A Story - "Lake Swim" and Cabbage Beef Soup

A Story

Lake Swim

Savannah was delighted at the sight of the lake.  After easing herself down the ancient rock that hugged the lakeshore, she pushed off into the spring-fed water.  She gasped with the cold jolt but it helped her to refocus.  Quiet breast strokes sent her gliding over the pristine surface.  Floating effortlessly on her back, she soaked up the unlimited blue of the sky.  Slowly she let her legs sink, treading water in a circle of stillness.  Her mind serene, shivers finally sent her on shore.

Suddenly she shrieked in alarm.  A blood-sucking leech was stuck on her leg.

Winter isn't over yet for us here in Ontario so it's still soup season.                                                              

Cabbage Beef Soup

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups cabbage, chopped

1 large carrot, diced

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 medium potato, finely chopped

1 apple (I used McIntosh), finely chopped

1/2 cup sweet pepper ( yellow, red or orange) chopped

1 cup cooked ground beef

1 tsp. black pepper

2 tsp. salt or to taste

5-6 cups water

Saute onion in butter or oil.

Add the rest of the ingredients including the water and simmer for 45 min to 1 hour.

Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

 

A Story: "Adventure" - and Barley Carrot Soup

A Story

Adventure

Mary had discussed at length her possible adventure with her friends. It was all a bit confusing.

"We'll describe it as though it was the weather," said her friends.

"Lots of sunny days.  Balmy and warm," Gloria smiled dreamily.

"Oh, the hurricane was terrible! I was buffeted from all sides," quavered Cheryl.

"The rain just soaked down in dreary misery, day after day," sighed Donna.

"The breeze was so fresh and energizing. I've never felt so alive," enthused Moira.

"But how would I experience it?" Mary worried.

Only one way to find out.

Nine months later everything changed.
 

Barley Carrot Soup

This is a vegetable soup but you could add meat to it if you wanted.

Saute 1 chopped onion in oil or butter

Add 1 1/2 cups rinsed barley.  Cover with 2" of liquid, either broth or water.

Add 1 1/2 cup coarsely chopped carrot

Add 1/2 cup chopped celery

Add 1 tbsp chopped parsley, dried or 3 tbsp fresh

Season with black pepper and salt.

Simmer for about 30 minutes.  

Add 1/2 cup chopped green or yellow beans - frozen work well.

Simmer another 5 min. or so.

Serve with some parsley garnish.

A Story - "Waves" - Spiced Carrot Sweet Potato Soup , dried Parsley

 A Story:

Waves

Life was so grey.  Work so dull.

Alicia hoped a Maine seaside holiday would recharge her.  Today the ocean, at high tide, was calm, and the hot sand had warmed the water enough to make it swimmable.  She swam lazily, the gentle waves rocking her, the saltwater buoying her.  But she didn't want to be lulled, she wanted excitement.

A plastic bottle, something inside, slowly drifted near her.  Curious she grabbed it and swam to shore.  She extracted a note: "The waves will find you, my special love.  Call:  Liam, 222-333-444

Alicia gasped and whipped out her phone.

Spiced Carrot Sweet Potato Soup

1/2 medium onion, chopped

3 medium large carrots

1 sweet potato

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp cinnamon

salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese

Saute the chopped onion in oil or butter.

Add 3 cups water, carrots (peeled and diced), and sweet potato ( peeled and diced)

Simmer until the carrots and sweet potato are soft - about 20 min.

Add the ginger and cinnamon, salt and pepper, and simmer for another 10 min.

Blend with a hand blender or mash with a potato masher.

Ladle into bowl and sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

This soup is creamy and smooth and taste a lot like pumpkin pie.

I like to dry my parsley in the refrigerator.  After rinsing it, I place it in a paper lunch bag or, in this case, some paper towel.  The parsley keeps its dark green colour while it dries. I find if I try to dry parsley just by hanging it in the air, it gets yellow.  In the fridge, it will take the parsley a couple of weeks to be fully dry. When I use a paper bag, I make sure that I don't overfill it. If I have lots of parsley, I use multiple bags.

