Welcome to today's edition of mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk is still busy with work, ed(from Yuma) is still busy vacationing and Cathy is blogging to keep herself busy.
Hi. I haven't posted on my inexpensive meals for a while. This refreshing recipe can be a side dish as well as a main and will cost less than $5. I confess I took the photos for this post when fava beans were 'in season' and really inexpensive (three pounds for $1 at Vine Ripe Market) and fennel was also in season (three for $1 at Vine Ripe). Favas, also known as broadbeans, are ready to eat in mid-spring until early summer. Now, in the heat of summer, when I want to eat this, the herb fennel is 99¢ a head and I buy frozen (not canned) fava beans for this recipe. Sold in one pound boxes for about $3 at Vine Ripe, other Middle Eastern markets and at 99Ranch, the frozen broadbeans are not as 'mushy' as the canned. I've also made this recipe with frozen soy beans (edamame) one time when I was apparently reading-challenged while in the freezer.
These are the primary ingredients (also the juice of one lemon, not in this photo). The fresh fava beans have been boiled, whole, in salted water, then cooled. Fava beans need to be shelled twice; first from the outer pod- once that cools, you can squeeze the pod and the beans shoot out easily- then you can remove the membrane covering the actual beans.
You can see the beans are greener and shinier in this photo because the translucent membranes have been removed. I like fennel because every part of the bulb is edible.
Sliced onion, fennel, mint, parmesan, olive oil, lemon juice and black or white pepper is all that is needed.
Fava Fennel Salad:
Approximate measurements:
one small fennel bulb
1/4 C sliced onion
2 oz Parmesan cheese (1/4 C)
ten sliced mint leaves
Enough olive oil, lemon juice (I try to have two parts oil to one part acid for any salad dressing, some people make it three parts oil to one part acid) to coat everything. Pepper to taste
Toss to coat. Serve at room temperature.
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It's been a hot summer so far. We've been busy with the outdoor garden, growing tomatoes in Topsy Turvey planters around the house…
Inside the greenhouse, 
various lettuces, beans and squashes were started, along with flowers and re-rooting of ground cover. 
Some of the lettuces are housing little frogs… 
A lot of the vegetables are thriving in pots. 
We've already eaten five green bell peppers from this one plant. 
The Mister also built a 4'x8' planter in the yard and we had to buy dirt and chicken manure to fill it. The transplants from the greenhouse are doing well. 
The potted sunflowers are tracking the sun every day and will soon be spread around the yard. 
To end this week and this post, I'd like to introduce you to two of my dogs: This is Tangent, rescued from the Shelter about a year ago. 
This is Extra, another stray, living with us since 2003.
I hope everyone has a nice weekend!
hi cathy – nice garden! did you know you can eat the bell pepper leaves? i like putting the leaves in tinola (ginger based chicken soup with chayote and spinach but pepper leaves give it a kick). fennel is an ingredient that i’m not too familiar with. i’ll have to try this one day.
Thanks, cc. I didn’t know that about bell pepper leaves, but went outside this morning and sampled a piece-really nice! I’m going to put some in the freezer now, to see if they will last longer that way, or will plan on tinola soon. I may toss some in the salad tonight. Fennel is very good raw…has a bit of licorice flavor…sauteed, just in butter, makes a nice side dish for breakfast.
Hey Cathy! The greenhouse looks great and so does the garden. Tangent and Extra are very cute! Glad to see the topsy-turvy planters are working for you. I had them a few years back (bought them from the fair) but I had them too high and had trouble watering them. Needless to say that my tomatoes weren’t the best.
Thanks, Carol! The Topsy Turveys really work for us. We have seven hung on the corners of the house-and The Mister attached chains so they could be at my/watering height. Very heavy with all the dirt and water, but keeps the squirrels at bay. There are more dogs -and cats- living here also. Someday they will pose for photos.