Succulent Garden Vegetables for Winter Meals
Depending on your climate or hothouse access, you can enjoy fresh garden vegetables through the winter. Places with mild winters, like southern California, can grow hardy winter vegetables. Other climates will have to make do with hothouse accommodations.
The list of winter vegetables for you to harvest and enjoy is filled with plenty of favorites. Try planting your own broccoli, peas, spinach, cauliflower, cabbage or kale. Beets, onions, leeks, carrots and celery are others you can grow.
Make a simple salad with fresh beets. Roast the trimmed unpeeled beets for about an hour at 350 degrees, or until tender. Let cool slightly and peel. Slice into disks and refrigerate. When ready, mix with chopped walnuts and crumbled blue cheese. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve the kale as a savory side dish with bacon and garlic. Cook six slices of bacon in a large pan. Remove when ready and drain off all but two tablespoons of the drippings. Cook chopped shallot and garlic in the drippings, then add a bunch of kale. Make sure the kale is washed and torn into one-inch pieces. Add two cups of chicken broth, cover and cook about 10-15 minutes. Uncover and cook until the kale is tender and most of the broth is gone, about another 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with the crumbled cooked bacon to serve.
Use other vegetables in a warm coconut curry served over brown rice. Sautee chopped onion in olive oil in a large pot. Add a teaspoon of curry powder, a teaspoon of basil and salt and pepper. Try adding cumin, turmeric, paprika and chili powder to taste. Chop other vegetables like broccoli, peas, carrots, squash and potatoes into cubes. Add to the pot along with two cans of coconut milk. Allow to stew over low heat until the vegetables are tender. You can add grilled chicken to the mix, as well. Add fresh spinach and basil leaves just before removing from the heat. Serve over brown rice.
