Foody Friday - Hobo Stew (or Poor Man's Stew)

My garden is coming along well. 

And I'm putting my kids to heavy toil harvesting and eating the vegetables. 

Eating some of those veggies is the hardest part. 

Summer squash...blech! 

Our purple beans have done really well. 

I love purple beans because I can actually see them when I go picking them. 

I think my mom called my favorite fresh green bean dish Hobo Stew. (Correction: My mom just let me know that my Grandma always called it Poor Man's Stew.) I just always remembered it as "the dish we always ate right after we picked the beans" 

Put diced potatoes, fresh snapped beans, salt, pepper and cooked ground sausage in a pot. Cover with water and boil until potatoes are soft. 

I love the way my purple beans turn green :) 

Serve hot!! 

There is nothing better than eating veggies straight from the garden. 

What is your favorite way to eat fresh produce? 

The garden is started and spring is joyous!

We have been so blessed here in Kansas lately. We've had spring rain and Kansas is actually green. Last year I didn't think a green Kansas was even possible and I admit that last summer and the severe drought we were going through was a seriously depressing thing to go through. Of course just because we've had a little rain so far doesn't mean we couldn't use more. I'm still praying for a downpour and no one out here would complain if Kansas flooded! 

With spring and some wonderful warm weather, up in the 80's, we've been itching to start in the garden. But if nothing else the last year I have learned how quickly the weather can change in SW Kansas. It's not uncommon for the temps to drop 20 degrees or more in 24 hours. 

We didn't get the entire garden planted this weekend, we stuck with safe stuff like peas, kale, spinach.

I'll hold off for a couple more weeks before we go any further...just to be safe. On Sunday I was talking to a woman who remembered a blizzard hitting SW Kansas in the 50's in late March that left 15 feet of snow on the Main Street of town!! Unbelievable! 

I'm pretty sure we are safe from that much snow but you never know. The weather today was in the 80's but is supposed to drop the 50's and 60's later in the week with rain (YAY!) No, that white stuff in our garden plot isn't snow but shredded paper DR brought home from work. He figured it might help as mulch. I don't know if it will work, has anyone ever used shredded paper in their gardens?

Spring has sure been pleasant this year, I just hope the good feeling continues. Our yard is full of weeds and these beautiful little flowers. But I have to agree with DR, after last year with barely any rain, when absolutely nothing grew I can't bear to mow anything down that is growing. Even weeds. 

Foody Friday - Roasted Garden Hash

Our garden has done pretty well despite a drought. I harvested this little bowl of goodies this morning. Except for that green tomato up there. That was added by Little Miss Yahoo.

It's a great bowl of veggies but there hasn't been a bumper crop of anything this summer to justify me doing a lot of canning or freezing. So most days veggies come straight from the garden onto the table. 

Except Okra. I've been having a real hard time figuring out just HOW to fix okra. The problem with okra is when you cut it, it is slimy. There is like a sap that seeps out of it. Most people fry okra which is good but most days I don't have the patience to do the whole assembly line of batter. But if you just try to fry or roast okra by itself the sappiness can be an overwhelming texture. 

The best way I've found to fix okra is to first slice it and soak it in lemon juice water for about five minutes. This helps remove some of that sap. Then I toss the okra with tomatoes, peppers and onions....veggies that will add a stronger flavor to the okra. Toss it all with olive oil, salt and pepper and then roast in the oven on 350 for 20 minutes or so. 

And eat it right out of the pie pan I roasted it in. Who needs to dirty up another dish? 

This is the first year I've ever grown okra. On the positive side, it is a hardy plant despite drought conditions and there is always plenty of it to harvest from the garden. On the downside, it's a bit bland and there is always plenty of it to harvest from the garden. The biggest challenge with okra is finding different ways to eat it so you won't get sick of eating it. 

Other than battered and fried, have you ever eaten okra? 

Playing in the Garden

The garden is like their own little jungle. 

Zucchini, Beans and Watermelon...oh my!

I've been pretty darn happy with our garden. We are under water restrictions in our town and can only water our garden on odd days of the month. I didn't really think our garden would do well but it's doing much better than I expected. 

Ha! These are some decorative mini gourds that grew accidentally. We spread compost on it in the spring and I'm pretty sure I threw some mini gourds in the compostor last Halloween. Ah well, they are a nice addition to our garden. 

Look! A watermelon!! And it's pretty big...I can't wait to cut into this juicy guy! 

I picked my first batch of beans this week. Boy, oh boy, and fresh garden beans are so, so much better than canned store bought beans. 

Of course zucchini...tons of it. I do believe zucchini could grow anywhere! And I'm learning that okra is just as hardy. Both okra and zucchini just grows and grows! I can look at the plants on Monday and there won't be anything on anything but by Wednesday they'll be full. 

