Spring Gardening, Missouri Style

It's been a wonderful spring in my opinion, for gardening. Who knew you could get such beautiful crops this time of year.?! I took the extra steps to cover my cole crops, such as my cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower, and the cabbages are doing beautifully.

The potatoes shot up like weeds, so I may get two crops if I do this right. Although you can't see them, on the hill behind the potato plants are raspberry starts. My goal is to have a single row, up against the fence, so I don't have the major weeding I dealt with in Oregon.

My garlic is getting the scapes, so harvest time is coming soon. I look forward to sauteed garlic scapes for dinner. Garlic scapes are the seed pod bearers that come up from the center of the plant. once they reach a certain length they start to curl. After you get the second curl you can harvest them, and should so you garlic plants put all their energy into forming the clove bulbs. You can saute them and add them to all sorts of stir fries, or eat them by themselves, or you can pickle them. They're delicious!

We're getting some peas this year, yay! So far the beets and carrots are doing okay, but they do look like the need a bit of nourishment. All in all though, the garden is looking pretty good! How's your garden growing? What are you planting this year?

Greek Hoagies - Game Meat Recipe

Nature Guy is sharing a photo of the innards of an Elk Greek Hoagie sandwich we created the other night. You could use burger, but we had elk, thanks to a dear friend, and decided to try something different. I browned the burger in a tad bit of olive oil because the meat was so lean, but just enough to keep the meat from sticking. I added a dash of garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning and a bit of salt and pepper while it was cooking.
As toppings we used julienned cucumber and carrot mixed with a splash of apple cider vinegar, a pinch of sugar, and salt and pepper. We also thinly sliced purple onion and red bell pepper.
To build the sandwich we used stadium style hot dog buns which we slathered with mayonnaise. cover one side with some of the ground meat. Top that with Feta cheese, the veggies and close. That's it! Easy and delicious!
What you will need

Greek Hoagies
1 lb. ground burger cooked and seasoned with garlic powder, onion powder and Italian seasoning
1 pkg. stadium style hot dog buns
1/2 cucumber and carrot julienne sliced, marinated in a splash of apple cider vinegar, a pinch of sugar and a dash of salt and pepper
thinly sliced purple onion and red bell pepper
mayonnaise
Feta cheese

Foodie Friday - Spicy Ginger Pork with veggies

 Blogger won't let me start with a clever paragraph above so let's get going on this recipe. Marinade ingredients - 1 tablespoon each peach or blueberry jam, honey, soy sauce, Tiparos fish sauce, and seasoned rice vinegar.  2 teaspoons crushed red pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, crushed. 1" of fresh ginger, peeled and grated. Combine and place in a bowl. After you're done admiring the colorful vegetables.....

of which you will need 4 stalks of bok choy, 2 peeled and thinly sliced carrots, 1 medium onion, chopped, 4 green onions sliced, 8 oz cup of sliced mushrooms, 1 red bell pepper chopped......

 Take two beautiful thick pork chops  and thinly slice them. Add to marinade and coat.

 Heat a wok or cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 tablespoons peanut oil or sesame, or canola oil, depending on your preference. I used peanut oil as I didn't have sesame oil. After oil starts to smoke scoop out and slightly drain pork and add to hot pan. Stir occasionally and cook meat until done and starting to carmelize. Scoop out and add 2 more tablespoons oil and then toss in the vegetables.

Cook until crisp tender and add back the meat. While the veggies are cooking take the leftover marinade and add 1/4 cup of water, 1 tablespoon each honey, soy sauce, fish sauce, and corn starch and 2 tablespoons of the jam. Combine well and stir into pan with veggies and meat. Cook until sauce is thickened, about 1-2 minutes. Whaalaa! Serve over rice or noodles. Yield 4-6 servings
Spicy Ginger Pork
Marinade
1 tablespoon each blueberry, or peach jam, honey, soy sauce, fish sauce, seasoned rice vinegar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
1 inch fresh peeled ginger, grated
the rest of the ingredients
1 lb. lean pork or two thick boneless pork chops, thinly sliced
4 bok choy stalks, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped,
1 medium onion, chopped
1 - 8 oz. cup sliced mushrooms
2 peeled carrots, thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
sauce
1 tablespoon each honey, soy sauce, fish sauce, and corn starch, left over marinade, 1/4 cup water and 2 tablespoons jam
This recipe would also be great using chicken. Give it a try and let me know what you think. Kent says this is one of the better Asian style dinners I've fixed, he loved it! Here's to a great weekend! Enjoy!