Sunday, July 29, 2012

Diary of a Garden

I know it has been a while since I posted about the garden, so here are a bunch of pictures of it. I can't believe how fast everything is growing!

The area after it was tilled
My Dad after he put up the fence

The stairs and walkway
...

Day One of planting 5-28-12

 ...

6-9-12

 ...

6-17-12

Peppers
Tomatoes
Corn
              
 ...

6-23-12

Corn
Pumpkins
Everything!

 ...

6-30-12


Zucchini
Corn
Tomatoes
 ...

7-2-12

Corn
Tomatoes
Beets

Zucchini
Tomato
 ...

7-6-12
My first harvest.

Zucchini
...

7-28-12

Summer Squash
 Tomatoes & Corn
Tomatoes
    

Corn Silk
Tomatoes

Pumpkins
Peppers
Everything

Zucchini
Pepper
Corn

Sweet Italian Peppers
Beets
Summer Squash (twins)
 ...

7-23-12.
Another harvest!


Pumpkin
Watermelon
Cantaloupe


 ...

7-23-12
More pickin's!



Cantaloupe
Watermelon
...

7-29-12


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Monday, July 23, 2012

Pesto

Hi kids,
I'm back from vacation and full of inspiration!
Last week I was in San Diego, and on my last day there I went to a little place called Craft & Commerce where I not only enjoyed amazing drinks and phenomenal appetizers (like their bacon cracker jack), but I also had a spectacular dinner called the Farmers Plate. Now, this dish changes every night, but when I was there is was farfalle with roasted local vegetables in a pistachio pesto. All I can say is that it changed my life, and I could not wait to get home and try to recreate it.
Pistachio pesto... who knew!
Anyway, true to form I am doing this with no recipe, so here goes....
What I used: fresh basil & zucchini (from my garden), summer squash, Italian eggplant, asparagus, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, pistachios, olive oil, lemon, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, and farfalle pasta.


First step, boil the water then cook the pasta.
Second step, chop the vegetables (I cut them small so they would be a good mix with the bow tie pasta) and get them in a hot pan.
Now, if it wasn't the middle of the summer and humid as heck I would have roasted these in the oven, but since it is so bloody hot and humid, I decided to pan saute them with a little oil instead. Oh, and some minced garlic.


While the vegetables and pasta were cooking, I got the pesto ready.
Fresh basil, pistachios, olive oil, salt, pepper, a little fresh squeezed lemon, and some Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Put everything but the oil into a food processor, turn it on, then slowly start adding the oil until it's the consistency you want. Thicker would be good for a spread, thinner for a sauce.




By this time, both the pasta and the vegetables should be done cooking, so all that is left to do it put it all together.

And Enjoy!!

See you soon...