Summer garden harvest

Tonight I picked two eggplants and three heirloom tomatoes. These are the same tomatoes that I photographed and posted on Saturday. Four consecutive days of thunderstorms and the subsequent soggy ground has caused these tomatoes to split their skins in a few places. No worries though, I'm sure they still taste fine. I've already roasted the eggplants and mashed them with tahini, lemon, cumin and garlic. That along with a piece of H&F bread (from the Grant Park Farmers Market) will be tomorrow's lunch. 

A perfect homegrown tomato



This tomato* is exactly why I grow my own tomatoes. It's vine ripened, a luscious red color throughout and there isn't a trace of white/pink tasteless Styrofoam texture. Every bite is delicious. No ethylene gas ripened tomatoes for me. I'd rather wait all year for this!


Some reading material for those interested in learning more tomatoes:
Why supermarket tomatoes tend to taste bad - LA TIMES
Taking tomatoes back to their tasty roots - NPR
Perfect tomatoes come from unhurried biochemistry - VegetableGarden.com


*This tomato is from our Beefsteak plant. I'm looking forward to seeing how the larger heirlooms compare.

What's for lunch? Alton Brown's gazpacho





The big news about this meal is that I (Cullen) made it by myself while Oliver was not home! I'm three for three on cooking for myself this weekend. I've started easy (spinach salad with an egg) and have been working my way into meals with more ingredients and more steps. Last night I roasted eggplant and then mashed it with tahini, ground cumin & lemon. While today's gazpacho didn't require any cooking it did require much more knife work then I usually take on. And I learned how to peel a tomato! I recommend this recipe for any beginner cooks who love tomatoes (and/or salsa). Thanks to Alton Brown for another easy and great recipe!


Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • Tomato juice
  • 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • 1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
  • 1 medium garlic clove, minced
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 lime, juiced
  • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

Directions

Fill a 6-quart pot halfway full of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil.
Make an X with a paring knife on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 15 seconds, remove and transfer to an ice bath and allow to cool until able to handle, approximately 1 minute. Remove and pat dry. Peel, core and seed the tomatoes. When seeding the tomatoes, place the seeds and pulp into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl in order to catch the juice. Press as much of the juice through as possible and then add enough bottled tomato juice to bring the total to 1 cup.
Place the tomatoes and juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno, garlic clove, olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to a blender and puree for 15 to 20 seconds on high speed. Return the pureed mixture to the bowl and stir to combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve with chiffonade of basil.
Recipe copied from here. Click for original posting.

Pruning tomatoes

As usual our tomato vines have grown into a big, jumbled mess. Two of them are 7 foot tall tangles of branches, leaves, fruit and twine. It's containable - for now. But by the end of August we'll probably have given up trying to tame the wildness and will just let the plants spill onto the ground.


Pruning the tomato plants is not something I've given much thought. I only have a vague understanding as to why we pull off the "suckers". A conversation last night with Oliver's cousin has gotten me thinking about changing my ways. He explained that a well pruned tomato plant produces more fruit. As evidence he showed me a photo of his well trimmed tomato vine and then one of of the huge pile of gorgeous tomatoes he'd already picked. 


Motivated by what I learned I did some research on the internet this morning. The following video provided a great lesson about which suckers to pluck, why and what you can do with them (stick them in ground and they'll grow a new plant!!). It's probably too late to make difference for us this year; but I'll definitely apply this knowledge next summer. 

Our tomatoes as of mid-July 2012:

Healthy lunches take work

A combination of recent experiences have led me to the topic for today's post: healthy lunches take work. I'll start with this little gem that Oliver stumbled across this evening on Digg.

Oh yeah, that Lunchable comes with both a burger-like-substance (which I assume has a Twinkies-inspired shelf life) AND a generic cola! MMmmm! (Ok, but seriously, how did any of us survive all the crap food directed at kids in '80s and '90s? I for one was clinically cuckoo for Coco Puffs.) 


While the American population is trending towards healthier eating I still notice A LOT of bad choices being made at lunch time. And while this may make me the bad guy (not sure how many, if any, co-workers read this) I think this needs to be said:


• Lean Cuisines are not a healthy alternative. Foremost they have way too much salt. Additional offenses include: overly processed and preserved ingredients, never filling anyone up and substantially altering one's taste buds for the flavors of real foods. 
• Muffins are cake. Banana bread is also cake. Bagels, in my opinion, pretty much cake.... Do you see where I'm going with this? Let's not kid ourselves. None of the above foods should be counted as a daily healthy lunch; they are sugar laden, extremely refined carbohydrates. 
• Restaurant lunch portions are ridiculous! It's lunch not THANKSGIVING! If you're going out to eat for lunch remember that your portion size should be the size of your fist. 


On days when I have not planned ahead and packed a lunch I am faced with the everyman dilemma: where should I go for lunch? My first choice is Alon's for a salad - but the over $7 price tag often steers me into Moe's for a questionably healthy, $3 black bean taco (no cheese, no sour cream, yes to gauc, salsa and fresh veggies). It only takes an hour for me to regret that decision - and that's always because of the after effects of too much hidden sodium (those tacos leave me PARCHED). The next day I am sure to bring something from home. 


