Growing and using figs

Figs

Fruit trees are a delightful way to grow edibles in the Florida landscape.  Figs do especially well with little effort after they are established.  The fruit is delicious and eating a fig right off the tree is extremely satisfying,  but the leaves are wonderful as well.  They can be used in many ways and are surprisingly good! Fig leaf tea has many health benefits and taste lovely so thats what we have been making each morning in our kitchen. Curry is another great way  to use the leaves as they have a smell and taste that is similar to coconut!

TEA RECIPE:  Choose 3-4 smaller fig leaves and wash.  Cover in a saucepan with 8oz of water and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove the leaves and sweeten with agave.  Serve hot or chilled.

CURRY:  1 jar of red curry paste, coconut milk, chicken breast, brown sugar, fish sauce, 2 large fig leaves, red chili peppers, green peppers, 1/4 cup basil leaves.  

simply sauté chicken cut in cubes in a bit of oil, add the jar of curry paste till warm, then add the fig leaves, green peppers (sliced) and the coconut milk.  Boil for 10 minutes.  Remove the fig leaves and add brown sugar and 2 Tablespoons fish sauce.  Garnish with sliced red chili peppers and basil leaves before serving 

 

What is Malabar Spinach?

Gardening in Central Florida is not always an easy endeavor.  So when you find ways to make it work you get pretty excited about it.  That's why I want to bring up Malabar Spinach.  This vine is grown in India and other tropical places.  It thrives in Hot, Humid, and above 90 degree conditions.  Well that's Central Florida in the summer for sure! This summer I have been experimenting a lot with it and here's what I have learned.  

• Not a true spinach but a terrific replacement for summer when most greens especially salad and spinach won't stand a chance.
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• It germinates great from seed even when I just toss them in the ground in mid July and water somewhat regularly.  
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• The leaves are thick and juicy and have a very mild flavor with hints of citrus and pepper.
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• Malabar Spinach well vertically so you cangrow it up a trellis, or grow it in a container with something to climb on or keep it trimmed like a bush.
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• It is a good source of vitamin A, C, calcium and iron.
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• You can toss it in a salad, soup, stir fry, frittata, or cook it like spinach. 

• All this being said it is not an amazing flavor you will rave about, what it is, is a summer source of home grown healthiness, we have a saying you "feed your body not just your mouth,"at our home.  We like our foods to taste great but we also like to eat nutrient dense homegrown foods to take care of our bodies.  So add this to your hot summer gardening possibilities. (Okra, eggplant, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, and Malabar Spinach are all thriving right now in our Hot Humid Florida garden)

easy to grow in a pot, great for kids because its so easy!

Frugality, Friendship, and Florida Pear Pies

Florida Pears are not so pretty!

 One of my simple delights is free foraged food.  Digging my own clams, catching crabs off a dock, gathering wild berries, hunting the elusive Morel Mushroom, discovering an abandon fruit tree and filling my skirt with the promise of a sweet smelling kitchen coming up, these things just delight me!

So when my neighbor came by with a pool skimming net full of Florida Pears, I gave him a silly smiling thank you and made a mental note to make an extra pie for him too!

pretty in a pie!

I have tried to find out a little history on these hard speckled skinned pears and here is what I have come up with after finding Sherry Boas's article from September 25, 2011 in the Orlando Sentinel:

                                               1.  They are an old Fashioned Southern Pear

                                               2.  Varieties such as Orient, Kieffer, and Pineapple pear were                                                                            staples of Florida Homesteads    

                                               3. They are nicknames "sand pears"

                                               4. They are used for baking and canning

                                               5. They thrive in our Florida climate but are mainly forgotten.

My Thank you pie for a very thoughtful friend!

The Recipe: Florida Pear Pie
Two pie crust (top and bottom)
1/2 cup sugar
3 Tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons each nutmeg, allspice, and ground cloves
1 teaspoon lemon zest
5 cups peeled and sliced Florida Pears
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:  Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest and juice in a mixing bowl. mix then toss into the peeled and slice pears covering them.  Layer the pears in the crust and dot with butter, moisten rim of bottom crust and gently place top crust over filling.  fold edges and press to seal.  Use a fork to vent the top of the crust by gently piercing it a few times.  

