For the love of Produce...

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Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,724 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    It's the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. So there's no real reason to keep winter squash around much longer, especially something like a delicata. They are sort of in between anyway, and my last one wasn't going to be much good for long, so I sliced it and roasted it. I love pepitas, and I saved the seeds, but I'm not even sure I'll clean them and roast them.

    (snipsies)

    Since I discovered how much I like them roasted with plenty of Frontier (brand) chili powder and popcorn salt, I'll roast even tiny numbers, to dark roast territory, as long as they're plump and not flat ones. (I don't usually mess with other people's spice blends . . . but that's good chili powder, in its place. A little gritty, admittedly, but tasty.)
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,945 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    It's the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. So there's no real reason to keep winter squash around much longer, especially something like a delicata. They are sort of in between anyway, and my last one wasn't going to be much good for long, so I sliced it and roasted it. I love pepitas, and I saved the seeds, but I'm not even sure I'll clean them and roast them.

    (snipsies)

    Since I discovered how much I like them roasted with plenty of Frontier (brand) chili powder and popcorn salt, I'll roast even tiny numbers, to dark roast territory, as long as they're plump and not flat ones. (I don't usually mess with other people's spice blends . . . but that's good chili powder, in its place. A little gritty, admittedly, but tasty.)

    I like them with some good quality salt and maybe a little chipotle powder or Aleppo chile. Pretty basic. First to get all the gunk off, rinse them well, and dry them. Sometimes I soak them in salt water and all, but cleaning them can be a chore. I am feeling lazy today, so they're in some water now. I should add salt and let 'em soak. Deal with them tomorrow if I don't go paddle.

    Tomorrow is also the day my next batch of kimchi should be done enough to jar it up and put it in the fridge. I will pack a pint jar to give to my neighbor. We keep swapping fermented cabbage back and forth. It's a good neighborhood.
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    It's the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. So there's no real reason to keep winter squash around much longer, especially something like a delicata. They are sort of in between anyway, and my last one wasn't going to be much good for long, so I sliced it and roasted it. I love pepitas, and I saved the seeds, but I'm not even sure I'll clean them and roast them.

    Truth be known, the squash was an afterthought. I splurged on some nice asparagus the other day. Time to cook some up. That's not a whole meal, and since I was going to be running the oven anyway, why not roast something else. I picked up a big yellow onion. They are SO good roasted. Then I saw that delicata. Oh. Yeah. Mmmmm...

    I also had some Agaricus bisporus in the fridge, and I had room on the tray to toss 'em in some oil and add them to the feast.

    Add a little 2017 Cabernet, and hey folks, it's the first Saturday night of spring!
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    Happy Spring! @mtaratoot !
  • Katmary71
    Katmary71 Posts: 6,482 Member
    @mtaratoot I wish you lived by me so I could pick your brain about gardening! I just started a bunch of old seeds but I'm not having much luck with them, I just took cuttings of my jade and rosemary to do some Take a Plant Leave a Plant swapping, there's stands throughout the Sacramento area. Your artichokes look delicious! What is your favorite way to eat them? I like them boiled then grilled with lemon and garlic. If I could only eat one veggie that might be it! I'm going to have a lot of snap peas (have an herb garden too) and have Armenian Cucumber seeds on the way from Baker's Creek, I ordered Japanese tubers too. Of course I need to find a place for my cherry tomatoes!

    @acpgee I HAVE to start the peas I bought at the Indian market, I keep forgetting until I see your posts! I have mung beans too!

    Off to the farmer's market, hoping to score some goodies!

  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    It's even spring-like weather here (and supposedly going to rain most of next week), but I have a butternut squash waiting to be cooked in my refrigerator, and if it's supposed to be replaced by local produce, I think it's winter squash weather still (I actually just bought some beets and turnips too, and sunchokes, speaking of fall/winter style produce, as well as some greens and radishes).

