Growing Our Own: Enough Calories for a Year: Kale and Cabbages and Planting

The weather has been very warm with and high of 82 degrees. However, the last frost date is not for another 3 weeks and so you cannot put the tender plants out yet. This heat has has lead to a lot of the kale and other cruciforms are all bolting and going to seeds this has added a lot to our total. It has also meant that we have shared kale and collards with friends and neighbors.

I have made soup for our Friday Soup(er) Learning Lunch for work and used a lot of the kale in that and the Farmer Wife's recorded the recipe for me so that I can share it with all the readers.

This is what a pound of kale looks like and going into the soup.

The recipe

    St. Patraick's Day Soup

Chop Up:
    1 whole bunch of celery
    1 small onion
    3 carrots
    1/2 green pepper
     2 cloves garlic
    1 lb. Andouille sausage
Mince:
    1 T. fresh thyme
    1 T. fresh marjoram (Greek oregano)
    1 T. sage

In an Extra Large soup pot, add 3 T. olive Oil and all the above ingredients.
    DO NOT Add any Liquids Yet!
Cook on medium/low heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally to 'render' and
"carmalize" the contents.

Then add 2 bay leaves and 3 boxes of 32 oz Chicken Broth. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, Chop up:
    3 lbs of red potatoes, washed, not peeled
    1 lb of cury Kale (remove thick stems) (substitute?- bok choy)
    1 lb frozen green peas (whap bag on counter to break up)

After stock pot is boiling, add potatoes and peas. Cover and Cook 10 minutes.

Now add kale (It will look like too much kale).
Cover and Cook on medium heat another 10 minutes until potatoes are done
and kale is wilted down.   Remove bay leaves if you can find them.
Taste. It will be plenty salty, but add freshly ground pepper to taste.

Chef Suburban Farmer

We are starting a lot of the squash and other plants today in pot that the New Farmer and the Farmer's Daughter had prepared. In three weeks it will be time to transplant these into the garden.

This is how some of the cabbages have started to look as the go to seed. I think that the leaves will still taste good so we will try to cook those that are spread and the others can be used for coleslaw.