Veggies!

Very prettiful display of yummy things picante. Are your apples ready to harvest yet? I forget what kind. (All, picante's luvly apple tree was smothered in apples when I was there)

To cook patty pan's, just slice them up and cook them the way you would a zucchini or any other summer squash which is what they are. Dicing them works well also. They cook the same as a zucchini, a yellow summer squash, or a a yellow crookneck. What color are yours? They now come in white, yellow, green and green and yellow, that I know of. You will enjoy them, I suspect.

They're Haralreds, Dahlia. Nope, not ready yet.

The recommended use for patty pans around here is...
Coconut Pudding
No kidding. One summer we had 'em comin' out our ears, so I steamed & blenderized them and put the purée in the freezer. Then I invented coconut & lemon pudding with a squash purée base.

When there is more harvest than we can deal with, that always seems to be the solution. We end up with plum purée in the freezer, too. Just pit 'em and stick 'em in the blender. Blackberry-plum pie is out of this world. (Keep in mind, I'm the kind who buys pie crusts.)

Yum, Picante! It's a yellow patty pan, and I just bought one to try, so I think I'll saute' it in olive oil.

Do that, and a little onion and basil thrown in with it will be great -- basil at the very end, onion first, then squash, then basil. Yummy.
I am going to have to get your recipe for squash coconut pudding. DH loves pudding and I won't tell him about the squash.

Great, Paj! I also bought some beautiful basil at the Farmer's produce market. We're traveling in the motorhome, and I enjoy cooking good food when we travel (okay, I mostly like to cook all the time, but it is less rushed and more "in the moment" in the motorhome for some reason). Think I might make some pesto as well. Tonight's dinner is in the crockpot as I type.

I know this isn't about recipes but D.H. made a nice, slow-cooking chicken stew with fresh vegetables including corn and okra last night. Pretty good.

Yeah for DH! That sounds good...

People who like to cook are always welcome at our house.

Sounds yummy roybird, enjoy your okra before it cools off around here. Our okra season is really short.

Well, this probably doesn't qualify as a vegetable, but I do think it's a melon. Took me by surprise! LOL!

Okay veggies for Lisabees, not picked yet, but this is the best looking of the tomato plants out there:

Oh, beautiful tomatoes! And in pots, too! I am totally impressed. I didn't realize one could grow such magnificent tomatoes in pots. What do you feed them? No seriously. What **do** you feed them? I might try tomatoes in pots next year. I could keep them inside my walls where the deer etc. couldn't eat them.

Well, like I said, that is the best looking of the plants. Two totally succumbed to disease and had to be gotten out of there. The slicers as I whined about have those deep dried out grooves in the shoulders. This here plant is definitely the winner. It is a sauce tomato, either San Pablo paste or Incas paste and I fear I got the tags hopelessly mixed but I suspect this is whichever of those is not a true heirloom.

Feed? well, did not have compost yet, so used Happy Frog and bagged steer manure and some lighter soil mix I dunno what it was........ And although DR Carolyn seemed unimpressed with the idea, I did go ahead and put about a quarter cup each of Epsom Salts and Nonfat Dry Milk powder in each grow bag...... Have used that Agrand liquid oganic fert. cause had that around, it is mostly fish emulsion based...... Oh and I h ad some Dr Earth sort of all purpose dry fert ( also organic) that I mixed into the original mix.....

and then tried to keep the suckers watered enough!!!!!!

Impressive, Kyla. No wonder your tomatoes are beautiful. Happy Frug, steer manure, epsom salts ( magnesium, I think), dru milk powder ( beats me what it contributes, but it is organic), and agrand liquid ( fish emulsion) and Dr. Earth! That is a wonderful combination of plant food.
As I recall, Dr. Carolyn is of the opinion that tomatoes are not heavy feeders. She is probably right, but tomatoes in containers probably need all the food they can get their hands on because they can't spread their roots out all that far.
Anyhow one can't argue with success. Your tomatoes are magnificent no matter what you think. I might try some tomatoes in large pots next year. I have a great place for them on the south side of the house.

I appreciate, in this instance, having my opinion contradicted, Pajarito!

I agree, it was the constrained root space that caused me to want to really beef up the quality of the medium as much as possible. Because I know they are when given a chance huge huge root systems.

The one variety I have that is supposed to be bred for container growing is not very satisfying, though it is producing nicely. Not real tasty, as tomatoes go.

Two other things I have done as the season progressed was to make chamomile sun tea, a weak infusion, and use that to water. I also used some dilute Hydrogen peroxide a few times to try to prevent the disease two of them got, from spreading. Seems to have worked, or, at least, something did.

Great ideas, Kyla. I agree with you that varieties bred for containers are disappointing. The old fashioned tomatoes were bred for flavor and they weren't bred for containers. Clearly your large containers and your excellent soil plus fertilizers were what did the trick for you. I may have to copy that trick as well. Dr. Carolyn has not been a container gardener to my knowledge. It is nice to know that one can grow real tomatoes in a container.

