harvest the plums out of necessity.  In order to keep our back and front yard free from bomb dropping purple spatters of juice, fruit and seed, we pick and maintain the limbs of the tree that reach over into our yard. The size of the harvest varies depending on the winter rains and maintenance of the tree limbs.

MVG 2012 Plum Harvest

This year's harvest has brought forth a basket full of sweet and tart fruit.  In previous years, my family has made plum jam and pies. This year, the harvest will be canned or frozen.  My family plans to use the frozen plums to make pies and cobblers. There is nothing better than a warm slice of plum pie or cobbler on a cold winter's night.

There are two types of plum trees reaching over into our yard. The trees have been around for some time. We and the neighbors do not know what type of plums are being produced by the trees. So far the type of plum is a mystery but we definitely know they taste great!

To freeze the plums, peel off the skin, take out the seed and sliced up the plums in any way you like.  My mom likes the wedge shape.  It does take time to prepare the plums for freezing but the results are fantastic! We currently have 12 cups in 3 quart Ziploc bags.  Each bag contains 4 cups of plums or 2 pints.  We also peeled, seeded, and sliced over 30 plums to fill a gallon bag Ziploc bag.  I will be using this gallon bag of plums to make a plum dessert for the Harvest BBQ. Yum!

Canning plums is a bit more tricky. There are so many varieties of jams and syrups to choose from. I followed the plum canning directions and syrup recipe available through the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The plums were ripe and I did not want to waste time searching for recipes now.  I wanted a quick and easy way to preserve the deliciousness of the plums.

Canned plums!

In total, I canned 8 quarts and 2 pints of plums.  I used two types of syrup: Heavy and Light. I am very excited to see how each type of syrup interacts with the tart skin and sweet red flesh of the plum. For now I will dream about scoops of vanilla ice cream with a juicy tart plum and pancakes with plum syrup drizzles on top. Mmmmm!

The final result of the MVG 2012 Plum Harvest is:

4 quarts canned Heavy syrup
1 pints canned heavy syrup
4 quarts canned light syrup
1 pints canned light syrup
1 gallon and 3 quarts frozen

Mantodea nymph sightings!

We have new visitors to help protect the veggies from hungry predators. The Mantodeas have emerged!

Mantodeas egg sacs

The Mantodeas are mighty warriors.  Their first arrival coincided with last season's corn infestation. They are now back and ready to guard the victory garden. Their space sacs landed over two months ago.  The sacs laid dormant until the temperature held above 75 degrees. It is rumored that each sac can hold up to 500 eggs.  Wow!

Mantodeas on sage.

The Mantodeas nymphs emerged and are now feasting on the vicious leaf eating predators. There have been two sightings. The first sighting was at the corner of Herb Row on the sage plant.  The second sighting occurred while picking beans near the bitter melon plants.  These warriors can reach 3 inches tall.  However, the pictures showcase a nymph half-inch to an inch tall.

Let's zoom in.... hello nymph Mantodea.

I hope to see these beautiful creatures grow and thrive in the garden.  Not only do the Mantodeas look visually fascinating but they are excellent at devouring, the equally hungry, victory garden predators.

Pyramid support for vertical gardening

Big news in the Morrison Victory Garden.  We have a new support structure and a few fruit sightings.

pyramid support for melon/zucchini

I finish creating the support for the Crenshaw melon and one of the zucchini plants. I tried my hardest to keep all of the zucchini and yellow squash plants vertical but one zucchini plant is very stubborn. I decided to let the zucchini plant grow horizontal and trail up and down the pyramid support with the melons.

I made the support using two wooden lattices and four wooden posts.  I nailed two posts to the shortest sides of one lattice.  The posts keep the lattice steady and help maintain the pyramid/upside down V shape.  I repeated the process with the two additional stakes and the remaining lattice.

whip-stitching the top seam

I leaned each lattice against each other to make a pyramid shape.  The unevenness of the top seam is not an issue.  Just use some string and whip-stitch the top seam together. I kept the string tight while sewing up the seam. The tight string keeps the support structure looking like an upside down V.  The last thing anyone would want is their vertical support to flatten out by the weight of the plants or fruit.  However, this may still happen especially if large heavy fruit  grow on the vines.  I may consider adding a few strong vertical stakes in the middle of the pyramid if we have an overabundance of zucchini or melons.

