I washed the leeks and caramelized them in EVOO with some organic cane sugar and a little balsamic vinegar. I was shocked that after so much had gone into growing them from seed, etc., I only had a half jar of leek jam.
They are a precious commodity now ... you can almost see them if you squint at this blurry shot of them (see brown in a little bowl in amidst the salami w three french cheeses I picked up at La Fromagerie on Friday). I think I'll just go to the farmers market next year (or maybe plant closer together). How can I give up growing my own leeks? I'll see.
I wiped the kale off and checked every crook & crany for bugs (found a few little guys), ripped it up, threw it into a big bowl and tossed it with EVOO, cayenne pepper flakes, salt and a little sugar (I have since gotten some organic garlic powder which I'm going to toss a few in and try) and ripped it up and put it into the dehydrator ... the chips were done within a few hours. Again, a whole lot of shrinkage!
Back to being lazy ... David gave me a big bag of rose hips and I kept meaning to get to them. They remained underfoot in my kitchen as a reminder of my recalcitrance until now - not that I didn't almost do 'something' with them a few times, but truth ... I wasn't sure what to do ... and 'other', nongarden-related ... (blah blah) ... so today I googled and found what I could do now (that they were shriveled up little knobs of maroon) phew.
All I needed to do was separate them from their thorny stems (as task probably best done wearing gloves) and then I used my kitchen scissors and cut off the furry bits and stems, threw them into the blender and sifted them so the powdery bits and fur fell through.
And voila - now I have a jar of hips for winter tea! And I saved a few seeds from the blades and will google to see if I might be able to try growing roses from seed! There is something about cold stratification I need to look into before they are planted! I have access to a neighbourhood greenhouse so I might want to do this sooner rather than later - stalling on finding out more abut this might just be someplace where laziness might not be smart!
... 'cold stratification' ...
