Viggies Veggies

Wordless Wednesday – Chopping Dried Oregano

viggie — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:34:41 +0000

Around the Urban Homestead

viggie — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 15:59:14 +0000

Just a quick update this week as I have lots of homework due today and a writing assignment due Tuesday. Considering the semester started Thursday, things are off to a fast start!

The garden is quickly winding down. The last of the tomatoes came in today, and I already had to clear out the tomato plants, cucumbers, crookneck squash, and cantaloupe. I’ll be replanting those areas with radish, spinach, peas, bush beans, and lettuce tomorrow.

Calendula Tea

viggie — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:42:33 +0000

As you saw in my Wordless Wednesday picture this week, my calendula is finally in flower. I came across calendula when I was looking for fun edible flowers to grow, but it is also an herb with a number of medicinal uses.

I decided to start by making my first homegrown and homemade herbal tea. I used the petals from one fresh flower for a cup. The directions I’ve found to use 2 teaspoons fresh petals or 1 teaspoon dried. I’ve tried some herbal teas that you really have to develop a taste for, so I was happy to find this one had a mild but pleasant flavor and was quite enjoyable with a dab of honey.

Wordless Wednesday – Calendula

viggie — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 10:39:57 +0000

Around the Urban Homestead

viggie — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 10:21:03 +0000

This week I cleared out most of the squash and cucumber bed to make way for a fall garden. I brought in 31 pounds from the spaghetti squash plants I had. I left 2 of the zucchini and 2 crookneck squash plants out there, as they’ve recovered from the awful case of powdery mildew that hit them earlier and are right back to producing.

School starts again on Thursday already. I’m also starting on a difficult project at work where they are giving us a small percentage of the time it’ll actually take to complete so I’m in for a lot of long hours at work this semester too. I’d had lots of plans for my 2 school free weeks…but I’m afraid catching up with necessary errands, banking (moved from 30 year mortgage to 15 year at 4%!!) and taking care of family obligations took up most of my time instead. They were important things, but I just feel like I’m running a million miles an hour these days and getting no where on my personal goals with the little homestead…and of course with work and school kicking into high gear there is no end in sight.

Tomato and Zucchini Casserole

viggie — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:41:27 +0000

Yet another tomato and zucchini recipe. This one piqued my interest because it was such a wonderfully simple dish that used fresh tomatoes and zucchini from the garden, fresh basil, and some dill that I’d grown indoors over the winter and dehydrated.

Tomato and Zucchini Red Sauce over Pasta

viggie — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 10:23:03 +0000

I’ve never made sauce from scratch before, so I thought I’d try with a pasta recipe before I whip up a whole batch to can. This one turned out rather funky colored because I used water rather than the called for wine, but the taste was wonderful. My other changes were to use all fresh tomatoes with some extra water and leave out the olives….gross.

Around the Urban Homestead

viggie — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:36:00 +0000

I got to pick the first couple Golden Jenny melons this week. Actually, I could have picked one earlier but I forgot what a small variety of melons I had picked and never thought to check if they were ripe. I lost one like that but caught the next 2. This one was 6 inches across, 1.5 pounds, and oh so cute.

As far as preserving, I got the last of the zucchini dried and another batch of basil done. I made an attempt at tomato sauce that failed miserably. Some great feedback from my Facebook friends showed me the recipe was a little odd and I know to spend as much time as I need with the reduction next time around.

My harvests of melon, corn, crookneck squash, cucumber, and tomatoes this week brought my total to over 100 pounds from the garden. I’m actually a bit disappointed as I know I could be doing so much better if I would have had more time to devote to the garden and had gotten my fall starts going in time. Well, now I’ll have a baseline to try to beat next year.

Tomato, onion, and zucchini salad

viggie — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:37:52 +0000

One of my chat friends threw out this idea for a way to use tomatoes and zucchini, which I have in serious abundance right now. It’s just a raw salad of thinly sliced zucchini, tomatoes, and onions. The dressing was oil and balsamic vinegar. While it wasn’t a 5 star recipe, it was a nice change of pace and hit the spot on a hot day.

Creamy Tomato and Rice Soup

viggie — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:36:36 +0000

The tomatoes have been rolling in so I’m ready to try new recipes. Surprisingly enough, I have never made my own tomato soup before. I used this recipe from Frugal Homesteads.

Mine just looks a little funny because I thought I’d make it with water instead of milk, but it just didn’t taste quite right. So I added powdered milk at the end.

3 cups tomatoes
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
1/4 tsp pepper
3 TBSP flour
2 TBSP butter
1 quart milk

Blanch tomatoes for one minute. Remove from water and peel skins. Add tomatoes, onion, and garlic to blender and blend until smooth.

In soup pot, melt butter and mix in flour. Stir in one cup milk. Add remaining ingredients and tomato mixture. Heat through and serve. I added cooked rice to mine.