July 1, 2012 - Crenshaw melon

As for the melons, there are many flowers and small orbs of fuzzy fruit growing on the vines. The Crenshaw melons are doing the best and will be the first to produce mature fruit. The cantaloupe and watermelon plants are growing but have not reached the same size as the Crenshaw melon plant. Right now most of the Crenshaw melons are small and furry.  As the melons mature the fuzz will disappear into a hard rough skin.

Juliet tomato flowers & first tomato of the season (right)

The tomato plants have filled up the red cages.  I will be adding the second level to the cages within the week.  I noticed a few small green orbs hanging amongst the yellow flowers too.  To my surprise, the Juliet tomato plant is the first to push out green tomato.  I hope to see many more growing orbs in the tomato plants within the next few weeks.

corn has tassels and silk

The corn is doing the best it can do.  I used all of our remaining corn seed to plant this season's crop.  The seed was bought from Burpee in 2009.  The older the seed, the more likely the seed will not germinate or produced fruit/veggies.  I suspected this might happen this season since our corn seeds were a few years old.  I was correct in my assumptions.  I had to replant corn three times due to lack of germination.  I wanted to make sure the rows were full to help with corn pollination.  So far, a little more than half of the corn has produced ears.  However, many of the stalks are half as tall when compared to our 2011 corn field.

Pickling veggies... DILLicious!

dill is a great herb for canning

I love our bread and butter veggies from last season.  My mom and I snack on them throughout the day. I just take the jar from the pantry and place it into the fridge. A few hours later you have cold, crisp, and sweet zucchini and squash.  I have also eaten them as a side dish to a sandwich, a bowl of soup or a soy dog.  Either way canning veggies has brought lots of variety to my family's diet.

Zucchini is getting big...yikes!

We also make dill pickles and enjoy eating pickles by themselves or as a side dish to a meal.  Dill does not last long in my herb garden and often goes to seed by mid-summer.  I wanted to take advantage of the fresh dill while canning my first round of veggies.  I searched through my sacred text, Better Homes and Garden Cookbook, and found two recipes that produce canned vegetables with dill.

July 1, 2012 harvest

The first recipe explains how to make dill pickles.  I substituted cucumbers with the three vegetables I have on hand.  I like to keep my canning moving throughout the season and use only what the garden produces. Making dill veggies allowed me to use most of the dill from Herb Row and a variety of beans, zucchini and yellow squash from the garden beds.

Victory Garden 2011 - corn, cucumbers, and zucchini

The second recipe is titled Pickled Garden Vegetables.  The recipe asks for a large variety of veggies, such as carrots, onions, zucchini, squash, etc.  I only have beans, squash and zucchini and found this same combo worked great with the Bread and Butter Pickles recipe.  I used a variety of Burgundy, Blue Lake and Scarlet Emperor beans. The key to this recipe is to cook your dill with the liquid and add garlic.  This is very different from the dill pickles recipe, which does not include garlic. Additionally, when making dill pickles you place the dill in the jar with the cucumbers before adding the liquid. I welcomed the variety in cooking procedure and taste. I cannot wait to try my first batch of pickled garden vegetables... mmmm! I can still smell the dill and garlic boiling in vinegar, sugar and salt.

June 30, 2012  canned vegetables

In total, I canned three quarts of pickled garden vegetables and four quarts and 2 pints of dill vegetables. Yeah!

The first canning of the season has successfully added more food and variety to our pantry. My family has begun consuming the remaining jars of bread and butter, dill, and kosher pickles from 2009 and 2010. These yummy pickles will help fuel my efforts in trying new recipes while canning veggies and fruit this season.