Savory Sunday - 9 June 2013

I've decided I'm going to try and do a weekly "Savory Sunday" post each Sunday, where I post what we were able to use from the garden for our Sunday dinner and/or highlight any other meals that were unique or noteworthy from the prior week.

With that said, here is the first of my Savory Sunday series...

Today's harvest featured bok choy and broccoli. I like to recruit one of my kids to come out and help with the harvest whenever they're available because it's a good bonding moment and because I, like many parents, feel it is good for my kids to see how and where good healthy food is produced. Today my three year old took up the basket-holding duties.

Little helper

Bok Choy & Broccoli Harvest

Not ever having cooked with Bok Choy before, I consulted with the Internet for some recipes as I so often do when looking for a way to incorporate something from the garden in a meal. I found two recipes that stood out to me:  Sautéed Broccoli & Bok Choy and Bok Choy, Apple, & Carrot Slaw.  The former was great because it allowed me to use the broccoli as well, and the latter, I wanted to do just because we happened to have everything else needed for that already on hand. 

My wife made some fresh rolls (in addition to a loaf of bread) and cooked up a pot of rice to put the Bok Choy & Broccoli over which rounded out the meal. In the picture below, the slaw is in the upper right and the sautéed veggies are over the rice at the bottom of the plate.

Dinner is Served

The Broccoli and Bok Choy over rice was delicious.  I thought the slaw was also very flavorful and enjoyed it myself but my wife and kids thought it to be too tart & sour, probably a result of it having quite a splattering of lemon juice tossed with it.

Some other meals we enjoyed this week with something from the garden was a grilled chicken salad and a chicken-arugula-radish pizza.  The salad featured Mesclun mix lettuce and spinach from the garden.  Also added to it besides the chicken was some cucumber, tomato, grated cheese & dried cranberries.  For the pizza, we pulled some radishes and a couple of arugula plants from the garden to complete the recipe.

Grilled Chicken Salad

Chicken, Radish & Arugula Pizza

For those of you who have gardens or other ways of growing some of your own food, I hope these posts can deliver some more great ways you can enjoy your bounty and for those of you who don't or lack the resources to do so, my hope is that these posts will inspire you to work toward obtaining the resources to be able to grow some of your own food, even if it is only some culinary herbs in a windowsill.  Your taste-buds will thank you!