Eat the harvest

28 Jan
2013
comparing home-grown and store-bought sweet potatoes for taste, color and texture

Home-grown vs. store-bought: sweet potatoes!

We gardeners claim lots of reasons for our obsession hobby. There’s the exercise and sunlight (never mind all those times we’ve hurried to finish a garden task in bad weather). There are bragging rights and the pride of feeding ourselves and others with something we grew in our own garden. ...

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28 Aug
2012
tomato basil mozzarella salad is delicious and easy to make

Tomato and basil and mozzarella salad

There are many fine and delicious things to eat in the summertime, but none of them compare to the tangy and creamy wonderfulness of a tomato and basil and mozzarella salad made with homegrown tomatoes, fresh basil and quality mozzarella. I could eat this every day. Sometimes, in July and ...

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14 Aug
2012
corn feature image

How to save summer corn for winter use

I love summer corn in the summer. Grilled in its husk, sweet corn is a divine lunch or an unbeatable side with a dinner of, well, anything. But, I also love summer corn in the winter. I eat sweet summer corn in winter soups and stews and chilies. I sauté ...

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5 Aug
2012
well grilled corn is delicious

Perfect grilled corn

It’s early August, and everything tastes of summer. The tomatoes. The watermelon. The corn. Oh, yum, the corn. Let’s talk about the corn. Perfectly grilled, nearly-too-hot-to-touch, summertime sweet corn, loaded with butter and salt and pepper and tasting of perfection. Can you tell? I love summer sweet corn. This recipe ...

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18 Jul
2012
Summertime quinoa with tomatoes, cucumbers and mozzarella

Summertime quinoa with tomato, cucumber and mozzarella

Quinoa wasn’t supposed to be on the menu last night. This recipe was a bit of an accident. A delicious, happy accident. I had my heart set on cucumber mint ice cream. This is all because I have this massive amount of cucumbers to use. I lost my cukes to ...

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23 May
2012
fresh-picked chamomile flowers in a bowl

The very first chamomile harvest. Now what?

I picked some flowers today. Chamomile flowers. For tea. Supposedly. I’m honestly not exactly sure what I’m doing. Here’s what I know: Chamomile tea can be made with either Roman chamomile or German chamomile. The two plants are totally different species, but their flowers, flavors and uses are very similar. ...

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15 May
2012
homegrown frozen strawberries

Yesterday’s strawberries

Yesterday’s fresh-picked strawberries have become today’s frozen strawberries. Eventually, they’ll become some sort of homemade strawberry deliciousness: ice cream, margarita or mojito, cake topping, ice cream… Yeah, I realize I mentioned ice cream twice. Homemade strawberry ice cream deserves to be mentioned at least twice. Since I’m not sure exactly ...

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5 May
2012
sage-featured

Sage: What are your favorite recipes?

I’m having a little love affair with sage these days. A few days ago, there was that misty morning that made the berggarten sage glow with silver moisture. Then, yesterday, the garden sage burst into bloom: I really can’t get enough of it, and have decided the only solution is ...

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19 Mar
2012
'Dinosaur' kale flower buds look just like the flower buds on broccoli and broccoli rabe. No surprise: the three plants are distant relatives.

Kale blossoms, cooked two ways

Last week, I noticed that my ‘Dinosaur’ kale plant was about to bloom. Bummer, I thought. Bolting lettuce is bitter. Bolting chard is bitter. So, I figured, bolting kale must be bitter too. Time to pull the over-wintered beauty out of the garden and toss it into the compost heap. ...

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