A Little Bit About Gardening

Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Happy Halloween!

This is the forest pumpkin and below is the kitty pumpkin.   Both are from a farm stand in Wisconsin.  I saved a few seeds to try to grow next year and roasted the rest. Roasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe heat oven to 325 degrees rinse seeds, coat with butter or olive oil and season with salt [...]

Health Benefits of Basil

  Interestingly, basil is a mild anti-bacterial. Studies published in the February 2004 issue of Food Microbiology, have shown that washing produce in solution containing either basil or thyme essential oil at the very low concentration of just 1% resulted in dropping the number of Shigella, an infectious bacteria that triggers diarrhea and may cause [...]

Harvest Time!

I don’t know about you, but I’ve got tons of tomatoes.  I love searching out the little red and yellow fruits, but when the fridge is full and more are ripening on the vine, it’s time to save.  Blanching tomatoes and making sauce to freeze are great ways to keep some summer for the winter [...]

Wonders of Watercress

You may have a natural spring with watercress growing in it like in Wisconsin.  I wish I were that lucky.   I’ve always known about watercress sandwiches for some reason, but this site, watercress.com, gives you history, recipes, nutritional information, and a little folklore.  Proven to help fight cancer, we all need to add this super [...]

Cigar Rolled Sage

I ran across a great way to save your sage for winter. wash and remove leaves from stems let dry completely so they don’t turn brown in the freezer after they’ve dried, stuff them into the bottom third of a freezer bag roll, as you would a cigar, releasing the air as you go keep [...]

Easy Salsa Recipe

You’ll need a blender for this one, but beyond that, the cooking skills are minimal. ingredients bowl of garden tomatoes (if they’re cherry or pear)/two to three large tomatoes (if beefsteak or other large variety) 3-4 cloves garlic 1-2 limes 1 bunch cilantro 1 red onion (or other onion of choice) hot pepper (jalapeno, serrano, [...]

Chard Pizza

Best idea for chard as of late: Chard, Potato, Garlic, Rosemary PiZzA! I used the recipe for the crust from allrecipes.com with a few adjustments, using 1 cup whole wheat flour, 1 cup white flour, and sugar in the raw.  While dough is rising, preheat oven to 350 degrees. For the sauce, use half a [...]

Revisit! Billy and Katie’s “Secret Garden”

Back in the Spring, I stopped in Wicker Park to visit Billy and Katie’s secret garden.  They’d been given access to the garden lot next to their apartment.  Eager to grow food, be urban farmers, and share the excitement, the two have been hosting garden Thursdays.  I’ve gone a few times and it has been [...]

Green Miso Soup

Just as I have been in over my head in Swiss Chard,  I happened upon my May issue of Yoga Journal and it’s green miso soup recipe! Ingredients 2 tbsp grapeseed oil 1 cup thinly sliced onion 4 cups veggie broth or water 4 cups chopped chard leaves 3 tbsp of white or yellow miso [...]

Blanching Chard

My  Swiss Chard has gone crazy, and I really just can’t eat enough of it.  So today, I took my mom’s advice and blanched some.   thoroughly wash and rise chard (at this point you can also chop it into smaller pieces) while heating a large pot of water to a boil once water comes [...]