Okay it was 32 degrees this morning.

Cold weather!  I'm so glad it waited until November.

  What a treat not to have it happen in Oct. 

If you are holding out on harvesting kale and chard and parsnips etc.

NOW IS THE TIME!  

They should be nice and sweet

and it will once again be freezing tonight

enjoy

the stars are beautiful on a cold icy night.

Oh I brought all the herb pots into the porch

they spend the winter sitting near the dryer vent

Warmer than out in the garden.

Compromise

Today was all about compromise

I've been putting the garden tour off

The last time I looked everything was Beautiful!

Really Beautiful.  That late summer was several 

Sept. weeks of warmth and the plants responded.

But now cold nights and wet days and I didn't want to look

BUT I DID

It's normally the time I get the garden ready for
winter and plant the garlic and winter lettuce

BUT there were humming birds and stray bees wanting
to dip into the remaining flowers.

So I Compromised.

I pulled enough plants, off  to the compost,
and planted the Garlic and Shallots

And I left all the plants that were still flowering. 

It will be a lot of work,
taking plants out as they succumb
but some of the pleasure of

having a garden is sharing it.

So here is today's garden mid Oct. 

What an odd year!

 Garlic in the brown areas, sweet peas in back

Very tasty kale 

Can you believe these flowers?

This is one of my hints for odd year success

When I saw how cold it remained during the summer 

I waited and finally in late July I put in as many zucchini 

plants as I could fit in the box.  I got lucky, Aug and Sept

had a lot of warmth and I got tons of squash.  I never do 

but by taking a risk and putting in so many plants I enjoyed 

both yellow and green zucchini!  I picked three more today

The tomatoes have been in the garden all summer 

Early July on. 

Now these cherry tomatoes are nearly the lovely

Gold I hoped for .  Will they make it....I doubt it

There are tons of these. 

Always a mistake for me to

plant tomatoes.

That's a pea bloom and still some peas, they went all summer it was so cool

and on the right are my sun gold beans.  Finally the pole beans get going

As families began to cook their dinners, I could smell it in the breeze

I was out dumping three potato cans.  

A pitiful year.
Half of what I would usually get. 

In the 1990's I had several years without
any potatoes so I shouldn't complain

Really the one easy plant I always get
good harvest from is garlic. 

You must learn how the season of garlic works
and then you will always get plenty!

So on the garden goes...It still is very pretty but fading fast.

yes I took these photos today Oct 13

Click on the photos to enlarge and get a good peek

it's getting colder

Do you feel it?  

It's getting colder.

Fall is here.

This is when you harvest smaller veggies with the idea

they won't grow much now that it is colder.

Tonight I took a stroll through the garden to collect dinner

The air was chill and there was a breeze, I could feel the excitement

of the seasons to come.

Here is what I collected on my garden walk

pretty red kale, purple carrots, white carrots peas..wow

broccoli, purple, yellow and green green beans, chard with it's 

lovely deep pink stem, two fun onions.

Parsley, three kinds of thyme, oregano, rosemary,

 some perfectly sized yellow and green zucchini

And sweet peas for the table! 

one hour later.....vegetable soup....yummy 

No recipe needed!

Canning Canning Canning

I've been doing a lot of canning this week and want to give you this posting from the National Center for Home Food preservation.  It has the questions people often ask.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#4

Here is there home page   http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html

Don't make the mistake of using old recipes, good as they may have been they can endanger your family and friends who eat what you can.  Tomatoes are hybrid to the point they have little acid in them at all and so must be treated like a veggie.  Sugar is for taste and so is salt, aspirin is a no no!...YOU CAN USE lite syrups to the point now anyone should be pleased.

 I like to start those who are beginning canners on fruits.  You can learn proper methods for preparing & water bath use.  It's hard to make a mistake and if a jar doesn't seal it is worry free to reseal unlike veggies where I use caution to excess.  

If you have questions call me I'm happy to help you out.  I read a sign at McClendons in Woodinville saying they will test your gauges on pressure canners...wise thing to do..

Well out to the garden to see if there are enough beets for spiced beets!  Salsa is done, hot peppers, pepper rings done, pears tomorrow and apples after that.  I'm holding off on the kale for a few more chilly nights.