    Last year it snowed after Easter, so it would be premature to completely switch out my produce! Would love some asparagus and will likely buy some, but it's not going to be local green market asparagus for a while.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,945 Member
    Katmary71 wrote: »
    @mtaratoot I wish you lived by me so I could pick your brain about gardening! I just started a bunch of old seeds but I'm not having much luck with them, I just took cuttings of my jade and rosemary to do some Take a Plant Leave a Plant swapping, there's stands throughout the Sacramento area. Your artichokes look delicious! What is your favorite way to eat them? I like them boiled then grilled with lemon and garlic. If I could only eat one veggie that might be it! I'm going to have a lot of snap peas (have an herb garden too) and have Armenian Cucumber seeds on the way from Baker's Creek, I ordered Japanese tubers too. Of course I need to find a place for my cherry tomatoes!

    @acpgee I HAVE to start the peas I bought at the Indian market, I keep forgetting until I see your posts! I have mung beans too!

    Off to the farmer's market, hoping to score some goodies!

    You could pick my brain, but you might find better advice elsewhere. I say curse the weeds because pulling them sure doesn't seem to work on its own.

    I planted peas two weeks ago. They should have been sprouted a week ago. So far - nothing. I expect that birds may have eaten them and if not then maybe slugs. I think I might plant again. I dug around a little yesterday and found at least one unsprouted pea, so maybe I'll give them a few more days. The spinach seeds... may have drowned, or maybe they couldn't handle those two very cold mornings. I planted my winter beets in August expecting they'd be done over the winter. They survived, but never got big. I probably need to dig them under and plant new ones; they will get woody if I let them grow more at this point, and I'm running out of room. Much of my garden is perennial, so it's all about weeding. I keep threatening to dig up more of the artichokes and give them away. I have one that's grown into the path that's a good candidate. For some reason I didn't dig 'em this fall.

    Favorite way to eat artichokes; well, there's two. One is to roast them. I've done them whole, cut in half, and cut in quarters. All good. I put some olive oil on them before I roast, so nothing else is needed. Otherwise a favorite is to steam them briefly then put them on a charcoal grill or even in the smoker. Often, though, I just steam them. I learned only last year that putting a little lemon juice in the steam water can help preserve the color. Sometimes I melt a little butter and add garlic to dip if I cook them this way; other times I just dig in. Fresh from the garden there's so much flavor, they don't really need it. What I want to TRY is to dig out the choke and the center leaves and stuff them with something like crab and then bake them. Doesn't that sound good? My artichokes have changed over the years. They seem to have gone more "wild" than when they started. I started with two varieties, and I think only one plant still has flowers that I'd call globe shaped. The rest look more thistle shaped with outward pointing thorns that HURT. But goodness they are packed with flavor.

    If beans are vegetables, they would be my favorite. Black turtle, garbanzo, and mayocoba top the list these days. Blackeyed peas are up there too. A friend and I often debate whether or not bacon is a vegetable.

    I should have planted asparagus when I bought this house 18 years ago or so. I wasn't sure how long I'd be here, so I didn't. I had the perfect place. I kept putting it off. That space is now full of raspberries. The place I used to live had irrigation ditches, and we used to go hunt wild asparagus in May. That was fun, and those were the most delicious asparagus there ever were. Now my quarry in May are morels. I never find them, and they rarely find me. I'm told they're all around me. I'll be looking soon.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,945 Member
    I left the seeds from that squash soaking in salt water overnight. They were pretty easy to clean today. So easy that I cut open my last spaghetti squash and am going to mix the seeds together and cook them once they are dry.

