Squash, Stir-fry & Salads!

This is one of my golden, yellow summer squash plants! When it was planted, it didn’t look like it was going to make it, but after a couple of weeks, it just began to grow into this lovely plant. I think squash and zucchini are one of the prettiest garden plants to grow.

Here you can see all those tender, little yellow squash coming up.

The last few weeks our garden has been yielding the most wonderful veggies ever!  Golden, yellow summer squash, crispy, green zucchini,  kohlrabi and sweet baby bell peppers. We added fresh baby carrots to the dish also.

Fresh salad with home grown veggies: my little bell peppers were so delicious along with my favorite poppy seed dressing!

Carrots, zucchini slices and squash disks made for a great dinner one night last week.  They were sautéed in wasabi sauce that I made a few weeks ago.  

The garden is about finished with its work for the summer and I think we’ve decided not to plant a fall garden this year.  So, we’re looking forward to next spring and making plans for what we’ll get started with after winter. 

More news coming up on our family ‘expansion’. And hopefully we will have some photos to share.

Blessings Abundantly to you! Thanks so much for stopping by for a visit.

Kimi

The Adventure Begins

We are finished with our state licensing, have our CPR/First Aid/Pool Safety certification and home study completed. With the recent tornadoes, it pushed back the program somewhat and we all have been eagerly waiting for the arrival of our children. 
We got to keep 3 precious kids last week, so they just did school along with us, along with everything else we do.  Here’s a little photo gallery of our week.  
Doing school

Playing in the rain

Going for a little trail ride

Picking fresh flowers

Picking cucumbers & green beans

We had such a great time with them. Keep us in your prayers. Our hands, our hearts and our home is open and waiting for our new little ones!
Thanks for stopping by and visiting. Please feel free to leave a comment below.
Kimi

it’s a fondue night! {how to serve Bok Choy}

The other night we decided to have a different kind of dinner…fondue.  We had steak and chicken with brown rice along with Bok Choy and broccoli.  The meal was complemented by the tasty sauces that were absolutely homemade by us and tasted  delectable! Here's a couple recipes of the evening--
Bok Choy 

• 1 lg head Bok Choy
• 3 C broccoli florets
• 2 T olive oil
• 2 T sesame seed oil
• 4 T soy sauce
• S & P to taste

Clean, cut and set aside broc and bok;  in large sauce pan, heat over med-low heat oils and soy sauce'; add broc and bok; simmer for 5-7 min; tossing lightly; add S & P to taste; serve with brown rice and your favorite meat. We loved it with our fondue dinner (above).
Note: clean bok choy by cutting off and discarding the end of the stalk; pull every stalk off as you would celery; clean thoroughly; slice all the way up to the green leaves; save the leaves-they’re gorgeous anyway! Add the stalk pieces to your dish.
Brown Rice

• 2 C brown rice, dry
• 4 1/2 C water or broth
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/2 leek, sliced
• 1/2 yellow onion, minced
• 4 cloves garlic
• S & P to taste

Rinse rice thoroughly; place in large pot or rice steamer; add remaining ingredients; cook till tender; Serve with Bok Choy…yummie!
Here’s a pictorial of the evening.

I wish I would have taken photos of the food, but will remember to do that next time.  

The sauces we used were so wonderfully flavorful and totally completed the meal that  I’m going to have to put them in a post all by themselves.
Thanks for stopping by…Kimi

Kohlrabi-how to harvest, cook & serve

Kohlrabi: low, stout vegetable; slightly sweet taste; can be served alone or used in place of turnips, potatoes or rutabaga.
Days to Harvest: 55-60 days after planting seeds in soil.
Species: Brassica-which means its from the same family as turnips, broccoli, cabbage, collard greens, mustard plant etc.
Back in April we planted several kinds of seeds in our freshly tilled garden plot. Among them was Kohlrabi. We waited and waited to see how well they would do and finally we saw these tiny leaves sprouting up in the row. Such pretty little leaves all in a row.  As time went on I noticed a bulb was forming on top of the ground.  Digging under and around the bulb, I checked if there was a root. Sure was! Covering it back up, I waited some more. Finally, after about 55 days (after sowing the seeds) I pulled the bulb up out of the ground and shook the soil from its root.
All the light green, long stems were soft, but firm and I simply snapped them off, laying them in a pile.
Here’s a recipe I used to serve this delicious vegetable.
Pinto Beans and Kohlrabi

• 2 C dried pinto beans
• 3 kohlrabi
• 4 T real butter
• 6 C water
• S & P to taste

Wash, rinse and clean beans; place in large cooking pot with butter, S & P, water; bring to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, clean kohlrabi and peel as you would a potato (as below). When your bean are about 20 minutes away from being done, add the kohlrabi to the beans; stir gently and cook until semi-soft; NOT mushy. Add additional water if necessary.
Serve with fresh green beans, steamed carrots, fresh potatoes and Johnny-cakes (corn bread sticks)

Cut in half

Cut ends off

Peel as you would a potato

You’ll notice that the outer skin is very woody, although it peels very easily.  Be careful to observe that if the meat of the bulb is woody, it may be too hard to eat. So cut that part off before cooking.

The inside of the bulb is tender and almost has a sweetened flavor. Not enough to really be sweet though.  You can cut into cubes or cut into julienne slices(as in baby carrot sized) and use with your favorite veggie dip, fresh and raw. 

Home made corn bread sticks are the perfect addition to this garden-fresh meal.  High in protein, fiber and potassium.  Low in fat and salt.

Thanks for visiting!
Kimi

{Kitties, summer days and green beans}

		my growing garden VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Summer is always a productive time on our little farm.  We have been growing vegetables in the garden, herbs in containers and harvesting lots of green beans.  Cucumbers, radishes, garden peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini and kohlrabi seem to like the soil here and are coming up very nicely.

		{GreeN BeaNs!!} VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

The other day, I went out to check my garden and noticed there were so many beans just hanging and ready to pick. My husband and I started picking and realized we needed a larger basket.  We ended up bringing in a 6 gallon bucket of them.  We ate some, gave some away and canned the rest.  Now we need to go pick again. 

 
A couple of weeks ago a dear friend of mine gave me new rooster. He’s the white one in the background. He’s only about 6 months old and already as big as my hens. Which, by the way, have fallen in love with him.  We haven’t named him yet…any suggestions?
 
Early in the spring I planted a vegetable that you don’t hear a lot about: KOHLRABI. As I waited for it to grow, I decided to plan some recipes to use it in.  This week I used it in our favorite cornbread and bean recipe.  It was delicious!  Absolutely wonderful.  I’m going to put the recipe on my homemaker’s site: www.thehomemakersminuteandmore.blogspot.com
Thanks for stopping by and taking a moment.  Remember to send your suggestions for our new rooster’s name…He really needs one!
Kimi