The remnants

I slogged out to the garden after it started to drain and decided to pull out any survivors before they turned into a yellow, soggy slimy mess. I was very sad to see some of my strongest, greenest most promising plants reduced to yellow leafless sticks, but at least I've learned that I do have the ability to grow some of these things now. Although this garden ended in death and destruction (again) I've discovered an entire list of vegetables that I can keep alive (until a flood, of course), so I definitely got a tiny boost of gardening confidence this time around.

My Giant Musselburgh Leeks were not looking too happy to be floating in the muck so I pulled out the strongest ones. The other ones, only the size of scallions, will be coming out tomorrow if they haven't already succumbed to the pit of despair. But there was a light at the end of the gardening tunnel. I got 1 lb, 11 oz of leeks from the garden! I was quite happy with that because they were planted in October of last year and have been my longest-growing vegetable yet. I'll definitely plant some more of these later this Fall.


I made a delicious heaping portion of Leek and Potato Soup with these leeks and it was divine. When Farmer B was at work I poured a heaping bowl for myself for lunch with the leftovers and savored it while the boys munched down peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I then looked surprised when he came home and found there was none left.

The tomatoes actually surprised me. Granted a huge portion cracked completely open and were inedible, but I managed to save 6 lbs, 1 oz of them. They were bright red and everything you'd hope for in a home-grown tomato - sweet, juicy and bursting with flavor. I have about another 5 ounces on the patio right now ripening, but the rest are history. Because it can't hurt, I pruned up the remaining tomato plants just incase they recover.


Since I have so many tomatoes that are ripe and ready to be eaten, I've picked a couple of recipes that will help me put them to good use. The first recipe is Avocado, Tomato and Mango salsa that will be whipped up tomorrow for lunch and seems like the perfect summer salsa to go with my new organic corn tortilla chips. The second recipe is a Tomato Cucumber Salad with Mint. My mint plant has a never-say-die attitude, so I feel like I owe it to him to use him in as many recipes as I can.

So although I missed out on most of the yummy vegetables that I had dreamed of, I did get a few things on the table, which was a huge step up from last year. I'll take what I can get at this point!

The Taming of the Leeks

It's no secret to anyone that has read this blog before that I have a thing for leeks. I've got a patch of leeks growing in my garden, and of course, they are growing too close together. And of course I probably should have thinned them weeks ago. I haven't had much luck thinning anything in the past so I wanted to do it right this time.

I waited until my Vegetable Gardener's Biblearrived and read up on how to become one with my leeks. I read the leek section several times and decided to take the book out to the garden with me to follow the steps as closely as I could.

You know you're not a natural gardener when your essential gardening supplies consist of reading glasses and a how-to book. But I took the book out there and attempted to cull the herd. Instead of discarding the extras I tried to replant them like the author showed in the book. I now have two very crooked rows that look like they were made by someone slightly over the legal limit for driving and some very sickly-looking droopy leeks flopping over in these rows.



Apparently when you transplant leeks (and I took this to mean the same as thinning) you lightly pull the soil away from their roots and trim the roots to about 2 inches long. I'll admit right now to skipping that step. I forgot to bring scissors and I only know where a pair of green plastic safety scissors are kept so I knew they wouldn't work. The roots were all about 2 inches long anyway, so I'm convincing myself that skipping that step is acceptable.



Then you dig a trench about 8 inches deep, bung in said scraggly, trimmed baby leeks, cover with soil and mound it up a bit, water and viola - transplanted leeks.



I am completely convinced that they won't take root and will just droop, turn brown and die off. This is not negative thinking. This is my gardening reality. I do keep moving forward though.

The baby leeks that did not survive my uprooting are sitting in my fridge. I don't know if you can eat tiny little baby leeks, but I'm going to give it a shot. Many of them are skinnier than a pencil, but they smell like leeks and look like leeks so I think I'll wash them and chuck them into the Beef Stroganoff I'm making tonight and feel content in my vegetable growing power.

