Indoor Garlic

Everything I've read on the internet tells me garlic can't be grown indoors except for the greens.
Ok, I don't need to reinvent the wheel. I planted a few garlic cloves in a planter and put it in a southeast window. I chose cloves that showed signs of sprouting, some cloves from the grocery store are treated to not sprout.
In a very short time the sprouts were up. I pinched off a little to try it. I really was shocked at how powerful the garlic taste was. Not less, like the green part of scallions, but more than a clove itself (a store bought one that is).
I used it like scallions to top off a twice-baked potato...so delicious and colorful.
My husband has been using them in cooking, he also commented that he was suprised at the strong taste.
Note that this is like pinching back a plant. The garlic that had some greens removed actually grew better than the ones we left alone, and has lived longer.
I think I'll need a new spot for my cactus. I want two planters of garlic so we never run out.

Vegetable Pot Pie

A homemade pot pie is nothing like the ones you buy in the grocer’s freezer section. Fresh from the oven they are really delicious. This is an easy and tasty meal. You can adapt it by adding your favorite cooked meat, and use regular gravy (making it even easier).

For Vegetarian Gravy

1 stick butter

Flour

(1) 14 1/2 oz can Vegetable Broth

Make roux: Melt butter in saucepan. Add enough flower to make it pull from the sides of the pan. Remove from pan, set aside.

Pour broth into saucepan. Slowly whisk in enough roux until you have the consistency of cream. You will have some leftover, just refrigerate it, it holds a long time. Simmer to thicken.

For filling:

2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped

Olive oil

Your favorite veggies, fresh or frozen

In a skillet, saute’ the garlic in a little olive oil.

For fresh veggies I added chopped onions (1 large), chopped carrots (3), Chopped celery (3 stalks), rutabaga (1 small), kohlrabi (1). Add a little water and simmer until tender.

I then added 1/2 bag of mixed silician style veggies and 1/2 bag of broccoli. Simmer until thawed. Mix with gravy.

Shell:

You can use premade pie dough or make your own*. I used 2 packages (4 ct. total) to make 4 small double crusted pies.

I varied the pies by adding to different shells: chopped seasoned tofu, rinsed black beans, chopped buffalo “chicken” (morning star) and chopped “beef” (morning star)

Top with remaing pie dough, crimp. Bake at 350 degrees F. until shell is lightly brown. For the small pies this took 18 minutes.

Enjoy!

*My husband and I used to own a restaurant and I did a lot of baking. One week I made a total of 80 pies! I haven’t made one pie crust from scratch since we got out of the business 13 years ago!