We are thinking of trying to put in some fall crops in the garden, which I've never done before but I think it will stay warm enough to perhaps put in cabbages or something. I've really enjoyed having a garden again :) 

Wow, my garden is ACTUALLY growing!

I was starting to have doubts that I'd ever get a garden to grow in Kansas but, much to my surprise, things are looking pretty good. Things are growing!

I have a tomato...that't going in tomorrow's dinner. I don't know what tomorrow's dinner is yet but it will definitely be tomato related.

Oh look! More a comin'! Maybe I will get to make tomato soup this year!!

And a zuchinni...that's going in tomorrow's dinner too....zuchinni and tomato...hmmm, what else?

I have an okra! I've never grown okra but now I have one and just have to figure out how to cook it!

Tomorrow's appetizer perhaps?

I just love the fact I can fix food from my own backyard.

However, this one has DR and I puzzled. After all our cucumbers were wiped out by hot, high winds this plant was left. We think it's a pumpkin. Buuuuut we didn't plant pumpkins. 

Hmmm...where did this plant come from??? Ah, HA!

 The culprit? We think this came from our Halloween jack o' lanterns that went into our compost pile which went into our garden! We'll see how it grows!  

We do need to get this garden mulched though for as hot as it is getting. Hopefully I'll find some straw to get on it soon to help hold down some of the moisture.

Do you have photos of your garden? I'd love to see what your garden is looking like.

My Dry Garden is Feeling Puny

My garden is growing but not without a lot of work. Back in Indiana I rarely watered a garden. In Kansas I've had to water everyday; it is unusually dry here this year (so I'm told.)  This past week our daily temps have soared into the 90's and 100's. With Kansas heat comes Kansas wind. Normally the wind is welcome because it takes away a bit of the heat.

But my poor plants are feeling the brunt of all the hot air. Although I've watered the garden in the morning, the wind dries up all the moisture long before afternoon. I started to water the garden twice a day but it didn't look like it was doing that much good. DR bought a soaker hose today so hopefully that will prevent quite as much moisture loss.

I've always grown tons of carrots in years past but I can not grow carrots in Kansas. See that patch of dirt up there? I've planted carrots twice there and nothing has popped up but weeds. I suspect the soil content is just wrong for carrots.  *sigh* I love carrots.

I don't know what's the matter with my pepper plants either. This is actually looking good. A couple days ago it looked as though something had eaten it all. I don't know whether it's the soil or the wind.

My tomatoes on the other hand aren't doing too badly. We staked them today in hopes it will help against the wind.

My heart was sinking a bit today as I walked around my little garden. I'm starting to wonder whether we should just built a greenhouse over the whole plot over the winter and start a garden in February! But, I'm not giving up. We'll figure out someway to garden successfully....but it might take a couple years.

My Garden in Photos.

What a difference a month makes! A month ago we planted a garden. Yes, it was too early but we are finally seeing the results of our patience, some replanting, buying plants and LOTS of watering.

We've watered our garden nearly everyday in the past month. I still don't water it as much as I should. DR usually does the watering. I grew up in humid Indiana and I just keep thinking that I'll drown those poor plants with all the water they get but then I have to remind myself there isn't much moisture in the ground here and not much to expect from the sky. It's unbelievable, the past month, to hear of all flooding in parts of the country yet, here, we are in drought conditions. I think SW Kansas is always in drought conditions. It's hard to keep moisture in the soil when the wind dries out any moisture we might receive. 

Anyway, back to my garden. These aren't the tomatoes we started in the house. Nah, those died!  I can't keep anything alive in the house..lol. These are from a local greenhouse and boy are they big and sturdy! There are already small tomatoes on a few!!! I'll have Grandma's Tomato Soup before I know it!!

Spinach...I love spinach. I freeze a lot of it.

This is OKRA. I've never grown okra, it's too cold to grow in northern Indiana, so I'm told. I've eaten it twice. I don't even know what it will look like. I've been told it's sticky when you pick it. Okra...a gardening adventure!

These are my rogue cucumbers. They are growing six feet away from where I planted them. I blame the Kansas wind cuz it couldn't be MY fault that they've moved.

Beans!!! Yay! Look how thick they are?

Oh,  fresh beans ham and potatoes I can almost taste you!

We have popcorn too. The boys and I have had so much fun eating popcorn from our own garden the past few years.

And a couple of rogue watermelon. They were supposed to be growing out of that hill behind them. I don't know why we planted watermelons; DR insisted. He used to grow acres of them in southern Indiana when he was a kid. I don't think they'll make it here but DR will probably prove me wrong.

So far it doesn't look like much but there is lots of potential there!!

I'm sure this post was boring to read, if you made it to the end that is! But I'm excited about my little plot of earth.

I love gardening; I think I get it from my dad. I remember how he'd come home from working all day to working in the garden for an hour or so. I never understood when I was a kid why he spent so much time in the garden but now I realize the garden was where he could unwind and relax. And it's become that for me too.