Backyard Gardens

We live in southern Arizona, Oro Valley to be exact, and have tried for several years to grow vegetables of different types with less than overwhelming results. All of our previous attempts have been in pots and mostly tomatoes and herbs. With the heat in southern Arizona trying to keep the pots well irrigated was a challenge without rigging up a permanent watering system which meant I would have to do some serious digging and plumbing to put that in place. This was not something I wanted to do.


So over Christmas and New Year's holiday of 2009/2010 I built a 4'x8' wooden garden box from plans I got from Sunset magazine. The design is pretty simple and easy to build. The box is made up of six 2"x6"x8' boards stacked on top of each other. The 8' sides of the box have two 8' boards and the 4' sides have one 8' board cut in half. The corners are made up of 4"x4" posts cut into 2' lengths. The 2"x6" boards are bolted onto the 4"x4"s and bingo bango you've got a 4'x8' garden box. The boxes hold about 1 yard of soil which I got from a local material supply yard.


After building the first box and putting it into place I decided to change the design by doubling the height of the box from two lengths of boards to four. The higher box is easier to work in since you don't have to bend over as far. I use a five gallon paint bucket as my working stool when necessary and the revised height is better.


As I mentioned, I didn't want to go to the trouble of installing a permanent automatic watering system for a couple of reasons. One reason is that the nearest water source is too far away from the garden box so a new hose bib would have to be installed which would require more work than I wanted to do at this point. The other reasons have mostly to do with general laziness. So I ginned up a poor man's system by setting up a battery operated timer on the closest hose bib and running a regular garden hose from the hose bib to the garden box. I ran the hose up the side of the garden box and attached a really cool sprinkler called the NoodleHead which I bought at the L.A. County Fair in September 2009. This sprinkler head has a bunch of short black tubes like the ones used for drip irrigation which you can bend to fit any watering pattern you may have. A really cool item, check them out on their website.


So, I've got the box and the watering system set up ready to go all I needed was soil. I had two choices, one was to buy a bunch of bags of soil from Home Depot or go to my favorite material supply yard, Bob's Materials, and buy what I figured would be about two yards of soil to fill up the two foot high box. The bags of soil would cost too much so I went with the loose soil from Bob's. I have a 1998 Nissan Frontier pickup and love it for just this kind of job. One yard of soil costs only $33 and fits perfectly in the bed of the pickup. Of course I look like a low-rider with my back end dropped pretty low but I can mosey on home just fine. Since the closest I can get to the backyard is the street out front I am left with hauling the soil from the truck to the garden box by wheelbarrow. I rigged up a ramp with a spare 2"x6" board and a few bricks so dumping the soil into the box was pretty easy once you got the hang of hitting the ramp and getting under the wheelbarrow handles to dump. With my son Tommy's help we had the first yard of soil offloaded in about 30 minutes and back to Bob's we went.


I amended the soil with some all purpose vegetable fertilizer and watered the soil really well and let the soil settle for a week. The one box yielded a great crop of lettuce over the winter along with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, radishes, spinach and dill. Success!


So in early spring I added another box and also prepared a corner of our yard for some zucchini and melons. For the summer, in one box (picture on the left) we planted three tomatoes, a japenese eggplant, two sweet basils and a thyme. In the second box (pictured below) we planted three tomatillos, an eggplant, a yellow chili, an Anaheim chili, a rosemary and peppermint. In the corner spot, not in a box, we planted two kinds of zucchini and some sort of melon that we lost track of.




We've got a few lessons learned from this summer's plantings.

• The conical tomato cages are not big enough if you're planting in something other than a pot, I'm going to create my own next year.
• One tomatillo plant would have been plenty for a whole 4'x8' box, they really get big and spread like a bush.
• We really don't like eggplant all that much.
• Squash plants make you itch when you harvest them, long sleeves and gloves are recommended.
• Giving away homegrown veggies is a great way to spend time with neighbors.

So, we're in early October and it's getting close to the time to plant winter stuff. Our zucchini is just about done as is one of the two remaining tomatoes. We have no idea how long the tomatillos will continue so we'll have to wait and see. The basil will last through Thanksgiving at least depending how quickly its get cold here in the desert.

As we plant our winter veggies I'll give an update.

