I've been a very well fed Granny this week. Amy had us over for a lovely Father's Day brunch, and John treated us to dinner at a local restaurant, where I enjoyed a half rack of barbecued pork ribs with all the trimmings.
I didn't harvest much from the garden yesterday, as the refrigerator was still filled with Monday's pickings. I did get a first for 2010, though. A handful (2 oz) of bush green beans!
Only beans and raspberries were picked Tuesday. My beans weren't quite as green as they look here. I forgot to photograph the harvest until after they were cooked! 
Dinner was grilled wild salmon, baked potato (not from my garden), the broccoli I picked on Monday, and mixed lettuce salad with cranberries and walnuts, topped with an oil/vinegar/sugar dressing. Mr. Granny got the fresh green beans, as he doesn't care much for broccoli. I did what I do every year, I overcooked my first broccoli of the season. I think the tender florets cook so much faster than the tough ones from the produce department of the grocery store. Overcooked or not, they were still delicious. I baked some oatmeal cookies, so we munched on those and were too full to eat the raspberries for dessert. They'll be really good for breakfast this morning, with some whole grain buttered toast.
Nice! Looking tasty Gran. It's been ages since we've had fish. I'll have to go out and get some this weekend. You're gonna have to post your creamed potato recipe. Sounds yummy.
ReplyDeleteBoy, I wish we lived closer to you! I could bring "The Italian" over, let him cook and we could sit and have some adult beverages :)
ReplyDeleteI am happy to hear that your weather has finally warmed up! It's so hot here....it's like August!
Your meals always make my mouth water!!
ReplyDeleteThomas, no special recipe for the creamed potatoes and peas, just a basic white sauce poured over the cooked veggies. I use 1 Tbsp. butter and 1 Tbsp. flour for each cup of milk and season to taste with salt & pepper.
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Robin, I'll let your Italian do the cooking any day! I'm getting real lazy about my cooking in my old age. Mr. Granny is a real meat and potatoes man, or I'd just live on stir fry for every dinner. Or a bowl of cereal or something ;-)
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debiclegg, I only cook things that are quick and easy, nothing fancy at my house! I do try to incorporate as much of my home grown produce as I can, but I'm not very imaginative when it comes to the menu. Mr. Granny and I tend to eat the same things, week after week.
I like the pictures of your dinner, and might just have to do more of those, myself.
ReplyDeleteNext time bake raspberry thumbprint cookies and you can have them both at the same time. I do love oatmeal cookies. They are one of my favorites along with ginger cookies.
ReplyDeleteMy raspberries are starting to get to work too finally. The one or two I was getting was just taunting me. I picked a few yesterday and had to be back to the old house to let one of the workers in and noticed a lot more were ready. Loved it.
EG, please do! Give me some ideas for using my garden produce, and get me out of this rut of the same old same old!
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Daphne, Mr. Granny and I were discussing raspberries (while eating them) this morning, and came to the conclusion the 4'x8' bed next to the existing raspberries might be put to better use next year. Not so many tomatoes, and convert that bed to a second raspberry patch. Maybe an everbearing that would give us some fall berries.
Those berries look so nice and colorful! Something I'm definitely looking into planting next year.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your meals always look sooooo good! And I think it's so cool how they're always composed of so much from you garden :)
I have made a decision, I WILL be planting raspberries somewhere at Henbogle. Yours look amazing, and you and Daphne are always bragging about them. I'm hungry! :-)
ReplyDeleteIt all looks good, glad it has warmed up for you!
Granny,
ReplyDeleteBeing brand new to gardening, I've been wandering around the Internet browsing various vegetable gardening blogs for the last month. I have to confess, I am developing a major, MAJOR crush on your garden, your blog, and your sparkling personality. Not satisfied with waiting for your new posts, I went back to the beginning of your blog and started reading in chronological order. I'm finally done with 2008 and 2009 and now ready to start reading your 2010 posts!
You have inspired me to consider starting my own garden blog so that I can chronicle my progress better and connect with other vegetable gardeners. I haven't started yet, though, because I have newbie anxiety!
At any rate, I mostly wanted to just say, WOW, I'm so impressed.
Seana, it won't be long before you are incorporating your harvest into your meals. Planning diners around the garden produce is the fun part. Finding time to cook, plate and photograph them isn't as easy ;-)
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Ali, this is our first year for the raspberries. We had a few handfuls last summer, but not enough to bother bringing into the house, just to be eaten in the garden. Now we are getting them daily, but still not enough for freezing or jam, so expanding the bed sounds like a winner to me.
mkimmi, that is the greatest compliment anyone could pay me! Thank you.
ReplyDeletePlease don't be intimidated about blogging. The first post you read of mine was the first time I ever blogged. I was 69 years old, so it's not true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks ;-) Anyway, it took a week or so of trial and error, and after that it came easy. You'll soon find that the other garden bloggers are helpful and friendly, many of them are nearly as dear to me as my own family, and I've never even met them (except for DaBeardedOne, who has become a cherished friend). So, good luck with your garden, and good luck with your blog. Let me know when you start, so I can be your very first follower!
granny, have you ever thought about making a raspberry vinaigrette for your salad with walnuts and cranberries...mmmm! Or even Pecans and cranberries with a raspberry vinaigrette! (Whew, I had to look that one up!) And no, I have not made my own, I don't have raspberries *teary eyed* I just thought it would be good!
ReplyDeleteShawn Ann, I tried making it last year, and it didn't turn out good at all. I have a bottle of the store bought kind in the refrigerator, which I sometimes use, but I've always like the 2 parts oil to 1 part vinegar (cider or balsamic), with sugar or honey to taste. Mr. Granny is partial to that, too.
ReplyDeleteSome raspberry sorbet would be nice with the hot weather :-)
ReplyDeleteMmmm, that does sound good, Dan! When you get it made, send it on down to me ;-)
ReplyDeleteGranny, I did it! It's definitely still a work in progress, but I finally got my first post up.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your encouragement!
-mkimmi
mkimmi, I knew you could do it! I'm your first follower :-)
ReplyDeleteNow I have to go read it!
Glad you finally got some warm weather! I've got some little berries starting on my Canby raspberries this year (yay!). That's one thing I miss about our house in Alaska, we had so many raspberries, I actually got sick of raspberry pie (I can't hardly imagine it now...).
ReplyDeleteAmy, I can't believe how huge the new canes are for next year's berries! I can't hardly find the fruiting ones, and I know I'll have to thin them out, but they are 7' tall and bigger around than Mr. Granny's thumb. I can't save up enough berries for a pie, we're eating them all each day. I thought we'd get tired of fresh berries, and I could save them for jam, but we're still hogging them down.
ReplyDeleteDinner looks good! There is absolutely no comparison of garden fresh broccoli to store bought. I swear they are not the same plant! I have my first head of broccoli forming (finally!) and cannot wait for that pleasure.
ReplyDeleteYou will have to forgive me... but I don't believe you when you say you are not going to grow as many tomatoes in order to use that bed for a raspberry! I bet you just end up with another big row of tomatoes in pots. I don't think you can help yourself when it comes to planting tomatoes. ;D
Kitsap, oh wise one, you know me well ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think I might get my first ripe one today!