Last meeting of the season this morning

I hope to see a lot of you at todays end of season meeting.  I hear there will be food from
your gardens and we will talk about what we all learned and what we need to do to enjoy the fall season. There were questions about garlic and we will cover that also.

I thought summer might last forever now that it was finally here but I see the vine maples etc are changing color and that signals colder nights.  Looks like our gardening time is changing, I'll cover what you can do at this point in todays meeting.  I have a nice handout on fall and winter vegetables and I made a special pudding to share with you all. 

See you at 10:00 please drop in if you can....

If you wondered about light and growth read this!

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/03/7589725-126-pound-cabbage-just-misses-world-record-mark

One look at what can grow in lots of sunlight and warmth 

makes me weep!

Remember it doesn't get warmer in Alaska than it does here,

yet what makes that "growing" magic?  

Yes all that light. 

Anyone want to move north?

BLUE BERRIES

My yes we are into food this time of year! 

There isn't a day when I don't eat something fresh from 

someones garden.  what a delight this is.  

We went Blueberry picking today.  It was so neat

to hear the kids exclaim "oh this is a big one!" as they

picked the berries closer to the ground.  We had a great system

Tall adults picking above, short, and med kids picking 

down below.

The weather was heavenly but warm as we left.  

Picking for myself reminded me of blueberry

picking with my son and his friends, they filled so many big buckets 

for me it was amazing how good they were at blue berry picking. 

I was shocked how many pounds I ended up paying for.

So if you only ended up with a few pounds like me 

why not eat them? There is nothing more healthy

than eating in the season of the plant.  

All the vitamins are perfect.  

Why not enjoy them now?

Here are my favorite blueberry recipes for your enjoyment.

Marie McKell's yummy Blueberry pie

3 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and draining

1/4 cup cornstartch

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon lemon Juice

1/4 teas. salt

1/8 teas nutmeg 

1  9" pie shell pre-baked

whipped cream for topping

Place 1 cup of blueberries in a 3 quart saucepan.  crush with a potato masher.  Stir cornstarch into the 1 1/2 cups water, until smooth.  Add to crushed blueberries with sugar, honey, lemon juice, slat and nutmeg.  Stir until well blended

Add remaining blueberries and stir over med heat.  Stir while bringing

to a boil.  reduce heat to a low and simmer for 

10 mins. or until berries are cooked. 

Cool slightly before pouring into a pre-baked pie shell

Cover just the berry filling and chill at least 1 hour

top with whipped cream 

This is best served the day you make it

Pie crust 

(this recipe used to work but with the new shortenings who knows if this still works)

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teas salt

1/2 cup shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour and salt together

cut in shortening until the size of small peas

add cold water, stirring in a little at a time with a fork

Add until flour stir's into a ball.

Chill for 15 minutes

Roll to size for 9" pie pan

bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes

I always cook single pie crusts with weights on the crust 

to keep it from falling into the bottom.

If you don't have any use a small piece of foil

fitted it the bottom and sides of the

raw crust.  Trim any that is above the crust.

  Pour in dry beans, fill the sides and bottom 

with the beans.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil holding the

beans and continue cooking the rest of the time

**********************************

Blueberry scones

This is in the ward cookbook

Katherine Currit recipe.  

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 Cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup of butter, well chilled

1 cup blueberries

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

Glaze

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon cream

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder together until well blended.  

Cut in butter. 

Mix egg and buttermilk (should equal 3/4 cup) Stir until blended

Add to flour mixture to evenly moisten , forming a soft dough.

DO NOT OVER MIX

Pat dough into 2 circles, 6 to 7 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.

Place one circle on parchment paper.  

Press blue berried into dough 

 add a second circle on top and gently press together

Cut into 8 wedges and separate each wedge slightly so they do not touch. 

Bake 15 20 minutes, until golden.

Whisk all the glaze ingredients together to make a 

slightly thick frosting that will melt to a glaze 

when spread onto the hot scones.

These are really good!

If I make them now, cool them and then

pack in my airtight bags, freeze, they make a tasty holiday treat with no work

They stayed frozen perfectly until Christmas and after.

**************************

Spiced Blueberry preserves

1 quart blueberries

1/4 Cup cider vinegar

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1) Wash and stem blueberries

2) combine in heavy pan with cider vinegar, sugar, 

allspice, cinnamon, and cloves

3) cook until thick, stirring often.

