Food Highlight: Garlic Scapes

photo credit: allstockphotos.com/thebittenword.com

A tall, spindling shoot growing from the midst of the garlic leaves and curling around it self near the top, a garlic scape is the flowering stem of hard neck garlic. The scapes are removed to redirect the plants energy towards growing the garlic bulb, instead of new seed. Crisp and refreshing, the scape brings a slightly milder garlic flavor than the garlic bulb still growing beneath the soil.

Here are a few garlic scape recipes:

Garlic Scape Pesto

Seven Things to do with Garlic Scapes

Scape Tied Spicy Grilled Chicken 

Sauteed Garlic Scapes

What are your plans for enjoying your garlic scapes?

Menu Plan: Simplicity

 photo credit:cosmic kitty/everystockphoto.com

 This week my focus with meals is simplicity. I'm gearing up for a big cooking/baking/freezing day to get a months' worth of breakfasts and lunches set aside for Jon. Below is my menu plan for this week.


Supper:
 - Garlic Scape Pesto over Egg Noodles with Caesar Salad
 - Lemon & Garlic Scape Salad with Radish Butter on Toasted Baguette
 - Radish Greens Soup (we really enjoyed this last week- reminded us of cream of broccoli soup)
 - Tossed Cold Noodle Salad with Sugar Peas and Spring Onions


How about you? What are you planning to make with your produce this week?

Food Highlight: Radishes

Photo Credit: Teodora Vlaicu/Stock.Xchng

Red, pink, purple, white – radishes come in a variety of colors, but all are fairly well known for their pungent, peppery flavor and generally make their appearance as salad toppings in American food culture.

Radishes contain amalyse, an enzyme that helps to break down carbohydrates, as well as fiber, minerals such as magnesium, calcium, folate and manganese. They also are a source of vitamin C, which is a water soluble vitamin that is not stored in the body and thus must be replenished daily.



Here is a collection of radish recipes:

Radish Greens Soup (just had this last night - it was amazingly good!)
Radish Butter on Toasted Baguette
Feta-Radish Spread
Hardcooked Eggs with Radishes & Anchovy-Butter Crostini
Radishes & Flavored Butters


I tweaked the feta-radish spread a little bit, instead of adding greek yogurt I used heavy cream and just added enough to make the mixture nice and spreadable then I tossed in some chicken. We rolled the feta-radish-chicken spread in wraps with lots of lettuce and had them for supper. Wow, were they good!

How are you using your radishes? Any particular recipe you are wanting to try?

Menu Plan: May 21-27, 2012

This week I'm starting up my spring menu planning, which for me contains two important elements. The first is to enjoy the produce coming in from the field and the second is to use up the odds and ends sitting in the cupboards and deep freezer - sort of like spring cleaning to make way for all the food I hope to preserve this summer/fall.

Breakfast:

Green Smoothies with lettuce, frozen rhubarb and frozen bananas (milk base) & Eggs

Strawberry Muesli

Supper:

Radish Greens Soup & Salad

Spring Onion Soup with Sausage and Potatoes & Rhubarb Float with Buttermilk Sorbet

Chicken Wraps with Feta-Radish spread.

Taco Salad

Salad with Mackerel Patties

Garlic Scape Pesto over Egg Noodles


What are your plans for using your produce?

May Update

Hello Everyone!
We've been busy planting and preparing for the start of the CSA coming up in a week!
The plantlings are doing nicely; thankfully they've adapted well to an early warm spell followed by a late cold season.

Lettuce, waiting to be transplated.

We've planted at least 12,000 heads of lettuce so far this spring.

The garlic we planted last fall is doing beautifully;

right now we are on track to harvest the bulbs this July.

Our potato patch after the frost -

partially killed by the cold but thankfully rebounding.

Radishes

My brother, Samuel, is staying with us for a few months this spring/early summer as an apprentice on the farm. He wants to farm for a living, although he's leaning more towards animal husbandry rather than produce cultivation. We are working on teaching him a bit about the business aspects of the farm as well, such as accounting.

Beautiful salad mix!

Our buck kid, whom Elise fondly calls "Bebe".

 She loves feeding him dandelions and maple leaves,

as well as refilling his water bucket which he frequently spills.

Trixie, our dairy goat given to us by my parents.

The children both seem to be handling goat milk better than cow milk.

Elise and Jon David love having animals. Between taking care of the goats and "maaa"ing at our landlord's sheep they are having a ball!

~Monique Einwechter