Best Soup Ever

I realize I appear to be on a leek soup kick, but I can't help myself. I'm allowing myself to indulge in this so that I can move on. You read my insane rave about how good Jonah Lisa's "Leek and Potato" soup is and how I planned on making her Leek, Chicken and Apple soup. I've bought the ingredients for that soup many times, but they always end up getting eaten before I can prepare it. Someone always eats an apple and I end up using the leeks. Yesterday, I decided to outsmart my family and bought the ingredients and made it right away.


Three words:

Best.

Soup.

Ever.

Not exaggerating. Not being dramatic. Just being honest. Unreal.

I know it was good because my boys both ate it and didn't leave a drop in their bowls. Neither of them particularly like eating soup and so far the only soup I've found that they'll both eat is a super-yummy Tomato-Peanut soup - and even though they like it, they never finish their bowls.

The little one is about as picky as they come and when he gobbled up every single bite of the Leek, Chicken and Apple soup, I knew we had a winner. This is the first time I've seen the bottom of the bowl with this kid. He's a wily one for sure. He can go a full week without taking one bite of his dinner, so seeing him eat this soup was captivating.


Aidan was iffy at first but when I bribed him with bread for dunking he was willing to take a bite. He ended up loving it and said "You have to make this soup again! It's making me strong!" Ahhh grasshoppa, you have learned well.

Aidan prefers the hover over your bowl to keep your shirt clean approach.

Farmer B came home from work early and managed to get some soup while it was still warm on the stove. He had two huge bowls and said it was one of the best soups he'd ever tried.

This will get prepared at our house often. I can't wait to make it for company now. Readers - you make this soup now! You make soup now!

Leeks are for Lovers

Did you see that little patch of green in my garden of death? Over there on the left… Yup. That's my pride and joy. That little green patch is my Giant Musselburgh Leek crop and I'm crossing my fingers that I get a good leek harvest this year. Leeks are by far the most-used vegetable in our house.


I've found that most Americans don't have the leek love like I do. They're much more common in Europe, but they're like the red-headed stepchild of the onion here. People are confused by them and just don't use them.

I know that my assumptions are valid because 9 times out of 10 when I buy them the cashier in the grocery store turns them around about 4 times before crinkling up her nose and saying "What ARE these?" I'll admit to wanting to say "really big scallions - crazy huh?" since scallions so much cheaper than leeks, but I always sigh and say "They're LEEKS" with contempt in my voice. I don't know how you can go through life leek-less.

If you have someone in your life that can't handle onions due to a digestive malady, they can probably manage leeks just fine. I can think of two people I know that have digestion issues with onions, but can suck down leeks like a charm. You can cut them up and use them as an onion substitute in any recipe. They are also great by themselves with a nice white sauce and they make killer, killer soups.

I know this because my friend Jonah Lisa over at The Toby Show is a lifetime member of the leek-lovers club. She has two leek soup recipes on her blog that are simple, wholesome and a perfect introduction to leeks for a newbie.



I just made her "Leek and Potato" soup and it was so dreamy that I sucked down an extremely gargantuan bowl and completely forgot to dip my bread into it. I let Aidan take a bite and he declared it "Great! It's 15 89!" He likes to yell out random lottery numbers when something is really good. He's like a walking fortune cookie, that kid.


(It's quite clear that I do not have a career in food photography waiting for me. No props. Bad lighting. Too impatient not to eat right away.)

Jonah Lisa also told me another little tidbit about the Leek and Potato soup - it's also good with another under-used vegetable - the elusive parsnip. She said to replace the potatoes with parsnip and cook it a bit longer and viola - parsnip and leek soup. I'm a HUGE parsnip fan - their woody taste always reminds me of Christmas dinner. I can't wait to try this again with parsnips. The oh-so-holy union of two uncommon vegetables into one creamy concoction makes me quiver with anticipation.

I'm going to try her Leek, Chicken and Apple soup next. I am giddy with excitement because I've never tried a recipe from her blog that I didn't love. She swears that the Leek, Chicken and Apple soup will cure what ails you, so it sounds like the perfect elixir of health.

Do you SEE why I'm babying my leeks now? I have the leek love. If you've never cooked with leeks, grab a bunch, some taters, some broth and some cream and print out JL's recipe from The Toby Show - you won't regret it!