E-Garden Success in Germany

We’ve been eating almost all our veggies from the garden for over 2 months now. I’ve had to purchase some red bell peppers for my Bread and Butter pickles, since my pepper crop was ruined by a late Spring storm, and some onions and potatoes, but that’s about it.

I’ve been freezing green beans like crazy. Since they’re so good frozen, we haven’t been eating them fresh very often. I’ve been concentrating on other things in abundance for fresh use. We’ve also been eating fresh-from-the-garden cucumbers (what you call “Hothouse” or “English”, but from the garden) Tomatoes, Zucchini, Lettuce, Beets, Kohlrabi, Broccoli, Artichokes (YUM!!) various Herbs, Bulb Fennel.

I’ve also been cutting flowers that grow in the veggie garden – right now mostly Sunflowers, Gladiolas and Zinnias. Jon will be delighted to hear my carrot crop failed completely. The potatoes should be ready to harvest in about 3 weeks. The Romanesco will be ready to eat by next week.

I just found a goat farm about 4 km away where I can purchase cheese and, when available, meat. Our eggs are all local, and the honey comes from the beekeeper across the street!

I prefer canning or dehydrating when I can without a loss of quality. I don’t like the fact that one simple power failure could wipe out a whole season’s produce in the freezer. We do freeze the green beans,
rather than canning, tho. Later on, the Brussels Sprouts will also be frozen.

The dehydrator has been busy with sliced zucchini for soup mixes, shredded zuccchini (re-hydrate in orange or pineapple juice) for cakes, tomatoes and the coarse, dark vitamin-rich outer leaves of all the cabbage family and beet greens. These are crumbled and added to soups or pasta dough for coloured noodles.

We have fresh Blackberries in abundance right now, to go with the “August Apples” – sort of like a golden delicious, that we’ve been getting from the neighbors. Balckberry & Apple Crumble! YUM!

Canning – several batches of Dill and Bread & Butter pickles, all made from Zucchini. (I do have pickling cucumbers in the garden – they should be ready in a week or so, as the zucchinis slow down) pickled
beets, canned applesauce, blackberries.

Did you mention you are both avoiding wheat?? Here’s a GF recipe we had for dinner last week; (We don’t have problems with glute – I just mix up the grains a lot, rather than the normal Wheat or Rice-based
diet.)

Zucchini Noodles with Gorgonznla Sauce (low carb, gluten free)

Cut Zucchini into long thin strips – use a Chefs Mandolinne, a carrot peeler or (what I used) the slicing side of a box Grater. Put into a pan with a bit of butter and gently steam over low heat. No need to add
water – they’ll cook off a lot by themselves.

Meanwhile, pour 2 cups of lowfat or fat free evaporated milk in a pan. Mix a little of the cold milk with 1 TBSP Cornstarch till smooth. Stir into the milk and gently heat, stirring constantly, till the milk thickens. A dash of white wine here would be excellent, but not necessary. Stir in 100-150 grams shredded or crumbled Gorgonzonla or Blue Cheese.

Put the zucchini in a colander to drain. As soon as the cheese has melted, dish up the zucchini, and top with the sauce.

I just planted a 3rd crop of lettuce, and some Chinese Cabbage, My third Spinach crop should be able to go in next week – as soon as I free up some space.

<Hilary>