Kohlrabi Slaw

If ever there was proof of alien life kohlrabi would have to be it! We love this little alien crop swollen stems and all! We have grown it for 3 years and we usually eat it as is or occasionally roasted. This year we thought we would do something fresh. So we decided to try a slaw. This was super easy and required no cooking skill whatsoever! Just a peeler and a shredder! It is so easy we decided to make a pictorial guide instead of our usual recipe format.

The Ingredients

From left to right we have our purple variety of kohlrabi. We harvested it a few days ago and stored it in the fridge until we were ready to make this dish. Next we have a very oddly shaped carrot (it was so sweet), one half of a red apple and one half of a small sweet onion.

The Light Work

For the kohlrabi separate leaves from bulb. Wash both. Remove the leaves from the stem and set aside. Peel bulbs and carrot. Set a little of the carrot tops aside for garnish or you may choose to chop them an add into your slaw. This depends on how much carrot flavor you want in your dish.

Shred kohlrabi, carrot and apple (we left the skin on). We thinly sliced the onion instead of shredding. Since we were not cooking the greens we made sure to mince them well. Mix all of your ingredients evenly. Here is the point where you can really make this dish your own. At this point you could use some apple cider vinegar, mayo, pepper and lemon to make this with the traditional flavor of a coleslaw. I however wanted to venture out a bit more. I added Sicilian Lemon White Balsamic Vinegar with some olive oil. It was the perfect mix of sweet from the kohlrabi and carrot with the tangy of the vinegar.

The Finished Product

Easy enough for ya’? We chose to store in a mason jar but a bowl will do just as well. We served it with grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. The flavor was just as I imagined it would be. This is a guilt free easy recipe that I’m certain we will recreate over and over again! You can add radishes even salad turnips! So will you make the BHG version or the traditional version? It is a win – win situation and in the year of 2020 we can all use that! From our family to yours!

Sweet Potato Bread

As the seasons go by I have to say that I am a bit pleased that we have steadily increased our food production for our family and community. With each increase however comes the challenge of utilizing the produce in ways that are fun and exciting for our adventurous family of four. I wouldn’t say that we are foodies per say but anyone can become bored with the same foods, even if they are home grown!

  • Prepping bed for sweet potatoes
  • All done! Now we wait!

This year we doubled our sweet potato planting. Last year we loved them so much and used them in pies, smoothies and of course we made yams as a side dish. The flavor versus store bought was, once again, unmatched. We knew we could never go back! So we planted more! This enabled us to share them with our CSA members and benefit ourselves. In addition, a fellow grower sent us beautiful basket that they had grown! Now to enjoy these babies! I immediately wanted to do sweet potato bread because it was something I planned to do last year before running out of potatoes. I figured it couldn’t be that difficult so I took to the internet. I found a few options that really struck my interest. This is the recipe that I modified for our family.

The Modifications

We did adjust this recipe ever so slightly to fit our tastes.

  • We left off the nutmeg simply because we were out. We also left off the pecans because I didn’t feel up to cracking them. Even a farm girl is allowed to be lazy – sometimes.
  • Instead of boiling our potatoes we cooked them as if we were making yams:
    • In a small cast iron skillet we placed 3 tablespoons of vegan butter, 1 teaspoon dried Rosemary, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 pound of peeled & cut sweet potatoes and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and baked at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
    • Remove and allow to cool to blend in blender or transfer into mixing bowl & use an emersion blender very carefully!
  • Since we added cinnamon to the potatoes already there was no need to add anymore in the mixing process. We also only used 1 cup of sugar since 1/2 cup had already been added to the potatoes when they where cooked.

Story Time!

The day before I decided to make this dish I also made a batch of hot sauce using our Scotch Bonnet and Habanero peppers. Coincidentally the blender that was used in that process was again used in this recipe. When I tasted the blended potatoes I kept wondering why it had a hint of spice. “Duh Shena!” I exclaimed followed by hysterical laughter. I then announced to the family that the Sweet Potato Bread would be spicy. The reactions just spawned another round of laughter! At this point, I was for sure that I had ruined the bread but I’d come too far to back out now!

Back to Modifications

  • We used a 9 x 5 inch glass loaf pan and looking back I would have preferred to use a metal one instead and use a little less of the batter. Guess it is time to invest in a metal loaf pan!
  • In regards to cook time, it took one hour and twenty minutes for the bread to pass the knife test. I’m sure this is in part related to the use of a glass pan and using more batter than I should have. Since the bread cooked for longer (to be done at the center) it was darker than it should have been however not burnt.
  • After removing from oven, allow to cool and place on plate. Using a sifter I sprinkled powdered sugar over the top. Cut. Serve. Enjoy!

