Harvest Monday

I always forget to take pictures of my harvests, but here are some pictures of the actual plants that I have been picking from. Although it has slowed down a lot, I still have a handful of something to eat from the garden everyday.

Sweet Peppers - The plants are still healthy and the peppers are FINALLY turning yellow/orange. I don't have any that will turn red this year, but these guys are as sweet as the reds. I'm very happy with these varieties. They will definitely be planted again next year.

Hot Peppers - We have several different kinds, but these cayennes are HUGE! They are also turning gorgeous red. Cannot wait to fire roast them and make our favorite hot wing sauce!

Here is a picture of Kale and some lettuce. Kale was planted in March, and it was heavily infested with cabbage loopers a few times. I gave up hope once, but I'm glad I didn't pull them up just yet. With the cooler weather and no more loopers around, it's starting to come back!

Here is more Kale, but these were planted about a month ago. They don't look much different than the ones above. They grow quick! There are some fall carrots to the right - they were planted in July. I think I'm going to let them go a while longer. Basil needs to come out though. It's starting to show brown spots because of the cold night temperatures.

The last standing cucumber plant for the year! It's a little strange to harvest a cucumber in October, but I'm not complaining.

Here are some of my fall/winter shots. I hope we won't have our first frost anytime soon, as these plants still need a lot of time till the maturity dates.

Cabbages

Cauliflower and Broccoli (very very crowded)

Wasabina (I think) and Arugula seedlings

 Happy Fall Harvesting!

I'm linking up to the host of Harvest Monday, where gardeners from all over the world share their harvests!

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

I have been harvesting lots of hot peppers! They are actually not for me so much, but my husband loves everything super hot. Since we can't possibly consume so much of them at once, we either dry them or freeze them. But here are some of the things I've made using those peppers.

Golden Habanero Pepper Jelly

We planted only one Habanero plant solely for the purpose of making this jelly. Oh so yummy!!! We only need 4-5 peppers for one batch of jelly, but the plant decided to explode and has been giving us way more than we know what to do with. I've given away a bunch to people. It is still flowering and trying to produce more.



Homemade Sriracha Sauce

I was so excited to see this post at "Our Happy Acres" where Dave kindly shared his recipe for the homemade sriracha sauce. My husband puts sriracha on pretty much everything, so he was very happy to find out that I was making him a batch of homemade sriracha sauce. My version doesn't look right, only because I made it with Bulgarian carrot chile hot peppers (which is one of my husband's favorite hot peppers), but it tastes really awesome! I will be making the red version once all the cayennes turn red.



Jalapeno & Cheddar Cheese bread

I do a lot of baking. Most of the breads that we eat are homemade. Since we have lots of Jalapenos, I decided to whip up some Sourdough breads with Jalapeno and Cheddar cheese. Then my husband suggested that I make hamburger buns with Jalapeno and cheddar. It was indeed a great idea!

We had black bean burgers with chipotle mayo on these buns for dinner one night. It was really yummy. We are not usually excited about vegetarian dishes, but these black bean burgers are very satisfying.

I'm linking up to the host of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard. Go see what is happening in everyone's kitchen!

oops!

I just realized I did not plant any regular bell peppers. The two types that I planted will turn either yellow or orange. I guess I better go buy some red bell peppers for the freezer! Yikes! I don't know what I was thinking.

Harvest Monday

It was a week of Peppers! Most of the Anaheim peppers are done due to some disease or pest problems. I was hoping those little ones would get bigger, but with the cool night temperatures and leaves yellowing, I had to pick them all. Still, some are decent size.

My sweet peppers have still yet to show any sign of red blush. I love roasted red peppers, so I'm anxiously waiting.

I also picked one cucumber. Again, they are not liking the cool temperatures, but I'll let them be as long as they keep trying to live.

A handful of beans. They were attacked by those Mexican Bean Beetles last week, but they seem to have come and go. Most of my bean plants are now bare, but they are still trying to flower...

