Monday, February 16, 2015

Harvest Monday, 16 February 2014

I'm still eating well from my stores. Above is a soup made from my stored carrots, celery, and corn. I had noticed that I hadn't used up my ham broth from the Christmas ham. I had some left over ham from that too. So I made up the soup. We have been having some really cold temperatures so soup really hit the spot.

I still have lots and lots of squash. It was an amazing squash year last year. And the broccoli was frozen from the garden. And even the salmon has mustard on it.

More garden broccoli. I'm quickly running out. I had plenty of other greens this week (chard, spinach and kale) but for some reason I took photos of the two dinners with broccoli on them. It does make a prettier photo than the other greens. In addition I have some sweet potato fries. This time I used some of my garden made Italian seasonings on it. I think I like that better than the rosemary ones. The corn was also from my garden. And even the hamburger bun (gluten free for me) was made with some onion powder from the garden.

And if that wasn't enough, that pulled chicken - no it doesn't have anything from the garden, but it does have a garden story that goes with it. A friend had just bought a smoker and knew I missed eating another friends smoked food. Friend two throws a huge party every year with over 100 people and he makes the food for months in advance. The spread is really amazing. The centerpieces are his smoked foods. But with my food issues I can't eat anything from a contaminated smoker. Even a little soy sauce from a marinade would make me sick, so last time I was there I had to abstain.

Well friend one found out how much I missed the smoked food. His smoker was totally clean. It had never been used. So he made me some pulled chicken (which you see above, I've been savoring it over time). Luckily for him he did this in August. August is the best time for giving treats from the garden. He got some of my Honey Select corn, which I've had several people (including my husband) tell me it is the best corn they have ever had. It is a very sweet sweet corn. He thought he was getting too good of a deal, so he offered to make me a whole batch of smoked chicken thighs as long as I pay for the chicken. I took that up in a flash. But of course I thought I was the one getting too good of a deal and sent in some melon.

Typically you don't get good melon here in Massachusetts. The shipped in stuff is usually terrible (sometimes from New Jersey we get some good melon). But the melon from my garden was the best melon I'd had yet from my garden. It was oh so good. I grew it surrounded by bricks on three sides. Usually our temps just don't get hot enough long enough to make good melon. But a decent summer and with the hot bricks to hold heat, I ended up with some really good ones. And way too many for me to eat by myself. So instead of my townhouse mates ending up with them (sorry guys), friend one got the extras. So that meat wasn't made in the garden, but the garden sure helped to fill up my freezer with smoked chicken.

I took some photos of the snow we got from the last blizzard, but they turned out pretty sad. Maybe when the sun comes out today I can takes some. Maybe. The piles are getting deeper and deeper. We have another small storm coming in and some bitterly cold temperatures already here and forecasted to stick around for the week. So it just keeps piling up. I can't wait for spring.

Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to show off, add your name and link to Mr Linky below.

14 comments:

  1. It is soooo cold, I could use a huge bowl of your soup right this moment, yes, for breakfast. I understand you got a whole lot more snow than I. Hoping the predicted forecast for more snow this week is incorrect.

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  2. So wonderful to have a friend you can trade veggies for smoked chicken with! I's happily make that trade any day :-) Stay warm, Daphne!

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  3. The melons and corn for smoked chicken sounds like a great deal for you and your friend! We are finally getting snow today, though nothing like Boston and the NE area has gotten in the last month. And it's turning bitter cold here. I can see soup in my future too!

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  4. What a fantastic friend - the smoked chicken looks delicious! It's wonderful to still be enjoying so many things from the garden - even as temps dip way down - where even the salmon had some garden goodness.

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  5. I was secretly hoping for snow pictures. What can I say? I'm a weirdo.

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  6. I can't believe how much snow you guys are getting!! Look on the bright side, it has to end soon. A month from now you will be starting to plant your garden and this will all be a happy memory!! :)

    I love all the broccoli in your meals! We are down to just 1/2 a bag and we are saving in for a cold day to make broccoli cheese soup!

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  7. I hope you don't have to go out in that awful weather very often. I would be inclined to hibernate and eat lots of that delicious soup! Our drought isn't looking all that bad compared to what you're induring at the moment.

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  8. Ah soup weather. How I miss you. Thanks for the reminder to keep topping up my stores for our upcoming winter.

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  9. The soup looks so delicious and comfy in cold snowy days.

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  10. Very interested in that squash dish... What is it? Curious here. I love winter squash!

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    1. It is a squash casserole, which is very much like pumpkin pie but less sweet and no crust. I do have a version of it somewhere on the blog, but I've changed it a lot over the years and my current version looks close to the same, but doesn't taste the same.

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    2. Heading to do a search. Thanks!

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  11. That soup sure would be good about now! So nice of that neighbor of yours to smoke the salmon for you. Do you know what caused your health/eating issues? Have you always had them? That must be hard dealing with it all but you do so well and make such interesting meals. Stay warm!!! Nancy

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  12. The broccoli is really good Daphne, and reminds me I spotted a couple of tiny spears on my plot yesterday but forgot to pick it. Doh.
    Trading produce is a great way to deal with gluts, glad you got something you really wanted. Sounds like your friend got great goodies too.

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