So. Much. BROCCOLI.

That ain't no cereal bowl!

Insane broccoli production! It just keeps growing! And growing! AND GROWING. I started with 12 little plants, and ended up pulling out a couple that struggled. So, with 9 or 10 broccoli plants I have had a constant harvest of fresh broccoli, daily, for over two months. I have a huge bowl full of fresh broccoli in the kitchen. I have a freezer packed full of plastic bags of chopped frozen broccoli. And I have given away at least 3 or 4 grocery-store-sized servings of broccoli to friends. I even game some to an enemy! Well, frienemy I guess. 

I used a variety called pacman broccoli from Bonnie Plants that I got at Home Depot. It has far surpassed my expectations and grown more successfully and productively than anything I've ever grown (and I've grown a plant or two in my life).

First it grows one giant head of broccoli. You cut it, and two more heads grow from the original stem. Cut those, and then you get four next time! Then eight! Ahhhhh more broccoli! 

WHAT TO MAKE?!?

Last night Cait made some chilli pepper oil ginger chicken and black bean dish, and we added broccoli florets at the end. It fit in perfectly. Earlier in the summer I grilled a lot of the broccoli. Recently I've frozen some of it and given a lot away. I want to make something like Adrienne made with the harvest I gave JJ. She made a creamy chicken and bowtie pasta with broccoli florets, which looked fabulous on Facebook. Someone suggested roasting at some point, which I need to try. Any other ideas?

Aje's chicken alfredo!

Cait's chili pepper chicken!

Cucumber Salad

Last week I harvested several things from Tricia's Garden (Thief!). I've had these cucumbers sitting here for a couple days and didn't know what to make. So I figured I would give a cucumber salad a try. I've never eaten a cucumber salad, let alone made one, but all the recipes looked pretty simple. The basic ingredients seem to include chopped cucumber, some sort of vinegar, sugar, and various spices. So I came up with the following.

• 2 garden fresh cucumbers
• 1/4 Cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 teaspoons organic white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• garden fresh cilantro

1. Cut the cucumbers lengthwise and scoop out the seeds, then slice thin. 
2. Mix the other ingredients in a bowl.
3. Add the chopped cucumbers and mix thoroughly.
4. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

remove seeds and chop cucumber

mix vinegar, sugar, salt, cilantro in a bowl

add chopped cuke and mix with other ingredients

let sit in fridge for a at least an hour

I haven't actually eaten mine yet. I just made it and stuck it in the fridge, so we'll see....