Thursday, February 25, 2021

Too. Much. Garlic.


When Don completed the beautiful pantry here in our new house, I was able to unpack all the canned food, organize it, and take inventory.

It gave me a chance to see what we're low on (pinto beans) and what we have too much of (peas).

What I didn't expect was how much garlic we have canned up.

Holy cow do we have a lot of garlic.

As it turns out, I have 33 pints of it. Thirty-three pints. Anyone have vampire problems? I'd be happy to make a donation.

This underscores something we'll have to factor in as we plan the garden this upcoming spring: how much to grow.

For example, I love growing peas. They're one of my favorite garden plants.

But they're not my favorite vegetable to eat. Once in a while in a chicken pot pie, they're great; but by themselves? Nah. But I just. Love. Growing them.

When we finally plan out our new garden, we'll likely make it bigger than we need, just in case. But there's a chance I won't plant all of it, because I don't need another 33 pints of garlic in the pantry or another 15 pints of peas (at least until the current inventory is used up).

Instead I'll focus on planting what we go through quickly (broccoli, potatoes, strawberries, etc.) and scale back what we go through slowly (peas and apparently garlic).

That's one of the benefits of a well-organized pantry keeping track of inventory.

Meanwhile, we've made a decision: Anything and everything that tastes good with garlic will get a LOT of garlic added to it. After all, we have no shortage.

23 comments:

  1. I hate growing peas, but I LOVE eating them! - lol

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  2. Anything Italian for all that garlic, especially garlic bread. Chickens also love eating it.

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  3. There is no such thing as too much garlic. Not at all. Just recipes with not enough garlic in them.

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    1. I'm with you, no such thing as too much garlic. No vampires anywhere in sight at my house.

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  4. Um, excuse me. Those words in your title don’t go together 😂. I love garlic! I like peas too. Your pantry shelves look great! Right now we have plenty of green beans- they produced twice last year (I never new they could do that.)

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  5. I have the solution to your pea problem. Get ducks rather than chickens. Peas are like candy for my ducks, I haven't been able to grow enough yet!

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  6. To get my kids to eat peas I would brown butter and then add the drained peas to it to heat them. The kids always ate their peas if I did it that way. You can never have enough garlic!

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  7. Just thinking about all those elk and deer. Do you have any 15' tall fencing?

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  8. This recipe is just amazing and uses a lot of garlic, I always double the marinade measurements. If you don't want to use sweet potatoes and dates, just using this marinade with potatoes or carrots, or I've done it with a cut up butternut squash and roasting the chicken over it is delicious as well. I serve it for company, as it is all prepped ahead, is a very allergy friendly meal, makes the house smell amazing and is simply delicious. We love garlic, but 33 pints of it is a LOT. It is always nice to know exactly what is on head though!

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  9. Forgot to add the link! Sorry...https://www.saltandspine.com/recipe/celebration-chicken-with-sweet-potatoes-dates

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  10. There's no such thing as "too much garlic". :-) (I'm from New Mexico. We grow it there. And use it. Lots of it. *LOTS* of it.)

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  11. no cholesterol problems for you!
    I'm jealous. Never too much garlic for us.
    Peas? Maybe :)

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  12. Maybe you are allergic to peas. I never like peas and I and daughter are allergic.

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  13. We would clear that much garlic in a year here. Easily.
    Now peas, not canned. If I freeze them we'll eat them but canned taste bland. I have been known to can them in half pints to go in various recipes where the "fresh" flavor doesn't matter.

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  14. Could you grow the peas and sell them to a local farmer who sells at a farmer's market? Peas are so pretty.

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  15. That is one beautiful pantry!

    Pam

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  16. Dried peas are a great snack. Or you could just get a straw of the appropriate diameter and pelt the unwary.

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  17. Too much.... garlic? I'm sorry, I don't understand the words that came out of your blog here. There is no such thing as too much garlic.

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  18. I"d love to help you out with your little problem there, by taking a jar of home canned garlic off your hands. Really I would. I'd even pay to have you ship it to me lol. I've never tried it home canned, but have been curious whether my garlic loving daughter would like it.

    But therein lies my point I'm about to make. You grow a lot of garlic? You could be the "garlic lady". The guy down the block can be the "bean guy". On other words, sounds like you're already working on a niche without even knowing it.

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  19. What beautiful garden peas! They brought such warm memories of my Dad. He could grow the best ever. Not everybody can grow them so congrats. Thanks for the sweet memory.

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  20. Do you eat them before the peas develop? We love sugar snaps, especially in stir fry!

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  21. How about donating them to a local food bank?

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  22. Going through my pantry, I sort out every item I canned that can't be eaten for expires soon I donate to local food banks or homeless shelters
    Same with too much. I rotate me stuff every year and discard to agencies less fortunate

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