What a year it's been, and it's not over yet. Seems like
every time I turned around, something new was demanding my attention or
time--or both. It's not like anything earth-shattering happened. Just life,
with the occasional mild excitement. Somehow, though, I fell behinder and
behinder, until I feel as if I'll never catch up.
But I have, more or less. Enough so that I no longer have an
excuse for not getting at the next item on my unending TO-DO list. Several
years ago I made a first entry into what I'd planned as a regular blog, gradually
replacing my newsletter. That was it. Doing the next one kept moving down the
list, displaced by stuff I felt was more important. Some of it actually was,
but let's face it. I was procrastinating.
No more. I decided I will NOT take on anything new until I
get this done. Hence, I have dug out my old password, tried to remember which
email address I used, and blessed Google's help pages in order to get to this
point. I am exhausted, and will merely post what I'd written the other day,
rather than what I intended to write when I realized it was time for a new
issue of my newsletter.
I've probably spent more time playing with my vegetable
garden than anything else this yea. You have to understand that "playing
with my vegetable garden" includes doing stuff with what comes out of it.
Most years I try one or two different crops (if you can call a couple of plants
in a raised beD a "crop"). This year my first-timers were leeks and
hubbard squash. I actually planted half a dozen leeks, but only one squash. Good
thing too, as the squash spread itself across two beds and fought with the
tomatoes, cucumbers and garlic for space. And for all that, it only managed to
give me two fruits. The other five died on the vine.
So back to doing stuff with what came out of the garden.
I've already baked one of the squash and it was delicious. Nothing special,
just mashed, mixed with either salt and pepper or brown sugar, cinnamon and
clove. It wasn't a very big squash, but I still got four servings out of it. I
plan to be more adventurous with the other one. But not until later. Hubbards
keep well.
The leeks multiplied. I didn't know they could do that. What
I thought were single leeks must have been multiple ones, because I ended up
with couple of dozen leeks, half of them an inch or more in diameter. The
little ones (pencil thin or less) I stuck back in the ground and as of now,
they seem to be thriving. So more leeks next hear...
Leeks were not something I'd cooked often. They are
expensive, for one thing, and I always hated tossing out all that dark green
stuff on top. Yes, I know one can freeze it and use in when making stock, but
these days my stock comes out of a can, since I rarely need more than a quart
at a time. so I had to go looking for recipes for leeks. Since both of the
recipes I chose are online, I won't copy them here, but I can tell you how to
find them. Both were delicious. Better yet, both were easy to make smaller,
since I cook for one most of the time.
Creamy Pappardelle With Leeks and Bacon came from Bon Appétit .
I confess I substituted double-strength nonfat milk for the heavy cream, but it
was still rich-tasting and delicious. I went to Simply Recipes
for a creamy (but creamless), yummy Potato Leek Soup. Super simple, relatively
low-fat, and just about the best potato soup I've ever eaten.
Stay tuned. As soon as I figure out a couple
more things, get some must-do stuff done, and finish my newsletter, I'll post
again.
