Kitchen Scrap Gardening

I have been reading a lot about kitchen scrap gardening. I checked this book out on Libby (my online library app) and I was intrigued. I can say with absolute confidence that I DO NOT have a green thumb, but I was able to find a few projects that I think I might be able to do.  I'll update my progress as I go. I'm sure some things will be a flop but others will do well. In fact, my oldest daughter has already had a little success with growing some lettuce. All she did was put the base of a head of Romain in the ground and a few days later it had leaves already sprouting. She also planted some carrot tops, and while we may not really get a crop of carrots out of it, they have already started to sprout some greens. My next project is going to be to try and get some herbs going from the fresh herbs I bought at the grocery store. I don't want to go to the hardware store to buy seedlings  and the basil my daughter planted never sprouted, so I'll see how it goes trying to propagate them from cuttings. Right now I have basil, mint, cilantro and dill cuttings. I might ask around on the neighborhood Facebook page for some more cuttings.

Potatoes

                                                         

Here are the potatoes we started. I found that some of my potatoes had formed buds so my daughter cut them and we let them dry for a few days. I planted them in a recycle bin in a sunny spot and watered them. I left just a little of the sprouted part sticking out. From what I've read I just need to add dirt as the plant grows to give the potatoes room to grow. I'm not sure that we will get much out of it, but they were just going to go in the trash anyway so why not put them to good use in the yard, If nothing else they will add some organic matter to the soil. I have another recycle bin as well next time I have to go to the grocery store I might try to purchase some potting soil so I can get something else going.  Any suggestions? (leave a comment if you do)

Celery and lettuce

I also planted some lettuce and celery in pots. Many of the instructions I've read say to start them in water, but the lettuce that my daughter started in her garden worked great without propagating it in water first. We shall see what happens. I am not too worried about it. I didn't purchase anything to make this garden. All I did was reuse things that I already had lying around.

Lettuce

My daughter just put the bottom of some lettuce in the ground less than a week ago and it is already starting to grow leaves.  She planted a few carrot tops as well.  They have nice cute little plants growing out of the top.


It has been nice doing a few little projects around the garden. I have never been successful at it in the past, but with kitchen scrap gardening I know that the only thing that I'm putting into it is time... and I have a lot of that right now... so what can I lose.




So far I have planted potatoes, carrot tops, lettuce, celery, and green onions.  I plan to work on propagating herbs,  and planting some ginger and garlic.  If you have any easy ideas on things to plant that are easy and cheap then let me know in the comments.

The beginnings of my herb garden....

I just started my herb garden for the spring... I've had some of my plants for years... but I had to go out and clean up... clear out and plant my new plants for the season... Here are a few pictures of what I have planted. I'm doing most of my garden in pots this year to prevent the dogs from digging them up... one of these days I'll fence off my kitchen garden so that I can plant what I want...

Lemon Balm

Spicy Glove Basil

Basil

Lavender

Oregano, Rosemary and Thyme...these are some of my older more established plants. I am also growing mint and bee balm... I'll have more photos later.

Here is my daughter's strawberry patch...

Jenn

Joy of the Mountain

Oregano became popular in the states after WWII...before that it was know by it's Spanish name marjoram and was not a staple in the kitchen. Veterans who had been stationed in Italy brought back news of a wonderful dish called pizza and urged their mothers and wives to seek out this delicious herb.

Oregano, a member of the mint family, is originally from the Mediterranean and while not originally popular with US cooks it was brought to the new world early on and has a place in many Latin American dishes. The name oregano comes from the Greek orus (mountain) and ganus (joy)... and it truly is a joy that comes from the hillsides of the Mediterranean. It has been known by many names: wild marjoram, winter sweet, organy, and even Mexican sage.

In addition to it's culinary applications oregano has also been valued as a medicinal herb. Throughout history it has been prescribed for digestive woes, scorpion stings, visual impairment, and even as a tonic to cleanse the brain. I don't know about all that... but what I do know is that it grows well in my garden and really adds flavor to tomato sauces and salads.



Here is a recipe for a Greek style salad that I whipped up this week with the girls:

First we collected together the main ingredients: 1 cucumber (sliced), one large tomato (chopped), one jar or can of black olives (without pits...sliced or in this case slightly mangled), one small onion, a handful of radishes (sliced), a generous handful of oregano (minced), a couple of lemons, salt & pepper (to taste), feta cheese, and a generous drizzling of olive oil. When your ready to put it together just put your little ones to work cutting up the olives... this works well because there is no need for a sharp knife to get the job done. Then I chopped up the rest of the veggies (most importantly the oregano) and then dressed it all with the lemon juice, olive oil, salt & pepper. I put the feta cheese on the side so that the leftovers would last longer in the fridge.

