The Monster Kohlrabi!

I had a good time today after finding that in my town a guy was selling his extra garden produce on a you-pick-it bases. I went out there this morning around ten and found a very nice raised bed garden full of tomatoes, lots of peppers, kohlrabi, sorrel, grapes, cukes and lots of fruit trees. I did not think about taking my camera with me but I wish I would have. The tomatoes were just about gone and were getting sunscald pretty bad but I picked enough for a nice tomato based veggie soup that I was craving. I looked over to the edge and saw these huge kohlrabi plants. I am used to seeing regular sized kohlrabi but these things were the size of cabbage. The owner is from Bulgaria so Bulgarian veggies are what are there, and he was telling me how he cooked all this stuff and it sounded interesting but mostly was with added sour cream or chicken so I my wheels started turning about how I could use them in my Eat For Health program. I did purchase a huge one and he weighed it out but I did ask for the leaves which he said he threw away. I brought it all home and steamed the tomatoes and then put them in ice water, broke them up in the pot, added some of his peppers and an onion cut up along with the five of the kohlrabi leaves put through the high speed blender. I did pour that through a nut milk bag though but it was the brightest, greenest juice that I have ever seen. I set it to cooking, scorched the bottom (but that made it taste like fire roasted tomatoes) and added some cut up cabbage. Well, it was so salty tasting that I could not believe it was not salted. I did add a ton of herbs especially some frozen basil but wow, all I can figure is that my taste has finally totally changed. I loved it but my hubby did not care for it because he said it had too much flavor, go figure. I don’t think the huge greens I got with it are going to be good as cooked greens but I am going to blender-juice them and use them in smoothies and soup. I took the huge kohlrabi and carved off the outer skin (I saved it to liquefy in my next creamy soup) and cut it into slabs. Hubby tasted it raw and said he liked it and it reminded him of diakon so I bagged up some of those. I took the rest and cut in strips and baked with a few yams for an hour ten minutes with herbs and balsamic vinegar. I liked it but I noticed that it was hard to cook to soft stage so I will probably use those for soup too but I like the yams a lot. I think it may be good cooked some more on the stove and run through the HS blender for a mash. This is all very low calorie food that is loaded with phytochemicals. I am having fun just seeing how many ways I can make EFH program foods and eek out ever cent I can so I can continue to buy the best in nutrition. I see it as a fun challenge and try never to throw any food away. At the garden I also got some nice pears, figs, grapes and the sorrel that I have never used before. Next time I visit the garden I am going to get some pics for the blog so stay tuned.