Salad (Vol. 1)

The finished product ready to take to work for lunch

There isn't much simpler than salad. At its most basic, it's leafy greens and raw vegetables. If you want to get fancy you can add cold vegetables- like peas, corn or even asparagus; a meat like cooked salmon, chicken or steak; fruits like apples, grapefruit or pomegranate; cubed or grated cheese and any combination of croutons, nuts, olives, artichokes, cooked pasta or anything else that is taking up space in your fridge.
All this can be packed into a container the night before for an easy lunch to take to work the next day.
It seems silly to give a recipe for salad but most people today think of salad as a bunch of iceberg lettuce with a few shreds and cabbage and carrot thrown in for color.
By comparison, salads from the garden include romaine, bibb, red garnet romaine, buttercrunch, oak leaf, rouge d'hiver and red sails lettuces along with arugula, baby mustard, kale, bok choi and swiss chard, malabar spinach, and french sorrel and every combination tastes a little bit different.
The only thing we don't have is iceberg.
On thing people often overlook in a salad is fresh herbs. Cilantro, basil, thyme, oregano and chives all add fresh flavor to otherwise boring assortments of leaves.
A tip on how to make a satisfying salad that I learned from a restaurant vet - don't forget the salt and pepper.
You don't serve any other dish without a healthy dose of salt and pepper and don't serve a salad without it either.

What you need   

Red garnet romaine, baby mustard, cilantro and radishes- all from the garden

20 leaves assorted lettuce

Pick the larger lettuce leaves from the bottom edge of the plant 

5-10 leaves of baby kale and mustard

Choose young leaves from the inner parts of the plant- save the outer leaves for cooking. Also, mustard is a bit spicy - like horseradish - I like a lot of it but some might want less mustard in the mix

4 radishes

1 carrot

Broccoli 

Cheddar cheese

What you do 

Wash the lettuce, greens and vegetables in a tub of water

Spin them dry and rough chop them

Cut the radishes and carrots into rounds

Cut as much broccoli as you want into small florets

Cube the cheese

Mix everything together and sprinkle with fresh ground pepper and salt

Toss and serve

Garden Eggs (Vol. 1)

The finished product tastes bette than this picture looks

I'm not a big fan of breakfast. Coffee and maybe a banana are about as fancy as I can muster before noon and, while I like bacon, I never really understood the bacon obsession. I like to sleep late and I guess my stomach does too, even when the rest of me wakes up early.

BUT- if I am in the mood for a more substantial breakfast I make garden eggs. 

Eggs scrambled up with whatever vegetables are in the garden and some cheese. Add in a bagel or some toast and jam, a cup of coffee and nice table outside and you have the perfect start to a perfect day. I know the bacon enthusiasts out there are going to scream for swine but I feel better and have more energy when I have more greens and less grease for breakfast.

Kinda like garden cream cheese (see the recipe XXXX) the ingredients for garden eggs are fluid - it just depends on what you have in the garden. 

This recipe calls for leeks and greens but I have used both hot and bell peppers, tomatoes, green onions, spinach, parsley, rosemary, basil, oregano and even eggplant in the past. You can put in bacon or sausage if you have a dedicated carnivore to cook for but it tends to overpower the vegetables. 

What you need 

Two small leeks, chopped swiss chard and kale- all from the garden

2 leeks

6 leaves red swiss chard

6 leaves kale

3 eggs

1/2 cup grated swiss cheese

butter for the pan

What you do

Clean the leaks and chop them into thin slices

I usually just wash them and cut the roots and most of green top off and then peel back the layers a bit to get out any grit but if you want to be more thorough here are some instructions http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_clean_leeks/

Wash the greens 

To wash greens I usually soak them in a basin of water for 15 minutes and spin them dry

Clean and chop the greens

For the kale you will want to pull much of the tough center rib but for the chard you can chop the brightly colored center rib and it will become tender as it cooks

Melt butter (maybe 2 tablespoons) and saute the leeks over medium-low heat

You can start with while you clean and chop the greens

Cook the leeks slowly and don't let them brown

When the leeks become translucent add the greens and saute until wilted and darker

Depending on the type of pan you have you may need to add butter periodically through the recipe

All the vegetables will cook down much smaller than you expect

Scramble three eggs and add them to the pan

Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring regularly

After the eggs begin to solidify grate the cheese and add it on top

I have done this very late and very early in the process and both work just fine

I usually add a bit more cheese than the recipe requires

Continue to cook until the cheese is melted and the eggs are the desired consistency

Enjoy