A Story - "The Well-worn Shoes" and Lentil Vegetable Soup

A story:

The Well-Worn Shoes

The white sneakers were noticeably creased, grass stained, scuffed toed.  Marley picked them up, studied the worn soles.  The shoes were a testament to a life lived richly, generously, fearlessly.

Just four days ago, her mother had died. In life, she had always taken her time lacing up her shoes as she pondered where they would take her, who she would see.  Her acts were lovingly thoughtful, appropriate.

Marley felt the weight of the shoes as her mind swirled with memories.  Her mother's legacy would always be with her.  Bending over, Marley put on her mother's shoes, laced them tight, and walked into life.

                                  The  amounts are suggestions.  Soup is very flexible.

 Lentil Vegetable Soup

1 small onion

3 medium tomatoes (I used frozen from my garden)

1/2 green zucchini

1 large carrot

1/2 cup sweet pepper - any colour

2 cups dried red lentils

Saute the onion in a tablespoon of butter or oil of your choice.  Add 3 cups water.

Add chopped carrot, chopped zucchini, chopped sweet pepper.

Add tomatoes - I would use peeled tomatoes. Canned are already peeled, and frozen are easily skinned by running them under hot water and slipping the skin off.

Bring to boil, then simmer for 30 -45 minutes.  Season with salt, pepper, and any herbs you feel like. I used Greek oregano but thyme, parsley, marjoram, sage would all work well alone or in combination.

Simmer a bit longer to let the herbs flavour the soup.

If the soup is thinner than you like, simply simmer until more water evaporates.

Pair the soup with a sandwich and you have a substantial lunch that will get you through the afternoon.

Story: : "Entwined" and Butternut Squash

 Another story.

Entwined

The French fry bounced on the cold pavement.  On springy yellow feet, the seagull jabbed, drew back, swallowed.  He caught my eye but I turned away.  My heart was still thumping.  No more job.  Who was I?

He squawked as a heavy raindrop plopped on his grey back. I threw another fry.

Soon a rival came, then another.  Fries, more fries.  Scattered left, strewn right.  Finally, no more.  The challengers flew away.  He stayed.  We stared at each other; our needs entwined together.

"Thank you," he seemed to  say.

It felt good to feel needed.

This year is the first year I have grown butternut squash.  I didn't think I had enough sun to successfully grow them but I had some very healthy seedlings pop up in the compost and I couldn't resist transplanting a couple of them and see if they would produce fruit. I planted them in large pots by a trellis. I think the trellis was key to getting them enough sun.  They have looked ripe for several weeks but I read online that you need to wait until the stem goes brown for them to be mature.  I think they are finally ready.

Butternut squash is probably my favourite squash.  It has great flavour and the skin isn't too hard.  I can easily cut them into chunks and bake them in the oven, or if I am in a hurry, I microwave them. At this time of year, I like to make squash soup.  I saute some onion, add my cooked squash, enough water to make the consistency I want and simmer for half and hour or so. I flavour it with chopped parsley, marjoram, salt and pepper.  Just before serving, I add some milk and keep it on the stove until it is well heated but not boiling.

The beauty of soup is that recipes are flexible.  For squash soup, I might also add some carrot, or ginger, or even some red or yellow peppers. It's all about tasting as you cook and using the taste to determine how you will adjust your seasonings.

End of Season Celery

We finally had frost and I harvested the celery in advance of it.  As usual, I have more than I probably need.  Celery always gets away from me.  I really only need two plants but that seems like so little in the spring that I end up with 6 plants.  They love the cool fall weather and just keep getting bigger and bigger until frost.

This little shoot could be cut off with some of the roots with a sharp knife  and potted up in some soil. It will keep growing over the winter and be good and ready for the garden next spring. 

