A few days ago when Frank asked the proverbial question, "What's for dinner?" I looked around at all of the fresh garden produce and said, "Potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes and meat." He gave me a very dubious look and asked how I was going to cook it. Here is what I described.
Start off with some olive oil and potatoes, frying/sauteing them first. I always salt and pepper the potatoes.
After they are off to a good start, add the onion. We really like onions cooked this way so I used 1 1/2 onions sliced rather big.
Give the onions a bit to cook until they start to clear up, then add peppers. These are sweet peppers and cook up very well. Add as many as you like.
Once the vegetables are about two thirds cooked, take ground meat and drop it around here and there. These pieces are about rounded tablespoon size. I mixed salt and pepper in with the meat beforehand. I space the pieces of meat apart so they will cook individually and end up like weird shaped, small meat balls. After I space them out on top, I turn the entire mixture with a spatula to put the meat at the bottom against the skillet. Then I put another batch of 'meatballs' on top. In all I used about a half pound of meat. Let everything cook, turning as needed, until the meat is done.
For just the last few minutes, add the peeled, diced tomatoes and only cook until they are heated through. This time I cooked them too long and they had blended away into a sauce. The first time I made this, the tomatoes were still in chunks, had a more distinct flavor and Frank liked it much better. But this step is easily adapted to your own preference.
Grow what you like and eat what you grow. It's another example of using your food storage. Don't buy a bunch of stuff that is advertised as easy to fix and nutritious in the event of a disaster and stick it under your bed or on a shelf and never eat it. Because if you end up needing it, you may find out that it is just not palatable, or that it makes you sick because you're not used to eating that kind of food. The same goes for gardening and food preservation. Last summer I finally grew a semi decent crop of lima beans. I had been trying to grow them for three years and was thrilled with my success. But, you know what? After all that time and effort, we found out we don't like them! They were really yucky, so I will not be growing anymore. I've also experimented with a lot of different peppers and have settled on jalapenos and a sweet pepper. The verdict is still out on green beans and corn.
It takes time and effort to fine tune what grows well, preserves well and tastes good. Use your time wisely. The events of the world are a complicated cause for concern. Keep your eyes open and your mind sharp. Don't put off doing what that still small voice is prompting you to do. Listen and act. It's important.
Until next time - Fern
We are growing things to find out about them...some thing will not be grown again...The Peron and Peru tomatoes are a hit. Smaller tomatoes but intensely flavored they add TOMATO to any dish we use them in. They are also very heat tolerant, wet tolerant, dry tolerant and every trip to the garden yields a bunch. I find them perfect to can whole and they dehydrate exceptionally well.
ReplyDeleteHowever the KIng Humbert...taste like cardboard....yield poorly and have a huge vine that looks like it should be doing something more than photosynthesis!
Your wanting to taste the garden is the right way...I wonder if the craze for Hot spicy food is because so much modern food is so bland?
That's a very interesting thought about hot, spicy food, Fiona. We recently bought some beef from the store and were surprised that it didn't really have any flavor.
DeleteI will stick with Arkansas Traveler tomatoes. I actually like them and they produce great here. This is the first time in over 50 years of life that I am actually slicing tomatoes and putting them on my plate to eat. I know that our tastes change over time, but it still surprises me to eat tomatoes I enjoy.
Thank you for sharing, Fiona.
Fern
Last week I decided to try to use up some of the vegetables from the garden so I canned vegetable soup. I think it will be real good this winter with some corn bread. Over the years, I have learned to only plant what we like to eat. And what we eat has changed since our children have grown up and left home. It doesn't take near as much for just the two of us. I still plant too much but never know what will do good and what won't. Pat B.
ReplyDeleteYour soup sounds like a great idea, Pat. I have thought about canning soup for years, I just haven't done it yet. I know the soup we could make from our garden produce would be so much better than store bought, in flavor and nutrition. Thank you very much for sharing.
DeleteFern
If you had just asked me before you put all that effort into growing Lima beans, I could have told you they were yucky. ;)
ReplyDeleteOkay, Joy, you really cracked me up! Thanks!
DeleteFern
That sounds really good! You cook the same way I do. Cook whatever we have at the time.
ReplyDeleteThank you, SFG. When I was a new bride, over 30 years ago, I could hardly boil water and needed a recipe for everything. Now, when I look at a recipe, I'm always thinking about how I can change it to fit what we have on hand, or what we like better, and I like it that way.
DeleteFern
I like lima beans - but only as shell beans (dry), cooked with salt pork or ham hocks and a tomato sauce.
ReplyDeleteFrank likes navy beans and butter beans, so maybe we will try again sometime, Kathi. The lima beans we grew were huge, which I didn't like much and just didn't have the flavor we expected. Thank you for sharing another way to fix them.
DeleteFern