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Posted on 04/20/2006 2:10:46 PM PDT by HairOfTheDog
That reminds me I need to stock up health stuff again...
Welp, the hock has been set to the boil. Once it reaches boiling, I'll start timing and will boil it for one hour. After that, I will add the collards and cook at a simmer till Steve is ready to eat.
I don't have many collards, my crop didn't do very well. I decided that although everything I've read calls for two hocks, I opted for only one...the largest of the five I bought. So I have frozen the other four for future use. Perhaps a batch of red beans and rice? I usually make them with a chunk of ham, but ham is pricey...and I've *got* hocks!
I've just now finished planting my eggplant in a hardware cloth basket. Everything looks good! My squash seems to have recovered from the hailstorm...the holes in punched in the leaves didn't seem to distress them at all.
I was just remembering years ago when I stewed those rabbits. Food is such an adventure! LOL!
Collards don't really like heat. If you have seeds, plant them again in mid-summer (mid-July to August). They're better after the first frost.
Back home, collards would stay green over the winter...if the deer didn't eat 'em!
That's the plan. I intend to plant a whole fall garden of collards, turnips, carrots, lettuce, spinach and radishes. I have six beds, so I guess a bed of each! The winters here aren't terribly harsh, so they should do ok.
The turnips look droopy now, but taste fine, not woody and the leaves perk up when I wash them in cool water and put them in the fridge. Not for long, though, because I cook the ever-lovin' out of them! LOL!
Oh man... sorry to hear about that.
Heh, you're bad. Mmm.
Oh my...
I usually boil the hocks the day before I need the broth, then refrigerate it overnight. Next day, you can skim most of the fat off the top, and you have a fairly healthy broth that is SO flavorful! I do this for Bean Soup, and I imagine it would be quite tasty for Red Beans and rice. Just cut the meat off the hock and put it in there with the other stuff.
OK! That sounds like a great idea for beans!
The meat has about 20 more minutes to boil then I add the collards.
Kewl!
My turnips don't have turnips yet, but the greens are nice and leafy!
They say turnips are an acquired taste, but I believe hunger and availability have a lot to do with it. I love fresh veggies but I hate to buy them at the store because who knows where they've been and who's coughed on them or whatever. Heh...probably just neurotic but still...I prefer to grow my own.
Hey, you should see the place where the chicken run used to be. Not a single weed...they kept the weeds away...and the grass came back thick and lush...like very nice golf-course grass! It's the nicest part of the yard.
Turnips kilt the thread!
Fantastic!
That's great...you guys look so happy and de-stressed..hehe.
It surely is! We've been nibbling on the first round of radishes. Tonight we're having a lettuce that pulled to make way for a pepper plant.
The nayber girl (age 3) was out with her mom this evening. They were planting marigolds in the little raised bed they built for her. She's destined to be a princess - spoooooooooiled - so it pleased me to see her getting grubby at a formative age.
I can't wait to pull my turnips. I shred them up with onions and zucchini and fry 'em like hash browns. The recipe needs work yet because it comes out a mushy mess - but it sure tastes good! (esp with ketchup.)
Just cut and cook some of the greens...
I should. They're currently growing in pepper space.
You reckon that turnips are starchy like potatoes? In order to keep the mushiness down, you could soak the shredded turnips in cold water for a bit, then squeeze the moisture out.
I learned about steel from my father. Kitchen knives, I picked up by osmosis from the Food Network.
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