Fruits (and Vegetables) of My Labor

Sometimes, time spent and labor put in doesn't always amount to visible progress made. What I love about gardening is, well, not only is the progress visible, it's edible!

Often, a side effect of cooking as a chef in a 2 person household is dealing with waste, manipulating leftovers, and honestly, utilizing trim and vegetable scraps. I started buying organic potatoes after realizing the terrible spray that is applied to most conventional potatoes that inhibits sprouting and therefore "extends" storage life. Organic potatoes only last a few days until they get the green ring of death underneath the skin (that makes them poisonous to eat), so I inevitably end up with potatoes I'm often salvaging by removing parts of them in one form or another. With two potatoes that were sprouted beyond salvaging for consumption of any kind, I decided during these crazy times I might as well grow some potatoes of my own out in my garden. After all, a rotten tater isn't just a rotten tater, it's an invitation for a new beginning. And, well, many new taters!

Below you can see the fruits and vegetables of my labor from my humble backyard garden. The kale from the few plants I've had has been endless! I would be willing to place a wager that they will need to be harvested again in a week or so! It has been pecked by birds a little, but it still tastes delicious when sauteed with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and added to almost any dish!

I've also got some butternut squash that are just starting to produce, as well as some cherry tomatoes and red basil! The two "rotten" potatoes that I planted in the garden months ago have produced easily 24 smaller potatoes or more. Now that is some math I can get behind! They have stayed fresh for over a week in a brown paper bag because they are literally as fresh as possible.

Up next on the roster in the next couple weeks is some jalapenos, beefsteak tomatoes, more cucumbers, sugar pumpkins, and peppers! I also dried some of the red basil I harvested (can't let that beautiful herbaceous goodness get wilty on me!), stored it with some humidity packs (these can help prevent mold and maintains the perfect humidity for dried fresh herbs), and can't wait to use it as a garnish on a couple fall desserts in the coming weeks! I love fall so much, the clove flavor from the red basil will be perfect!

With the potatoes that I harvested, I decided to make a classic gratin with them. We had some cave aged Gruyere in the fridge and some Parmigiano Reggiano, that was all the inspiration I needed to let my garden-fresh potatoes sing as the hero in this cheesy side dish. Then, I went ahead and made a cheesy sauce for the burgers we had with them. Because, well, Gruyere. ;) With all the fatty-cheesy-starchy-heavy-greasy-yummy-addictive-deliciousness of a meal I was creating, some quickles (quick pickles made with vinegar, sugar, salt, and spices of your choice) from the fresh cucumber I had in the fridge from the back yard just made sense here. With a food saver or vacuum sealer of any kind, quickles with some good flavor can be made in 20-30 minutes!

One last "fruit" of my labor, and that is completing the design and printing of my new branded material. With the new menu release complete and orders coming in, new packaging was in order! So, I present to you, new Flour Child Stuff packaging and door hangers. These custom printed boxes are exactly what I imagined, and the door hangers are perfect for when I make deliveries! I have to take a second here to give a big THANK YOU to Corporate Business Cards in Franklin Park, IL for doing the printing of these boxes and door hangers! They are exactly what I was looking for and I got them from right here in the Chicagoland area! Win, win, if you ask me.

www.corpbuscards.com

Through all the brainstorming, labor, watering, digging, planting, designing, cooking (and fruit eating ;) ), progress has been made. That's for sure. And lessons have been learned, both under the shade of my floppy garden hat and over the heat of the stove as I cook and test recipes. My favorite part of it so far has been this. Documenting the journey. That is just one big lesson for life, if I do say so myself! :)

These are a few of my favorite things...

It's no raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens (for those of you that know me, you know that I'm just not a cat person ;) ) but these are sure as hell a few of my favorite things!

My favorite thing I like to eat warm and fresh out of the oven is bread. Without a doubt. The difference between fresh, scratch-made bread and what you buy in a bag from the grocery store is huge. The air pockets are just wonderful, not to mention the yeasty smell that fills the kitchen and lingers for hours. One of my fondest recipes and art forms come from very simple beginnings, and bread is no exception. A little tip for anyone making bread at home, using a sponge method is a great way to increase/speed up the rising in your bread.