I will say, I am eating a tomato sandwich right this moment, and I am glad I went to all the effort, it was worth it.

;-)

Oh, I know the pleasure you are enjoying. I have a garden burger every morning with a huge, fat slice of tomato on it. Can't beat it with a stick. Magnificent tomatoes are something else i will miss this winter.

I just had to bump up this thread to show off some kooky vegs.

I'm calling this one "Carrot Man" - he left a fist-sized hole in my garden when I pulled him out this morning!

Here are some nice veggies in some of the more unusual colors. Next year I want to grow some un-green beans too, I didn't have great success with Dragon Tongue, so I'll have to find something else. Anybody have any ideas?

And if you were wondering if the purple tomatillos hold their color when cooked, here is a comparison:

I have cooked purple, green and yellow green beans. Alas, the purple ones turn green when you cook them. I like all of them equally well, though. Love your purple tomatillos. Who cooks tomatillos anyhow? Well I guess if you are canning the you would.
Love carrot man. There were some ladies at the farmers market today with some huge fat cone shaped carrots today. I bet they were 3 or 4 inches across and only about 7 inches long, or less. They were very green and well formed and intensely orange. Probably a chantannay type carrot. They looked like they would be tough so I didn't buy any. Don't know if large carrots like that are actually tougher, though.

Don't you cook tomatillos for green salsa? I love tomatillo salsa.

I thought you just mashed them with lime. Lisabees knows. She made a great one for the DBG luncheon.

I'll bet there is more than one way to make it.

Probably so.

Yup - for my salsa recipe, the tomatillos are cooked :o).

I just went & measured Carrot Man... almost 4" wide at the shoulders & 6" tall.

Nice veggies, lisabees!

may i join in? this is how i make my tomatillo salsa

tomatillo salsa

1 lb tomatillo, cleaned
1 whole red onion
5 pcs of jalapeno or habanero peppers [love my salsa hot]
1 whole head garlic., cloves separated

preheat oven to 375 deg. F for 15 min.
place all ingredients in a cookie sheet, spread out to evenly roast all ingredients properly.
roast for 30 min.

peel onion, garlic clove, u can also take off pepper seeds if u wish. i don't.
place everything in blender. blend to puree.
season well accdg to ur own taste. personally, i add 1 tsp sugar, a light pinch of salt to balance the acidity of tomatillo. puree 2 more minutes for ingredients to blend.
keep in covered container, preferable pickling glass bottles [to store in fridge. ones for freezer storage are kept in plastic containers]. mine should last in the fridge for 2 weeks, but it never does. i use it all the time in place of using salt in my food.
adjust recipe accdg to ur own preference, but this is how i make it for myself.

i am too lazy to cook sometime, so i quadruple the recipe when i make this. some i keep in fridge, others in freezer so i do not have to make it so often. something like this to make my bland food taste better and stay away from salt is my way to make my dinner interesting and tasty. i do not like Tabasco sauce due to it's acidic and salty nature. at least i know what i add to my food.

hope some of u try it. lmk.

Mmm - that sounds good Rose! I might try it. I have a roasted tomato salsa I really like.

This the one I made for the luncheon:

10 tomatillos, husked (that's if your tomatillos are golf-ball size or larger, the purple ones I grew are tiny)
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped (or more to taste)
3 jalapenos or serrano chilies, chopped
1/4 c. cilantro, chopped
sea salt to taste

Place tomatillos in pan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then simmer about 10 mins. until tomatillos start to burst (the purple ones don't burst). Drain.

Place everything in a food processor or blender & process to desired consistency. I store it in a jar in the fridge, or freeze it in qt. bags.

i like ur recipe Lisa. will give it a try. but will follow the suggested idea below.

why do u drain the liquid? isn't that a waste of nutrients? may i suggest, to use barely enough water to cook, after all the tomatillo has it's own natural juices w/in the tomato itself. or perhaps cut the tomatillo, and barely simmer to allow to cook, this way nothing is wasted. jmo.

Thanks everso for sharing your receipes Lisabees and MaVieRose ( print, print). Welcome MVRose to the RM Forum ^_^ Lisabees you have a beautious harvest! Carrotman looks like a tough mountain man to me. I like him.

I almost stir fried Carrot Man tonight and ate him but my son intervened & we cooked an ordinary carrot instead.

Carrot Man survives to amuse us for another day.

He would probably survive a long time in my kitchen because of the difficulty of cleaning him, but in the end I would eat him.

I think the recipe D.H. uses is like the one Lisabees posted. Will have to try MaVies recipe next time we have tomatillos around.

You folks are a healthy, practical influence for me. I would make a little house in the cold room for carrotman to live in.

Hi MaVie thanks for another recipe. Thanks too lisabees for yours. I couldn't remember the list you said. I wonder if Whole Foods carries the purple tomatillos? Are tomatillos available year round or are they seasonal? I never paid attention.

I don't see them here year round plutodrive. Definitely adding them to my crop next year. Do you freeze them lisabees?