If you love growing beautiful medicine that also attracts the pollinators, then let me introduce you to Aronia Berry, aka Chokeberry. Actually, you may have already met Aronia Berry while walking in the woods or edges of prairies in the Midwest of America.
Officially named Aronia melanocarpa, this cold hardy North American native woody shrub is worth adding to your landscape for its adaptability, form, fall color, and, of course, its fruits!
Knowing + Growing
The Aronia Berry tends to stay around 8 feet tall (depending on variety) and is much less picky about soil as it has deeper roots than the Elderberry. They are hardy to -40F or USDA Zone 3. They also don’t have any pest issues and are disease resistant.
Let’s get you growing Joi Choi! This is the Pak Choi (aka Bak Choy) everyone can (and should) grow.
There are few veggies that bring me as much JOI in the garden and on my plate as this veggie, so I’m declaring myself a founding member of the Joi Choi Fan Club! She’s as delicious as she is beautiful!
This has consistently been one of the easiest veggies to grow. It is ready also one of the fastest maturing early spring veggies, ready to harvest within 30 days of transplanting in all but the coldest spring weather. This means I can usually get at least three successions of Joi Choi in each season in my zone 4 gardens.
It is way more heat tolerant than other Pak Choi I’ve tried. Meaning it keeps growing a lot longer, and therefore bigger before it bolts. I mean look at those Thick stalks! All that stem equals weights of close to 2 lbs. per average plant if harvested all at once. Last fall I harvested a single Joi Choi that was over 4 lbs heavy and still tender and crisp in October!
This soup is such a perfect blend of sweet corn nostalgia and winter comfort that I can get a craving for this soup just about any season… but it feels especially fitting during that ‘hungry gap’ when many of the frozen veggies are gone and we’re down to sprouting potatoes and mason jars from the pantry.
This recipe can skew simple or a little more involved depending on how you’re feeling, but on way or another, make this while it is still soup season!
My latest version included the last of a batch of ‘corn and vegetable stock’ from the summer. This simple seeming stock is rather magical in my opinion. You make it from the leftover cobs after canning the sweet corn this past summer. This just pulls all the deliciousness out of every cob of corn.
After you cut off the corn kernels off the cob, just toss cobs, and onion peelings, celery leaves, carrots (or just their peelings), garlic and a bay leaf into a pot and simmer for at least 4 hours, strain off the stock and either freeze (leaving a good inch of headroom in the jar) or pressure can with the cans of corn.
Like all my recipes, especially soups, there is a lot of leeway to use up veggies and ingredients that you have on hand. If you have zucchini but not celery, go for it- or parsnips instead of carrots- OK! Make this recipe yours, you are in control in hte kitchen!
I love a versatile soup – and this broccoli soup can be tweaked so many ways, from silky smooth puree to a hearty chunky pottage, to cheesy and creamy decadence –but it all starts with some beautiful broccoli!
Start with the Best Broccoli
Broccoli is one of our family’s favorite garden veggies to grow. So much so that my boys will even go patrol for cabbage worms, the little green guys that can ravage this plant if left to their own munching.
I also love that when we eat broccoli, we’re eating the immature flower buds! I used to tell my boys they were eating broccoli bouquets, and I like to think that helped them grow in their love for this powerhouse veggie.
I’ve had good luck growing Bellstar, Emerald Crown and Green Magic varieties of broccoli in our zone 4 gardens (all from Johnny’s Seeds).
Harvesting Tip** Soak your broccoli florets in salty water (1 TBSP in a bowl of water) for a few minutes so any creepy crawlies float to the top!
Because it is a family favorite veggie, we grow a lot of broccoli and usually have some frozen to use during the winter months. And while we love many veggies from green beans to corn simply heated and eaten as side dishes straight from the freezer, I find broccoli needs a little extra love once frozen.
Soup is the perfect spin!
