Harvest Party

BROCCOLI

One of my favorite veggies in the winter is broccoli. There is nothing better than fresh broccoli, the stuff you buy in the store isn't even close to the flavor of the broccoli you grow at home. On top of all of that, broccoli is easy to grow anywhere in the valley, plant it between the first of October and the middle of December, if you put it in to early in the year it will bolt,and it needs a little room, other than that you can't mess it up . Broccoli needs at least 15 inches between each plant, I planted mine to close in my first crop this year and some of them got choked out by other plants. Some like the picture above/below grew into monster crowns twice as large as what you can buy at the store BOOYAH! Intensive planting has a fine line that I'm still working on the better points of. On top of this crop I also planted a second crop here , this ensures more broccoli in another month or two. This variety is called 'Premium Crop' and was planted from transplants the first of October. The picture below is the largest head I harvested, if the county fair was in town it would have won a blue ribbon. Ha

Blue ribbon broccoli

Now what to do with this monster I like it plain, with just a little salt, or maybe steamed with some butter. Like I said the home grown taste that much better or you can make bacon, potato, broccoli & cheese soup. It's not health food but it is the bomb!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of bacon
• 2 onions chopped
• 5-6 large potatoes peeled & chopped
• 5 cups of water
• 4 cubes of bouillon chicken or beef
• 1 normal size head of broccoli chopped
• 3 cups of cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. In a large stock pot cook your bacon, once bacon is finished remove and place bacon on paper towel and drain off grease, leaving a couple tablespoons of bacon grease in the stock pot ( depending on how much bacon grease you like).
2. Throw your chopped onions into the stock pot and saute in the bacon grease, once done add you potatoes, water and, bouillon cubes and bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer till the potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes maybe a little longer.
3. Then add your chopped fresh broccoli and simmer another 5 minutes
4. Finally add your cheese and bacon and simmer until all the cheese is melted.

This is probably one of the easiest soups you'll ever make enjoy.

BOOYAH!