    That squash is in the oven now with the rest of the asparagus. I still have a "small" Hubbard squash. They have BIG seeds. I'll dig into that pretty soon, but it's more likely to still be good longer than the spaghetti squash and DEFINITELY the delicata. The delicata is BARELY a winter squash.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,899 Member
    Yesterday was more about the protein than the produce, but the produce was still good--spot prawns with garlicky and lemony cauliflower rice, plus cherry tomatoes, green pepper, and jalapeno, cooked in olive oil. I had some leftover kale soup on the side.
  • annk18
    annk18 Posts: 85 Member
    edited March 2021
    Yesterday was a beautiful spring day and they held the farmers markets outdoors.In this area spring lasts a few days then returns to winter then spring. Back and forth until it is suddenly hot and muggy and it's summer.
    After the farmers market we took advantage of the good weather for a long walk along the very pebbly harbor of our town. This is a picture of our farmers market haul.
    Sorry, but I can't seem to download the picture onto this site. If someone can explain it to me, on an Android, I would be much obliged
  • ridiculous59
    ridiculous59 Posts: 2,807 Member
    edited March 2021
    annk18 wrote: »
    Yesterday was a beautiful spring day and they held the farmers markets outdoors.In this area spring lasts a few days then returns to winter then spring. Back and forth until it is suddenly hot and muggy and it's summer.
    After the farmers market we took advantage of the good weather for a long walk along the very pebbly harbor of our town. This is a picture of our farmers market haul.
    Sorry, but I can't seem to download the picture onto this site. If someone can explain it to me, on an Android, I would be much obliged

    Instead of using the mfp app, log in using your phone's browser. When you click on Community it will change to the app layout. On the upper right are three dots. Click, and in the dropdown click on "desktop site". Now you can upload photos from your phone.

    Someone else may know a better way but that's how I do it on my android.

    Yay for farmers markets!! We have spring one day (the return of *kitten* willows, Canada geese, and robins are proof!). But then it snowed yesterday and people are still ice fishing LOL
  • ridiculous59
    ridiculous59 Posts: 2,807 Member
    Too funny!! MFP didn't like the name of those willows with cute little fuzzy things in the spring 🤣
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    zyia576u9mnj.jpg
    Chocolate something...
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,945 Member
    Guess who moved to Hawaii...

    qz9xu19wnvdc.jpeg

    Yer makin' me jealous. What island? Have some rambutan for me please.
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Guess who moved to Hawaii...

    qz9xu19wnvdc.jpeg

    Yer makin' me jealous. What island? Have some rambutan for me please.

    Big Island. Strikingly affordable compared to CA Bay Area. Also: egg fruit. Wowza. I’ll look for rambutan!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 12,945 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Guess who moved to Hawaii...

    qz9xu19wnvdc.jpeg

    Yer makin' me jealous. What island? Have some rambutan for me please.

    Big Island. Strikingly affordable compared to CA Bay Area. Also: egg fruit. Wowza. I’ll look for rambutan!

    I would consider moving to Kauai, but there's no whitewater to paddle/row. I'd have to learn to surf, and that surf is pretty big. Plenty of diving, though not as good as down on Maui.

    All the different kinds of bananas.... All the really fresh pineapple (which isn't a pine or an apple). The papaya. The mango. Man. I'm getting hungry for fruit.
  • Safari_Gal_
    Safari_Gal_ Posts: 1,461 Member
    zyia576u9mnj.jpg
    Chocolate something...

    @purplefizzy wow!!! A new world of fruit and veg!!!
    Sapote? Can’t wait to see photos! 🤗
  • purplefizzy
    purplefizzy Posts: 594 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Guess who moved to Hawaii...

    qz9xu19wnvdc.jpeg

    Yer makin' me jealous. What island? Have some rambutan for me please.

    Big Island. Strikingly affordable compared to CA Bay Area. Also: egg fruit. Wowza. I’ll look for rambutan!

    I would consider moving to Kauai, but there's no whitewater to paddle/row. I'd have to learn to surf, and that surf is pretty big. Plenty of diving, though not as good as down on Maui.

    All the different kinds of bananas.... All the really fresh pineapple (which isn't a pine or an apple). The papaya. The mango. Man. I'm getting hungry for fruit.

    I couldn’t afford Kauai (yet!) so this was the first stop. En route to there in the 3 year plan :)

    The bananas- yeassss. I was not previously a ‘banana person’ but the little apple bananas changed all of that.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    zyia576u9mnj.jpg
    Chocolate something...

    I live in the tropics so have come across this fruit. It's called Black Sapote or Chocolate Pudding fruit. Lots of vitamin C in them.