The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

Making homemade strawberry syrup

14.4 years ago recipe, strawberries

Though not the best summer for tomatoes, our mild summer has been great for strawberries.  Until recently I was picking about a pint a day from our modest “strawberry patch”  Many became a quick snack, smoothies, and others got frozen for consumption this summer.

This morning the kids wanted something special for breakfast so decided on making some homemade strawberry syrup.

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sliced strawberries
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon orange zest

Directions:

Combine all ingredients into a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer to allow the syrup to thicken and reduce to about one half by volume (15 — 20 minutes)

Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature before serving

This is great of pancakes/waffles but my daughters also enjoyed this on vanilla ice cream.  With my oldest daughters loves of sugar and strawberries she asked if she could eat it by itself, which I had to say no too…

Tags: strawberry

Pickled jalapeno peppers

15.2 years ago jalapeno, peppers, recipe

My jalapeno peppers did great this year.  So good I didn’t really know what to do with all of them.  After making some salsa and having several mature red ones as snacks in the garden, I still have about two pounds that I didn’t want to go to waste.  After a little thought I decided to make some pickled jalapeno peppers.

CVG Picked jalapeno pepper recipe

Directions:  Mix ingredients and bring brine to boil.  Either slice or leave the pepper whole.  If you choose to do whole peppers, be sure to poke them with a toothpick so they won’t collapse.  Fill jars with jalapeno peppers and then fill with hot brine up to 1/2 in from the top of jar.  Boil for 10 minutes and feel free to pick some pickled peppers as fast and as many times as you want this summer.

Tags: garden seeds, led, pepper plants, salsa garden

Garden Salsa recipe

15.4 years ago cilantro, garlic bulbs, harvest, onions, recipe, tomato

Big moment this week, I was able to make salsa entirely from ingredients.  I normally don’t use cherry/grape tomatoes for salsa but my Early Girls are not that early this year and have not quite turned red. 

CVG Garden Salsa Recipe

• 2-3 tomatoes (or 12-15 cherry/grape tomatoes)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion
• green onion
• 5 sprigs of cilantro
• tablespoon vinegar
• 1 jalapeno pepper (seeded)
• sugar

Directions:  Coarsely chop tomatoes (removing seeds, though if I few sneak in it is not a big deal), onion, and green onions and add to bowl.  Finely chop garlic, cilantro, and seeded jalapeno pepper and add to mixture.  Add vinegar to bowl and mix thoroughly.  Let sit for 10 minutes and add sugar until salsa does not have a spicy aftertaste (normally 1-2 teaspoons)  If you like the spice skip the sugar and include seeds from the jalapeno.

Tags: cilantro, garden seeds, garlic bulbs, pepper plants, salsa garden, tomato plants

Mango Salsa Recipe

15.4 years ago recipe, salsa

I am starting to get some cherry tomatoes turning red but not enough to make salsa so yet again so I decided to make some Mango Salsa.  It is great to eat on tortilla chips the same you would for regular salsa or black bean corn salsa.  One of my favorite things to do with is as a topping to blackened salmon (salmon grilled with dusting of Cajun seasoning)

CVG Mango Salsa Recipe

• 3 mangos
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 small onion
• green onion
• 5 sprigs of cilantro
• juice of one lemon (or lime)
• 1 jalapeno pepper (seeded)
• sugar

Directions:  Finely chop 1 mango (or blend in blender/food processor) this will create a base for the salsa.  Coarsely chop remaining mangos, onion, and green onions to have more defined texture and add to bowl.  Finely chop garlic, cilantro, and seeded jalapeno pepper and add to mixture.  Squeeze in juice of lemon into bowl and mix thoroughly.  Let sit for 10 minutes and add sugar until salsa does not have a spicy aftertaste (normally 2-3 teaspoons)

Now if you really like the spice you can leave the seeds in and/or skip the sugar but for the blackened salmon it give a good contrast to the spicy meat and people just are not usually expecting fruit to be spicy.

I can proudly say with the exception of mangos, lemons, and sugar the remaining ingredients came right out of my garden.

Tags: cheap, cilantro, garden seeds, garlic bulbs, led, pepper plants, salsa garden, tomato plants, vegetables

Black Bean and Corn Salsa Recipe

15.4 years ago corn, peppers, recipe, salsa

My jalapeños peppers have been growing like crazy and I have had to start harvest to prevent the plants from stop producing.  Given my tomatoes are still green I have been itching to do something with them, I decided to make some corn salsa.  Given I couldn’t find a recipe that matched the ingredients I had on hand I decided to make my own.

CVG Black Bean and Corn Salsa Recipe

• 2 ears of corn (1-1/2 cups frozen corn)
• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 1/4 cup white vinegar
• 3 T sugar
• 1 chopped seeded jalapeño
• 1 chopped unseeded jalapeño
• 1-1/2 cups black beans (canned)

Directions: Cook corn for 2 minutes in boiling water and submerge in ice cold ice water.  This helps stop the corn from cooking any more and also make handling while cutting the kernels a little more pleasant.  Cut off kernels and add to bowl.  Chop/slice remaining ingredients and add to bowl, stir, and refrigerate and serve chilled.

If you like your salsa a little spicier leave both pepper seeded.

Tags: cilantro, garden seeds, garlic bulbs, led, outdoor plants, pepper plants, salsa garden, tomato plants

Lemon Verbena Lemonade Recipe

15.6 years ago lemon verbena, recipe

I am moving into a new office this week so I had to bring a couple of my lemon verbena plants home and given the great weather we were having I decided to move them right back into the garden. Fortunately they were a little leggy from lack of sunlight in my office so I cut off some of the dropping stems and was about to put them in the compost until I got the idea to make some Lemon Verbena Lemonade.

The basic idea is the same as regular lemonade though you add Lemon Verbena leafs and use fewer lemons.  It has been said that lemon verbena can have calming effects and can reduce stress; sounds like a great summer drink to me.

Lemon Verbena Lemonade

• 24 Lemon Verbena Leaves
• 2 lemons
• Sugar (or artificial sweetener)
• Water
• Peppermint sprig (optional)

Directions: Squeeze lemon juice lemons into a small pot.  Add Lemon remains, Lemon Verbena leaves, 2 cups of sugar, and approximately 4 cups of water to pot.  Bring to boil and let boil for 4 minutes.  Strain mixture into 1-2 gallon container and fill with water.  Add more sugar to taste (kids like the stuff tasting like Kool-Aid though I would recommend less sugar)  Add ice and enjoy on hot summer day.  Given Max and Ruby’s grandma “secret ingredient” to lemonade is peppermint we can’t make any lemonade without it so this part is completely optional.

Tags: compost, outdoor plants, pepper plants, peppermint plant