Lamb's quarters soup: all vegetarian!

This summer, the amount of rain we had, perhaps coupled with our very liberal applications of hay, compost and manure and a huge success in Josh’s mantis infiltration program, has had an extraordinary effect on the size and robustness of the weeds in my garden which have found a place to pop up in the narrow spaces between the bales of hay. The good news is that there are limited places for them to grow so it is easier to keep them contained. I have, however, been very tolerant of the edible weeds, the wood sorrel and the lamb’s quarters, which have been featured in my salads and stir fries.



















My neighbour’s mother told me that lamb’s quarters make great soups, so I went on-line to investigate and found a quick and easy recipe involving fried onions, water, a bit of instant soup mix and handfuls of lamb’s quarters. I decided to thin the weeds from my garlic patch where some of the lamb’s quarter plants were actually taller than I am. It took some time for Josh and me to wash and pick off the leaves, but the actual cooking time of the soup was ten minutes.

During a heat wave, this was ideal. I added some wood sorrel, coriander and Thai basil, fried garlic and some Tom Yum paste for a Thai taste. When cooked in soup, the lamb’s quarters tasted very much like Gai Lan (a Chinese green which is the key ingredient in flavouring Won ton soup). Even my kids liked it and asked for seconds.

Some updates: I had promised to post some pictures of my friend Julie’s balcony garden. I have gone back to the previous blog entry and added her pictures so they are where they make the most sense.











I decided, for fun, to take some photos of vegetable flowers. To the right, a sunflower, which is the best known of edible garden flowers. Below, those are coriander flowers, which one can use along with the leaves for seasoning.



Below there is a cucumber flower with a baby cucumber starting behind it. They are pretty and yellow, and they fall off when the cucumber starts to get big.

 Above is a potato flower. I am not sure if one is supposed to pick them off or just leave them, but they are a pretty shade of pink. I thought these flowers deserved a chance to be showcased. They don't last long and no one fusses over cucumber or potato flowers. To the right is another cucumber flower.My campaign against cucumber beetles has been successful. I am still picking off a few and squishing them (not my favorite activity), at least when they don’t fly off faster than I can catch them. 

The good news is that the plants are thriving and I just had the second cucumber of the week for lunch today. They are pickling cucumbers, which are small. I found the long Japanese cucumbers were more fun, but these are tasty too.

It turned out that my pink and purple bergamot did indeed come back and bloomed a week after I had written them off. They look beautiful. I have had requests from Iulia and some of her colleagues at work for some of my Bee balm, which have spread nicely and I can afford to be generous. I have a bunch of yellow daisy-type flowers which Iulia saved for me from an office plant swap (nice idea!), so indirectly I have been included.

My first poppies bloomed, a surprising white and purple variety which I did not expect. Within days we had some violent rain storms and the petals were knocked right off, so I am a bit short on poppies again. I had several varieties, and so far only one has really matured and blossomed. Maybe we will have some action with the others later in the season.ned out that my pink and purple bergamot did indeed come back and bloomed a week after I had written them off. They look beautiful. I have had requests from Iulia and some of her colleagues at work for some of my Bee balm, which have spread nicely and I can afford to be generous. I have a bunch of yellow daisy-type flowers which Iulia saved for me from an office plant swap (nice idea!), so indirectly I have been included.

We spent a weekend visiting friends in the Laurentians who have been putting a lot of work into re-landscaping their large lakeside property. They have a vegetable garden, flower beds and wildflowers, and have just put in a network of stone pathways.

I was particularly interested in the paths, because this afternoon Josh rented a truck and took a friend to raid a pile of flat stones he found dumped on a vacant lot a few weeks ago. We may not have time to lay them this summer, but in case they disappear, I prefer to have them on the side of my house, and take the time to design the paths we want even if we only do the work next spring.