The Garden Shedde

Today is a dark cold day in January when it’s hard to stay warm. Soup will taste good for the evening meal. I decided to make some ham and white bean soup. Some people call it Senate Bean Soup. I think it must be real American food. I went about the task of peeling onions. Onion in English, the Spanish word for onion is cebolla. It was just a plain, ordinary yellow cooking onion. When I peeled it, that onion was purple! That sent my mind thinking.

How long have people been eating onions? Where did they come from? Well it turns out, we have been eating onions since 3500BC and onions grow wild all over ever continent. (I have eaten wild onions as a college student and willed them dead, as grounds maintenance professional.) Jewels to one are weeds to another.

The beauty of the onion is that it does not spoil in winter. It transports well and moved all over the world with humans. Onions went from Egypt to Greece, Italy, even to the New World with the Pilgrims. Onions mean that much to people. At the heart of all full- bodied recipes is the onion. They are bound to humans by flavor, texture, and tears. The dinner table would be a bland place without them.

Nobody who eats bacon really wants to know that we are much more like pigs than we might want to think. If you have ever listened to scientists you would notice how many tests are done on pig’s right before human testing. The reason is because our systems are a lot like there’s. If you have to get a valve replacement or bladder one of your choices are pig’s valves and bladders as they can be assimilated with our systems pretty easily.

If it makes you a little bit uneasy that one of your favorite foods comes from an animal that may also save your life one day, it’s totally understandable. Pigs are more than a food source, but they are a food source and as long as they are treated with grace and dignity it’s okay that they are food. However, we also need to realize that pigs are also really very smart and are self-aware just like monkeys, dolphins and elephants. Maybe if they painted pictures and were in zoos they would get a little bit more respect. Until that time comes, just remember the next time you order a pork chop to honor the pig that gave its life for you.

The first time I was asked about using a mandoline I was so confused. As a lover of Bluegrass music I was thinking about the mandolin that is played with the guitars and upright bass with a bluegrass band. I was surprised when the lady pulled out a portable slicer and unfolded it in front of me and proceeded to slice almost every type of vegetable and fruit known to man and I was impressed. It wasn’t long until I went out and bought one and now I am hooked.

Using a mandoline is much easier than hand slicing and just as easy as using anything else on the market. Most of them come with a few different slicing attachments for wedge cuts and crinkle cuts for potatoes and raw cucumbers or zucchini. You will now be able to spend most of your time actually cooking and not slicing. I love this because I like to cook but I do not like to prep or clean. I am open to any short cut or time saver that I can get in the kitchen and the mandoline has been one of the best I have ever used.

Several years ago I owned a house that went through a tornado and damaged a lot of the house. One of the major repairs had to be done to the kitchen. Once we got everything that had to be done, we looked at the space and decided we could use a pot rack and my friend and roommate almost croaked when I told him I could build one out of aluminum. His statement was something like this; “right.”

I had worked in a company that made security cages out of aluminum and one of the things we did was built the jigs to create the right bends in the material. So I measured the space and designed the pot rack on paper, built the jigs, drilled the desired holes where I wanted them, took a round file and cleaned the holes up and made them smooth before I bent the aluminum strip to form the design I had decided on. I joined the two ends together with a couple of simple small bolts, nuts and washers. I hung the rack from the ceiling with nice chain and the pots and pans with s-hooks. What I built for less than $50.00 was going for $350 or more at cooking stores. Simple, easy and done.

My wife and I love coffee as do many people we know and love. However, coffee doesn’t always love them. In fact we have several friends who have such a reaction to coffee, i.e. caffeine that a cup in the morning will keep them up late into the night. I have the exact opposite reaction to coffee, I drink it in the morning and could go right back to sleep as well as drink it late at night; sleep like a baby.

You might think I am just used to a lot of caffeine from colas or tea everyday but outside of coffee, all I drink is water. Now my wife can drink coffee in the morning okay but she cannot drink it in the evening or she will be up all night. Yet her knowing this does not stop her from time to time when she is in the mood for a cup of java. Even the decaffeinated coffees have enough caffeine in them that she will be awake. I find that crazy but people will do some crazy things all for the love of coffee!

Almost everyone knows the value of Extra Virgin Olive Oil when it comes to your health; is low in ‘bad’ saturated fats, and is high in the antioxidants and polyunsaturated fatty acids that our bodies need.  What you may not know is while Extra Virgin Olive Oil is wonderful when used for things such as salad dressings and toppings that are not heated beyond its smoke point; it’s not the best oil for cooking and sautéing.  Fortunately, there is a great healthy oil that fits this need so you can continue to cook those things you love.  It is grapeseed oil.

Grapeseed oil is a very heart healthy oil in that it has a higher concentration of antioxidants, omega-6 fatty acids, and vitamin E as well as lower levels of saturated fat, and has even been known to raise HDL and lower LDL cholesterol levels!  When cooking with this oil you will note that it has a higher smoke point so you can cook away!  The taste is a little bit different but that’s not to say that it is not good.  Most people describe the taste as “nutty and mild”.  You can also use grapeseed oil for salad dressings as well.  Stock up and enjoy!

If you have ever watched someone eat food made with fresh ingredients for the first time you would know how special it is to cook with these ingredients. I realize recently that I have always taken the way I was taught to cook for granted by watching a young man who had been brought up on canned and/or fast foods sit and eat a freshly cooked meal with ingredients right out of an organic garden, accompanied by a simple salad made with freshly picked lettuces and assorted greens.  This young man savored every bite as if he had just tasted heaven.

Here is someone that has lived in the US all of his life and is just now tasting real food for the first time and all I could think of is what a shame it has taken us so long to realize the value in providing good fresh foods to everyone in our country. Maybe now that our first lady has made a commitment to an organic garden on the White House lawn we will have others follow her lead and start community gardens all over America in and out of urban areas to bring really good foods to the tables of all who want it.  Now that is a dream!

Gardening enthusiasts are always keen to try out new things. However, the novice gardener usually starts with a few flowering or ornamental plants and after getting some success, shifts to other areas like vegetable or herb gardening. You will find growing vegetables and herbs in your garden or raised beds and pots will give you a great deal of pleasure.

There is a variety of herbs you can grow in planters and raised beds.  This allows you to grow your own even if pressed for space.  Some of the best herbs that are sometimes better contained in planters, window boxes or raised beds are mint, coriander and rosemary.  The herbs will thrive and easily satisfy the requirements of the gardener and/or the cook!  You will get so much satisfaction cooking with and eating something you have produced. 

Planters can be fun as well as easy to manage because you can move them wherever there is adequate light and mix and match as you please.  Because planters and raised beds are movable and flexible enough to experiment with and to plant many different varieties of plants, herbs and vegetables, they are a must for any serious gardener and great for the beginner.