A few Jolokia pepper for my husband. This 3 year old plant nearly died last winter, but it's come back and been producing well.

The fall asparagus is up! However, I only planted the roots this Spring, so I think I'm supposed to let them go and not pick them until the following year. Very tempting though!

Broccoli raab is doing well. They are still small, but I think I'll be able to enjoy some young shoots for a meal this week.

I started the fall plants way too late, but I'm going to give them a chance. Of course, those caterpillars are all over the place, but I keep on picking them off.

Happy Harvest Monday!

Visit the host of Harvest Monday and see what's going on in everyone's garden!

Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard

I have been pretty good at sticking to the planned weekly menu.

Monday: We had sesame chicken legs/thighs and Udon noodles with spiny peanut sauce. I was able to use cilantro, green onions, and hot peppers for the sauce.

Tuesday: My plan changed a little bit - I was going to make tomato soup, salad, and grilled cheese, but it turned into homemade pizza with eggplant. (no pic) I happened to see beautiful eggplants at a farmer's market that day and could not resist. So I fried some up and made a "eggplant parmesan" pizza instead. Very Yummy!


Wednesday: I still had some more eggplants so I simply roasted them in the oven along with the sweet potatoes (not from the garden...). Once the eggplants were done, I tossed them in the tomato sauce that I used for the pizza from the night before. Since the oven was on, I just threw in the salmon fillets instead of pan frying. You'll also see a handful of peas, beans, and carrots from the garden on the side.

Also, I had a few apples that needed to be used up, so I threw together a quick apple crisp for dessert.

On the menu for tonight is falafel sandwich. I need to get my dough going for the pita!

Go visit the host of Thursday's Kitchen Cupboard and see what everyone is cooking and preserving this week.

Pests Pests Pests!!!

Beans - both my hard beans and bush beans have been demolished by those Mexican bean beetles. I thought I would get another nice crop, but it's looking doubtful...

Brassicas - I planted them way too late, but I am just going to see what happens. For some reason, I thought it would be safe to plant them out without a cover on.... but no. Those caterpillars (green, grey, black, all kinds) are just never ending. I am going to try covering them today.

Peppers - stink bugs are all over sweet and hot peppers. I hope they won't cause too much damage...

Radishes - The caterpillars are also eating away my radish leaves.

Spinach and Swiss chard seedlings - the little sprouts keep getting eaten by something. I should cover them until they are well established?

Beets - not exactly pests, but they got rained on hard and most are dead flat.

Peas - again, the caterpillars and something else that makes the root (or stem near the root) rot.


I guess we all have to eat.

Harvest Monday

The beans are coming to an end - they have produced way more than I ever expected. I am so happy with them.

The fall peas were very quick to grow and flower, but they are suffering from all sorts of pest problems. I think half of them are already dying. Even the ones that produced are disappointing - only yielding one or two peas per pod... Maybe I need to fertilize more.

I have lots of hot peppers coming. More than I know what to do with. They are mostly for my husband. He will figure out what to do with them, as they are quickly turning red or yellow.

I planted about 10 winter squash plants - mixed variety - and they got attacked by bugs early on. Each plant tried to put on at least one fruit before they started to wilt. I managed to harvest 3 buttenuts and 1 spaghetti (probably not matured enough, but the plant is completely dead) today, and there are 2 more spaghetti squashes and 2 tiny Kabocha squashes left on the vines. I doubt they will get any bigger, so I might as well harvest them at this point.

Again, there is so much to learn and I will definitely be planting a LOT more squash plants EARLIER next
year.

And here is a little accidental surprise! As I was weeding, I accidentally pulled one of the peanut plants. Well, I know they are not ready to be pulled yet, but I'm glad to see the progress under ground. We'll be eating a handful of fresh roasted peanuts  as a snack tonight and see how they taste. 

Linking up to the host of Harvest Monday, where people share their harvests from their gardens!