Bake at 450 degrees F.  for 10 minutes and then reduce to 350 degrees F and bake 30 more minutes.  Check the crust and cover with foil if it is browning too fast.  Enjoy!

My five favorite vegetables to grow in Central Florida. 

1.  Yard long beans (asparagus beans, Chinese long beans). These grow so well here and look terrific in the garden with their extremely long pods.  Cook like regular green beans or stir fry.

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2. Pickling cucumbers.  I love these for slicing and eating.  We make them into cucumber salad with a little sugar and rice vinegar, toss slices into our drinking water, or make cold cucumber soup with  onion and garlic. Mine are growing on a simple and free pallet trellis.

3. Heirloom tomatoes in Pots!  This is my biggest gardening advice here in central Florida, grow your tomato plants in pots, not in your garden.  There are some things to know however.  The pots need to be big, they need to have enough calcium added(egg shells) to prevent blossom end rot and they need to be watered regularly at the same time each day or few days without getting their leaves wet.  (unless you are watering with compost tea)  There is so much I could say on this but I will end with something about germination.  Heirloom tomato seeds need light and should not be planted too deep or they will not germinate.   Just a little dusting of soil over top.

4.  Pineapples.  These are just cool.  I mean you buy a pineapple, eat it and then plant the top and wait.  Now they do like to be fertilized.  Mine are in a sunny spot in the front yard.  They are planted very close together to deter any critters from getting in the patch.  So far I have never lost one to a critter but I expect to sometime.  I pick them when they just start turning yellow and let them ripen on the counter.  When they are all yellow its time to eat them up!  A side note is that pineapple is good for our pet rabbits to reduce hair balls, so we give them a little too!

5.  Greens.  Really all kinds. Collards, Mustard, Swiss Chard, Turnips, Kale.

These grow great and you can add just a little to so many different meals.  I chop it up like an herb and add greens to soups, tomato sauces,  salads, eggs, you do not just have to serve it by itself.  Add those vitamin packed leaves to almost anything you cook. You can make stuffed Collared or Kale leaves in place of cabbage.  Or instead of Kale Chips, try Collard Chips!

Happy Planting!

Heart Healthy Loaded Peanut Butter Cookies!

Note: when I use my girls (chickens) eggs, I will use the whole egg because I know they have less cholesterol than store bought eggs...  I have one who lays me double yolk eggs.  Wouldn't want to waste that!  My girls are pets that give back!  If you want to omit the wheat germ to keep it gluten free you don't need to sub, just leave it out!


Preheat oven to 375*

1/4  teaspoon salt

1 large egg white

1cup crunchy peanut butter

1/3cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses 

 2 tablespoons ground flax

 2 tablespoons wheat germ

1/4 cup quick oats

1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Whisk the egg white with the salt till frothy.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well with a spoon.  Use a teaspoon to scoop heaping spoonfuls about 2 inches apart on baking sheet.  Use a fork to gently push down then bake ten minutes.  Watch the bottoms don't over brown!

Serve with a cold glass of Almond milk!

Meyer lemon Sea Salt

When we moved to Florida the first plant I bought was a Meyer Lemon tree.  Then I waited and watched it for about 8 years. Now it gave me a few lemons each year but I only needed one hand to count them....but then year 8 I finally got about 30 lemons.  I am sure I counted them cause I do that kinda thing but I have forgotten, but this year I counted over 80 lemons.  enough to share, to try in recipes, to garnish with....lemon happiness, but the best thing I did with them was making this finishing salt.

Sea Salt and Meyer Lemon Zest before baking

For each jar I used 1/2 cup sea salt and the zest of two Meyer lemons. Chop the zest into small strips and mix it into the salt with your fingers.  Now the kitchen smells incredible, don't drool in the salt,spread the mixture out on parchment lined baking sheets and bake at 170F for about 10 minutes.  It should feel dry and the lemon should look dehydrated.  That's it.  Find some cute jars and make a label.  I printed mine out on paper and tied a piece of twine around.  This is a great hostess gift, and friends who like to cook can put it to good use.  It is so good sprinkled on fish, chicken, roasted vegetables, I even add it to muffins.  My daughter can discern it each time I use it, "hey, you used the lemon salt!" She smiles and says.

Gift jars ready!