In addition to the blanched and frozen broccoli from the garden, I’m also saving broccoli stems all season to use in this broccoli soup. To make the best use of them, peel the ‘skin’ from the tender part of the stems closer to the buds. Toss the woody part (further down the stem) into the compost. These add great bulk and flavor to soups. And by peeling, you’ll get rid of the most gas-inducing part of the broccoli!
My secret ingredient in so many pureed soups is a little cream cheese, it adds such a depth of flavor and pairs well with broccoli.
You can keep it really simple, and even skip the pureeing, if you like it chunky. If leaving this kind of soup chunky, make sure to not overcook the vegetables. You can also add up to half cauliflower if preferred. See, super flexible soups really are the best!
I’ve added the white beans and/or potatoes as a way to thicken this soup without adding gluten, and I like the flavor better too. Leave out the cream/cheese if you want to keep it dairy free or vegan.
Best Broccoli Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 celery ribs, chopped
1-2 Yellow/White Carrots (optional)
1 tsp thyme
1-2 cups shredded zucchini (optional but great thickener)
2-3 Yukon Gold potatoes, chopped
4-5 cups broccoli stems and florets (frozen is fine)
6 cups chicken (or Veggie) stock
½ cup white beans (optional)
1 cup milk or, ½ cup of half and half, or ¼ cup of cream cheese
Salt + pepper to taste
Olive oil to sauté
Our family’s favorite garnishes for this best broccoli soup are roasted chickpeas, pea shoots, green onion- and of course always served with toasted bread.
Directions:
Chop veggies into desired sizes, considering if you’ll be pureeing.
Sauté onions for a few minutes, then add garlic, thyme + celery.
A few minutes later add the shredded zucchini, potatoes and stock, and if you have lots of good broccoli stems, add those in now as well, simmer for 10 minutes.
Then add in broccoli florets and cook for another 5-10. Or if pureeing, add florets at same time, cooking for 10-15 minutes total.
You can puree some stock with the white beans to thicken, or add milk, half and half or cream cheese while pureeing as well.
Have fun garnishing, we love to sprinkle microgreens on top of our soups! And make sure that bread is extra toasty!
For more Very Veggie Soup Recipes, check out my RECIPE page. I’m also perfecting a “Broccoli Leaf Soup” recipe – stay tuned for that deeply flavorful and nutrient packed recipe!
This makes excellent leftovers and keeps in the fridge for a few days.
Who doesn’t love a good two for one? I’m here to show you that you can have your squash and eat the seeds too! So many of us skip over roasting pumpkin seeds and squash seeds because we’ve had a bad experience. Maybe you did it once and they were, well, stringy, chewy, like eating straw… and just not very good at all.
Well, that probably comes down to two main problems:
The wrong seed
The wrong preparation
So let’s get you back on track to using all of that pumpkin/squash/gourd! And if you’re into squash like I am, check out my Pumpkin Spice cake recipe, and my Winter Squash Lasagna recipe too!
I never met a zucchini I didn’t like. I’ll grill them, relish them, pickle them and freeze them all season long. But at least once (or twice) a summer I’ll bake up a storm with them too. And over the years I’ve tried and loved many versions of zucchini breads and desserts- but I think I’ve settled on this as my favorite. Adding some fresh whipped cream and sour cherry sauce doesn’t hurt either…
Cucurbit What? All squash and zucchini are in the Cucurbit family (along with cucumbers, melons, gourds etc.) All zucchini are squash, but not all squash are zucchini…
One of my all time favorite vegetables is the humble Beet. Sometimes Beet Recipes can get a little predictable, but I’ve got a guest chef helping us keeps beets exciting today…and sharing his Beet Risotto Recipe with us!
I think my deep love for beets may be in part because it was one of those vegetables my mother NEVER cooked. So, I got to discover it all on my own and there’s something simply endearing about that, isn’t there? Their flavor and nutritional powers are pretty good reasons to love them as well…
Variety Matters!
I also love beets because you can use the entire plant, literally roots to shoots. I admit it took me a few years to fully board the ‘beet green’ bandwagon- but I am quite comfy now not giving up my seat now!