Enjoy!

All smudge marks in the top right hand corner of the photos are courtesy of a broken lense cap cover and my darling daughter L.
All this wonderful information about oregano comes from "The Spice Cookbook" by Avanelle Day and Lillie Stuckley

A Fall Renewal...

My garden experienced a bit of a ugly death as the summer heat burned it to a crisp. I didn't think that my mint plant would make a recovery... or my sage... but it looks like everything is coming back beautifully with the cooler fall temperatures. I've even planted a couple of new cooler weather plants like my cilantro. I don't have any vegetable growing right now... but my herb garden is still coming along. Here are some photos of my garden this fall:

Here is my mint plant... like a phoenix rising from the ashes... a few green buds grow on the brown and withered stems.

My sage too is making a recovery.

Here is my new addition... a cilantro plant that has tripled in size in just a few weeks since I replanted it in this larger pot.
Here is another new addition... a thyme plant... I usually like to plant it in the ground... but due to my dogs I decided to start this one out in a pot until it grows to a size where it is capable of fending for itself.

My basil is looking a little worse for wear... but the oregano is, as always bushy and beautiful... and the plant on the left is, I believe, lime kaffir. I had no idea when I bought it... but I believe it is a citrus shrub with edible leave... I can't wait to see how it grows. It has already grown by leaps and bounds since I purchased it in the spring.

My rosemary plant is about the same age as my oldest daughter...5... and while it is not as tall as she is it makes up for it in overall size.

Father's Day Pasta

For Father's Day I decided to give Paul a break from grilling and I cooked up a shrimp pasta dish using tomatoes and basil from the garden. It was simple and tasted great!

I sauteed onions until they were golden.

Then I chopped up some fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden.

I added a pound of peeled and deveined shrimp and cooked until they were a nice shade of pink.

Last I added the tomato and basil and cooked for just a couple of seconds more.

Drizzled the pasta with olive oil and added a generous amount of parmesan cheese.

All that was left to do was toss it all together and serve it. I made a cucumber and tomato salad to go with it and I also had fresh melon and berries on the table. It was a wonderful summer meal!

Drizzle

This is the first tomato from my garden... Well actually it's the second (the first went into a care package to some friends who just had a baby), but it's the first tomato I've had the pleasure to enjoy. My daughter picked the tomato, we sliced it up, drizzled it with olive oil, and sprinkled on a little sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I'm not really that much of a raw tomato fan. I probably would be if tomatoes weren't sold year round... in season or out. I've had too many experiences of biting into a sour or mealy tomato and being completely turned off to the flavor. I'm pretty sensitive to off textures in tomatoes. That said a perfect tomato... perfectly in season... grown by my own hands is a work of art.



I have a whole vine full of tomatoes that are beginning to turn red. Most of them will probably be served exactly like this. It looks like tomato salad is on the menu for the rest of the month. Maybe I'll buy some fresh mozzarella on my next trip to the store... or just chop up some the basil and oregano I have growing so plentifully.... ahhh the taste of summer.

Fluid

SUN TEA

It would be a stretch to call sun tea a work of art... although on a hot day in Central Texas it is certainly something that can bring you closer to the divine. Making sun tea is an act of creativity, however... blending herbs and teas to make something special. It was a fun creative project that I could share with my kids that had a finished product that could be enjoyed by all...

It stared with a trip to the garden.

Mint and lemon balm were chopped (by me) and photographed (by my daughter).

Now everything is ready to go into the tea ball.

The "tea kettle" is an old pickle jar with the label scoured away, cleaned with baking soda to remove the vinegar flavors and sterilized in bleach.

Now all there was to do was wait. It doesn't take long in the hot Texas sun. We had tea ready to go in a clean pitcher and cool down in the fridge after only a few hours. It was nice and cool by dinner time last night.

Making sun tea brings to mind Hiroyuki Morita movie The Cat Returns...and the Barons "special blend of tea" .... I can't guarantee the flavor...it's different every time.

