It’s time once again for Harvest Monday, where we celebrate all things harvest related. Salad season continues here, and lettuce was the only thing I harvested last week. Several full sized heads kept us well supplied for salads and other things as well. The Salanova Red Butter lettuce isn’t as red as some of the others I grow, but its leaves are soft and ‘buttery’ like its green counterpart. And the oakleaf varieties from Wild Garden Seeds are always colorful additions to our salads.
oakleaf lettuce
Salanova Red Butter
I set out quite a few lettuce plants in the greenhouse beds last December, and they are sizing up nicely now. Starfighter is a bolt-resistant green leaf lettuce that makes fairly large sized heads. The leaves are tender and mild tasting, and we used this head for a batch of wilted lettuce salad.
Starfighter lettuce
wilted lettuce salad
Last fall I fermented a few of the largest collard leaves to be used as wrappers for savory fillings. Last week I used some of them to make bean and cheese enchiladas. I used the collard leaves for half, and used store-bought cabbage leaves for the other half. I wanted to do a taste test to compare the two wrappers.
collard leaves topped with refried beans
I used tomato sauce from the freezer and some of my homemade chile powder to make the sauce for the enchiladas. I baked these for about an hour before topping with cheese and popping back in the oven just long enough to melt it.
ready for the oven
While the cabbage leaf version was more tender, I thought the fermented collard leaves made for a much more tasty enchilada. I froze the leftovers, and freezing should soften up the collard leaves a bit. Overall I was pleased with the results, and I plan to make more enchiladas in the future using the collard leaves. I love enchiladas in general, and using the collards as wrappers is a good way to use the harvest, as well as to get more vegetables in our diet.
tasting one of each kind
I’ll close with a photo of a bluebird visiting one of our feeders last week. This feeder has mostly shelled seeds and nuts in it, which they can easily eat. They also visit the suet feeders we put out. I’ll keep the feeders up a while longer, until the weather warms and natural food sources are more readily available for the birds.
male bluebird at feeder
Harvest Monday is a day to show off your harvests, how you are saving your harvest, or how you are using your harvest. If you have a harvest you want to share, add your name and blog link to Mr Linky below. And be sure and check out what everyone is harvesting!