The rest of my family grew to love beet greens as a substitute for half the greens in their salads last summer. They even preferred it to spinach as the season wore on… we’ve also been enjoying frozen beet greens this winter.
But the beetroot is still up for debate with most of them.
Everyone loves Lasagna, right!? Here’s my veggie-heavy version. And the trick is using larger (what people may think of as past their prime) Patty Pan squash.
Patty Who?
Patty Pan squash are a prolific heirloom variety that I think of something between a summer and winter squash. The firmness and dense texture of these squash make for a much closer “faux pasta” than regular summer squash! I love all kinds of squash, especially zucchini, and have a dedicated blog all about different ways to use those beauties in Zucchini a Zillion Ways.
The plants themselves are large, but not as big as some typical zucchini plants can get. I got my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, “White Scallop”.
So how does a big ole squash become pasta-ish? Welcome my trusty mandolin. I use this simple kitchen appliance to slice and shred and it makes my veggie loving life so much easier! From beet chips to slaw I use this almost everyday. A note of caution, the blades are VERY sharp. Most mandolin packages come with a ‘guide’ or shield of some sort, I suggest using that for whenever you get even a little close to the slicing blade.
VIDEO: watch a mandolin slicing patty pan in action
Of course I’m a zucchini lover, I’m a sucker for a veggie that goes overboard and can be used in both sweet and savory ways!
I’ve finally gathered together my collection of recipes and ways I use and preserve Zucchini. I know lots of us vegetable gardeners joke about ‘ding dong ditch’ with these as the season progresses… This is the notorious prolific vegetable. And many get away from me and all gardeners each year (see picture at the end if you want proof of that ;-).
There are so many ways to make use of zucchini! This is such a delicious and versatile veggie. For those of with bounty, or if you just want to savor the sweet summer flavors into winter, read on!
Zucchini Growing Tips
I both start seeds indoors and direct sow- with similar results. I get earlier harvests with the plants started earlier, or more prolific but later with the plants I direct sow. Choose what works for you! They do like lots of compost and can be planted outside a fence, as critters (at least in my area) do not nibble. This is a great news because zucchini plants take up a LOT of space, easily three square feet. A little compost and mulch when planting and you should have oodles of zoodles!
Female flower to the left left, male flower to the right.
My Switch has been flipped and my body is craving hearty soups, roasted veggies and all. the. Kale!
Kale really is the King of the late Fall garden. It is by far one
of the easiest plants to grow and it just keeps giving. Easier to grow than
many other superfoods, this stuff was made for Minnesota gardeners.
Growing Kale
Kale can happily grow with only 6 hours of sunlight, and will still produce tender leaves – making it a great option for those of us struggling with the shady side of the garden. Like most leafy things, it likes a healthy dose of Nitrogen, my best practice is to add homegrown compost to the top before planting.
There are quite a few different varieties out there and they are not all created equally.
Kale Variety Role Call
Dwarf Blue
Seed Savers Exchange Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch Kale has consistently tender leaves, and stay roughly one and half feet tall. One of my all time favorites.
Westlander
The Westlander Kale from High Mowing Organic Seeds was a show stopper this season, producing the ‘Kale Trees’ loved by vegetable gardeners.
Lacinato
I prefer any kind of curly kale to Lacinato (aka Dino) Kale about 1000 : 1. So when I am raving about kale, keep in mind I do NOT mean the stuff pictured above. I mean nothing is 100% perfect right…
Red Russian
Red Russian is a striking beauty that had a more leathery texture than the others I’ve grown, so I suggest using these in cooked form. Still very much worthy of a spot in the garden.
Scarlet
A single glorious Scarlet Kale from that OVERWINTERED (yes through last years insane polar-vortex temps) and is happily living its best life towards the back of my garden, partly shaded and loving it. I’ve now overwintered plants from the seeds of this kale.
