More Garden!!

My squash and green onion plants are producing edible portions en masse, so they are getting most of the attention right now, though my tomato plants have dozens of green tomatoes, and my cabbage plant is doing lovely, but I can only harvest one or two leaves a week, and my pumpkin has 4 little baby pumpkins.  I should also give a shout out to my sugar snap pea plants that are keeping us in snack supply every couple of days!

But, this post is mostly about the squash plants. = )

A beautiful 'heartvest!'

One of the plants is slowly growing off the side, we think that maybe we planted them a little too close together.

With this 'heartvest' I made squash bread!

The consistency was very much like cornbread, but the taste was closer to a lemon poppy seed loaf.  None of us cared much for it, though Emily liked it the best.  The taste wasn't bad, I actually liked the aftertaste, but while I was chewing, the cornbread texture didn't sit well with me.

With the cabbage leaves, I've been rolling up fish to make up my main course for lunch.  Tuna was quite good, and I baked up some barramundi a few days later, which was also good, but I didn't care for it warm as much as chilled.

If you read about our farmer's market trip, you'll probably notice that Emily is having to support the bottom of the basket, but it is such a cute basket!

With the next 'heartvest' I made squash soup.

The squash soup was so good!  It can be served hot or cold, and has a lovely rich flavor from the coconut milk!  I topped it with some fresh chives.  I froze what we didn't eat the day I made it, and it received much better reviews than the squash loaf!

Once the soup was cleaned up, I was left with a half can of coconut milk.  An internet search yielded a recipe for biscuits to use up the rest. So, I made almost* vegan biscuits.  They were also quite tasty.  But then, I saw the ageing blueberries in the fridge, so I whipped up some quick blueberry jam to go with the biscuits.  Suffice to say, I spent the day in the kitchen. = )

Our 'heartvests' are now so plentiful that I am giving away squash to anyone who will take them!  We're still enjoying as much butter fried squash as we want, but it's so much squash!!!

 *I had to add butter, because we didn't have the coconut oil.

My facebook memories told me that this time last year we had a collection of large cucumbers, but our plants are just now flowering and growing baby cucumbers!  Assuming we have plenty of fair weather left, we should have a nice 'heartvest' of cucumbers too! = )

I'm sure this will not be my last post about my garden, it is just bringing our family such joy this summer!  We already have plans for next summer, here's hoping for another year of 'heartvests'!

later days

Below are the recipes that I pulled from various corners of the internet, but formatted and listed here, just in case I need to find them again next year!

Squash Soup

Ingredients

3 medium summer squash cut into half-moons
1 medium onion diced
1 medium potato peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic  (no need to chop them up)
4 fresh thyme sprigs leaves removed from stems (I used a teaspoon of powdered)
1 tablespoon coconut oil or olive oil
4 cups vegetable stock (don't sub chicken stock)
½ cup coconut milk canned
2 tablespoons lemon juice
kosher salt and pepper

Instructions

Melt oil in a stockpot over medium heat. 

Add all the vegetables and aromatics, until the onions begin to soften, about 5 minutes. 

Add the broth and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until all the vegetables are soft; 15-20 minutes.

Let cool slightly. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth. Be careful of the hot liquid! 

Strain through mesh strainer, and keep only thin liquid.

Return liquid to pan. Place pan over medium-low heat stir in coconut milk and lemon juice. 

Salt and pepper to taste

Serve with additional fresh thyme leaves and a drizzle of coconut milk (I used chives instead of thyme)

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Coconut Milk Biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups (270g) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons (40g) sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
5 tablespoons melted coconut oil, divided (use neutral tasting coconut oil) (I used butter here)
1/2 cup (120ml) unsweetened almond milk
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl.

Add 2 tablespoons of the melted coconut oil to the flour mixture and whisk to distribute it evenly across the flour.

Stir together the almond milk, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the flour, and add the almond milk mixture and the remaining 3 tablespoons of melted coconut oil. 

Gently stir until the dough just comes together. Do not overmix! (If the dough is too dry, sprinkle a few drops of water over it.)

Divide the dough into 6 somewhat equal parts and drop by Spoonfuls onto a greased parchment- or silicone-lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart.  (I made smaller biscuits)

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes at 450°F until the tops of the biscuits are lightly browned and the biscuits do not give when you press down on them. (So I cooked for only 9-10 minutes)

Let cool for 5 minutes before eating. Best eaten while warm.

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Simple Blueberry Jam

Ingredients

2 heaping cups of fresh or frozen blueberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Instructions

Add blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a medium saucepan.

Stirring frequently, cook over medium high heat until blueberry mixture comes to a rolling boil.

Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling and stirring for 10 minutes.

Towards the end of the cooking time, use the back of the spoon to gently crush some of the berries.

At the end of the 10 minutes the blueberry liquid should be slightly thickened. You can also use a thermometer to judge done-ness. When the blueberry mixture reaches 220°F, the jam is done. (I watched the clock, my jam hit 220°F at almost exactly 10 minutes.)

Transfer the blueberry jam to a storage jar and let come to room temperature.