So the all important question on Harvest Monday was whether I actually had a harvest or not. The answer is maybe. I grew some mung bean sprouts. I'm not really sure if they qualify. I think they qualify as a harvest for the person growing the seed, but since it is just sprouting and not really growing a full plant, maybe it doesn't count for me. I'm certainly not going to weigh them and put them in the tally.
I decided to grow sprouts because a new market opened near my house. H Mart seems to be a large chain Asian grocery store (with a food court and a few hard goods). And when I say large, I mean HUGE. It has a whole wall of just kim chi. It was fun walking through it. It has a large Chinese, Japanese, and Korean slant, but also contains Indian, Vietnamese, and Thai.
When I got to the bean section, I saw the mung beans. At first I passed them by, but came back and decided I had to learn to sprout them . I was afraid that a bag of mung beans on a shelf might be too old to sprout, but only a couple didn't germinate. Next time I try, I'm going to use pressure on the beans to get the nice thick white sprouts. I guess mung bean sprouts that aren't grown with weights on them don't form big thick roots.
Daphne couldn't fold a dumpling correctly if her life depended on it
The H Mart had some sadness associated with it too. I went there because I needed some gyoza wrappers to make some dumplings. They required Chinese cabbage (I still have a bit from the garden) and green onions. The green onions I had picked were all gone. I had to buy some really anemic looking ones there. They can't hold a candle to mine. There were the first of the vegetables that I bought this season that I usually eat from my garden. Later on I also bought a yellow pepper and some broccoli. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I used to harvest pounds every week. Now I have to buy from the market.
The making of the winter coleslaw has begun
Things that did get eaten from my garden stash: Chinese cabbage, cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato sauce, zucchini, apple sauce, raspberry jam, raspberry pepper jam, pickles, pickled jalapenos (oh they are so good on a plain cheese sandwich made from freshly grilled bread). Note: I am going to include all the farmers market fruits and vegetables in my stash this winter as they are low pesticide and local. This includes some of the squash, and all of the cabbage and apple products.
And the piece de resistance is using the first of my Trail of Tears beans. Half of my stash was cooked up and made into a nice black bean soup. Oh it was tasty.
Remember back at Thanksgiving? I tried to make all my dishes for the potluck have something from the garden. Well for the Christmas potluck I wasn't in the giving spirit. I did make black bean soup, but it was from store bought beans. Not one dish had anything from the garden. I wanted to keep all my garden stash for me and my family. It was all very unChristmas of me.
If you would like to help me believe that harvests still exist, put your name and URL into Mr. Linky below. It doesn't matter how big or small your harvest is. You don't have to count the pounds like I do. If you have had a harvest this last week, show us and join in! Really I'm dying here under the snow and ice (OK not so much right now, yesterday we had a rain storm that melted our snow). I need visions of tomatoes and spinach to dance in my head for the holidays.
Daphne, YES! In my opinion, it definitely qualifies as a harvest! Just as growing mushrooms would count! I've been looking into growing sprouts and shoots indoors myself. There's nothing worse than needing some mung bean sprouts and finding nothing but soggy semi-rancid ones at the supermarket!
ReplyDeleteI had to buy some celery and peppers recently myself, sob. Peppers and celery are just vegetables I can't do without (if I don't have to).
ReplyDeleteGood job on the sprouts. Sprouts are on the top ten list of FDA foods identified as causing food poisoning. I suspect growing your own is way better. http://henbogle.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/more-bad-news-from-the-times/
I managed to harvest a couple of leeks this week, yay!
Everything looks simply delicious! The black bean soup in particular.
ReplyDeleteI slice/dice and freeze garden celery and peppers to have available for cooking use all through the winter months. It works beautifully and is very easy to do - since neither of these two items require blanching before freezing.
Those dishes look kinda weird to me, but I bet they're good! It's all "beans and taters" down here...
ReplyDeleteI think your dumplings look very nice and I bet they tast lovely ofter all the trad. Christmas food. I have just harvest my favorite kale it is buried under 40 cm thick layer of snow :-)
ReplyDeleteThomas, I've never bought them from the store. I've only eaten them in restaurants, but I like them. They are much better than the alfalfa sprouts my mom used to make me eat as a kid.
ReplyDeletehenbogle, I've heard that too that they are easily contaminated (like most greens that get washed in common water). My little patch is pretty safe, but I need to try weights to make them thicker. Good job on the leeks. You must need a crowbar to get them out around now.
kitsapFG, soups have become a mainstay for lunches now that it is cold. And a lot of beans are being eaten now that my son is home. He is a big bean eater like me. He cooked lunch yesterday and made a chickpea and black bean dish. Tomorrow lunch will be ham (leftovers from Christmas) and bean soup that I'll make. I like it when my son cooks for me. It is a treat I rarely get. BTW the pepper is being eaten by my daughter raw. It isn't for soups. But you are right I could freeze peppers for my soups. I don't often do that since I tend to use chilies for soup (which I do freeze).
EG, lol weird huh? It is just a little bit Asian, Mexican, and the coleslaw must be American. At least you probably recognize that one. I love foods from around the world. I probably even eat Southern now and again.
