I have begun to investigate slow cooking. With the arrival of Daisy’s calf fast approaching, and Sheila the Babe (hopefully this week), then the milking and the cheese making, I will have at least another two hours work a day and that does not include the clean up. The barn I can clean with a hose. Don’t you wish you could do the same with the kitchen! So I need to find ways to save time. The crock pot has never appealed to me. I honestly prefer my food freshly picked and prepared. But until I get my head around this new regime I am going to have to resort to making dinner in the early afternoon then leaving it to cook alone. My other problem is my old rickety gas stove that has not quite worn itself out yet, needs supervision. It cannot be left on in the house when I am out of the house. So I am reconsidering the less than sexy crock pot.
Yesterday was a case in point, we were racing to get the fencing finished and Daisy’s milking parlour ready. There was no time to muck about in the kitchen. The Kitchens Garden had garlic almost ready to harvest and the broccoli was going to shoot in the terribly hot winds we had yesterday. The lettuce has gone past it. So no quick salad. 
So the dinner ingredients were already decided. That is the best garlic we have grown. 
The challenge: what can you make in a crockpot with these ingredients and leave to cook inside while you are outside for hours. Broccoli and Garlic Soup. Adapted from Not Your Mothers Slow Cooker Cookbook. 
Chop up the peeled broccoli stalks as well as the florets. In the slow cooker add oil, thyme, lemon juice, chicken stock and salt and pepper. Muddle in a whole bulb of chopped and crushed garlic. I cooked it on low for about three hours, then pureed most of it.
It is not a pretty soup but it was good. And fast to serve with minimal clean up.
And now a wee surprise. Daisy and I. Daisy is walking like a cowboy now and not going very far, and so when we were not fencing (again the heat was in the high nineties but this time with gale force winds) I was hanging out with her under the trees. John took the camera from its fencepost and managed to nick an unflattering shot of me in his nieces T-shirt, which I redesigned with a pair of kitchen scissors, and my work skirt, my hair blown straight up, looking like I have been dragged through a bush backwards.
This is probably the first time I have included a full picture of me in the blog. But I have been thinking of perspective lately. How to show size in the shots. A box of matches and Daisy would be silly. And this image does give you an idea of how large Daisy really is. I am 5’7″. Now look at the size of her head again. She just needs to swing that head to dislodge a fly and she has inadvertantly knocked me for a six. She is a gentle giant lately though. Such a big animal to have in my care. Stepping so carefully, poor fat cow in the heat.
Good morning. Queenie Wineti, The Bobby (this years steer) and Hairy MacLairy are all out in the newly fenced Dairy Mistress paddock. They are more than happy with their new field. I can check them from my kitchen window which makes life very easy. And gives me something to look at when I do the dishes. (Where is that hose!)
I think we have an ordinary day ahead of us. The usual chores and rounds. So it will be a good solid and peaceful day. There are no surprises in the plan. Touch wood. You have a lovely day too.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
100 responses to “A rare sighting of miss c and Broccoli with Garlic Soup”
Great to put another picture to the name – I have missed your blog and have so much catching up to do! Interesting that you slow cooked the broccoli – husband doesn’t like it overlooked as he says it tastes more cabbagynthe longer you cook it. I think you might have just proved him wrong. Hope all’s well with you and daisy is looking mighty fine!
Morning Noodle .. It went against the grain to slow cook it .. i think the garlic and lemon were pretty important ingredients!! and i did want to give that recipe a try! we have so much borccoli.. c
Looks like you more than lost the excess weight you were trying to shed some time back. That’s good – more room for wine now. Daisy, on the other hand, is looking appropriately sturdy.
I find a crock pot quite useful on days when I know I’ll be too strapped for time to do anything else. My stand-bys (bies?) are a bean concoction and chicken in cider.
Chicken with cider sounds good, .. very good…morning annie c
Your blog gives me some much-needed equilibrium and I thank you c
Morning honey, I hope you get some quiet moments today!! c
I hope too – about to go to bed as it’s 9pmish here – you have a great day Cecilia and many thanks! Julie
Well i hope you are going to have a good quiet sleep then, Julie!! (laughter!)