Albondigas!!!!

This coming week's soup is the Mexican meatball potion Albondigas! This is one of the first soups I ever made years ago. Our daughter Shawna loved Albondigas soup when she was little, especially when we visited our favorite Mexican restaurant in Pomona, Xochimilco's on Indian Hill. Bertie's Mom, Maria, also made Albondigas on a regular basis for the Saturday get-togethers at her house for their huge family.

I never got Maria's recipe for her Albondigas but the one I have is pretty good. I got it from allrecipes.com. I add more pork sausage than originally called for and use our own green salsa instead of store bought. This time I added chorizo to the meatballs so we'll see how they taste.

Making the meatballs is always fun especially if you've got kids around, be sure you plan far enough ahead so you have a chance to chill the meat because it is much easier to work with when cold versus room temperature.

Here's the recipe as I've modified it except for the chorizo twist:
Broth Base
84 oz. of beef broth (I recommend Pacific Natural Foods broths)
10 oz. of green chili salsa (recipe below)
1 onion, chopped
2 14.5oz. cans of diced tomatoes (I recommend Muir Glen brand)
1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup of white rice

Meatballs
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 pound of pork sausage
1 onion, chopped
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup of corn meal
1/2 cup of white rice

Green Salsa
1 lb of tomatoes (any type) with stems and cores removed
3-4 yellow chills, 3 if they are large or 4 if they are smaller
1 tablespoon of salt
1 teaspoon of garlic powder

1. Boil the tomatoes and chilis for 40 minutes
2. Remove the tomatoes and chilis with a slotted spoon and place in a blender, reserve the water
3. Add the salt and garlic powder to the blender mixture
4. Blend until the mix is smooth
5. Taste and adjust spices accordingly
6. If the salsa is too spicy use the reserved water to dilute until the taste is to your liking

Soup Directions

1. Mix together beef broth, salsa, 1 onion, tomatoes, dried basil, dried oregano, and pepper. Bring to a boil and keep at a low simmer for 20 minutes.
2. Combine the ground beef, pork sausage, 1 onion, egg, salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, garlic powder, milk, fresh basil and cornmeal in a large oversized bowl. Mix by hand very well. Grab bunches of the meatball mixture and squeeze through your fingers until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
3. Cover the meatball mixture with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight is fine.
4. Form the chilled meat into meatballs by grabbing about a tablespoon's worth of meat mixture and roll into meatballs. You can vary the size of the meatballs from smaller ones to the large ones you get with a tablespoon's worth of meat.
5. Add the meatballs and rice to the broth. Simmer covered very slowly for 1 to 1.5 hours. Test the meatballs for doneness.

Leek, Apple & Thyme

This week's soup comes from a recipe I came across in the Food section of the LA Times. I grew up reading the LA Times in So. Cal. and still read it online several times a week. Granted I am focused on the Sports section but at least once a week I browse their Food section. They have a cool regular feature where readers write in asking for recipes from their favorite LA area restaurants. The Food writers somehow get the restaurants to give their recipes over and share with everyone. I like the concept of sharing recipes for free. Some might feel you're giving away trade secrets but my thinking is that sharing good recipes only enhances one's standing and reputation and draws more business. Granted some folks might stay home and eat the results of the recipes but I believe most folks enjoy going out and having the dining experience just as much. I am also much more inclined to give my business to a restaurant that shares all aspects of the dining experience which includes the preparation of the food. Those are my thoughts on the subject.

Here's Wednesday's Soup:

Leek, Apple & Thyme

7 Leeks, divided into a group of 4 and a group of 3

3 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons of olive oil, divided

1 large onion thinly sliced

2-3 large garlic cloves, pressed

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced

1 Red Delicious apple, peeled, cored and diced

2 pounds of Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and diced

1 quart of vegetable stock

1 quart of water

3 bay leaves

3 sprigs of cilantro

1.5 tablespoons of fresh thyme leaves roughly chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Fresh grated nutmeg to taste