A bigger side shoot that could be potted up.  It would likely go to seed in June or July of next year but it would still give some nice celery in the spring. I won't be potting either of the shoots up as I will just wait until February and plant some fresh seed.  Celery is easy to germinate.

You can freeze celery (best if you blanch it for 3 mins) but I wanted to try to keep it fresh for as long as possible.  The next week is above freezing so I have put it outside in a basin of clean water.  I washed as much of the soil off as I could before putting it in the basin.  I am hoping having light outside will keep it  from deteriorating. I will change the water every few days.

In the meantime, I am slowly using it up in cooking.  Last week I made celery-potato soup with two large stalks of celery, two medium sized potatoes, one carrot, a small onion (pre-sauteed), a few bits of Swiss chard and yellow pepper, seasoned with salt, pepper and marjoram.  I think thyme, or rosemary, or parsley would add some nice flavour, too. After cooking all the vegetables together, I pureed it with a hand blender but it could be eaten chunky. You could add some milk or cream at the end as long as you don't let it boil.  Also a sprinkle of parmesan or mozzarella cheese might be nice.

Just about any soup or stew can use a bit of celery.

I am going to try making celery-apple juice with ginger. Not because it is super healthy and cures everything - just because it will use up the celery!

I also like to make Waldorf salad.  My version is celery, apple, raisins, and walnuts in a mayonnaise sauce.  Some people like to add grapes or cranberries or sunflower seeds.  Anything goes with salads.

A quick and easy meal is to cook some hamburger meat with onions, celery, peppers, carrots, tomatoes and any other vegetables you feel like throwing in. Serve with rice or pasta.

I've always put celery in tuna or salmon sandwiches.  It adds a nice crunch and lightens up the fish which can taste a bit heavy.

On another topic, I found that my Just Sweet peppers will ripen on the counter.  The pepper at the top is what the yellow one on the bottom looked like about ten days ago.  I'm pleased that they do ripen as the flavour improves with ripening.  They are not as sweet as the ones that ripened outside in the hot sun but they are still tasty.

Hope you are all enjoying last season vegetables.
 

Pink Chinese Celery and more

 The pink Chinese celery is coming along well. There are several plants that could be potted separately I don't want to fill up my windowsills with celery so it will have to stay crowded until I can plant it outside.

 Many echinacea varieties are hybrids or patented but I was able to buy Green Twister echinacea seeds. So far about ten have sprouted so I'm pretty pleased. I saw individual plants selling for $8 so my packet at $3.50 is quite the bargain.  They may not have time to mature enough to bloom this summer but hopefully most of them will survive until next summer.

This is black-eyed Susan vine, a cheerful annual vine that blooms in shades of yellow, orange, and peach. These seedlings were starting to show roots at the bottom of the pot so I put them in a larger pot  To save some potting soil, I thought I would try just putting soil half-way up the peat pot. The vine doesn't seem to be making much in the way of side roots, and  if roots start poking out the sides, I can put more soil in then.

Years ago I bought some salpiglossis plants from a local nursery.  I loved the metallic veining and rich colours of the petunia-shaped flowers. They struggle with strong summer heat but I felt I wanted to give them a try again so I bought some seeds. The seeds are very small but they have sprouted like crazy. I have 7  2-1/2" peat pots of them and each one must have about 20 seedlings. Yikes, that's a lot of salpiglossis! They are not small plants like lobelia; they are more like pansies or petunias. I will try them where they get morning sun and afternoon shade where the sweet peas were happy last year.

I made some red lentil soup for lunch and it was quite tasty. I like making soup because it's not something you have to be precise about.  I used about 2 cups red lentils, 1 large sweet potato, 3 sticks celery, a small onion,  a third of a yellow pepper and seasoned it with salt, pepper, ginger, dried parsley. I put enough water in the pot to cover everything by 2" and simmered for 40 minutes. It made a thick, hearty soup. Other ingredients that would have worked with the lentils: squash, carrots, green beans, ground beef, chicken.

Hope you all stay well.