Having a healthy, homemade lunch every work day takes planning and work. It's not something either Oliver or myself LIKE to do. But doing it makes a big difference in our overall health, budget and waistline. Most days we eat beans. On days when the beans have run out we eat left overs from dinner. Today was one of those days and my lunch consisted of a grilled chicken leg and rice mixed with leftover vegetables. It was jumble of three different dinners - but it still tasted good and I never questioned how good it was for me. 

Summer Garden: Week Seven






We planted a handful of pumpkin seeds this week; they're all coming up nicely. Hopefully they'll do better then our watermelon. The watermelon vine goes on forever, has plenty of blooms but not one fruit. Our strawberries suffered a similar fate; in the end we didn't get even half a dozen berries. Fortunately strawberries and watermelon are the only plants we've had problems with this summer. Everything* else is going great.


*Two varieties of eggplants, four varieties of tomatoes (two heirloom, two hybrid), green peppers, hot peppers, leeks, basil, mint, thyme and parsley. 

Homemade ice cream

When Oliver saw that YDFM had bags of fresh cherries he found his inspiration to make homemade ice cream. After roasting the fresh cherries on the stove top they were dropped into the blender with half & half, egg yokes, sugar and salt. From there everything went into the Kitchenaid ice cream maker attachment. Towards the end he added bits of toasted almond and chunks of dark chocolate. I don't normally like chocolate cherry ice cream - but this is stuff is perfection!


If you want to try it for yourself click here for the recipe. 

Fancy Beer Friday: Not a beer!

Today's Fancy Beer Friday isn't a beer at all; it's a cocktail. We were hoping to have a bomber of Stone Ruination's 10th Anniversary IPA in time for today's post - but car trouble and the holidays have intervened. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up a bottle of this super hoppy beer on my way home from work tonight and feature this special IPA next week. 


For now: Mint Julips! Oliver's whiskey based drink is sweeter (and more drinkable) then most I've had. He makes his with whiskey, fresh mint from the garden and homemade simple syrup. This drink is perfect for a summer evening spent working in the garden. 


Happy Friday my friends!

Meals from the garden

The weather may be outrageously hot, but it's still a wonderful time of year to have a vegetable garden. For us Sunday marked the beginning of BLT (bacon, lettuce & tomato) season. To make this season opening, mouthwateringly delicious, sandwich we picked tomatos from two of our heirloom plants. The sourdough bread was fresh from the H&F booth at the Grant Park Farmers Market. Bacon and lettuce from YDFM. This sandwich was PERFECTION! I'm looking foward to more throughout the season. 

 For this evening's dinner we picked our two giant eggplants. They were mixed them with pole beans, small potatoes, red peppers, curry paste and coconut milk for a super spicey curry. 
I'd write more - but our Peachtree Road Race costumes are beckoning. I've decided to add pockets to my toga and the draw string in Oliver's Uncle Sam pants need mending. One more day til the big race! YAY! Keep an eye out for us if you plan to be there too.


Please take care in the heat!

Atlanta hit 105 yesterday. Our fingers are crossed that this heat wave will end before July 4th. If you have to be outside please take care. 


From the CDC: Several factors affect the body's ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather. When the humidity is high, sweat will not evaporate as quickly, preventing the body from releasing heat quickly. Other conditions related to risk include age, obesity, dehydration, heart disease, poor circulation, sunburn, and prescription drug and alcohol use.


Tips:
1. Drink plenty of fluids
2. Replace salt and minerals lost to sweat
3. Wear appropriate clothing and sunscreen
4. Schedule outdoor activities carefully

Fancy Beer Friday: Ruby Redbird

It's happy hour, do you know where you beer is?


A new seasonal beer has crossed my path twice in the last few weeks (a thousand miles apart). For me, most seasonal beers blend together: all the summer beers taste the same, same for winter, fall and spring. They're each appropriate for the weather and I enjoy them while they're around - but they're not super memorable. So I was pleasantly surprised by the refreshing ginger kick in Shiner's Ruby Redbird summer brew. Ruby has the perfect body for summer with the added bonus of being affordable and easy to find thoughout the US. (Shown here in bottles in Chicago and on draft at Augustines in Atlanta). Grab a six pack tonight and try it for yourself!

Fancy Beer Friday: Guys Weekend

It's happy hour, do you know where your beer is?


While I was in Chicago for girlcation Oliver was at a cabin in Northeast Georgia for "Lake Beer Day" (read: guys weekend). I asked him to photograph a few of his favorite beers so we could feature them on the blog. I suppose I should have been more specific with my art direction... His photos are to the left. How many beers is that?! 

Summer garden: Week Four





The spaces once filled with lettuce and cabbage are now dry and bare. We'd like to fill them but we're not sure what to plant. It needs to be something pretty (because it's the front yard), short (because it's the sun facing side of the bed) and different (not something we already have planted). Any suggestions? The space also eliminates all climbers (no cukes, beans, zucchini, etc).


The four varieties of tomatoes squeezed along the side of the house are still doing great. I brought a vine of three ripe Phoenix hybrids to my Mom in Chicago last Friday. The Beefsteaks are growing fast so we've tied them up individually to prevent their vines from snapping under their own weight. Our heirloom is a predictable gangly mess: the tallest of the bunch with a wild tangle of branches and leaves. (I'm hoping this will also make it the tastiest.) And finally, "Black Prince", he's a late bloomer but still has a half a dozen, vibrant green tomatoes.