July 7, 2009: A Garden Dinner

I had a hard day working on the new garden shed today. Son John still hadn't finished the interior walls, and didn't show up last night, so Mr. H and I decided to tackle that last wall. Now, if you've been reading my blog for very long, you'll know Mr. H and I do not work well together. Building projects = divorce threats in this household. But guess what? We did the job, did it well, and didn't even have an argument all day! Well, maybe one small one when I couldn't reach the top of the board to mark where to cut it. He just doesn't understand I'm five inches shorter than he, and cannot reach to the same heights. Of course, before we even began working on the wall, we had to clear out all the tools, boards, and general mess just to get to that back wall. I think that took longer than the actual building!

After we'd finished, I got a coat of primer on that wall, but it was too close to dinner time to prime the fourth and last wall. I had to go inside and load the breakfast and lunch dishes into the dishwasher and find the kitchen, which was a mess from the day's meals, so I could start dinner. And before I could start dinner, I had to go pick.....beans.

It seems as though all I've done this summer is pick beans. Endless beans. I picked Royal Burgundy bush beans, then on my way to the other side to pick the Contender bush beans, I happened to notice the pole beans were getting quite large. I wandered over to check them out, and sure enough, they did need to be picked. The first picking of the year! I ended up getting a full pound of beans off of those vines, and they were almost a joy to pick. Unlike with the bush beans, I didn't have to bend and stoop and reach, but could stand comfortably and pick them with ease. I never did get to the Contender beans, they'll just have to wait until tomorrow. On the way back to the kitchen, I checked the cucumbers and decided one was large enough for the dinner salad. Our first cucumber of the season.


Tuesday's Garden Dinner

Kevin was visiting, so who has time to take pretty pictures of the dinner. Feeding hungry grandchildren takes priority!



Barbecued Chicken Breast
Baked Yukon Gold Potatoes (potatoes)
Fried Zucchini (zucchini)
Green Beans with Yellow Crookneck Squash (beans, squash)
Tossed Salad with Ranch Dressing (cucumber)
Milk


By the way, the pole beans were delicious! I cooked the entire pound with both of yesterday's crookneck squash, and we (Mr. H., Kevin, myself and the two dogs) ate every bite of it! Otto and Annie loved them. The variety is Kentucky Blue, and they have a good, old fashioned "beany" flavor.




20 comments:

  1. Wait. Look at that boy's plate. There's green things on it. There's a, OMG, is that a half eaten salad!!! *sigh* One day my kids will be less picky in their eating habits.

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  2. That boy eats anything that doesn't walk, talk or say "ribbit"! He actually goes for the greens and veggies before anything else on the plate. He LOVES green beans, summer squash, cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower. He's not too hot on tomatoes, unless they are cherry tomatoes. He is a joy to cook for! Alicia is the same, she loves her veggies!

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  3. I much prefer pole beans to bush beans - the picking is easier and I actually think they taste better too. I grow the bush beans so I have a bunch all at the same time for preserving, but for fresh eating pole beans cannot be beat.

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  4. KitsapFG, I always have liked the pole beans better, but I plant bush beans to get them extra early. Last year my pole beans only got one bean on them, then it froze! That was in the late planted garden, after the regular one was destroyed. I've always planted Kentucky Wonder poles, I like these Kentucky Blue a bit better. Very tender, beany and virtually stringless. As I age, I find it quite painful to bend and pick. I may just stick to a single row of bush beans to get me through to the main season next year.

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  5. noname, Annie & Otto ate the leftovers. You have to get here early if you want dinner ;-)

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  6. I love to see a child like that who will eat anything. My daughter is 23 and her taste buds have finally developed--she appreciates veggies, fruit, tarter sauce, well, the list goes on. She still doesnt like ham. I enjoy seeing pictures of your meals.

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  7. MissyM, most of my children were good veggie eaters, as I've always had a garden. Except one...she wouldn't eat anything if it was green! She's 44 years old now, and she'll finally eat broccoli. That's the only green she'll touch.

