Strawberry, Avocado, Spinach salad

This dish is already off the season. We were way too busy last month to make the post. And when the strawberries were ready in our yard, we were actually away on a trip. So we didn't enjoy most of them either.
But this is a very tasty salad. We got some early strawberries from the farmer's market, and the spinach from our garden. They are so good together that David keeps asking for more. And it is really easy to make.

Strawberry, Avocado, Spinach Salad

A bunch of garden fresh spinach
A handful of sweet strawberries
One avocado

1 tbsp Champagne vinegar
3 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 tsp Salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Cut everything in bit size. Mix them in a big bowl. Only cut the avocado right before you mix in the vinaigrette.
2. Mix together the vinaigrette. Here the salt is essential. The vinaigrette should taste over salty. The saltiness will bring out the sweetness of strawberries.

Greeting!!

Hello, everyone.
Welcome to "From Garden to Kitchen"!

I set up this blog to share our experience on gardening and cooking.

I am so used to have some friend call/e-mail/message any time of the day to ask me for the recipe for a particular food/ingredient/occasion. I figure, it might be easier if I keep them all in one place. So David and I can post what we have been cooking lately, and what people have been asking about.

For gardening, I just want to keep all the friends and family updated on what is growing and what is ready to eat in our garden. And maybe also share a few tips we discovered from trial and error.

Right now, in late June, everything in the garden is doing well. The production in the garden is so good that we can't keep up with the production from the vegetable patch. We only cook from the garden now, and we have way to much of stuff so there is no way we can ever finish it all.

This blog is for anyone, who we know or don't know. Feel free to send in a request or question by replying to any post. (I don't know if there is any way for people to leave a message on the blog. If you know how to do it, please let me know.) I can't promise that I will be able to reply in any timely fashion. But we will try our best.

So there you go. Enjoy the blog.

Beet and potato salad

The beets and radish are ready in our garden. We have been eating them since we got back from our trip over a week ago.
Monday night, we decide to invite Stefania and Eric over for dinner right before dinner time. So I have to come up with something to cook from the garden in a short time.
I convinced David to dig out the potato plants which are showing signs of drying. Those are the red potatoes. They are one of the easiest to grow. Our first one was the one potato that started germinating in the cupboard, and we decided to put it into the ground and forgot about it. Then one day, I noticed there were some potatoes showing under the soil. That was our first harvest.This year, we planted all the potatoes that were growing in the cupboard, plus a few different color ones I got from the store. Now we have two rows of potatoes growing at the end of the garden. I am pretty sure, David would say that's way too many of them. But any how, fresh potato tastes good. I think there would be people interested in getting them from us.
So what did I cook for Stefania and Eric? I made a beet/potato salad, boiled some snow pea, stir fry beet leaves with onion and mushroom, and oriental chive omelet. Eric asked what was not from the garden. Well, we don't have chicken (although we want to have them very much), so we have to get the eggs. And we don't have mushroom. (Although I have been thinking to figure out some way to get a shitake mushroom tray/box, whatever it is called.)

So here is the quick recipe for the beet/potato salad

Beet and potato salad

3 fresh beet roots skin on with the leaves cut off with 1 inch stem left
3 medium size red skin potato skin on, cut into half inch cubes
fresh dill
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp vinegar (any light flavor one would be fine)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Boil beet roots whole until tender. Boil potato. The potato are in smaller pieces, so put the potato in when the beets are half cooked. That way they would be done at the same time.
(I use my thermal pot here. Get the water to boil, put the beet roots in. Until it boil again. Put the pot into thermos. Wait 10 min. Take the whole thing out, boil it again with the potato. Finish it in the thermos for another 5~10 min.)
2. Skin the beet roots and cut them into the same size as potato. Mix them in a big bowl.
3. Add oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. Mix in the chopped dill. Tastes good both warm and cold.
(The amount of oil and vinegar are guessing. I never measure them. You want enough oil to coat all the potato pieces. But only a little vinegar to bring up the flavor. You don't want to over-power the subtle flavors with vinegar - you should be able to taste the sweetness of the beet root. I used champagne vinegar. You can use any white vinegar, cider vinegar, or a touch of lemon juice would be good. The rule is to use about half vinegar than what you would normally put in the vinaigrette.)