I may have saved the best for last- this is for sure my new favorite for late season harvests and the fact that it is a true perennial in my Zone 4b Minnesota garden.
Homesteader’s Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex
Not only is this a perennial, but the variety of leaves coming from that single seed packet, from flat to curly, darkest green to purples- but all with the best kale flavor I’ve grown. This is also my go-to variety for blanching and freezing to use all winter long. The only company selling these amazing seeds is Experimental Farm Network.
Cold Hardy
Most kale varieties can easily handle temperatures down to 10F. So even up here in Minnesota we can keep these beauties growing into November. A few years back they lasted until our Christmas meal! Because of their size and ability to take the cold I have never grown these with any season extension covers or hoops.
After the first few frosts you’ll fall even more in love with this veggie. They get sweeter with each passing frost!
HARVESTING TRICK
Snap off those bottom leaves first working your way up the stalk as you go. This is a key to not being stuck with big, tough leaves! This is especially important if you want to keep enjoying all season long. You can always snap off a few leaves and freeze them rather than having to eat tough leaves a few weeks later! This will also leave you with adorable kale trees at the end of the season.
Meet the Kalettes!
Kalettes are kale’s hipster little sister. They’re a mix of kale and Brussel Sprouts. These are gorgeous to grow, with intense purple stems, and purple coloring into the base of the leaf clusters.
They take up a huge space like Brussel Sprouts, and produce a lot of fluff – but the taste is pretty awesome! I’ll grow two or three plants next year instead of six.
Cooking with Kale
We grow a LOT of kale, so here’s how we use it.
Fresh
Chopped and ‘massaged’ (when you run olive oil into the leaves to tenderize them) salads, Here’s one of my favorite chopped kale salad combos as highlighted on my website‘s recipe page.
Kale Chopped Salad Ingredients 3-4 Cups Kale, torn Drizzles of EVOO, honey, 1/2 Lemon juiced S&P A few Craisins Directions Toss into blender of choice and just barely pulse. Can add fresh berries, parmesan cheese and nuts after blending
Crispy
Kale chips are such a great way to sneak in ALL those Vitamins,
minerals and Protein! We just tear and massage in EVOO, bake on a sheet pan for
5-10 minutes at 350F. You can use whatever seasonings you feel like that day-
chili powder, cumin, onion powder, or go for an Asian taste and add in Aminos
and red pepper flakes. One note; garlic powder tends to burn for me on these.
Steamed + Sautéed
Warm Squash and Crisped Kale Salad!
Have you ever cooked up a pan of kale and red onions? If not, this needs to be one of the next things you try. I’ll add a simple mix of kale greens, onions + garlic with chick peas and roasted squash and boom you’ve got your self a perfect fall salad. This recipe is included in my Market Meals post from last winter. Add kale, onions and tomatoes to your egg scramble in the morning to boost flavors and nutrients.
Preserving Kale
Since we grow so much kale it is one of the veggies we preserve a lot of as well. I used to just wash tear and freeze, but have found that it holds both its flavor and its texture better if I steam blanche it first. Steam blanching is better for greens that regular blanching directly into the boiling water as it helps retain more of the nutrients.
I then pack the blanched kale leaves into muffin tins and freeze overnight. Then remove the ‘pucks’ which equal roughly 2 cups of fresh kale into freezer bags (important to squeeze out as much moisture before freezing). With the air removed from the bag, its also a great space saving way to store kale. We use frozen kale in recipes all winter long. Frozen kale is perfect for adding into soups and stews, you can also eat it just like steamed/creamed spinach – YUM.
If your main use of frozen kale is in smoothies, I’ll suggest you DO NOT blanche it before freezing. There is something magical about the way kale crumbles and loses some of its toughness when frozen raw. If you’ve never liked kale in smoothies, I challenge you try frozen kale and let me know!
So, are there any Kale Nay Sayers left out there? What can I do to convince you of kale’s abundant awesomeness?
So tell me, which recipes are you going to dig into first?
