Brussel sprouts - think of them as cute little baby cabbages

Brussel sprouts are one of the most despised vegetables of young people, but really they are just misunderstood vegetables. If we could teach young people to view them as cute little baby cabbages, perhaps more young people would learn to love them. Another approach would be to cook them in more delicious ways. I was taught as a child that brussel sprouts were filled with MAXIMUM YUCKINESS and to avoid them at all costs. As an adult, I have decided to open my heart again and give those little baby cabbages a chance.

We have been wintering over our row of brussel sprouts because they did not seem to get a chance to grow to their maximum potential before the cold evenings started. We threw a double layer of row cover over them and waited to see what would happen. When we uncovered the brussel sprout row today at the farm, we saw some sprouts had grown larger, but most of the growth had stagnated. Unfortunately, the plants did not grow 3'+ tall like the seed catalog had described and we are wondering if our row cover had limited their upward growth. After a brief taste test, we decided to harvest about 7 plants (about 50+ actual sprouts) today and leave the rest in the ground to continue our wintering over experiment.

I am excited to try a few new recipes for brussel sprouts. I found the basic onion, balsamic vinaigrette, and brussel sprout recipe. However, I am open to any other interesting brussel sprout recipes from those of you who read the blog!

Seeds, sprouts, and lots of plans!

We took a little time off from going to the farm on the weekend and started discussing our plans for the upcoming year. We have LOTS of plans for this year in our personal life - getting married, going on a honeymoon, and possibly buying a house. We were not quite sure how farming was going to fit with all of our other plans.We had to figure out if we were going to downscale or try to farm the entire quarter acre this upcoming year. With both of us still working full-time jobs, we had to get realistic about our time commitment to the farm and our other future plans.

From our discussion, I learned is that it is really difficult to entertain the possibility of downscaling our farming efforts while looking at seed catalogs. When seed companies put pictures of beautiful plants and vegetables in their catalogs, they are targeting suckers like me who dream big and want to see if they can grow it too. There are too many awesome plants to not try our hand at growing. So, we came to the conclusion that we are still planting many different varieties of leafy greens and other vegetables in the spring. We will only plant about half of the quarter-acre during the spring and then decide about how much we want to do in the summer.


Seed catalogs and seeds

We are trying exciting new plants like endives, radicchios, and dinosaur kale. Our most successful crops from last year -romaine lettuces, cabbages, and broccoli -are still on the menu as well. We ordered from three different seed companies - High Mowing, Johnny's, and Morgan County Seeds - and focused on getting only organic seed. All of the seeds arrived within a week and I couldn't wait to start experimenting and growing things as soon as possible.

 I went into our storage shed and brushed the dust off our Aerogardens and started planting a few of the seeds. It still amazes me that delicious and nutritious vegetables can be grown from such tiny seeds. I planted a few arugala, mescalin, romaine, and rainbow chard. Within three days we had beautiful sprouts!! After seemingly endless hours of the arduous tasks such as weeding, dealing with bugs, and moving heavy things around the farm toward the end of last year, I had forgotten how exciting it is to see seeds sprout.    


Aerogarden

Salad Greens sprouts




We are excited for the new experiments the spring will bring. I am continuing to store up my energy and keep my muscles ready for the weeding that I know is just around the corner. :) And for those of you who are curious, we still don't have a date or destination picked for the wedding. Damian bought a lottery ticket last week and we are both hoping it is a winner so we can have a destination wedding in Greece and invite all of our friends! (If I keep dreaming big, one of them has to come true eventually.)

Cabbage Cooking Frenzy!

What does one do when you have 12 cabbages of varying sizes and colors? The answer is - go on a cabbage cooking frenzy! Yes, we gave some to family and friends; however, we also had to try our hand at several new cabbage recipes.

We were not sure if our cabbages would continue to grow after getting a series of cold nights, but they did. Our final harvest of 2011, brought us to have an overabundance of cabbages. We decided to clear out the cabbage rows and harvest all of them, small and large, because the deer had started to poke their heads through our row cover and nibble on a few cabbages. Apparently, the winter makes the deer extra desperate for food; therefore, they eat vegetables they normally would not care about - like our cabbages.

I was excited to try new cabbage recipes beyond the Galumpki, or meat stuffed cabbage roll, recipe we have enjoyed several times last year. I am not a fan of sauerkraut, so I wanted to try recipes beyond the traditional German fare. Damian made and canned Spicy Chow Chow - which is a cabbage based relish popular in the south. I found my three other fabulous new cabbage recipes that I thought I would share - cabbage borsch, sweet and sour cabbage, and kimchi.

Cabbage borsch was a wonderful winter soup that has three distinct flavors - sausage, lemony cabbage, and tomatoes. Sweet and sour cabbage is a wonderful alternative and taste is 1 million times better than any canned sauerkraut from the store. Lastly, the kimchi is a spicy Korean cabbage side dish. After making the recipe, I realize that I may need to decrease the chili powder amount in the next batch because it packs a powerful chili powder punch to the tongue. Be ready if you try it! :) I have included pictures and recipes below!

Cabbage Borsch

Sweet and sour cabbage

Kimchi

Cabbage Borsch

• 52 oz. of diced tomatoes
• 8 cups coarsely shredded cabbage
• 6 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1 package of turkey smoked sausage
• 2 cups chopped onions
• 1 cup chopped apple
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

1.       Saute onions, apples, and smoked sausage for 5-7 minutes.

2.       Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.

3.       Reduce heat and simmer for 30-45 minutes

Sweet & Sour Cabbage

·         2 tbls butter or oil

·         3/4 cup chopped onions

·         6 cups thinly sliced red cabbage

·         1 Granny Smith or other tart apple, diced

·         3/4 cup apple juice or cider

·         1/2 tsp salt

·         Black pepper to taste

·         1 tsp dried dill

·         1 tsp whole fennel seeds

·         1/4 cup raisins (optional)

·         1 tsp caraway seeds

·         3 tbls cider vinegar

·         1 tbls honey

Directions:

1.      Saute onions in oil or butter until lightly browned.

2.      Add cabbage and continue to saute for 5-10 minutes.

3.      Add rest of ingredients except honey.

4.      Cook on low heat, covered, for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cabbage will be greatly reduced in volume. Cabbage and onions become sweeter the longer they simmer, so taste first, then add the honey and more vinegar if needed

Kimchi

·         1 large head Napa cabbage, cut into 2-inch pieces

·         5 tsp. kosher salt

·         ½ cup of Korean chili powder (may substitute American chili powder in smaller quantities)

·         1/3 cup of sugar

·         ¼ cup of fish sauce

·         ¼ cup of low sodium soy sauce

·         20 medium garlic cloves

·         6 tsp. of ginger

·         1 tbs. of canned mini shrimp

·         2 bunches of scallions, julienned

·         1 large leek, julienned

·         1 medium carrot, julienned

Directions:

1.      In a large bowl, toss salt and cabbage together. Refrigerate overnight. Drain water. Squeeze cabbage. Transfer cabbage to a new bowl and combine with scallions, leeks and carrots.

2.      Puree remaining ingredients in food processor and mix with cabbage and vegetables.

3.      Wait for 4 days up to 2 weeks to eat.