You have FIG trees!! WOW!!
@deetoo @Jeanne-mayell and Journeywithme2
I love all of your summer gardens. I can't wait to get out of our hot summer weather and grown some veggies. We usually have SOME each year but the only thing we really do well are herbs. Currently have rosemary, basil and chocolate mint. Sometimes strawberries and tomatoes go well. Other things are hit and miss. Our citrus trees are great.
@lovendures Ahhh.. yes I have 3 fig trees : 2 Celeste and 1 Brown Turkey. Citrus does not do well here in Zone 7B. We should trade ! Figs.. for citrus LOL Except the harvest this year has been late and small.... the late freeze and heavy rains... *sigh*
anything you grow yourself the comes out of your garden tastes so wonderful..nothing grocery store bought can compare. I love tomatoes that way too. I also love rocket arugula mix with fresh figs from my trees halved and walnut pieces and honey goat cheese dressed with a balsamic vinaigrette reduction. Yummo for salads!!
I so get this. Since I started growing my own veggies and herbs, I enjoy eating every morsel. I don't want to waste anything. My carrots came out in rainbow colors this year and got way too large and some look like gnomes, like something out of the Hobbit. But I grew them from seed and the miracle of it always reminds me that the food is sacred.
We've got one member of this community who grow grapes, makes wine, and has a large garden filled with many wonders. I can't remember her name since she hasn't posted in a long while. I'd love to tag her to come back and post some photos of her garden, if I could just remember her name.
Wouldn't that be fun? We have tangelos and lemons which I begin picking during the winter through early spring. Our tangelo tree produces a ton and is really high. I squeeze the lemons and put the juice in ice cube trays to save the excess juice for summer to cook with or make lemonade with some desert honey. My favorite is a lavender honey but the peppermint is wonderful too.
@lovendures that sounds soooo good! I enjoy my fig and peach trees. I am hoping to add blueberry bushes and apple trees this year.
@journeywithme2, I discovered chocolate balsamic many years ago, at a local vinegar and olive oil shop. You could taste everything they featured, which was wonderful (and expensive, because I purchased a lot!) There are a number of independent vinegar and oil shops around the country. I have found that some are better than others, so it must depend on the suppliers they use. Unfortunately the shop in our area closed two years ago, so I usually pick up some bottles at a little shop in Duck, NC, Ella's Olive, when we take our annual beach trip. I've also ordered online from her. There are some other good sources you can find online.
Here are some ways you can use chocolate balsamic:
Add to Chili
Grilled avocado
Grilled peaches with ice cream
Strawberries
Stuffed French toast
Belgium waffles
On strawberry and goat cheese crostini
Chocolate cake made with blood orange olive oil and chocolate balsamic
Chicken Mole
Pork Tenderloin
Grilled steaks
Braised short rib ragu
Lamb chops
chocolate pasta, mixed with melted vanilla bean ice cream, and served with Grand Marnier marinated/sliced strawberries, whipped cream and chocolate balsamic
spring mix and/or arugula, strawberries, toasted almonds or walnuts, goat or gorgonzola cheese, and chocolate balsamic with EVOO
Chocolate balsamic is wonderful mixed with Blood Orange EVOO.
You can also make your own chocolate balsamic to use as a vinaigrette. In my opinion not quite as good as the vinegar I’ve purchased and used, but still very good:
- 3 Tbsp dark chocolate chips
- 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Now I'm craving chocolate!
@deetoo Ohhh LAWD! I am gonna have to make some today!!!! How wonderful I imagine it is on the strawberry/walnut/goat cheese salad!!!!! THANK YOU!
We lost power last night as I was cooking and since our generator is on loan to a friend right now, ended up eating cold sandwiches. So same dinner tonight lol.
We've got one member of this community who grow grapes, makes wine, and has a large garden filled with many wonders. I can't remember her name since she hasn't posted in a long while. I'd love to tag her to come back and post some photos of her garden, if I could just remember her name.
So I posted this yesterday and then yesterday evening, her name popped into the forefront of my mind. @Frank! And then just now I saw that Frank posted a message to Natalie in another thread. Hello, Frank! It is nice to have you back. I have never forgotten the images you posted of your garden several years ago. (We had to delete them sadly when the site was slowing down, but I never forgot. You can post them again if you can reduce the file size to below 1 mb before posting.)
Thanks @jeanne-mayell. I'm still around... I read the forum often, however, really only post when I feel "called" to do so. ? Also, fyi, I'm definitely a him not a her, haha. ? Below are the photos of the garden. I've just linked them from my flikr account so they don't overload the server here...
@frank Thank you, Frank. Love your garden photos. I've never been good at gender. People are just people with their many textures. But I got it into my head that Frank was from Frances and that's what threw me off. Your grape plants fascinate me. I have never grown grapes. I don't drink, but I remember when you wrote "wine is food," so I figured you made wine too and that was very wondrous to imagine.
All of the garden posts are so wonderful! I can't wait until it is cooler and we can work on our garden and yard again. Summers are just...well not very fun for plants in AZ. Unless you are a desert plant and still, even then the heat can be a bit much.
Last night I made chicken soup.
Really, it was more like "whatever I had in the freezer, fridge and pantry chicken soup" meaning I did not allow myself to run out and buy any "missing" ingredients. haha. So I used a large frozen chicken breast, chicken stock, celery, carrots, the last third of a large zucchini, half an onion, 4 chopped garlic cloves, the last small bit of quinoa remaining in a bag, about 1/3-1/2 a cup of whole wheat orzo, fresh rosemary from my garden and some seasoning. Not bad actually though I missed having a lemon to squeeze for added flavor but I am out of my frozen garden lemon cubes I use during the summer. I have enough for 4 more servings which is really nice.
I am doing a small grocery run later today and will buy a lemon for leftovers. Maybe for lemonade too.
@lovendures YUMMY!!! I made Southern style poutine for lunch. Leftover sausage and gravy over homefries with Velveeta ? It actually tastes much better than it sounds!
As soon as I haul my lazy rear out of bed (overcast today), a chicken is going in the Crock-Pot.
De-boned when done, Stubbs Sweet B-B-Q sauce added, spoon bread, mashed sweet potatoes, and homemade chocolate chip cake.