You maybe wondering how the spice affected the flavor. IT WAS DIVINE! After cooking the spice was barely noticeable and combined with the cinnamon it almost gave off hints of ginger. This is one mistake that actually paid off! We will definitely be amping up our sweet potato planting yet again for 2021 so that we can make more of these delicious loaves! Stay tuned!

LEMON BALM ROASTED SWEET POTATOES

Man – that was a mouthful! All those letters basically add up to a delicious dish that we now would like to share with you.

We all love sweet potatoes – pies, fries, bread and more – this is one ingenious vegetable! So when we originally harvested ours we immediately knew we wanted to make at least one pie and get creative with the remainder. The idea for this dish was borne when we were researching an entirely different crop – Lemon Balm. We love the flavor in tea but had never really cooked with it. When researching recipes that used it we found this one. While it looked very appetizing, we wanted something more sweet and savory. So we used this recipe as an outline, if you will, for our masterpiece!

The Ingredients

  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Lemon Balm
  • Oil of choice (we use olive oil)
  • Cinnamon
  • Sugar
  • Salt

The Prep

Wash your potatoes well and peel. We usually wash again before slicing. We used the crinkle cutter to cut these but after cooking you couldn’t really tell. Next time we will just cut. Be sure to cut evenly.

Wash your Lemon Balm and spin dry. Chop finely. We used about half a bundle.

In a bowl mix all ingredients. Be sure to coat the potatoes well with all your ingredients. We didn’t list the exact amount we used of the spices because we always season to taste. After mixing, allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Let’s Cook!

We prepared our masterpiece in several batches in the air fryer. After layering into the tray, we sprinkled a pinch of sugar over the top. We cooked at 400° for 15 minutes. If you sliced yours thinly then you may want to decrease temperature and/or cook time.

Enjoy!

My daughter and I worked on these while the guys were at work. It was hard to stop eating them – AND THE AROMA! This dish is fun, easy and delish! Do not expect to have leftovers.

Will you give our recipe a try? If so please do share your photos over on the community section of our Facebook page! We love hearing from you!

Veggie-ghetti

Have you ever had so many vegetables you just do not have any idea of what to do with them? This is an issue many home gardeners will run into several times during peak harvest season. It is also an issue we were facing over the weekend. If you want to see how we turned a mess of veggies into a tasty vegetarian meal then keep reading! If you wanna get straight to the recipe, we understand that too!

This past Sunday it became abundantly clear that there was a need to have a veggie chop and freeze day. Baskets of produce on the counters and in both refrigerators spoke the same exact story. Things have been so busy as we have done final preparations for the Fall CSA that we hadn’t been able to work it in weekly as normal. So I got the youngsters to wash up all the produce and set up the chopping station. Ironically it was also time to prepare dinner. As I chopped hubby observed to see what he could use to add to our meal for the evening. I readily offered the three eggplants that I had chopped up. If you could have seen hubbies face as he said, “No. I don’t want those. It takes too much to get them to taste good.” Yep, he said that! See, unlike me, he doesn’t like the natural flavor eggplant offers. That is ok, many of us feel that way about various veggies. So he quickly grabbed up some Italian Roasting peppers and stuffed them while I continued to chop. Four quarts of okra later I was finally left with the remaining peppers, eggplant and long beans. I decided to do a stir fry mix. One contained eggplant, beans and peppers and the other contained eggplant and peppers only. I diced the eggplants into fairly small pieces. I wasn’t sure when I would use these mixes so I froze these as well.

The next day marked vegetarian week for me. So as I mediated on what to prepare to please me and my carnivorous family members I thought back to the eggplant stir fry mix and had an idea! I began to prepare the following. It was totally made up as I went however I’m sure that someone somewhere has done something similar before. So let’s get cooking shall we?

The Ingredients

  • Eggplant
  • Bell Peppers
  • Tomatoes
  • Onion
  • Garlic
  • Fresh Basil
  • Tomato Sauce
  • Spaghetti Noodles

The Prep

You will need to chop your veggies into a suitable size. Although I had no idea that we would be using these veggies for this meal when they where initially chopped, it just so happened that the size mimicked pieces of ground meat. So if you are going for a fake out then be sure to consider chopping small. If you are going for more of a ratatouille vibe then chunky is good.

Tip: Before you start chopping go ahead and fill your large stock pot with water for your noodles and put it on and medium high. Add salt if you prefer.