Sponge method just happens to be one of my favorite things I learned from baking in culinary school, and it can be applied to almost any bread recipe you're already making at home. Put simply, it just means to incorporate some of the flour in with the warmed liquid that the recipe calls for and yeast for an initial fermentation for 15-20 minutes, then add the rest of the ingredients in the recipe and finish the rest of the process traditionally. Those air bubbles don't lie, it totally works even at home.

Another favorite thing: pumpkins. Obviously. I've been called punkin' head since I was a little girl by my family, and pumpkin flavored everything is amazing if you ask me. I've loved it ever since I can remember. Just wait until fall comes around and I post a seasonal menu with multiple pumpkin items on it. ;) Another fun fact, pumpkins are climbing the list of most plentiful crops in Illinois!

My garden pumpkin patch is growing so fast I can't keep up! I had to move my fence that keeps out the bunnies because the pumpkins had almost completely overtaken it! This is actually the pumpkin from under the CD that had threaded itself through the fence from a couple blog posts ago. It was very cool to see how many days the leaf stayed alive, and getting to watch it slightly ripen as it sits on the counter.

Obviously this pumpkin won't be ideal as far as flavor goes, but I'm always looking for another thing I can carve!

And, well, I guess it should be obvious that one of my favorite things is zucchini, after all, they're related to pumpkins! My zucchini plants have been barely producing for a couple weeks now, look at how much the sizes vary! I swear, one or two days of good rain can double the size of a zucchini. That's a lesson I could take from a vegetable, for sure, and that's how quickly things can change when the right variables are in play. One day the zucchinis are tiny and I'm buying supplemental squash from Whole Foods for dinner, two days later I've got a zucchini in the garden so big we'll be eating on it for days.

And my red basil is starting to go to seed it's growing so big! I wanted a little bit of basil flowers to garnish some dishes with, but I'll cut the rest down and continue to use mixed in with my salad greens and topped with my pesto vinaigrette (that you can try too by ordering from my upcoming Garden Goods menu)! I have to say, my zesty leafy green pesto vinaigrette is my absolute favorite.

Another favorite thing, and that's grill marks. And charcoal grill smell. And the smell of the food cooking on the grill. And the sizzle as the food cooks. I like to grill. :) I've got chicken and carrots on the grill over here, a little marinade on the chicken and char on the carrots makes all the difference in the turn out. Pair it with some risotto (finished picture of the dish on the far right), and that just might be in my top 5 favorite dishes.

I mean, check out Cudi my large sized golden doodle. He seems pretty excited about the grilled chicken, charred carrots, and creamy risotto topped with garden fresh herbs. Just sayin'. :)

Below in the pan I've shown you all the chef secret to deliciousness. Remember this next time you're shopping, incorporate it into any dish that you're making. It's very simple. It will literally transform your food instantly. It's .......... drum roll please... (insert clip from The Price Is Right where the announcer reveals the showcase prizes for the bids at the end...) sauteed fresh shallots, garlic, thyme, and crushed red pepper deglazed with wine! Just the smell alone should be jarred up into a candle and sold at Home Goods. They don't call shallots, garlic, and herbs 'aromats' in the kitchen for nothin'! Don't believe me? Try it yourself at home. I'm telling you it's damn good. The one I made here did turn out particularly delicious because of the garden fresh organic thyme I was able to use from my backyard! Now if I could just grow enough thyme to use fresh in all of my dishes... with how much of it we like to eat I definitely don't have time for that!!

One of my favorite things is butterflies, for sure. All the garden creatures are exciting to watch while watering and tending to plants. These adorable white butterflies are out with me every day!

And of course, a favorite thing of any gardener, and that's progress! A few progress photos for all of you, including some flowered red basil that is just as beautiful to look at as it is to eat, some cherry tomatoes that are almost ready, a butternut squash that's about halfway grown, and some beefsteak tomatoes that are coming along nicely!