To test, place a spoonful on a refrigerated plate and see if it is thick enough for your taste.  This is the consistency the preserves will have when cold.

If it has not reached the jelling point, cook a little longer.

4) Pack into hot sterilized jars, seal.

**********************************

Blueberry Bread with orange Glaze

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons grated orange rind
1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries
*******
2  tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon grate orange rind
2 tablespoons honey


Melt butter in the boiling water in a small bowl.
Add 1/2 cup orange juice and 3 tablespoons grated orange rind
Beat the egg with sugar until light and fluffy.
Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with Orange liquid until smooth.
fold in blueberries.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
cool 10 min. and remove from the pan onto a cooling rack


Prepare a glave by combining the 2 tablespoons of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of grated orange rind and honey.


Pour over loaf.
makes one loaf


**********************

Add them to Smoothie's and my favorite is to top my pancakes and dutch babies

with fresh blueberries.  Great tossed into salads also.


And finally for my personal favorite.
My third child was born in a surprisingly fast way
it was lunch time and because her birth was so sudden and it took them all off guard they didn't think twice about handing me the lunch that was being served.
WOW it was the best food I'd ever tasted and dessert was blue berry buckle.....
 So very good!

Blueberry buckle

Blue Berry Buckle-from The readers digest Back to Basics book

4 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk

2 cups blueberries, rinsed

Crumb topping

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

sweetened whipped cream

Cake: 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. add the flour mixture alternately with the milk into the creamed mixture beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into a buttered 8 inch square baking dish. Cover the batter evenly with the blue berries

Topping:

Combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon and flour. With a pastry blender or two knives cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. sprinkle the topping over the blueberries. 

bake 40 minutes in a 375 degree oven. 

Serve warm with whipped cream

Makes 6-8 servings. 

Yes the perfect after labor treat.

Dinner from the Garden

 click on photo to enlarge...

It was raining but I just thought how nice Mother Nature was to wash my dinner greens!

I collected peas, all kinds of lettuce, chard, onions, and these beautiful dark purple carrots!

When you grate these wonderful carrots the orange strips have a tiny edge of purple.   

Very nice.

I like to cut each veggie differently.
Peas were cut into diagonal, carrots grated on large,
zucchini in little cubes or little match stick size etc.  

After washing and slicing and arranging all the above on a plate I topped 

the salad with some left over barbequed chicken and come candied pecans.

These candied nuts only take moments to make and

I had them on wax paper cooling before I began cutting up the veggies.

I guess all I need to give you is the recipe for the candied pecans. 

It comes from Julia Anita's Salad Sorcery....my youngest daughters and I 

took a cooking class from her while we were in 

Florida many years ago.  Great Salad book!

Candied Pecans

1 cup pecan halves

1/4 cup of granulated sugar

sprinkle of salt  (recipes calls for 1 teas.=too much)

Heat a heavy skillet over high heat

add the sugar/salt

watch and don't step away not even for a moment

I shake the pan to keep the dry sugar moving

into the melted sugar.  

As soon as all sugar is liquid (this takes but a moment)

remove pan and stir in nuts, be sure and move those nuts until fully covered

pour the nuts onto waxed paper 

use a fork to push them apart so they don't make a big mound

you are looking for individual nuts where possible. 

Allow to fully cool or they won't pull off the wax paper,

You can make these nuts ahead and store them in an airtight container.  

Nothing makes a salad more special than fresh veggies picked from your garden

and candied pecan topping!

Carrots are really fun

We planted several kinds of carrots this year. 

What's fun about carrots of different colors is you never know

what you will pull up for a meal. 

I went out last night and pulled two big beautiful carrots.  

They tasted wonderful. 

Can't wait to pull one of the purple carrots. 

If only I had more space I'd plant more carrots. 

They are hard to keep wet enough to sprout in this hot weather, but maybe in a few days I'll pop some more carrots seeds into some of the empty spaces.  

OK time for a carrot report.  Who has pulled carrots and what did you get?

White Satin and something I had left over from last years seeds

Lettuce and temperature

It doesn't take much heat to make a lot of things go to flower. 

Lettuce will get bitter if they don't get enough water.  

So with our heat wave coming this week....what you don't think

79-80 degrees is a heat wave?  

Well your northwestern plants do....so

If you can't move your lettuce, as in salad table, to a shady spot.

