Myrna and I were raised by avid gardeners; folks who were
Victory gardeners during wars and depression.
Every house wife we knew had a garden; often the whole family gardened;
as well as assisting in preserving every last thing they harvested. We certainly did.
Our parents, grandparents, in-laws and everyone else we knew
put a lot of importance on getting every last benefit from their gardens and
orchards. Every housewife filled out her
meals with a bounty of well-prepared vegetable dishes, and every kid ate them…sometimes
there wasn’t a lot else.
Today, in places where people gather to dine I often see no
vegetables on dinner plates, except, perhaps, French fries. We think that for economy, health, weight
control, and just plain food enjoyment, vegetables should be on the table every
day. They don’t have to be expensive and
exotic, tomatoes, carrots and green beans are healthy too! Many older cookbooks have very sophisticated
recipes to use common garden vegetables – we especially like older Farm Journal
Cookbooks for their vegetable recipes.
This year, on Wednesdays, we plan to present a series on
vegetables; both preserving methods and examples of a variety of good recipes
to use up all that you grow or purchase.
If you prepare a variety of vegetable dishes, you can use up every bit
of your fresh vegetables and no one will mind eating the same ones a couple
time in the same week.
We hope you will follow along with us, and learn to love what comes from the garden.
I look forward to your new series! Happy New Year:@)
ReplyDeleteThanks Lynn, Happy New Years to you also.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and daughter are both vegetable eaters
me not so much, but I do try.
A very good topic to zero in on. We both love just about any vegetable (well, maybe except squash for my husband, but he will eat it!) and manage to grow most of them in our garden. I'm always amazed (and feel bad for the lack of nutrition) when I hear of children, and even adults, who simply don't/won't eat vegetables. Maybe that's because of the way they are obtained (not fresh), preserved or prepared for the table. If your new series gets just a few to start to eat and enjoy vegetables, it will be worth it! I know I look forward to gleaning some new recipes from you two talented ladies!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear this! I'm wanting to eat a vegetarian dinner at least twice a week, a main course option to enjoy instead of a meat based meal. Hooray for 2016!
ReplyDeleteI haven't figured out how you get things to grow up North.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived on Lake Superior I gave up gardening as
everything froze before I got it harvested. Hope we
will have at least one or two recipes you can use.
Looking forward to the Wednesday series! I love vegetable and fruits and am always on the lookout for new ways to prepare them. I didn't grow up gardening but appreciate all the fresh goodness that comes from a garden.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. I have a big garden and preserve everything I can, either by freezing or canning. But I find that I run out of ideas to serve them and my meals get a bit boring. So I'm looking forward to your new series.
ReplyDeleteWell, we'll have some new ideas, some oldies that we love...a variety, we hope.
DeleteGood! I was also raised on vegetables and fruits, I'm always looking for inspiration
ReplyDeleteHappy to hear about your new topic! I have just been hired as a Coordinator of a local Farmers Market. I think being able to suggest recipes to customers might get them to try a vegetable that they never ate before. Will await your posts!
ReplyDeleteYou might want to sell a few good vegetable cookbooks at your farmer's market. We like the Practical Produce Cook Book
Deletewritten especially for Farmer's Market customers!
I have one grand daughter that will eat just about anything except green beans. Asparagus, carrots, every dry bean under the sun, corn, onions, garlic, cabbage. NO GREEN BEANS, lol! My other grandchildren, whose mom and dad don't like vegies, eat potatoes, corn, and 'grandma's' green beans. They won't touch sweet potatoes, green peas, cauliflower, NADA. I think if they are never exposed to them, they will never eat them. I do have to say that my daughter has the weirdest allergy I've ever heard of. She reacts to the fiber found in most vegetables. She blows up like a balloon, and hurts like she has arthritis or rheumatism. So far none of the doctors she has been sent to has found, if not a cure, at least some way to counteract her symptoms. She just never learned to prepare vegies. The kids will eat salads, raw vegies like carrots & broccoli, but they turn away from cooked ones. I'm an awful grandma, I slip spinach in smoothies, baby food carrots, beets and other vegies in spaghetti sauce & meatloaf. Finely minced squash in muffins and brownies. I'm old school, what they don't know won't hurt them, and they never complain of odd flavors in my cooking. Hey green tomato cake and pies, mixed with a few sweeter apples. God bless them, and God bless me, because I don't know what else to do to get that much needed nutrition into them.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever works to get them to eat some vegies. We eat green tomato pie because we like it.
ReplyDeleteI joined a CSA this year for the first time, my dau's comment? "Maybe we'll learn to eat something new." At least she's willing to try.
ReplyDeleteGood for her, we should all be at least willing to try. Let us know how the CSA works for you. I have been thinking about trying one myself.
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