Pharm cooking: Plant twice, harvest once
By LOU GREENHAW
Contributing writer
This has been an interesting gardening year. We planted a lot of things twice, thanks to the late freezes. However, some of the originals that I thought had died pulled through so we are going to have a lot of eggplants at some point.
The weather has been very uncooperative. When I have had the time to work in it, it was raining or the garden was muddy. When the weather cooperates, I have other obligations. The weeds are doing well, but Steve tackled some of those this past weekend.
Father's Day was different for us this year. Because Steve's dad died last month, Steve is now the oldest of the Greenhaw men. It's easy to see by how our bodies feel — that we are getting older, but the mental thing kicks in through bits and pieces of realizations. Steve is from two tiny families. His father was the only child to live to adulthood, and his mother has only one sister. I came from more relatives. In fact, one of my father's aunts is still living. So I am insulated by two generations of women!
My sisters and I decided we would take a trip together when each of us turned 50. My older sister picked San Antonio. When I turned 50, we were also celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary, so we all went on a cruise to Hawaii.
Now my younger sister has turned 50, and we are going to Nashville to celebrate. It is interesting how activities have changed from walking the River Walk and tromping through old mission sites in Texas to the less strenuous spa day and river boat cruising! You can tell we are aging! We will have to decide how to mark 60th birthdays.
We did have a treat on Father's Day. We had a vegetable mix from our garden. Our pea pods didn't do too well. I got them in late and then the wet weather seemed to hamper them. However, I picked a handful. I picked three small zucchini, a couple of nice green onions, and a sprig of parsley and basil. I sautéed them in olive oil, and I thought they were quite tasty. We have even had three tomatoes; however, they were cherry tomatoes. When the first one ripened, we cut it in half. It wasn't exactly a mouthful.
We love vegetables at our house. I like variety and different ways to fix them. Sometimes meat gets so boring, especially if you are watching your weight or grilling in the summer a lot. Recently I've been on a kick to top the meat with caramelized onions. I have used some of the sweet onions such as the Vidalias, and they are terrific. I have Texas Sweets in my garden, so hopefully I will have a crop of those soon. We really like them, and I've learned to make a large quantity. They cook down so much that you start out with a huge amount and end up with a small amount. It really adds pizzazz to a simple meat. At my age, I need all the pizzazz I can get.
Caramelized Onions
1 tablespoon olive oil
6 cups sliced onions
1/8 teaspoon salt
Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and sauté 10 minutes or until tender. Keep stirring them gently so that they cook evenly. Sprinkle with salt. Sauté 15 to 20 minutes longer or until the onions are a golden color. Top meat immediately. If the meat is not ready, remove from heat and rewarm just before topping the meat.
