Harvest Monday, January 27, 2014 – Last of My 2013 Harvest From the Fridge + 5 Most Viewed Post in 2013

This is it!
The last of the 2013 harvest from my garden that were stored in the fridge.

Napa Cabbage & Red Cabbage
Harvested the napa cabbage mid-November, 2013
(Click here to learn about storing cabbage)
Harvested the red cabbage late summer

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Chopped the napa cabbage into bite-sized pieces and all went into a pot of soup. This is what I did:

Thawed a container of broth from the freezer. Put the broth, some meatballs (also from the freezer) and napa into a pot, brought to a boil, once meatballs were heated through added some cubed tofu, scallion, sesame oil and a few drops of chili oil.

This last bit of napa, what I call the heart of the napa cabbage, was, oh, sooooo sweet.

It was a definitely a soup week, no if’s or but’s. Snow, gusty wind, frigid temp, had it all this past week.

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Cut the red cabbage into thin slices, stir-fried in a bit of oil, onion, garlic, salt and pepper (to taste) until crisp tender (about 2 minutes), stirred in 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (to change the color from an unappetizing blue/purple to a delicious red) and 1 teaspoon honey. Served as a side with baked chicken.

Red cabbage
Left photo: cooked without vinegar
Right photo: cooked with apple cider vinegar added

Adding vinegar (lemon juice and apple will work also) turns the blue/purple color of the cooked cabbage to red because of pH changes.

Came across this site that explains the reason better than I ever could and think you will find interesting especially if you have young children.

Oh what fun it is to have a science lab in the kitchen.

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Chicory (Radicchio)
Harvested the chicories (radicchios) late October, 2013

The 3 chicories (radicchio) in the photo above are actually quite small and were used together in a salad for one meal.

The chicories were stored in the same manner as the napa cabbage. Take a close look at the stem of the chicory in the middle, you can see how I kept using the outer leaves as needed and now I have just of the center of all 3. Can you imagine how tender these centers were!!!!!

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Was with a group of friends and learned they follow by blog. During the conversation I was asked which are my most viewed posts. I had no answer because I simply did not know. Then I remembered an e-mail I received from WordPress dated 12/31/13 that is still (in my inbox) waiting for me to read (yes, I have a bad habit of not clearing my e-mails daily and then they get forgotten).

It was an Annual Report and I was pleasantly surprised to learn the following:

That the 5 posts that got the most views in 2013 were:
1 Sweet Potato Noodles 
2 Harvest Monday, January 16, 2012 – Growing Mung Beans Sprouts
3 Fresh Bamboo Shoots
4 Cabbages (Brassica oleracea)
5 Growing Sweet Potato Slips – Update

That visitors came from 157 countries.
Most visitors came from the United States, followed by Australia and Canada.

So if I am asked that question again I will now have an answer (provided I can remember the above).

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