meals from the garden

the past couple weeks have inspired some culinary creativity. with only the occasional trip to the grocery store, we've primarily been using what we have in the cupboards and garden. perhaps economic downturn isn't such a bad thing...but that's another discussion. wait a sec, though, while i have you reading.

back in the day, during world wars 1 and 2, nearly 20 million americans grew their own food in what were called victory gardens - i suppose in today's rhetoric, we might call them "freedom fields" or enlist some other form of patriotic poetry. but enough with the semi-unwarranted sarcasm. i just wanted to integrate some historical context into present day political and economic discussions.

moving on to the heart of this post - cooking meals from the garden. chard, carrots, summer squash, fresh herbs, onions, and radishes have been finding their way into dinner time at the schwartzes.

last week we made a hearty vegetable soup. we had some help from the pantry on the soup - chicken stock, canned tomatoes and beans, and a potato. from the garden, we added carrots and tons of chard. one of our kitties, jackson, seemed to enjoy:
another dinner found us enjoying some roasted summer squash, carrots, and salmon alongside chard sauteed with butter and parm (they seem to make everything taste good). rounded out the meal with a bottle of washington riesling. yes, the whole bottle.
we jammed yet more chard, green and gold zucchini, italian parsley, rosemary, basil, and red onions into a frittata made with local eggs, topped with tillamook sharp cheddar and some parm. i love eggs for dinner - so easy. with all the veggies it turned into a surprisingly filling meal - with bread, of course. and the spicy crunch of some french breakfast radishes.

lastly, dessert. while none of the items in a fruit crisp we put together last night were from the garden, the peaches and nectarines were from central wa. the raspberries were from grandma doris' yard in beacon hill - she blessed us with two yogurt tubs full of them. sitting in our freezer now, we'll likely put the remainder to use in some homemade ice cream later this summer.

anyway, we love crisps. easier than pies and tarts (at least in our view), the buttery, crumbly topping is so good, they're kind of a stand by. we're growing some rhubarb and huckleberries that will probably find their way into a baking dish once they mature. we enjoyed the peach/nectarine/raspberry crisp with some vanilla ice cream in the company of our family. nephew luca managed to come up to each of us asking for more.