Watching critters and butterflies, fencing and maintaining vines and branches, trimming and thinning plants, watering and harvesting vegetables, and of course preparing and cooking the bounty I can procure from my own corner backyard are all valuable joys in life for me.

I think it's really important that we keep grade school chorus song lyrics like this in the forefront of our thoughts through these times, "when a dog bites, when a bee stings, when I'm feeling sad... I simply remember my favorite things... and then I don't feel so bad!" Although my adorable puppies are not going to bite (unless I'm trying to feed them some of my grilled chicken with my fingers), and knock on wood I haven't been stung by a bee since I was in grade school singing this song in glee club, these crazy times can make us all feel sad sometimes. But when we simply remember all that we get excited about every single day, we can keep making progress and even sit back and enjoy a little.

Life's A Garden, Dig It!

I guess I'm showing my roots a little bit. Being from Southern Illinois, I'm painfully familiar with Joe Dirt. ;) The older I get, and the longer I've lived in the Chicago area, the easier it is to subtly embrace my Dr.Quinn-Medicine-Woman-4-H-lovin'-Joe-Dirt-watchin-tan-line-wearin'-ear-of-corn-high-school-mascot-supportin' roots. That's right, I said it. My high school mascot was an ear of corn. Well, technically a bunch of ears of corn (The Green Wave). I guess, somehow, I should have taken that as a sign, huh? ;)

My garden, which I have been totally digging lately, is growing like crazy! It has been so inspirational and exciting to see the development happen right before my eyes. I mean, check out that zucchini that is growing in between my two border fence sections. Is that not a big metaphor for "bloom where you're planted," or what?! Or that little beefsteak tomato (middle picture) that is starting to form, I can't believe that plant survived at all! I planted it outside too early and it survived the last two snows/hard freezes! And this cute little pumpkin below the CD, literally threaded itself through the fence! Why a CD, you ask? Well, birds are the death of me these days, and reflective light is one way to keep them away!

Through the fence, you can see how my red basil is getting really big! It tastes deliciously of clove, it's awesome! And my cute little cherry tomatoes are coming along nicely! Even though it's not a massive garden, what I've been able to learn from such a small space so far has been amazing. I thought I'd include a full garden picture for some perspective; how little you actually need for a successful garden is very cool.

I have been enjoying the creativity involved in problem solving in the garden, that's for sure. With all the birds pecking at my kale, Brussels sprouts, arugula, broccoli, and peppers, I had to do something! I read online that the best solutions are reflective light (old CD's), noise makers, and anything that made sudden movements in the wind. That sounded simple enough to me! I think this cute little garden truck wind chime says it all, I'm already wishing it were spring with the extreme heat we've had!

And being the flower child that I am (thank you Carol Ruffner from the old Martin's IGA in Effingham, IL for giving me that name close to ten years ago), of course I had to get a flower spinner!

But, the real purpose here is to provide myself with some awesome organic vegetables that I can use to create in the kitchen. With many herbs and greens already ready and many other vegetables growing bigger daily, I take to my Flavor Bible and my favorite espresso to spark up some ideas. It's a wonderful book that I will always cherish from culinary school, and if you're ever looking for a way to use some ingredients from your pantry in a new combination yourself, it's a great resource!

And eventually with enough reading, harvesting, watering, shopping, studying, chopping, cleaning, simmering, canning, rinsing and cooking... I am ready to share some of my garden goods with all of you! Below we have frozen leafy green pecan parmesan pesto cubes, roasted jalapeno tomato salsa, and pesto vinaigrette (on a darling little lettuce decorative plate I found for like $4 from Home Goods, just sayin' :) )... the full Flour Child Stuff Garden Goods menu will be available in my online store very soon!

So with everything that is going on in this world, I think it's super important to find something to dig. Whether it's gardening, cooking, or whatever else makes us lose track of time while we're doing it... it's crucial that we make time to dig into it enough to maintain balance in our lives. These past few weeks for me, it's been gardening. And I dig it! :)