Sunday, May 17, 2009

Rain, Rain...Stay!

It was hot, hot today! And then we finally, FINALLY, got some rain. For two hours.
That's two more hours than we've had for most of the year so far, so it's time to celebrate!
Cornbread started out the soul food fare...

Greens picked from the garden fresh today...purple hull leaves and calabaza (pumpkin) leaves cut in a chiffonade (ribbons) and boiled like turnip greens. It was our first time trying them cooked like this, since we usually sauteed them. They tasted great...milder than collards or kale or chard, even. Perfect with the cornbread, mmm. They nestled next to some homecooked red beans and a small slice of tender roast beef.

It all went down goooooood :)
This was for later...Jack works tonight. I miss him even before he has to leave. We take whatever time we have for a date. Today's date was warm homemade berry cobbler with cold milk. And lots of kisses :)
We love the sound of thunder. The plants were still dripping when the brief storm let up.
Liquid gold...
I love how the rain beads on the leaf surfaces. These thirsty guys got a well-deserved drink.
This is part of the snap bean and purple hull patch. It's a sprint to see if we can keep the Bermuda out long enough for them to bear.
Here's more evidence of the chase...layering old straw and hay and wheelbarrows-full of old barn manure, and yet the Bermuda skips merrily along.
Marking off a new calabaza sprout with some stick debris and willow whips, to keep our friendly neighbor from accidentally dumping a load or two of stall cleanings atop the little guy.

I hope you had a great weekend! Ours was wonderful. I was with my best friend/beloved and mix in some outdoor sunshine/sunburn and a surprise thunderstorm, and it's my favorite kind of day. The cornbread, good eats, and cobbler didn't hurt, either :)

How was yours?

11 comments:

Pauette said...

I would never have thought of doing greens like that, what a great idea!

I've been making cobblers lately to use the fruit I froze last year...peaches, blueberries, blackberries, YUM!

Peggy said...

Your photos are beautiful. That cobbler looks really good. My Mom used to make wonderful cobblers.

Michelle said...

We got the rest of our garden planted today, mowed lawn, pulled some weeds, and I made bread and granola. :-)

Sue said...

What gorgeous gorgeous photos.
I could just EAT UP my computer screen. Berry cobbler....mmmmmmm!

Carolyn said...

I love those sunflower pics!

Lisa Carroll-Lee said...

I had no idea you could cook pumpkin greens! Where have I been? :) I'll be trying that very soon!

Robbyn said...

Paulette, last year we discovered that there are a lot of plants with multiple uses, namely edible greens. Pumpkins, squash, anything in the cowpea family, sweet potatoes, and so much more. Some of them have special cooking requirements, as in making sure to drain the cooking liquid before eating, but we decided to start trying some as taste tests. It's been fun...and it's so surprising the nutritional content of them, too!

Peggy,...thank you, I give all the credit to my camera :) Thank you about cobbler...I'm using up drips and drabs of things in the freezer and combined some different types of berries for this one. I have yet to master a pie crust, and when I do, my cobblers will graduate to a lattice top, woo! :)

Michelle, whew, you're wonderwoman :) oh man, your house must smell sooooooo good! I made granola over the weekend, too, and just love it...I don't know why I havent made it through the years, it's so easy :)

Sue, thank you! Yeah, I get so hungry when I get a chance to peek at some of the blogs out there, it's dangerous to my waistline, ha :)

Carolyn, you're a sunflower lover! Are you planting any this year?...they are easy to grow!

AccidentalHW...I had no idea, either till last year! The calabaza is the Cuban version of a pumpkin, but in researching it I saw all pumpkin leaves are edible. I don't know if the taste varies according to variety, so we're trying a lot of things to see how it suits our tastes. With the nutrition factor being SO high, they're really worth the taste-testing. So far our calabaza leaves are my favorite of all the different greens we've tried (of the plants you wouldnt normally think of as having edible greens). We pick the young leaves...I don't pick any bigger than my hand, and trim the stem and ridge off. They are somewhat fuzzy/prickly, but at that size are tender when cooked. I love them sauteed, but they're also good mixed in with other greens or boiled like collards and turnip greens...if you try them, I'd love to know what you think! :) Isn't it awesome you can get at least three, maybe more, products off of one pumpkin plant? fruits, leaves, and toasted seeds!

Robbyn said...

AccidentalHW..oops, forgot the blooms!

RazorFamilyFarms.com said...

I love that you two had a date with cobbler and kisses. I'm missing Josh (who is gone for a few days) and both of those would be lovely about now.

:)

Blessings,
Lacy

Christina said...

I totally love stolen dates! I take 'em where I can get 'em. Especially the kisses!

Unknown said...

I wish I could send you some of our rain ~ it's bad here,so bad that 1 of my chicks drowned & my other babies are developing flippers