Let’s Cook!

This is so easy peasy that you really do not need the instructions but since this is after all a recipe we thought we better.

  • Add two tablespoons of olive oil to your pan and bring to a medium heat. Add all of your produce at the same time except the basil. Fry for 10 – 15 minutes while stirring frequently
  • Add seasonings (always to taste)
  • Add fresh basil
  • Add tomato sauce and allow to simmer on low for 10 minutes. Within this time add your pasta to your water which should be at a nice boil.
  • Add sauce to noodles & enjoy!

Click the photo for a short video of our preparation!

While eating dinner I asked hubby what he thought of the spaghetti. “It’s real good.” he mumbled between bites. I, feeling quite surprised and impressed with myself, had to tell him, “It’s those 3 eggplants you didn’t want to eat yesterday.” To which he laughed saying, “Touché, touché.” Mission accomplished!

Are you going to experiment with our Veggie-ghetti recipe? If so we would love to see your creation. Share your photos in the community section of our Facebook page or tag us in your Instagram post – #bainhomegardens. From our family to yours!

Stuff-Loaded Peppers

Bell & Italian Roasting Peppers

Admit it. When you saw stuffed peppers you probably thought “Hasn’t that been done to death?” While we cannot disagree we felt a bit forced to reinvent the stuffed pepper. This year we planted far more peppers than we have ever before with the purpose of using them as the stars in our own salsas, pepper jellies and pickled peppers. These range from sweet to extremely hot! Well we have had the joy of using these for the intended purposes but all at once, in the last two months, these peppers have made up their mind to go CRAZY! Now what? Enter stuff peppers…

Just how exactly did we reinvent the stuffed peppers. We simply filled them with…well – STUFF! This “stuff” included anything we had recently harvested that needed to be prepared. So as you prepare your Stuff – Loaded Peppers keep in mind you can use WHATEVER you have on hand. Get creative with it. We sure did. It is as my mama used to say, “Work with what ya got.”

The Ingredients

  • Peppers – We used Italian Roasting Peppers & Bells
  • Okra
  • Onion
  • Tomatoes
  • Eggplant
  • Rice
  • Ground Turkey
  • Shredded Cheese
  • Oil of choice for frying
  • Flour
  • 2 Eggs for egg wash

The Prep

Although this recipe doesn’t require a high skill level it does require loads of chopping and in our case peeling as well (eggplants). My chopping skills can use some work so this took me longer than I really wanted. What is important is that you chop as finely as you can and try your best to chop each produce item about the same size.

We used our bell peppers for the baked version. To prepare them simply cut off the top and remove the ribs seeds. Massage with a little olive oil and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Place on cookie sheet and set aside.

We used our Italian Roasting Peppers for the fried version. Slice them down the middle leaving the top on. Remove the ribs and the seeds.

Tip: Cooking the rice while you are fully emerged in chopping is a great idea. It will be done right around the same time you are! If preparing the baked version now is the time to preheat your oven to 375.

Let’s Cook!

The vegetables you choose to use for your stuffing will determine which order you cook them in.

  • If you are doing the baked version place them in the oven as soon as it is preheated and cook for 15 minutes.
  • If you are doing the fried version now is the time to get your fry daddy ready and heat the oil to about 370.
  • In a shallow frying pan add one tablespoon of oil of choice (we used coconut oil) and add ground turkey. When turkey is close to completely brown start adding your vegetables. (If you are doing the vegetarian version simply omit the turkey.)Here is the order and approximate time we stir fried our veggies before adding the next…
    1. Eggplant for 5 minutes
    2. Okra for for 5 minutes
    3. Tomato and onion added together and cooked for an additional 5 minutes
    4. Season to taste. We used garlic and salt.
  • Pull your bells peppers from the oven.
  • Mix the rice with your meat and veggie “stuff”. Cover with shredded cheese bake for 5 minutes and you are done!

If you are doing the fried version then you have a few more steps left.

  • Beat two eggs to create an egg wash.
  • Dip your peppers in flour. Dust off the extra flour. This will give your stuffing something to stick to.
  • Fill the peppers with your “stuff” mixture. Roll in egg wash then roll in flour.
  • Fry. Turn to ensure equal frying on each side.
  • Enjoy!

Nothing brings a family together like a home cooked meal. Why not give this fun recipe a try. If you choose to prepare these for your family, please let us know how they enjoyed them! Mr. Bain Home Gardener preferred the fried the most saying, “I could eat those all day!” Just what every cook wants to hear! Till next time – from our family to yours!