The next best thing is to keep your soil wet. 

A couple times a day in the heavy heat.  

This should save your lettuce for tasty eating.  

Remember when watering if the sun will hit the leaves 

while they are wet, any plant, then it will burn the leaves and injure the plant. 

I water early in the morning and then in the afternoon 

when the trees shade everything. 

Evening watering invites the slugs to night time dinner 

so I avoid the evening.  

But if the plants need it DO IT.  

And water those 

potato cans to the bottom.  

REMEMBER to harvest daily for the best eating

And if you have miner bugs leaving white spots on your leaves.

Everyday cut off the offending leaves, bag them and toss in 

your garbage can.  You can control this infestation with diligence. 

Midas on rodent patrol! 
Good cat.

Garlic vs Shallots

The gardens are growing!

  At last!

Delight Delight Delight

 

I'm harvesting peas finally and there are tiny beans on the bush beans

Lots of salads here, the lettuces finally look very good.  Eat yours while they are tender

Now for the Garlic vs Shallots issue.

I pulled all of mine and my shallots stayed small

but here is a photo. 

The shallots grow next to one another so close they can look like a garlic. 

But the garlic we grew this year was white or red streaked

and the shallot is golden.

The garlic has sword like leaves coming from a central stem

Shallots have many individual green tube like leaves.

  The number depends on the grouping of bulbs.

 There are two kinds of garlic

Hard neck and soft neck.

Hard neck has a nice stiff stem down the 

middle and the cloves grow around the stem.

The soft neck act like artichokes with cloves growing

over one another like the leaves of an artichoke.

You can use garlic fresh from the garden but I like it better in a month

it's so wet when I pull it, but tasty.  It gets stronger tasting with storage.

Shallots act like a multiplier onion

The bulbs multiply freely producing several lateral bulbs

The green tube like stems can be cut and used like green onions but the 

very best way to eat Shallots is sauteed in butter. 

They are creamy and sweet and I can't get enough of them.

Perfect in gravy's and sauces or just 

sauteed and laid on top of a roasted chicken breast.  

What is happening in my garden the end of July

 Wow the Nasturtium's went crazy while I was gone.

I've heard so little from you my fellow gardeners.

I hope you are enjoying this little bit of summer. 

I hope you are doing well with your gardens. 

Keep things picked, enjoy fresh stuff in your meals,

go out and see what is ripe and make that your dinner fixings. 

Last night we made Pioneer Women's simple sesame Noodles

I went through the garden and collected the small bits, 

onions, shallots, peas and spinach

and blanched them in the pasta water before the putting in the pasta.  

I did grate some carrots I had into the pasta water.  

It made a fast fresh tasty meal.  

You have to train yourself to cook from the garden first and the grocery store second.

What am I doing in my garden now that it's the end of July?

I've pulled about 10 squares of garlic, added compost (stir and serve)

and put in place of the garlic my fall broccoli, Pac choi and a couple of other choi's 

Kale and some red rainbow chard.  I think there was a cauliflower in there too.

I plan to cover this area with a floating cover to keep the white butterflies from laying 

their eggs on these their favorite plants. 

I'm harvesting berries and Rhubarb

blueberries are close.

Shallots need to be pulled and more and more garlic will be pulled.

These I shake off (keep that mel's mix in the garden)

and then lay them in boxes to dry a bit. 

Then I cut off the green leaves, the roots and find them a

dark cool place to be.  I don't eat them for a month or so. 

They develop better flavor with time. 

But do cook with some fresh if you like, it's mild and tasty. 

My neighbor stopped by and thought it smelled like a pizza house. 

All that garlic on the porch.

Are you planning your fall garden? 

plant more carrots, broccoli, kale, chard,

 herbs even, I'm replanting my parsley, it went to seed on

our two days of summer last week.

I think most of you have enough seed but if you need something

e-mail me and I'll put it in my church bag. 

Also I have some plant to share...chard, kale...choi's

 trout and the deep red romaine lettuce

Do keep planting lettuce, finally I have a good lettuce crop. 

That was tricky this year. 

I need to put some in for August and Sept eating.

Plan your space for fall garlic, I will order it very soon

 so if you'd let me know your needs, we plant it in early Oct. 

Remember you can eat your onions at any point but many of the 

onions in my garden have died back and are ready to harvest.

I'm going to try to get them out while it's dry and not raining,

if I can get them nice and dry they will store nicely.  

Other wise we just eat them!

Love those candy apple onions!  

YUMMY

All my potato cans are in bloom and that signals potato growth,

Keep them watered, keep the celery wet and 

soon we shall have good things

to eat!

It will be Sept before we eat large potatoes but 

you can collect some baby ones very soon.

Now lets hear a progress report...What is happening in your gardens.  

Jessica said she ate some chard
from hers.  

I know it's been a very slow year 
but I think that is behind us.

Things are growing!

What to consider in your garden and things to avoid

It's a Glorious time of year!

I couldn't be happier with my yard and mother nature did it all.

I want to take a moment to remind you of some gardening ideas 

I shared in class.  Some things to do and to NOT do. 

1) Potato can's....I hope they are all filled with soil,

mine are now starting to bloom and

it's really too late for the plant to make roots once it has bloomed.  

REMEMBER water to the bottom of the can that is where you planted those potato starts.

2) Tomatoes....don't waste your valuable summer warmth making BIG tomato plants.

Be sure and pinch those little starts in the V of two stems,

remove stems at the bottom to allow for air. 

And keep your tomato to one main stem and some major 

side shoots you have allowed to grow.  

We covered this in class this helps you have flowers

and fruit in time for it to ripen. 

If you feed the plants too much nitrogen it will just make Bigger and Bigger plants. 

If you get bloom drop it's sometimes a lack of calicum

 See the curls in the garlic those are the blooms beginning

feel free to cook and eat these.

3) my garlic is working on going to seed, 

I'm removing onion and garlic stems trying to 

make a seed pod. 

As my garlic stems die back I know the weeks

are numbered and I will be able to harvest my garlic. 

I'd say to wait until all has died back but 4 leaves on the garlic.

Remember onions can be harvested when ever you wish.  They are so tasty this time of year and that is why I don't mind planting them close together. 

I can harvest fresh ones to make space for the storage ones to grow larger. 

If your onions don't show a lot at the top of the soil, take your fingers and uncover the onion bulbs, this helps them get the biggest they can. 

4)  A lot of seeds didn't come up this year...replant it's not too late. 

Keep carrot seeds nice and moist for a couple of weeks. 

Really all new seeds need moisture for a while.

I have noticed we don't know how deep to plant our seeds

so here is a hint.  It's not as deep as you think! 

See that seed in the picture above, it only needs to be deep 

enough to hold the first roots. 

As the seed opens and turns (picture 2) it should be

close enough to the top of the soil to feel the warmth and be drawn to the sun.  

We suffer from such lack of sun here as it is so 

don't plant those seeds so deep that they can't find the warmth.  

The basic rule is only as deep as 2 to 3 times the seed size. 

Just lay three seeds in your hand and see how deep that is. 

 Easy!

beans 1 1/2-2 inches

beets 1/2 to 1 inch

broccoli 1/2 inch

cabbage 1/2 inch

carrot 1/4 inch

swiss chard 1 inch

corn 2 inches 

cucumber 1 inch 

kale 1/2 inch

peas 2 inches 

radish 1/2 inch

squash 1 inch

Tomato 1/2 inch

Just to give you a hint on what some common depths are.  

The bigger seeds disrupt the ground a lot and so need a deeper start.  

One last thing I'd like you to think about and that is your

fall garden. 

As you harvest begin planting for another summer crop if it's a short grower 

or a fall crop for things like broccoli. 

Some of our best veggies are ripe come fall.  I never gather carrots

and winter squash and fall kale until that first little freeze. 

That makes them oh so sweet

I plant for a fall garden from late July to mid August

I begin planting the winter garden including Garlic

In late August to mid Sept.

Plan ahead and you will eat year around. 

Happy summer!

Can those tomatoes correctly

Oh things should start growing now and the forecast is a warmer than normal summer. 

WHAT?

Can that be?  We can only hope for it right.  So encourage those little plants,

feed things for some fast growth (don't over do this please) and when 

you finally get some ripe tomatoes please understand they are not

the acid fruit they once were so go to my 

favorite web site and read this article

On what to do with those tomatoes when canning.

Enjoy this 80 degree plus day!

http://www.mrswages.com/page/Tomato_Tips_with_Master_Canner_Shirley_Camp.aspx?nt=533

BE sure and browse this site

Mrs. Wages 
You can even ask for their newsletter

I began buying canning lime from them

when I could no longer buy it locally

and their canning salt is wonderful!

The Gourmet part

I love Japanese food but best of all is this everyday dish Okonomiyaki. 

It uses what ever Veggies you want to eat. 

I'll give you some hints and a basic recipe and you'll find this fast meal wonderful! 

If you cut the name in two pieces it means "as you like it" and "grilled food" 

Now how could that be any better?

When we were in Tokyo we ate at a place that only cooks Okonomiyaki,
a giant grill in the front of you and you have them add stuff as they go.  

The man doing the cooking was a Harley man and he and Phil
with Clint's assistance

talked themselves silly while
I enjoyed eating.

Here at home this is my grill, a well seasoned Jen-air 

Be sure what you cook on doesn't stick.

Collect some ingredients

Cabbage for sure,the base for this recipe

we like the napa or Asian cabbages, 

but any well shredded cabbage is yummy. 

Collect some veggies that can cook quickly, anything

that you have around can be cut in thin strips or angle cuts to put

as much surface as possible on the grill. 

In this batch I used carrots, two kinds of onions and cabbage

Last week I had asparagus around and used that. 

I prepare all the ingredients and then mix up the batter, a smooth

french pancake style batter

2 eggs broken and beaten slightly

2/3 cup dashi Or some sort of broth (I use chicken)

Sprinkle 1 cup of all purpose flour over liquid, stirring as you go

 Stir until there are no lumps (oh who cares about a few lumps!)

There are mixes you can buy with a very soft flour in it and some spices.

This makes 2 very large Okonmiyaki cakes or 4 very nicely sized ones.

cabbage, sweet onions, ham, green onions

I add ingredients in handfuls and lightly stir each handful

You want the batter to coat everything well, 

You want enough cabbage to be the main ingredient

You want enough other ingredients to make them interesting

There should be more veggie than batter.

What do the Japanese people put in Okonomiyaki? 

Wow it depends on where in the country you eat it.

It always has a cabbage base,

meats include Fish stuff, pork, squid, beef (they love beef there), shrimp,

crab, tuna, salmon, etc. (we didn't see any chicken for eating in Japan)

Veggies are mostly green onions, Nori (seaweed) Pickles ginger, pickled other 

tasty things, the parts of Japan we were in hide the veggies!

You would never have a side dish of veggie or

even see what veggie might

be in the dish they are so tiny.

Toppings are the best part and in Japan you get Bonito flakes

that dance on the top when hot! In some areas they top the whole

thing with an egg but not Tokyo and north.

Wasabi if you can take the heat and my favorite

Okonomiyaki sauce which I buy at Central market. 

Mayonnaise here and something very much like mayo in Japan. 

Some areas of Japan put soba noodles with it

but wow much too heavy a meal for us!

Oh my mouth is watering.  

OK lets cook this veggie pancake

All the ingredients are stirred in and ready to cook!

See how wet the ingredients are with 

the batter it just glistens

Oops I just remembered I had frozen kale, perfect 

Last minute add in!

I put a little veggie oil on the grill. 

If I had raw meat I would cook it on the

Grill first and then top it with the cabbage mixture, 

but this ham is already cooked. 

Just getting started cooking, Keep your temp.

At a medium level let's not burn any yummy things

Here is the Okonomiyaki flipped once.

It takes some thought on how long to cook on each side

Do I want my veggies with some crunch?

Do I wanted them just soft?

I never want them mushy

But maybe you do which goes with 

the recipe title "As you like it" we will 

all be HAPPY!

Once off the grill I top mine with the sauce and some mayo and some broken up nori

No bonito flakes on this batch.  

There are some recipes around for Okonomiyaki sauce 

none as good as what you can buy 

But good in a pinch

Make sauce:

• 1/3 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons  Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons dark-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

1. In a small saucepan, mix together all ingredients until smooth. Bring to a low boil, stirring frequently. Turn heat down to low and simmer for a minute and a half and serve warm. Makes 1/2 cup.  

 EAT

Oh I got so excited to eat I nearly forget to take a photo of the finished 

recipe, now half eaten!

Enjoy making up your own version of Okonomiyaki