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  8. Granny, I'd help you pick beans any day! I love em, and am looking forward to my first batch.
    Do you can, freeze, or just eat fresh?

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  9. Sue, so far I've frozen two 1-gallon bags stuffed full, given away at least half (probably more) to my sons and my neighbor, and eaten the rest. Mr. H is beginning to balk when he sees green beans on his plate!

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  10. Your grandson is in for quite a search when it comes to finding a wife someday who will cook like that for him, lol...or maybe his wife will be the lucky one and he will be the chef??! I dread the bean picking...I break out in hives and bright red rash so I have to don gloves and long sleeves in the heat & humidity to pick them! As for the shed, that made me laugh since we did a DIY rehab of our house that took 2 years and I remember the "Divorce Dust"...that's what we called the dust that settles everywhere during a project, lol!

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  11. Erin, if it's any indication of what is to be, my boys are the cooks in the family! Kevin always wants to bake when he visits, and I'm happy to let him. He made some good sugar cookies this time.

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  12. Oh Granny! To have a child eat veggies like that has to be a dream. I thought that maybe if I had a garden, the girl, as ribbit says, would become interested and maybe eat. NOPE! She says "eh. I'll pass" LOL She will eat carrots, which she is getting tired of, and corn. That's it! But she loves her fruit so I will take that LOL

    I didn't get a good yield on my pole beans. I had more from my bush beans, and that was maybe 10 oz per harvest. Not near enough to freeze. We stir fry them with some Parmesan-Garlic season I bought from Pampered Chef (had a friend have a party and that was the cheapest thing I could find! lol) YUMMIE! Even now LOL Congrats on the cucumber! I am waiting for the full crank stage to pickle them. Until then, I will settle for my mother enjoying them LOL

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  13. JenGC, mine seem to be just the opposite, I got a lousy yield from my two best tasting bush beans (but a ton from the cheap dollar store ones), and I just pulled out the Contender beans after getting only a handful again. The Royal burgundy still seem to be bearing quite well, though. I only see two more cucumbers that can be picked soon, and many that didn't get pollinated. I'm hoping to eventually get enough for pickles.

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  14. Granny, my ds take a lot of coaxing to eat veggies, but my dd, she will eat them right out of the garden before I have a chance to cook them. She ate my first green bean harvest before I even had a chance to post a pic. So I had to post the pic of her eating them on the family blog! Too cute though! I love it! Hope she keeps it up, they are only 3!

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  15. Hi Granny. :) I guess there is still hope for me and my husband getting along when it comes to completing a project together! Your post today gives me hope. Just this past weekend we attempted to build a new compost bin together and it did not go well. We spent a good part of Sunday afternoon annoyed with each other and the bin never got finished!

    Last year I felt like all I did was pick beans. Mine are still tiny right now but here soon I will be out there picking them day and night too. They are one of my favorite veggies from the garden though so I do not mind too much.

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  16. Cynthia, there is always hope. It took us 47 years to finally do a project together without fighting, but we did it...you can too!

    Yes, I love the beans, too...I just hate picking them! I think I'll buy a different type of bush beans next year. I see Johnny's Seeds has one called EZ Pick.

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  17. he thought that makes me tired is all the work, then the kitchen-sorting, then the cooking! There are nights I'm almost too tired to eat after all that.

    I'm not going to be tired of beans this year; there's not enough. I have plans for next year!

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  18. Stefaneener, that's why I don't have photos of a garden dinner every night. Some nights it might be a garden dinner, but it would be every man for himself dishing it up off the stove. I was so tired tonight, mine is on a paper plate next to the computer. I'll spend half an hour or more nibbling at it.

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  19. Shawn Ann, I have that problem with my grown boys. They eat everything raw right out there in the garden. I keep telling them to at least wash it off, as it is growing in cow poop! That doesn't seem to bother them. I have no problem getting rid of my extras with those two boys, but my daughter could care less, except for peppers. She does like the bell peppers.

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