Tyra, oh they taste wonderful. My family is a big fan of dim sum foods. Someday I have to learn to make the ones that are shrimp filled but I can't find a recipe for the exact ones we love because I haven't a clue as to the name. At dim sum all you have to do is point at the dish you want. Digging out snow for your kale shows a lot of persistence. I ought to go pick mine since we are having a bit of a thaw right now. Tomorrow it gets cold again.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Thomas, the sprouts count. Does it make a difference that you harvested the plant very early in it's life cycle? I didn't know that weighting them down would make them thicker.
ReplyDeleteI'm buying more vegetables now also, but fortunately most of them are still local, like artichokes and brussels sprouts. But then, I don't grow those anyway...
One of my goals is to someday keep track of buying vs. growing, but that's for another year. I'll just sigh in amazement at you. . .
ReplyDeleteThe pot stickers look good and nicely homemade, not wonky at all. And the soup! Mmmmmmm. I'm going to make lentils for tonight. It's the right time for soup, I think. Inspiring.
I have thought about growing bean sprouts a few times. Had no idea about weighting them. There was an e coli outbreak here a few years ago with bean sprouts. After that they sell them in sealed packs and they taste awful now, I think it's the trapped off gasses.
ReplyDeleteThe bean soup looks lovely. Can't wait to taste the trail tears, the beans have such a nice feel to them!
I wish I had done a harvest today. Everything is still alive and well but it would appear my gardening ambition is lacking. Definitely will harvest by next monday, I am sure some healthy food would do my body some good!
Hi Daphne, I sent the seeds to you today. I've been eating the French breakfast radishes even though they look retarded and you're right they aren't as tasty as the white icicles. I think I planted 7 different radishes this fall. The white icicle and French breakfast grew the fastest and I'm still waiting on the others. Wishing you a wonderful New Year!
ReplyDeleteOops I somehow I clicked Anonymous!!!when I uploaded my comment!!
ReplyDeleteMichelle, it just seems cheating. I don't need to prepare my soil and they only take a few days. Though they do need care 2-3 times a day. There isn't much local left around here. A few apples maybe or squash. Whole foods is usually good about having some, but I didn't notice this time. Then again I wasn't looking for that. I was looking for what my daughter wanted.
ReplyDeleteStefaneener, the ones of the Chinese restaurants look so pretty and uniform. I confess to having given up now in making them like that. I just flatten them together without pleats. It is faster and tastes the same.
Dan, it is probably only the mung beans that need weights. But I looked it up on the internet. Half the people say to use weights to get the nice thick roots. The other half say thick roots don't matter. It is hard to keep up the gardening ambition. I even take a week to get my scraps out to the compost. I don't want to go out there. It is cold.
Jane, I guessed from the comment it was you :>. The funny thing is those two varieties of radish were my favorite of all of them. I had a mix that I was using. The French breakfast was close to white icicle but at least it was pretty red for the salads. I think French breakfast just can't handle your heat.
Oh I love bean soup ! Yours looks great. And the sprouts definitely count !
ReplyDeleteIt's great to see HM is still going strong ! Well done all.
Nice sprouts!
ReplyDeleteWe made chinese dumplings over Christmas as well and they were yummy.
We're on the road for the holidays so no harvests from our garden. However I did get out under the snow in Maryland to harvest some spinach from my mom's garden. She was surprised to find that it was still good under the foot or more of snow. You can see the harvest here on her blog.
I'd like to join the Harvest Mondays. I'd like to think I was organized enough to weigh things, but alas, no. I can take pictures of what I harvest each week though. How do I join? Just fill out the little do-dad above? Do I post next Monday then?
ReplyDeleteI loooooooooove Chinese dumplings and have never made them. Now I'm inspired!
OK, obviously these are English spellings of words that cannot be spelled in English, but I've seen it spelled this way on menus. Try har gow (for the ones wrapped in a translucent white wrapper - all shrimp filling) or shiu mai (for the one in the slightly beige wrapper with the shrimp/pork filling). :)
ReplyDeleteI just ordered seeds for lots of beans I hope to dry. Never tried beans before (except for edemame)so I may have questions for you this summer!
Miss M, I'm really happy about how people are still sending in the harvests. Yay!
ReplyDeleteEmily, I love that. Harvested spinach with snow on it. :>
Christina, pictures are all you need. Most people don't weigh or keep track. And yup just right a harvest post and put the link to Mr. Linky above. You can link now if you like, but you will get more visitors if put a link up on Monday.
Wendy, I think har gow might the one that we all love so much. It rings a bell. I'll have to look it up and see how to make it.
small....but neat looking sprouts. ~bangchik
ReplyDeleteI'm late, I'm late, for a very important date.....but the computer is back on line and I had a harvest last week!
ReplyDeleteOh, the food all looks so yummy! I am going to give a lot of space in my 2010 garden to dried beans, they are just lovely.
Bangchik, thanks
ReplyDeleteAnnie's Granny, better late then never. I think I've convinced several people to grow dried beans next year. I'm even going to grow more. I just love that I can eat something from the garden during the winter and I beans are one of my favorite foods.