1. Remove the roots and tough outer layers of 4 of the leeks, slice them lengthwise and rinse thoroughly. There's lots of dirt in the inner layers of the first couple of leafs so be sure you work these well. Slice thinly. In a heavy bottom pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil over medium-low heat and cook the leeks and onions until they soften. Add the garlic and cook for only one more minute, stirring the whole time.
2. Stir in the chopped apples, potatoes, water and vegetable broth. Stir in the bay leaves, cilantro and thyme leaves. Bring the mix to a boil and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 45 minutes to an hour.
3. Remove the bay leaves. Add the thyme and cilantro to the soup and stir. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or use a blender/food processor.
4. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. To make the garnish, heat an oven to 400 degrees. Clean and slice the remaining 3 leeks as was done in step 1. Toss the sliced leeks in a bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil, salt and pepper. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake, stirring every few minutes, until the leeks are crisp, about 10 minutes.
6. Serve the soup in bowls with the crispy leeks sprinkled on top.

Posole - Tomatillo, Chicken & Hominy

With the three day weekend and a Boy Scout meeting Tuesday night I deferred Wednesday Soup At Work to Thursday. I remembered to put my usual sign up early Tuesday so people know not to expect soup on Wednesday. It's kinda cool that there's an expectation and people look forward to the soup. Of course it's free so the bar might be pretty low.

Anyway, I've brought the Posole in before and it was gone pretty quickly with good reviews. The stock has a really good tangy flavor from the hominy, tomatillos and lime juice.

As I've mentioned before when a recipe calls for chicken and chicken stock I boil a whole fryer in a tall pot and de-bone the chicken for the meat and use the stock as called for in the recipe instead of store bought. To the chicken pot I add a couple of cut-up carrots and stalks of celery along with an onion, a couple of bay leaves, dried oregano and dried basil. I strain the stock and have plenty for the recipe and usually some leftover to freeze.

Here's the recipe for 8 servings using store bought stock. For the large quantity I bring to Wednesday Soup At Work I double the recipe and use the boiled chicken I note above:

1 pound of tomatillos

6 cups of chicken stock

2 cups of chopped onion

3 pounds of shredded chicken

4 chopped garlic cloves

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and julienned

1 can of white hominy (30 oz), drained

juice from 1/2 of a lime

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup sour cream

8 lime wedges

Remove the husks and stems from the tomatillos and boil them until they are tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the water and process the tomatillos until they are smooth. An immersion blender is the best tool for this but using a standard blender is fine.

Meanwhile, into the stock add the onion, chicken, garlic, jalapeno and hominy. Bring the mix to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer 35 minutes or until chicken is done. Remove the chicken from the bones shred and set aside. Stir in the pureed tomatillos, the lime juice and salt to taste. Cook the stock mixture for 5 minutes until heated. Stir in the chicken and heat the entire mix.

Serve with the cilantro, sour cream and lime wedges.

Potato & Swiss Cheese Recipe

I found this recipe on copykat.com.

I made this soup for a pot luck party at a friend's house and the responses were underwhelming (except for Judy J). So, I added this soup to my usual offering at work the following Wednesday. I brought this soup in addition to my Cream of Tomato. Well, the response from the crowd at work was great! The Potato & Swiss Cheese drew raves!! I was really pleased it was such a hit because the response from the pool party crowd really had me wondering. Here's the recipe for Potato & Swiss Cheese that serves about 10-12:

2 (32oz) cartons of Chicken or Vegetable Broth
2 lbs of Yukon Gold potatoes unpeeled and sliced thinly
1 yellow or red onion sliced thinly
1 qt of heavy cream
1 cup of shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (Trader Joe's Parmesan/Romano is the best)
1/4 cup of real bacon bits
2 tbsp green onions diced

Into a large pot pour the broth and yellow or red onions. Bring the pot to a boil and cook on medium for about 20 minutes until potatoes are tender. Add the cream, Swiss cheese, Parmesan cheese, bacon and green onions.

When I made this soup I added the Swiss cheese all at once by sprinkling it evenly over the top of the soup and then stirred the cheese into the soup. The cheese didn't melt into a creamy consistency the way I expected. It came out in clumps and had the consistency of clams when you chewed it. I looked online for some advice on using cheese in soups to see if I did something wrong but didn't find anything. Next time I make the soup I'm going to try adding the Swiss cheese a little at a time and see if that changes the consistency. If someone makes this soup I'd be interested in hearing how the cheese comes out.