It’s produce Monday!

This week’s share included:
Spinach
Radishes
Baby greens
Carrots
Celery
Cucumbers
Onions
Zucchini
Tomatoes
Sugar snaps
Avocados
Strawberries
Kiwi
Lemons
Oranges
Pineapple
Bananas

Matt brought me these tulips on Friday – aren’t they lovely? They’ve started opening up even more since I took this photo.

I finally took the plunge and ordered the food dehydrator I’d been wanting since last summer. After much deliberation, I decided on the Excalibur 3900. I started dehydrating things as soon as I got it!

I started with lots of fruit – oranges, limes, apples, bananas, and pears. The apple chips were so delicious I’ve almost finished eating them.

Then I moved onto crackers, and oh my.

I used Angela’s recipe over at Oh She Glows, and we will certainly be making these again. I wasn’t sure how well they would hold up because they’re just made with a bunch of seeds and water, but I think the chia seeds make a nice gel to hold them together. They are delicious with hummus and made a nice afternoon snack.

Sorry for the lack of posts the past few days. I’m feeling quite under the weather and am taking time to rest in hopes of feeling better soon.

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Do you remember my {this moment} post from last Friday? It was a photo of a dinner party we hosted, and I had tried a new dish that I cannot wait to share with you.

I love trying to make new dishes, even when we have guests coming over. My philosophy is: worst case scenario, it’s horrible and we order pizza. So when I saw this recipe for chicken circe in American Terroir, I knew I had to make it. I noticed that it called for preserved lemons, which I had plenty of.

You might remember that I bought 90 organic Meyer lemons back in January when they were on sale 10/$2 – and one of the things I made with them was preserved lemons. I actually had no idea what one was supposed to do with preserved lemons, but I knew I should make them anyway. And last week I was so thankful to have them!

As it turns out, you just rinse the salt off them lemons and use them in the dish. Easy-peasy. If you don’t have 3 quarts of preserved lemons waiting for you in you in your fridge like I do, you should be able to buy them at your grocery store.

Anyway, on to the recipe.

Chicken Circe
*adapted from American Terroir

Serves 6-8

2 TBS extra virgin-olive oil
2.5 pounds boneless chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
2 14-ounce can chickpeas, drained
½ cup honey (use a spicy and robust honey if you have one)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 TBS ground coriander
1 TBS ground cumin
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup white wine
½ cup preserved lemons, chopped
Zest and juice of ¼ lemon
1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)
½ cup fresh mint, chopped (optional)
½ cup fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
1 cup couscous

Brown the chicken in olive oil over medium heat until browned on all sides. If your pan isn’t large enough to brown all chicken at once, do it in batches. Once all the chicken is browned, put it in a skillet or stockpot and add the chickpeas. Pour in the honey and add the garlic, coriander, cumin, and cinnamon. Add the preserved lemons and wine and stir to thoroughly mix the ingredients. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chicken is tender and cooked, stirring occasionally. It should take 20-30 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the lemon zest.

Cook couscous according to package directions. I usually boil water at a 2:1 ratio to couscous, turn off heat, mix in couscous, cover and let sit for 5 minutes.

Serve chicken over couscous and top with toasted nuts and herbs.

This dish makes delicious leftovers!

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{this moment} – “A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.” – SouleMama

While working in the garden yesterday I came across so many wriggly, crawling, hopping creatures! We have been working this garden space organically for three years now, attempting to use organic insecticide only as a last resort, and I am pleased to report that the harmful/beneficial insect life is starting to balance out. I know that there are some pests that can completely destroy crops, but I have found that good crop rotation, healthy plants, and careful monitoring goes a long way in restoring the balance of nature.

Last year we were overrun with Japanese beetles, so I bought one of those traps, but that only brought in hundreds more. This year I have been picking off and killing any that I see, and we have had much less damage. Last year we lost every single zucchini and squash plant to cucumber beetles. I sprayed them constantly but it was to no avail. This year I have been examining the plants and squishing any cucumber beetles that I see. I am proud to report that mid-August we still have a thriving zucchini plant! I did get slightly overrun with Mexican bean beetles on my green beans this year, but next year I will watch closely for them and pick them off before they can over populate. I have learned that one of the best defenses against harmful insects is squishing them with your fingers. Sometimes it still makes me gag to see the guts squirt out everywhere, but I’m getting better about it.

Anyway, here are some of the creatures I found yesterday, all of which are new to our garden!

This praying mantis was so still and so cleverly camouflaged that I thought he was a stick for a long time. Apparently they have a big appetite and are skilled hunters. They eat moths, Mosquitos, aphids, beetles, grasshoppers and even roaches. Interesting fact: sometimes female praying mantises bite the heads off of the males they mate with!

Did you spot the toad? I saw three of them yesterday and shrieked each time they jumped out of the spot where I was digging because I hadn’t seen them. Frogs and toads can eat close to a hundred insects a day, so they can be very helpful in controlling insect populations.

Now let me introduce you to a tomato hornworm. This one was about the size of my pinky. These worms are easily identified by their large size, 7 straight white markings down the side, and small horn on the end of their body. Contrary to popular belief, they will not sting you. I never seen one of these in my garden before, but according to things I have read, they can eat down an entire tomato plant in a matter of hours.

At first I was panicked that our plants were infected with hornworms and were going to be eaten, but before killing this one I did a little bit more research and discovered that the white eggs on it’s back were larva of a braconid wasp. This wasp will lay its larva inside the hornworm, and they eat their way to the outside of the wasp as they hatch. This process kills the hornworm. I decided to leave this worm alone and hope that once these wasps hatch, they will kill any more hornworms in our garden. I have found it quite interesting to read about braconid wasps and how they can inject a virus into a host which allows the parasites to grow inside the host undetected! The best part about these wasps is that they don’t even sting you!