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| sauteed garlic scapes |
Friday (I gave myself the night off from cooking by making extra the day before)
leftover chicken from the 4th
leftover dinner rolls
leftover rhubarb jello
leftover blueberry pie
Saturday
pizza (another take-out pizza using the balance on the same gift card from a week ago)
green salad
garden raspberries
fresh cherries
candy-coated pretzel rods
Sunday
lentil, barley and vegetable soup
homemade French bread
Monday
bean and cheese burritos using homemade tortillas and scratch refried beans
watermelon
sauteed Swiss chard and onions
Tuesday
ham sandwich
microwave-baked potato
watermelon
Wednesday
baked beans and ham
scratch macaroni and cheese
watermelon
sweet and tangy cole slaw (with dehydrated, sweetened rhubarb bits in with the cabbage)
scratch brownies
Thursday
leftover baked beans and ham
leftover macaroni and cheese
oven-roasted carrot sticks
sauteed garlic scapes
toast, using whole wheat bread and the leftover salted oil from the carrot-roasting pan and some of the oil from the scapes
It's summer and my family, like others, likes to do as many outdoorsy things as possible while the weather is nice and the days are long. Saturday evening, we wanted to have dinner at the beach. dinner at the beach, bringing our own food, is my family's way of "eating out" during good weather. We sacrifice the table service that a traditional restaurant would offer, but we get the most amazing view of the water and really enjoy our evening. We had the balance on a gift card that we could use to pick up a pizza, ordering off of a "specials" menu for a $7.99 large 3-topping pizza. We paired the pizza with a salad made with greens from our garden and a scratch vinaigrette, raspberries and cherries freshly picked from our property and the last of the candy-coated pretzel rods. Like many of us here, I have an assortment of leftover paper plates and napkins (from various celebrations and parties), and plastic cutlery (washed and reused). Once at the beach, we found a bench that was front and center for viewing a spectacular evening on the waterfront. After we had dinner, we played some frisbee and walked along the water's edge. I think that evening picnics are even more enjoyable than midday ones, as the public areas are not as crowded, the evenings are cooling off, you don't need sunscreen, and sunset views are beautiful. This is cheap and cheerful dining at its finest.
I wanted to talk a bit about the garlic scapes. If you don't have a garden or don't grow garlic then you may not know what I'm talking about. So I'll fill you in. Garlic plants send up a flower stalk in June or July. The leaves of a garlic plant are flat and tender like grass. The green part of the flower stalks are thicker, sometimes as thick as thin asparagus, and curl noticeably. The head of the flower stalk is pointed before it opens. It is at this point that garlic scapes are harvested, cutting off the curled section of the stalk along with the unopened blossom end.
This is how I use the scapes:
As is, the scapes have a very strong flavor. To temper this, I blanch the scapes in a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or just until the stalks turn bright green. I then heat a small skillet with about 1/3 cup of vegetable oil, and saute the scapes in the oil until they are a darker green and very tender, turning frequently. Warning -- in this much oil, they do pop and splatter some oil., so after the initial cooking, I turn the heat down to low for the rest of the cooking.
Once cooked, I remove with a slotted spoon and sprinkle with a bit of salt. These are so yummy, as is. I could eat a whole pile just snacking. But they are also delicious chopped and sprinkled over other dishes, such as a cream-based pasta dish, on pizza, or inside sandwiches. I pour off the extra, now garlic-infused oil and use to flavor other foods, such as focaccia and French breads, plain pasta or rice, meat and veggies, or as a dipping oil for breadsticks. Do any of you cook with garlic scapes? Have you ever noticed them at the farmer's market or in a CSA box? They're very tasty, so if you do come across some, either in your garden or in a CSA box, definitely try them.
In a home-garden, there are many opportunities to harvest produce items that you never see in traditional grocery stores, such as the blossoms from summer and winter squash plants, edible flowers and leaves such as nasturtiums, rose hips, currant leaves, young pea vines, grape leaves, and the flower stalks of garlic.
Most of our produce this week has come from our garden and included Swiss chard, lettuce, baby kale, garlic scapes, rhubarb, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, blueberries, snow peas, oregano, rosemary, and basil. With the money that our garden is saving us, I am stocking up for winter with an extra purchase or two. This past week, I was able to buy a case of #10 cans of tomato paste. At Cash & Carry, the tomato paste was on sale for about $1 less per #10 can, saving me about $6 by buying a 6 to 9-month supply now. I paid $4.79 per #10 can, 6 cans total. Each can contains 111 ounces. I previously would buy 6-oz cans of tomato paste for making spaghetti sauce, ketchup, or tomato soup and would spend between 50 and 60 cents for each 6-oz can. My #10 can purchase yielded 6-ounce portions at about 26 cents each, or half of what I would typically pay at Fred Meyer. For the most part, the rest of this summer we'll be using fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes and will save these cans of paste for fall and winter. So this was truly a winter stock-up item.
Canned tomato products in the smaller sizes go on sale in grocery stores in my area a couple of times per year. One of those sale cycles usually hits in August or early September, as stores clear out last year's stock before replenishing with this year's. The cans are stamped with sell-by dates, so it's easy to see if stocking up with a year or semi-year supply at a sale price will work for one's household.
In other news for my area -- we had an earthquake in the night last night. Just before 3 AM, my entire household was awoken by the shaking. The epi-center was about 12 to 15 miles from my home. It wasn't a huge quake, just a 4.6, but it was definitely felt here. At first, I thought someone had jumped onto the bed or broken into the house. Then one daughter shrieked. We all poured into the hallway and talked about what we each had felt. One daughter and I stayed up for an hour reading tweets online then when the news finally caught up, we watched for updates. I checked the house and discovered that nothing was damaged. Exciting night, but I think I'd rather have less excitement. Anyway, hopefully you had a much better night's sleep than I did, and that you week was pleasant.