Heavy Metal

My cast iron skillet is one of my constant companions in the kitchen. I use it to cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Last night I made spaghetti and meatballs in my favorite skillet. It is certainly heavy and most definitely metal so it seemed like the best choice of topics today. I can't say that is was a totally original idea. While pondering the prompt for today I found a lovely charcoal drawing of a cast iron skillet that someone did for their project. But isn't that what this creative workshop is all about? Finding inspiration where you will... especially in the creative works of others? I plan on painting a different portrait of the cast iron skillet, however. My medium is not charcoal but words and food. I love to look at the lore behind this most basics of needs. The cast iron skillet is brimming with lore and I will share a little of it here today.

Cast iron has been around for a long time. Cast iron pots were being used in China as early as the 7th century. They made their way to Europe by the 1700s. They are great for cooking in because they go from kitchen to campfire so well. With proper seasoning you can fry an egg in one, cook a delicious stew, fry some chicken...or just about anything . There are many folkways in the southern United States about the proper ways to season and care for a cast iron cookware.

There isn't much dispute on the proper way to season cast iron. The essential ingredients are oil, heat, and to a certain extent time. When you buy new cookware you have to clean off the protective coating, coat it in a new layer of oil, and then heat it up to create a seal. Most of the debate on this topic centers around the right type of oil. Some say lard, others Crisco and still others use coconut oil.... but basically any oil will do. The last ingredient... time... is simple. The longer you use a cast iron pot the more seasoned it becomes.

Cleaning cast iron is a topic of very "heated" debate. Cleaning methods range from merely wiping it out with an old rag and hanging it on the wall to washing it with soap and water. Supporters of the soap and water approach point out that oil does go rancid eventually... so there is a need to wash it and re-coat it with clean oil occasionally. The White Trash Cookbook suggests using dry cornmeal to rub of the leftover food and oil... it also suggests using that "seasoned" cornmeal for corn cakes. To each his own... but I think I'll sit on the fence on this one. I clean my cast iron pan out using all of these methods... it all depends on the last time I cleaned it and what I made in it last. When I cook meats in it I like to wash it out with soap and water. I don't want to risk getting sick from rancid oil just to have that authentic southern flavor. Hopefully my southern grandma isn't rolling over in her grave.

In addition to it's uses in the kitchen cast iron skillets also have a reputation as an instrument of violence...as murder weapon, instrument of domestic violence, or as home security for those of us southerners too squeamish to pack heat. With that I will leave you with these words from off the Dizzy Gillespie album Jambo Caribe:

Poor Joe... he tried to beat his wife
Poor Joe... he nearly lose his life
Poor Joe... everytime he raised his hand... she knocked him in the head with a frying pan.
Poor Joe... he got up off the floor
Poor Joe... tried to make it for the door
Poor Joe... but she caught him as he ran and knocked him in the head witha fring pan.

Here are a few more photos of metal in the kitchen...








I took the following photos on my way out to the herb garden to gather herbs for dinner. Not exactly a nature walk... but we had storms all day and when I was out walking I wasn't able to take a camera with me. I took several pictures using the prompt heavy metal... garden tools, a horse shoe, and a rusty chain. The other photos are just snap shots of my dogs, the tadpoles that we found in a muddy puddle that are beginning to sprout legs and hop away, and the tomato just a day or so from ripening (my first one this year).

Kitchen Garden

I've never been much of a gardener... but I have been expanding and working on an herb and vegetable garden ever since we bought our home 5 years ago. I planted the oregano and rosemary plants then... and every year I try to make it bigger and better. This year I have a bunch of banana pepper plants, a mystery squash (born of the compost and left to do what it will) and a HUGE tomato plant. As far as herbs go I have the original oregano and rosemary... along with basil, lavendar, mint, lemon balm, lemon thyme, Texas tarrigon, sage... and some herb from Thai cooking that I forget the name of... The garden needs weeding and it is certainly not perfect... but the kids love it and I do too...
Here are a couple of views of the original herb garden... it is a bit disorganized and many of the herbs are in pots due to the fact that my dogs love to dig and lay in the garden... Next year I hope to find a way to fence it and keep the dogs out.




Here is my monster tomato plant in all it's glory. It takes 3 tomato cages to hold it up. I bought the seedling at the San Marcos farmers market and I can't wait to start harvesting tomatoes from that monster.


I have 6 banana pepper plants that are all full of peppers that will be ready to pick soon... gonna pick a peck and pickle them peppers...


Here is my mystery squash... I don't know if I'll ever know exactly what it is the way the bugs go after it. I have such a hard time with squash plants.


And last but not least here are my mint and lemon balm plants... They weathered the winter and looked like hell at the beginning of spring... but man-o-man have they come back!

Cheers!