Garden Goodness: The 2013 Garden has started!

The 2013 Goel Garden is looking good this month.  So far we are harvesting lots of turnips, sweet potaotes, kolrabi, and lettuce.  We also have some english peas, snap peas and grape tomatoes.  This year I want to help Vineet more with improving the soil quality.  He likes to take shortcuts, like using Miracle-Gro fertilizers which basically deplete the nutrients from the soil, even though the nitrogen helps the plants to grow bigger faster.   

 

 

So this month he laid down Black Cow Manure and our garden compost and I plan to do a PH test on the soil to see what's happening in some of the beds that are not producing much.

 

This year the kids will also have their own separate garden where they can choose what they want to grow. 

 

Here are some photos of what's growing...

 

 

Cauliflower! 

 Turnips!

 

 

 Kolrabi!

 

 

 Baby Romaine!

Asian Squash "Tori"

Pumpkin Hummus

We have a few cans of pumpkin left over from the holidays and since I'm always looking for ways to change up the flavor of hummus I thought I'd give the pumpkin try. 

It's so tasty and a super easy way to increase the nutrition in your hummus.  It really doesn't taste very pumpkiny, it has a wonderfully mellow taste.   I modified the recipe from Dreena Burton's Plant Powered Kitchen, but I think I will make it with the white beans next time.  It was a little on the lumpy side, though it could be because the blade on my food processor is getting dull.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Organic pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix!)
1/8 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 medium-large clove garlic (adjust to taste, use smaller clove for kid-friendly)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 – 2 tbsp tahini (to taste)
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp (rounded) ground allspice
1/4 tsp maple syrup
1/ cup toasted pumpkin seeds (see note for toasting; reserve about 2-3 tbsp for garnish)

In a food processor add all ingredients except pumpkin seeds (and starting with 1 tbsp tahini). Puree until very smooth. Taste, and if you’d like to add addditional garlic or spices, add a little (and if you’d like a richer tahini flavor, add the other tablespoon of Tahini). Then, add most of the pumpkin seeds (reserving a couple of tbsps), and pulse through. Transfer mixture to a serving dish, and top with remaining pumpkin seeds. Serve with whole-grain pita breads, tortilla chips, warm whole-grain bread, etc.