Category Archives: garden

Cote adventures in gardening

Feeling Good and The Pantry is Filling Up

We have been working like kitchen slaves for the last couple of weeks.  Here is a shot of a small portion of our pantry. There are very few things in this world that make me happier than looking at this. Lots of work, but we have food for winter and beyond.

S6301017

Those shelves are 3 jars deep and we have 6 cases of 12 bottles each still in the garage. There are two kinds of salsa (medium and hot), 2 kinds of broth (from the salsa (medium and hot), pepper relish and applesauce. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on October 17, 2012
Posted in Cote Home Grown Fare, garden, kitchen basics, salsa, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Banzo Salad Sandwich Filling

Well, I ended up with a whole lot of Nutonnaise that I needed to find a way to use. In the “olden” days I would have made egg salad sandwiches. . . but when you don’t eat eggs, then what?

I looked around on the internet and through my cookbooks. I kept running across “vegan tuna salad.” Every time I saw it I wrinkled my nose. The smell of tuna makes my stomach roll, so the idea was a lot less than appealing. I didn’t think it was a great alternative. Besides, since I have never tasted tuna, I would have no basis for evaluating if it really tastes anything like tuna. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on October 15, 2012
Posted in Beans, fresh veggies, garden, snacks, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Hard to Believe

We went to WalMart today to get more canning jars. The first thing we saw was a beautiful pumpkin display. Halloween is the next holiday, after all. As we walked further we came upon THE most disgusting sight ever: Christmas Trees for sale! It’s October, for goodness sake!

Planning to make a hasty retreat we grabbed the jars, put them in the cart and headed for the door. Great intentions. But then we took a little detour. An expensive, little detour I might add. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on October 4, 2012
Posted in Cote Home Grown Fare, garden | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Adventures in Preservation

farmers marketOver the weekend we had an adventure in preserving food. Early Saturday morning we made a trip to Farmer’s Market to pick up our 50 pounds of tomatoes ($30), 25 pounds of apples ($15), an assortment of peppers ($9) and onions ($10). A lot of food for $64.00.

We got home around 8 am; surveyed the boxes and decided the only sensible thing to do was go crawl back in bed a take a nap. We had both been up since 4:00 am.

An hour later we stood in front of the boxes again. This time there was no putting it off. David began cleaning the tomatoes. I put on gloves and began deseeding peppers. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on October 1, 2012
Posted in additive-free food, fruit, garden, tomatoes, vegan, vegetarian | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pumpkins, Cabbage and Tomatoes

S6300911No this is not a recipe! It is an homage to our Garden and to the change of season.

It really is fall. The days are shorter and cooler and the light has changed. We expect the first frost sometime between the middle of October to the middle of November. Between now and then it is about harvesting and preserving. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on September 27, 2012
Posted in fresh veggies, fruit, garden, soup, tomatoes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

HollyGrove Market and Farm — New Orleans

HOLLYGROVE

An urban farm, community garden, hen house and CSA market right in the middle of New Orleans.

One of my very favorite spots in New Orleans is the Hollygrove Market and Farm. It is the first place I ever saw CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in action. Today, we took a field trip over to the market and to take a look at the farm after the big storm. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on September 11, 2012
Posted in environment, fresh veggies, garden | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

August Garden Update

S6300838It’s still raining here in Northern Arizona. I’m really not complaining! I mention it because the rain has slowed down tomato and pepper ripening and growth of things like cucumbers and squash.  On the other hand, everything is green, green, green! This is the view from my kitchen window. The garden shown is our “front kitchen garden.” (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on August 23, 2012
Posted in Cote Home Grown Fare, garden, tomatoes | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

With the Adjust-A-Slice Mandoline We Made Dill Pickles in Minutes!

I’m a kitchen gadget junkie. I long ago banned myself from Bed Bath and Beyond, Sonoma-Williams and Sur La Table.  It is amazing how I walk into one of those places and suddenly I can’t live without some gadget I didn’t even know existed a minute ago.

I have a whole drawer of irresistible (and expensive) gadgets that I never use. Your basic waste of time and money.  They sound good, but are hard to figure out and a nightmare to clean. BUT, every now and then, I stumble across some little, cheap gadget that makes life a whole lot easier. My latest find is the Adjust-A-Slice Mandoline.  Picked it up at TruValue for the vast sum of $17.00. (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on August 7, 2012
Posted in Cote Home Grown Fare, fresh veggies, garden, kitchen basics, snacks | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hard to Beet — The Greens!

beet and greenOne of my most favorite comfort foods is beets.  As a teen, chronically worried about my weight, one of my favorite snacks were beets.  I’d lay out slices of hot beet on a plate, spread a tiny bit of butter on each slice and then salt the whole plate.  Not a lot of calories, but lots of flavor. Just ignore that part about butter and salt; what can I say. . . I was young! (more…)

by Genene Cote Posted on July 29, 2012
Posted in beets, Cote Home Grown Fare, fresh veggies, garden, plant based diet, salad | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment