It's easy when the lettuce, tomatoes and cukes are ready at the same time, but what about 7 zucchinis, random baby eggplants and squash, 9 ears of corn and an oversupply of tomatoes, green beans and bok choy? Be grateful and find surprising winners and compost material.

Green Beans and Salami
Check out #5 on Why Vegetable and Bacon are BFFs. Very simple. Unlike bacon, no grease sopping necessary.

Bok Choy and Bacon
#6. Works perfectly and there is nothing simpler.

Thai Corn Cakes--Ix-nay on these Akes-cay
The texture was a little to biscuit-y. Sent to compost, and replaced by far fluffier, more flexible and just-plain-tastier jalapeno corn cakes. Click here for the new improved Jalapeno Corn Cakes.

Zucchini/eggplant/white squash Parmesan--Winner!
Simplified Spaghetti Sauce II to include only fresh mushrooms, onions and spicy turkey Italian sausage. Instead of only eggplant, I used a combination of zucchini, a few baby eggplants and some white squash in the Eggplant Parmesan. This was out of necessity, but we'll have this mix again, just because.

Adventures in Tomatoes

Roasted tomato pizza--Winner (duh!)
Fresh Roasted Tomatoes, fresh basil, mozzarella on a Boboli whole-wheat crust. Impossible to go wrong. Kids ate the whole thing so I need to make 2 next time!

BBC(tm) [Bacon, Bok Choy, Tomato and Mozzarella] Pizza
No and not even close.
We ate it, but only so as not to go hungry that night. We love BLT sandwiches and so the the logic was this: bok choy and bacon work; bacon, tomato and mozzarella work. Therefore, Bok choy, which has similar properties as lettuce (both being green and kinda leafy), bacon tomato and mozzarella should work. 

Please note that while the transitive property is absolute in mathematics, it absolutely failed in pizza application.

Eat Well = Be Well. Be Well = Eat Well. The reflexive property always works.

Two year ago, we ripped out our front lawn. We live in the suburbs, so the idea of four humongous planter beds instead of a nice green lawn bordered with annuals was a little out of the ordinary. The front yard got great sun exposure, so we ended up using quite a bit of water (and money) just to maintain grass.

With the romantic (but in retrospect, somewhat delusional) notion of having the ultimate in locally grown, organic vegetables, out went the lawn. Enter 4 humongous planter beds and 2 composting bins. On the plus side, our water bill dropped by 30%, our garbage was reduced by well over 50% (by composting) and we a bumper crop of winter and summer vegetables. We were diligent with maintenance, and there is nothing better than winter carrots and summer tomatoes.

Then I took on an amazing, interesting, challenging and very much full-time consulting gig. For the garden, the most charitable thing that I can say it that I let it go to seed. The soil got tired. The tomatoes got sad. No broccoli, cauliflower or celery. Exactly 1 carrot. The only positive is that compost still happens, no matter what.

Thankfully, gardens don't hold grudges. The poppies have returned with a vengeance and the oregano, marjoram, green onions, sage, parsley and mint have all stood by me. 

A garden should be treated like another child, or at the very least like a pet. A little daily care goes a long way. Periodic check-ups and proper nutrition are a must. So we bought sacks of, well, chicken manure, and let it do its thing. With the formerly-neglected garden now getting some TLC, the earthworms have returned, the cats have been chased away and soil just looks, feels and even smells better. 

Lettuce, mizuna, and spinach got put in last week. Bok choy and chard will follow this week. Later this month, I'll add tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, melons, kabocha and pumpkin. And I'll pay attention. We'll see what happens this summer.

Eat well. Be well. Happy Spring.