I lazed around this morning. Reading blogs, drinking coffee, messing around with iTunes. It’s a gorgeous day so I finally got out for a long walk. When I returned I started cleaning up the garden and realized I had been up for five hours and had nothing on my stomach. Kale smoothie time!
As I was cutting the kale I decided to take a few photos to provide you an update on the garden — my first garden ever, you may recall.
- Patience is a virtue! Finally, my Japanese eggplant emerged!
- Jalapeno peppers! I ate one a few weeks ago and now I have three growing large and in charge and many new buds are popping.
- Cherry tomatoes, the plant that keeps on giving. Even though poor Charlie, the tomato plant, was battered by a vicious hail storm last month and lost lots of tomatoes, tons of new green babies are growing and many are turning, nearly ready to go in my belly.
- Confession: dill and cilantro? Huge fail. Bolted and gone. But my sweet basil globe, parsley and thyme are thriving.
- HELP! These are leeks, not weeds (really). Any advice? Do leeks grow later or are these a fail?
Back to that kale smoothie.
Mmm Mmm.
What’s growing in your garden these days?
14 thoughts on “Kale Smoothie and a Garden Update”
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Looks good Jerri, I have never used Kale. I almost bought some the other day. Although, I made a smoothie yesterday and add spinach, it was good. What does flax seed do for you? Sorry about my ignorance.
Hey sis. Always surprised when you read my blog! (xo) Buy the kale, you will love it! I can email you ways to eat it raw (massaging it in salt and oil) or just saute it with olive oil, onion and garlic. YUM. I love, love, love that you made a green smoothie! Shocking that you can’t taste the spinach, right?
Re: flaxseed. Some believe it may help reduce risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes and can lower cholesterol. It can also, err, make you “regular” Oh, and there’s also some evidence that it is helpful to women’s health (hello, perimenopause), as well as bone health and it’s an anti-inflammatory. It’s your basic superfood.
It’s generally recommended to eat flaxseed ground (not whole) because it’s easier to digest. Which is why I toss whole flaxseed in the blender when making smoothies.
Too much info? LOL
JL, great idea of throwing a peach in with a green smoothie! I have a lot of sweet, fresh peaches around from CSA basket that I have baked with and enjoy raw but never thought about how one would add great sweetness to a green smoothie. Thanks!
Thanks, Jared! As with most things in this kitchen, it just sort of happens. I squeezed the peaches, soft and realized they were in the now or never place on the eating scale. So I tossed one in!
Sadly, the only thing that I can answer is “weeds”. I moved in late July, and honestly, it doesn’t seem worth it to even worry about the garden right now! I’ll focus on getting my boxes unpacked, and work on a garden next year. Yours is looking lush and lovely!
I hear you (though have you considered fall veggies???).
black thumb strikes again. I had high hopes…but my container gardens all died!
Oh no! It was certainly a hot summer and if you couple that with travel – it makes it hard to tend to the garden. We were gone a lot but between lots of rain and a friendly neighbor who watered the garden, it’s worked out okay.
Your garden looks wonderful. I’ve had some “fails” too: lettuce, namely. Snow peas were a giant success. I tried an upside down tomato planter and I’ve now got 12 small tomatoes growing. Looks like this will be a September item. Beans are really late too, and the carrots. Still crossing my fingers on the beets. Learning lots this first go around.
I had a hard time with lettuce. it was delicious but I didn’t harvest it quickly enough. Bolted and died 🙁 I might try to plant some more for fall enjoyment. Snow peas? What a great idea! I need to try those next year! And I love hearing success with that upside down tomato planter–I saw one in a store a few months ago and was intrigued. Hasn’t this first summer of gardening been fun? I can’t wait to do it again next year! 🙂
This smoothie looks awesome! I’ve juiced kale but never had it in a smoothie. This is a definite must-try! As for your garden, I’m so envious that you’ve got fabulous goods growing!!! Keep up the good work 🙂
Hi Chef Doc! After drinking so many spinach smoothies I find kale such a nice change! It’s certainly more “earthy” but equally delicious.
your leeks look a little small, but certainly not a fail. I’m sure they’ll taste just fine even if they’re not big.
They didn’t grow 🙁 I may have planted too early. Might try again next year!