The Sleeping Garden  

 by 

S.M.R. Saia 

Uneven ground, grass tipped with frost 

Secreting what the summer lost 

A tiny gold key, a Secret Garden charm 

The buckle off the boot that held the Wall-E farm 

Ghosts of groundhogs, rabbits, snakes 

Pieces of wire, bits of hosiery and string 

Toy spades and teeth from broken rakes 

Stones laid and sunken to forgotten things 

The frozen wilt of brassicas and jalapeño bones 

The sleeping seeds of next summer’s volunteers 

Squash and Beauregards and marigolds 

And the sturdy first green of tuber spears 

Still and bugless tundra where potential teems 

A sleeping garden growing only winter dreams. 

For those of you waiting with baited breath to hear about the broccoli-fortified meatballs, I am sorry to say that I have nothing to report. I think my first experiment with the broccoli would have gone fine if I had actually made meatballs and dropped them into sauce to simmer. But instead for some reason I decided to make meatloaf. And it turned out fine, and nobody noticed anything, but it happened to be one of those nights where we never quite sat down together for a family meal, and my daughter wasn’t in a meat-eating mood, and what with one thing and another, I ended up eating that meatloaf myself, and what I didn’t eat was given to the dogs.

For what it’s worth – they loved it.

My next experiment went awry because I used some tromboncino squash that I already had defrosted instead of the milder flavored broccoli. This time I made meatballs and once again did not serve them with sauce and spaghetti. The squash was detected immediately.

So I have ceased all ground-beef-related experiments, for the time being, and have decided to be content with the fact that my mac & cheese is now regularly packing a half-head-of-cauliflower punch.

C’est la vie.

I read an interesting book yesterday called Restoring Harmony by Joelle Anthony (2010). It’s a young adult novel that I found on a dystopian novels reading list, and it interested me because the tag line was “After the crash of 2031, people return to agrarian life.” I would definitely classify this as a gritty book, and I found an interview with the author in which it turns out that she’s kind of a gritty girl, too. I had a little trouble getting into the book at first, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. It was also very inspiring, garden-wise. This is because in a world without oil, and shortages of just about everything, the characters in this novel feed themselves almost entirely out of thier garden. So if you're looking for some garden motivation, or are just of an apocalyptic state of mind - check it out. It's actually a very light and upbeat story. And though it seems odd to say about something that's been classified as a "dystopian" post-apocalyptic tale, I would almost have to call this story wholesome.

I have been sent three different seed catalogues this year and have yet to snuggle down in front of the fire to check them out, but I'll be doing that soon. I have a lot of seeds already, so I may only order seed potatoes, but we'll see what catches my wandering eye...

Once upon a time I had a little girl who ate Indian food with me. Lentil and minestrone soups. Raw sweet potatoes. Beans. She asked to have broccoli for dinner. She asked to have peas.

I have no idea what happened to that child.

Nowadays I’ve got a Mac’n’cheese and hot dog and chicken finger kid. She eats bread with ketchup, and tortilla chips with ketchup. Last night I even saw her taste yogurt with ketchup (yuck!).

It’s not all bad – I mean, she does like and eat plain yogurt. And raw carrots and all kinds of raw fruits. And you should see her dive into a plate of calamari. And she drinks milk, which is more than I can say that I did when I was little. She’s still a far cry from my peanut butter and jelly sandwich days. And it’s an old family story that for a long time a certain family member would eat nothing but tomato soup. Still, these days I find myself thinking of my mother naming a casserole after me because I hated it (I like it now). I find myself thinking of my father saying, “One day when you’re grown up I’m going to come to your house for dinner, and no matter what you put in front of me, I’m going to say ‘yuck!’” (He has never actually done this.)

All of which is to say that – sigh – I’m really feeling my position as a parent these days.

Maybe the problem is that I really do try to put food on the table that my daughter will like, and in so doing, I’m depriving her of the opportunity to try new things, to develop new tastes, to ...

I mean, I’m a Mom. Doesn’t that by definition mean that I must be doing something wrong?

Maybe. But it also means that these days I’m getting super creative with meals.

Enter the neutral-flavored veggies. Stealth veggies, I call them. Rutabaga. Cauliflower. Celery. The veggies that you can sneak into other foods, and which once there, just kind of vanish, leaving behind, depending on which veggies you choose, some traces of Thiamin, B6, Calcium, Magnesium, and phosphorous; Vitamins C, A, and K, Folate, Calcium and Manganese ...

Now that’s a mother’s dream.

I’ve been making my own mac’n’cheese for some time now. I love mac’n’cheese, but not just any old kind. I like a grown-up mac’n’cheese, with goat cheese and feta with the cheddar; with garlic and cayenne pepper; and this is the mac’n’cheese to which my daughter has grown accustomed. Because I happened to have rutabagas on hand recently, fresh from the garden, it occurred to me one day that I could thicken my cheese sauce with them, and give the dish a little nutritional boost. So I did, and it turned out great. I’ve since used celery, potatoes, and cauliflower all to great success. Last week I even added mashed sweet potatoes left over from Christmas dinner, and no one was the wiser.

Sweet potato as stealth veggie – who knew?

If you, too, feel the need for stealth veggies in your life, here’s my mac’n’cheese recipe. It can be varied, depending on what you have on hand. It’s not a huge serving of veggies per bite, but hey, it’s something, right? And I’m a firm believer in the maxim that every little bit counts.

Stealth Veggie Mac’n’Cheese 

8 ounces dried macaroni noodles
1 small rutabaga, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon mashed potatoes
1 heaping tablespoon sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup milk
½ cup crumbled feta cheese
1 generous cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon butter
Garlic powder, cayenne pepper and salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS: Boil macaroni. Drain and set aside.

Boil the rutabaga and celery until soft and drain well. In blender, combine rutabaga, celery, potatoes, flour and milk and liquefy.

In a pan over low heat, melt butter. Add contents of blender and begin to heat. It’s very important that this heat slowly. Add cheeses and spices. Heat slowly, stirring occasionally until cheese is thoroughly melted. Add macaroni and mix together.

You can serve this immediately, or turn it into a buttered casserole dish to brown. If you decide to brown it, do so immediately. If you let it sit too long before baking, the macaroni soaks up the sauce and your baked dish can end up being too dry.

I did this dish with a variety of different vegetables, but it's really a matter of technique, rather than ingredients. I made it a few nights ago with half a head of cauliflower and it was wonderful. I was rewarded with a mother's fondest wish: a clean dinner plate.

Stay tuned next time when I answer the question: How much broccoli can you hide in a meatball before someone notices and sounds the alarm?