pasta and tomato with a few others

Back to the garden, this year the tomatoes were soil based rather than the hydroponic which the tomatoes don’t seem to tolerate the high temps of the summer. Still some greens were still used in the hydroponics, some tat-soi and kale mostly.

The tomatoes flourished as removing the suckers resulted in  new heights for the plants and excellent fruit production for both the Roni and Sakura variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After numerous salads and the like, I made a pasta dish, simple, quick as one does not want to be over the stove in hot weather, and tasty. Rather bore you with a recipe or technics, let the pictures do the storytelling.

 

 

 

 

hydroponic update

pictures taken OCT 20

Even at this date the outdoor hydroponic DWC still provides us with tomatoes and also a few flowering brassica leaves and tatsoi leaves for greens. One tomato plant still going. I’ve pinched off growth of the tomatoes since any new flowers won’t have time to develop into fruit outdoors.

flowering brassica

flowering brassica, tomato and tatsoi

some  green tomatoes on the vine

a few each day are harvested as they turn ripe and a few outer leaves of the greens are used for soups and salads

tatsoi does well hydroponically

more greens

meanwhile indoors, using LED lighting seeds are started

using rockwool Grodan cubes, basil and rosemary are started with kale and tatsoi, a bit leggy on the greens, probably should heighten the lighting. These have been transferred to net pots since the picture was taken. Hydroponic works for me, unfortunately there are some who associate hydroponics with only cannabis  growing IMO.

another use for the tomatoes

 

 

 

Saturday AM

One egg omelettes served this morning. 

One , Egg , a bit of milk, sweet onion, garlic, tat soi, kale, cheese, mushrooms. Side of orange.

One just sweet onion.

Coffee is a blend of Mexican and Columbian , roasted together , very good considering it was roasted just before brewing.

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What’s on your plate today ?

A bowl of soup

A rainy, cool day, with veggies available, soup eneviatable .

  

 Carrots, leeks, turnip, cauliflower.

Mushrooms, tat soi, kale

Veggie broth, chicken, soy sauce, salt and pepper , bells seasonings.

Rice noodles

Carrots, leeks, turnips,  cauliflower , chicken, sautéed . Added to simmering stock.

Rice noodles soaked in cold water, drained, added to soup, grated Parmesan garnish. 

light brunch

Just a salad for now,

salad dressing, (mayo, ketchup, horseradish, hot pepper sauce, hot pepper flakes, sugar, salt, balsamic vinegar)

sliced deviled eggs w/bacon (leftovers)

fresh greens, (lettuce, kale, tat soi.)

croutons (cubed bread, sautéed with garlic and butter.)

grape tomatoes

 

Lamb shoulder chop

Easy preparation for a lamb shoulder chop. 

Fry up the chop over high heat in a thick skillet preferably in bacon fat. 

Add some chopped white onion. 

Serve the chop over greens with a baked potato side, microwave a single potatoe about 8 minutes, remove from microwave, wrap in foil and let stand several minutes.

One of the advantages of growing you own greens is that you can plan and harvest a portion of the planting, (either soil or hydro based) leaving some behind and not worry about storage and refrigeration, the rest of the plant is actively growing. 

  
Harvested greens

  
The meal plated up.

Chicken n’ rice soup

Prepare rice, as much as needed for your amount of soup and reserve.

Utilizing veggies, dice small , in this soup , onion, peppers; green, orange and red. Carrot,  celery and small amount of garlic. In a small amount of olive oil , better yet chicken fat or a combination of both sauté the diced veggies.  Add chicken stock, another household members poaches chicken breasts and reserves the stock for me. Also the trimmed chicken tenders from the breast are reserved for the soup. 

Add water or additional stock to bring the soup up to quantity desired figuring the additional rice to be added.

To round out soup I added about 1/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill  soup mix. 

Season to taste with salt and pepper and other spices to your palate. (A dash of curry, cumin, hot pepper, etc.)

Add the chicken meat diced, and greens, I was fortunate to have kale, Tat soi, and brocolli leafs.  

 Simmer slowly, I prefer to have the rice added to the bowl when served rather than mix into the soup. 

Garnish with grated Romano. 

  
Accompanies a cold damp night. A side of toast or croutons perhaps?