Week 2: Vegetable of the Week

Our featured vegetable this week is Spinach. Try this smoothie at home!

Green Drink

2-3 cups of spinach, washed
1 banana
1-2 cups of pineapple juice
6 ice cubes

Place all ingredients in a blender, blend until very smooth.

You can also add flax seed and/or coconut milk. If you don't like to drink something green, try adding frozen blueberries, strawberries or raspberries. Yummy!

[Photo credit: Nickster2000 on Flickr]

The First Garden Club Meeting

On our first day we began to loosen the hard-packed soil. We usesd rakes, hoes, "The Claw," spades and our hands! It was so fun to get dirty. We also tried two recipes with the vegetables of the week, asparagus and rhubarb. See the previous entry for the recipes.

Great First Day!

We had 24 members for our first meeting. Our club members came in with energy and excitement. They willingly tried the Asparagus Guacamole and the Rhubarb Muffins and were begging for more! They attacked the hard-packed soil with gusto. It was so great to see all 24 kids digging and playing in the dirt. We planted a few marigolds for a bit of color. At our next meeting we will rake in some manure and begin planting our veggies.

First Vegetables of the Season

This week's featured vegetables are rhubarb and asparagus. Head to the Holland Farmer's Market on Wednesday or Saturday to try them!

Here are the recipes for the muffins and guacamole we tried at our first garden club meeting.

Rhurbarb-Sour Cream Muffins with Brown Sugar Topping (adapted from Cooking Light)

Muffins:
3 1/2 c. rhubarb, finely chopped
2 T. flour
1 1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
5 T. butter, softened
2 eggs
1 c. sour cream or plain yogurt
2 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. salt

Topping:
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
1/2 t. cinnamon
2 T. butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Muffins: Combine rhubarb and 2 T. flour. Set aside. Place brown sugar and 5 T. butter in a large bowl. Beat at medium until fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Add sour cream or yogurt and vanilla. Beat well. In another bowl, mix flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add slowly to butter mixture, beating until just moistened. Stir in rhubarb. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full.
Topping: Combine brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 forks (this can also be done in a food processor) until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over muffins. Bake at 375 degrees or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.


Asparagus Guacamole (adapted from Food for Thought)

10.5 oz. fresh asparagus, cooked and drained
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 t. lime juice
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 T. onion, chopped
2 t. tomato paste
1/8 t. salt
1/4 t. cumin

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers or vegetables.

[Photo credits: Rhubarb by frangrit on Flickr; asparagus by itsjustanalias on Flickr.]

Introducing the Garden Club

Here are some photos of the 2008 season. The highlight was growing potatoes. After the potatoes were harvested, several families used them to make potato salad for the back-to-school picnic. Yum!