Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Five Reasons to Grow Vegetables

I started growing vegetables before I grew flowers because my grandfather was a farmer and I remembered what fresh vegetables tasted like. So here are five reasons to grow your own vegetables.






1. You can make mashed potatoes with your own heirloom vegetables to enjoy at a Thanksgiving feast. These are German Butterball, All Blue and Purple Viking potatoes that I am using in Make-ahead Mashed Potatoes (recipe to follow). We will eat them tomorrow on Thanksgiving. I have enough potatoes to last me into March!

2. If you grow rhubarb you can freeze it and then use it later for baking. Tomorrow we are going to have Oatmeal Rhubarb Crisp for dessert.

3. Onions are another vegetable that will last if you store it right. I am eating potato leek soup this week that I used homegrown potatoes and onions and leeks from the farmer's market.

4. There is nothing better than a homegrown strawberry in June. Yes, I know strawberries are fruit (and perhaps tomatoes are fruits as well) but I am lumping them in with my vegetables as they are the reason I started a garden in the first place. I wanted to taste the strawberries I remember from grandpa's farm after many years of the mealy hard ones from the supermarket. There is a difference, the difference being the ones you grow yourself actually taste good.

5. One of my favorite meals is to take a piece of good bread, toast it, spread pesto on top of it and add some tomato slices. I had this yesterday for dinner with my own tomatoes and pesto I froze using my own basil and garlic. Now if I only had a cow I could make my own cheese!



Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes

8 large potatoes peeled and pared

1 8 ounce package cream cheese

1/4 cup dairy sour cream

salt pepper to taste, butter, paprika

Boil potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain. Mash. Add cream cheese, sour cream, salt and pepper, mixing well. Put in a greased 2 quart casserole. Top with pats of butter. Cover May store in the refrigerator several days. Before serving, sprinkle with paprika and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

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