From the Garden this Week… Arugula, Cherry Tomatoes, Eggplant, Cucumber, Carrots, Lettuce Mix, Salad Turnips, Winter Squash or Pumpkin, Purple “Green” Beans, Basil, Parsley, and Fuyu Persimmons
Coming Soon… Pomegranates
Using your Produce… by Julie Moreno
The pumpkins that we grow do make beautiful table decorations, but they are grown first for eating. After spending a few weeks on the counter, make sure to cook them. I like to use them for nut breads or add a few tablespoons to your coffee, to make your own pumpkin spice latte. You can also use the puree to make a smoothie, add pumpkin pie spices, a banana and yogurt, or your favorite non-dairy milk. In addition, Butternut and Pumpkin winter squash varieties, despite their shape, are so closely related that the canned pumpkin you buy at the store can often be from butternut squash shaped fruit.
Pumpkin Granola
4 cups old fashioned oats
½ cup dried cranberries
½ cup pepitas
¼ cup melted butter or coconut oil
½ cup pumpkin puree
½ cup pure maple syrup or
brown sugar
2 egg whites
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or
1.5 teaspoons cinnamon, ¼
teaspoon ground nutmeg and
¼ teaspoon ground cloves)
1 teaspoon vanilla
* Preheat the oven to 325°F. Prepare a baking sheet and line with parchment paper. In a very large mixing bowl, combine the oats, cranberries and pepitas. In a small mixing bowl, combine the melted butter with the pumpkin puree, maple syrup, egg whites, salt, spices, and vanilla. Mix the wet ingredients until well blended. Pour the butter-pumpkin-syrup mix over the oats and nuts and stir well until the oats are moist. Pour the oats onto the baking sheet, and spread out in a single layer, leaving some clusters. Bake for 20 minutes and then stir the oats around and cook for about 20 minutes more. Turn off oven and let the oats sit in oven for 20 minutes. Let cool completely until crisp.
Let’s Play “Guess Your Produce!”
They tell me I originated almost 2000 years ago in China and was introduced to Japan in the 7th century. I came to America, thanks to Admiral Perry, who discovered me on the southern coast of Japan in 1851.
I am an excellent source of vitamin A, which is so important for your vision, heart, lungs, kidney, and for keeping your organs working properly. I also contain B, C, and E vitamins and provide many other nutritional benefits.
Have you guessed who I am yet? I am a persimmon and so yummy and sweet. Snack on me, just like an apple, throw me in a salad, or make cookies out of me.
Peppery Arugula
Our peppery arugula matches well with rich flavors like eggs and bacon. Try this recipe to balance out the spicy greens.
Arugula Salad with Bacon and Eggs
2 thick slices of bacon, cut into strips
1 large shallot or ¼ red onion, thinly sliced
6 cups arugula
2 eggs
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil (optional,
depending on how much fat comes from the bacon)
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
salt and black pepper to taste
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil for the eggs. In a skillet, heat the bacon over medium-low heat, slowly rendering the bacon until crisp. Add the shallot to the bacon and cook until it’s wilted and translucent and the bacon is crisp, about 2 minutes more. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into individual small bowls or ramekins. Lower the water to a simmer and carefully add the eggs one at a time. Cook gently until the white is completely set but the yolk is still runny, 3-4 minutes. Put the arugula in a salad bowl and spoon the bacon-shallot mixture over the greens. Toss together to evenly coat. Add oil if desired then sprinkle the arugula with the vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and divide amongst two plates or bowls. Top each plate with a poached egg and serve immediately.
Metaphors of Soil and Soul…
Pruning
by Cindi J Martin
Today I looked closely at a tangle of bare grape vines growing in our garden. They require pruning. I cringe whenever I face this garden task. How do I muster courage to sever once productive vines formerly laden with sweet grapes? It takes knowledge, experience, faith, and strength to cut back the vines - knowledge to recognize which vines to prune, experience to look back on the effect of the last season’s pruning action or inaction, faith to look forward in confidence to reliable growth despite so many lost limbs, and strength to endure a loss that is worth the gain. Life hangs in the balance.
I find that growing older is a process involving severe pruning. It’s not just a little twig here and another twig there – arranging a flower bouquet for evening dinner, attending a concert, enjoying a church outing. Sometimes it’s an entire tree limb! My energies waning, I have foregone preparing elaborate meals daily, hosting numerous get-togethers weekly, serving on multiple committees monthly. These once made me feel productive, blessed others, and brought me joy and purpose. Now, as I recall these activities, they come forth as tangled, barren vines of loss and grief. Yet, if I have learned to trust the wisdom and experience of our Creator and Lord during His past pruning, I am more confident in the good that can come from His future pruning. When our Lord Jesus looks at our lives, He, at times, prunes back once productive parts that we would never choose to give up. Those pruning cuts ALWAYS hurt, but when I choose to put the losses into His capable hands, redirect my life energies into the remaining limbs and branches, and exercise faith in His wisdom and love for me and all creation, I am often astounded at the results.
Are you going through a painful season of pruning, feeling your life hangs in the balance? May your faith and The Ever-Faithful God give you courage to endure and wait confidently for a coming season of sweet and vibrant growth.
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me.” John 15:2