Interesting vegetables to grow this season

Mother Earth Living is one of my favorite clean living magazines.  In the winter edition on newsstands now, you’ll see my article that features a “like this, try that” approach to experimenting with new vegetables.  There is growing and cooking information about Asian vegetables, but also other interesting vegetables that would be fun for gardeners to try this season such as the Romanesco cauliflower (tasty AND mathematically perfect!).  Hope you can pick up this great magazine right now for spring gardening/cooking/living inspiration! 

A garden book you'll definitely need to buy

Many of you might know Niki Jabbour's bestselling book The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener.  Niki has followed up with a new book that is truly fantastic.   Appealing to newbie, experienced, or any other level of gardener in between, this book contains 73 illustrated plans for a ridiculous number of specialized gardens.  I'm thrilled to say that my plan for growing an Asian vegetable garden is included.  This is a book that everyone will want to own - and it's available on the shelves of your favorite bookstores now!  

How to grow microgreens

Beet microgreens - research proves microgreens are supernutritious

I hope you get to check out the spring issue of Heirloom Gardener magazine.  My article about how to grow microgreens is inside, along with many really interesting articles and lots of DIY projects.  Here's the shortened 3-step version - because I'm THAT confident anyone can grow a great flat of healthful, delicious, and beautiful microgreens that easily.

STEP 1: Heavily sow seeds onto shallow tray (with drainage holes) of soil.  Cover with a fine layer of soil.

STEP 2: Daily, mist until soil is completely moist.  

STEP 3: Harvest in about 10-14 days by snipping just above the soil line.  

Microgreen salad mix: sunflower greens and radish greens - served with goat cheese medallions

Thai Curry and Coconut Seminole Pumpkin Soup

I was super successful with the Seminole pumpkins I grew this year.  I got 8 large pumpkins (one was stolen by the raccoons) from one very prolific plant that took over half my side yard.  I also got lots of wonderful blossoms for eating as well.  

These are Chinese "da tsung" - meaning "big onion".  Though it looks like a leek in the photo above, it is more of a gigantic, blanched-while-growing scallion.  My father diligently tends these onions all summer, hilling soil up around the onion as it grows in order to blanch the bottom portion of the onion.  

I harvested these gorgeous pumpkins just as the fall issue of Heirloom Gardener came out.  First, I'd like to mention that my article about food preservation is in this issue, and second, I found an AMAZING recipe for Thai Curry and Coconut Pumpkin Soup inside.  The recipe in the magazine is adapted from another recipe.  The recipe below, I have adapted again, using bits and pieces from my standby squash soup and the ingredients suggested in Heirloom Gardener.  I also decided to top this soup with a few jumbo shrimp. No photo of the soup.  It was devoured too quickly! 

Thai Curry and Coconut Pumpkin Soup

1 large pie pumpkin or butternut squash

2 leeks (I've used a special Chinese onion, see caption above), white portions only, chopped and rinsed

2 inch length of ginger, peeled and minced (This is a lot - but I love ginger.  Scale down if you like)

2 teaspoons of Thai red curry paste

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

3 kaffir lime leaves

1/2 lime

Cut pumpkin in half.  Scoop out seeds.  Place cut side down in baking pan along with about 1/2 inch of water.  Bake in 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until squash is tender.  Allow to cool and then scoop out flesh with a spoon.  

In pot, saute leeks and ginger in a little oil or butter until tender. Add red curry paste and continue to stir and cook for another minute or two.  Add stock, coconut milk and cooked pumpkin.  Puree in batches in a blender or carefully puree in pot using an immersion blender.  Add kaffir lime leaves.  Simmer soup for about 15 minutes.  Before serving, remove kaffir lime leaves and stir in juice from half a lime.  

Green tomato chutney

This fall, pick all those green tomatoes and do something with them.  Put them in a box or bag with an apple to hasten ripening, dredge in cornmeal and fry, or make a green tomato chutney!  I tried to recreate this recipe with waning fond memories of a delicious condiment to the black bean patties I had at The Mustard Seed restaurant in the Low Country of South Carolina.  I get to be there again in a couple of weeks and see how close I came to the inspiration.  The chutney I made below is a sweet concoction spiced up with cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.  The recipe will be in the fall issue of Heirloom Gardener magazine.  

My article in Kiki Magazine

Kiki Magazine is a super cool girls magazine. Here's why I like it:

• There are no silly quizzes about what kind of girlfriend you are or what kind of kissing style you have.
• The magazine is not filled with advertisements for tampons or Clearasil (not that there's anything wrong with those - but you're not paying for a bunch of ads!).
• It's edgy yet modest. There are articles about runway and world fashion, but at the same time, a swimsuit article will feature the suits by themselves and live models wearing cute coverups.
• The models are ethnically diverse, and they are real girls - not mini pre-anorexic fashion models.
• There are always articles that involve other cultures and countries.
• The pages ooze with creativity and encourage girls to be creative.
• It's filled with how-tos and DIY projects. There are TONS of ideas for things to make and do.
• And finally, I like it because my article on how to build a 4x4 garden out of stone is printed on page 46. :)

If you have a young daughter or granddaughter you should know this is really a high quality magazine. It'd make a great gift for any girl you know with "style and substance".

Heirloom Gardener - Spring 2012

If you haven't already seen it, Heirloom Gardener is a fantastic magazine with quality articles that are very different from many other mainstream gardening magazines. This Spring 2012 issue includes articles about hardcore composting, botanical wisdom, heirloom plants of medieval Cyprus (Really, where else could you read an article like that?!), and smack in the middle, my article about the 8 Best Asian Vegetables to Grow.

When the issue came out, I asked my parents what they would have picked if they had to choose the 8 best. My mother said, "Snow peas. White people like snow peas". I had to explain that the article was not about 8 vegetables that white people like, but was intended to be an introduction to lesser known vegetables that all people might like to learn about. There are so many different Asian vegetables I could have chosen, but for this article, I tried to include a selection of vegetables that were either really yummy, really different, or really cool in some way. All of the vegetables I chose are easy to grow in most zones and I included ideas for cooking each one, along with 2 complete, simple recipes.

Nuff said. You can pick up this magazine at many stores including Whole Foods or Barnes and Noble, or you can visit the Heirloom Gardener Magazine website and buy a back issue or subscribe. If you do read the article, I'd love your feedback!!