It seems these days that when I'm not knitting I'm either out in my garden or cooking with vegetables and herbs picked from my garden. The greenness of North Carolina is still quite shocking to me, since I grew up in a desert. A couple days ago I spent the afternoon sitting in a lawn chair, reading my library books and enjoying the view of all the trees with their new green leaves. I took more photos of my garden, which has grown substantially over the week since I last took photos. I think I have the pouring rain to thank for that!
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This is my first time growing strawberries, so I am completely ecstatic to see all the flowers and little green strawberries on my plants. I don't know how many strawberries I'll get from 4 plants, but if I can keep a few for myself from the birds I'll be happy. The tomato plants are just starting to bloom, so I'm looking forward to the future bombardment of tomatoes. Hopefully I'll have lots of salsa and caprese salad in my future.
Already every night I am making salad from my romaine and looseleaf lettuce blends. It is funny to think about all the ingredients that go into a salad and how they are typically from different growing seasons. Lettuce and carrots are cool weather vegetables, while tomatoes and cucumbers are warm weather vegetables. Hopefully there will be some overlap before my lettuce bolts that I can enjoy a salad of all homegrown vegetables.
Homemade ranch dressing is my new favorite thing to make since I'm growing so many herbs. My very rudimentary recipe: half sour cream, half mayonnaise, a dash of milk (until these three ingredients are the consistency you want- thick for a dip or runny for salad dressing), a dash of lemon juice for acidity, ground pepper, salt, a clove of crushed garlic, then whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. I use larger portions of dill and chives, then medium portions of mint, cilantro, and parsley, and small bits of thyme and tarragon. I roll up the herbs like a cigar and use my kitchen shears to cut them. I like this better than chopping because you don't lose any of the juices on your chopping board and you can make the slices pretty darn thin.
Already every night I am making salad from my romaine and looseleaf lettuce blends. It is funny to think about all the ingredients that go into a salad and how they are typically from different growing seasons. Lettuce and carrots are cool weather vegetables, while tomatoes and cucumbers are warm weather vegetables. Hopefully there will be some overlap before my lettuce bolts that I can enjoy a salad of all homegrown vegetables.
Homemade ranch dressing is my new favorite thing to make since I'm growing so many herbs. My very rudimentary recipe: half sour cream, half mayonnaise, a dash of milk (until these three ingredients are the consistency you want- thick for a dip or runny for salad dressing), a dash of lemon juice for acidity, ground pepper, salt, a clove of crushed garlic, then whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. I use larger portions of dill and chives, then medium portions of mint, cilantro, and parsley, and small bits of thyme and tarragon. I roll up the herbs like a cigar and use my kitchen shears to cut them. I like this better than chopping because you don't lose any of the juices on your chopping board and you can make the slices pretty darn thin.
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