I think you are pretty! Daisy too, poor dear! Any minute now, looks like. Sending good thoughts for a smooth surprise-free delivery…
Yes, smooth is a good word when associated with a birth!! Morning maggie! c
daisy is a big girl! i can’t wait to see her calf. do you help her calf or does a vet come in? we are supposed to get rain today woohoo!!! i might go out and sit in it!
unlike my silly sheep who has too many lambs at once, Daisy should be able to manage it all herself, unless the calf gets stuck then I call Daisy’s
breeder or the man down the road who is an old dairy farmer. It is next to impossible to get a vet to come when you need them. They are all too busy. She is a big healthy cow, fingers crossed.. c
If that’s an unflattering photo then you’re very goodlooking! And 5’7 sounds so tall, Daisy is a giant amongst cows! No, it’s always easy to forget how big they actually are. Just see crockpots as the economical alternative to old fashioned leaving a pot on the stove all day. Healthy, nutritious and economic. And perfect for the heat actually even though they seemed to be viewed as a winter thing! 🙂
The crock pot certainly does not heat up the kitchen like the oven does! c
You’re right, with you standing next to Daisy, we can really see how huge she is! Isn’t she the one that you said doesn’t meander about (normally) and usually gallops wherever she needs to go? Now that I’ve seen her true size…that would be a bit scary! I love that you do your farm chores in Converse and a mini-skirt! 😉
Have a great day! ~ April
yes she is the fence jumper and the visitor scarer, galloping AT them across the fields.. not so much nowadays!! c
I have to say that I’ve used a crockpot for 30 years, admittedly mainly in winter for casseroles, and I wouldn’t be without it, especially for those tougher cuts of meat or an old chicken. But soup can be made in it at any time of year – chilled down perhaps for your furness-like temperatures! And as for the ‘bush backwards’ look, if many more of us get into this self-sufficiency thing, it could make an appearance on the catwalk!!! Sort of Rural Grunge! I love it, although long trousers are essential here as there’s nothing worse than a cloud of midges up yer skirt!
Christine
You are so funny Christine.. a cloud of midges up your skirt~!~ c
Soup sounds delicious! I also have started boiling up some pasta and eggs -for future meals – as it’s supposed to get up to 38 degrees celsius (100+F) today up here in Canada. Just when you think is going to be a quiet day, BAM!, you might have a new calf…..!!!!! Enjoy your day my friend.
I am not ready!~!!. GMom.. I had better get a wriggle on! c
I’m back home and so glad I didn’t miss the baby calf’s arrival.. now not looking again:) I thought your soup was gorgeous, the spring green matched perfectly with that bowl. I have bowl envy now.. my favorite sort of dish, you know:) You are 5’7″ and willowy!!! Your talk of perspective had me laughing.. I’d likely come up to Daisy’s snout:) xoxo Smidge
That is so funny, I have always imagined you as tall. You write Tall, Smidge!! c
No surprises in your day? Moooo. And this from another Alice (Wonderland)
Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!
Beau – ootiful Soo – oop!
Beau – ootiful Soo – oop!
Soo – oop of the e – e – evening,
Beautiful, beautiful Soup!
Awesome Alice.. How cool to have Alice in Wonderland drop through to visit!! Thank you.. c
Good morning pretty lady with the hot body!
Poor Daisy must really be feeling the heat now!
Have a happy day.
🙂 Mandy
You too Mandy, have a great day! c
Just love the picture of you and Daisy, Celi!!! It was a big surprise to see a picture of you! You look great! I’m guessing though, by your very cute farmer’s outfit, that you don’t have a big problem with ticks and chiggers on your place. Sadly, they are a bit of a nightmare here. Di
I guess we don’t have chiggers, no-one has even mentioned them, we do get ticks but not as badly as you guys.. we do have biting flies today which is supposed to mean rain but i don’t see any!! c
Poor Daisy – I well remember the horror of a heatwave only half-way through pregnancy! Please can we have more photos of you: you looki like a super-model.