food

Cool Season Vegetables vs. Warm Season Vegetables

May 19, 2016 by Vanessa Myers

Welcome, I’m so glad you’re here!

Are you itching for beautiful weather so you can get your veggies planted? You are not alone! Fresh vegetables are the highlight of most gardens, with fresh, healthy and delicious produce. Just make sure to plant the right veggies at the right time to get the best results!

Vegetable garden season is upon us and many gardeners are happily planning out their shopping trips to the nursery. It’s tempting to put out every kind of vegetable that you want to grow, all at the same time.

However, it’s important to know whether the types you are planting are cool season vegetables or warm season vegetables so that you can plant them at the appropriate times and help ensure the best crop possible.

Click NEXT to see the Cool Season Veggies and when to plant them!

Image by *Jay~bay* under a Flickr Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives License

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10 Veggies to Plant Now to Save Money Later

May 18, 2016 by Jenn Crookston

Hello! So glad to you’re here!

Do you love fresh, delicious produce, but you also love saving money? Then you’re in the right place! I’m sharing ten of my favorite veggies that not only taste better grown at home, but’ll keep more green in your wallet, too!

I am blessed with a household of children who love to eat veggies. When I hear parents planning/plotting ways to get more veggies into their children’s diet I say a silent prayer of gratitude that isn’t a battle I have to fight!

But because we love our veggies so much, we tend to fly through them, especially during the summer months, when it’s hot and a heavy meal is too much. This year, instead of running to the grocery store every other day, we can just run out to the garden!

Let me start by saying, if your family hates tomatoes, growing them yourself probably won’t make your kids suddenly love them (even though they definitely taste better than store-bought!).

So before you start planting, think of things your family enjoys and build around that. Eat a ton of spinach? Plant a ton! Love kale, but hate spending $5 every week for a bag of organic baby leaves? Put that on your garden list. Save money by planting what you’ll actually eat and cross them off your grocery list!

There are a ton of great veggies that grow well here in Utah. My list saves me money every year and they taste amazing fresh from the garden (and yes, I know a tomato isn’t botanically a vegetable, but in our house it falls into that category!).

Click NEXT to see what 10 garden veggies are saving me money!

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5 Dos and Don’ts for Planting Herbs

May 17, 2016 by Sydney Anderson

Hi friends! I’m so glad you stopped by!

Don’t you just love the smell and taste of fresh herbs?! Want to have fresh, healthy herbs at home without the expense of an extra grocery store run? (And have you seen how much they charge for a tiny container of wilted herbs?!)

I’ve cooked with both store-bought and homegrown herbs, and I can tell you two things. One, homegrown always tastes better, and two, you can’t just plant a bunch of herbs in a pot and hope they thrive.

As our family grows, so does our food budget. I’m starting to find ways I can cut our grocery bill here and there so that by the time my kids are teenagers we won’t be stuck spending $1000 a month just on food!

One of the first things to know is not all herbs are created equal! Some need more water, some like less sun, some have long roots and need space to grow. I’m going to share five lessons I’ve learned when it comes to growing your own herbs!

Click NEXT to see the 5 Dos and Don’ts for Growing Great Herbs!

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Fresh Tomato Soup

November 4, 2014 by Becky

Fresh tomato soup is one of our family’s favorite go-to soups. It’s comfort food for sure, and pairs perfectly with grilled cheese (a staple in our home)! There are variations galore, but this is a basic, actually-tastes-like-garden-fresh-tomatoes soup.

This is one of our favorites, especially when you need something quick on a busy weeknight. It only takes about 20 minutes to throw together, and you don’t have to have a lot of special ingredients. Just a few pantry staples and, of course, some lovely ripe tomatoes!

This is a great recipe to double, or even triple, and freeze some for another night. If tomatoes aren’t in season and you don’t have any left from your garden, you can easily substitute canned tomatoes (use 28 oz whole peeled or diced tomatoes).

Ingredients

https://westerngardens.com/fresh-tomato-soup/

To make the grilled cheese croutons, butter one side each of two pieces of bread. Place cheese slices between the bread, making sure the buttered sides are facing out. Cook in a panini press until both sides are golden brown. Cut into squares and add to soup.

*Butter or avocado oil may be substituted for the coconut oil.

How to Freeze Basil Pesto

October 9, 2014 by Becky

Pesto is a great way to use up a lot of basil if your garden is bursting at the seams, or if you need to harvest it before a drop in temperature. The basil pesto recipe we posted last week is a great one to try, especially if you’re looking for a less expensive pesto that still has wonderful flavor (we used pecans instead of pine nuts!).

But what if you make a big batch of pesto and you can’t finish it before it starts to go bad? Freeze it! Freezing pesto is simple, but we have a few tips to keep it fresh and green. Pesto oxidizes (darkens when exposed to air), so keep reading to find out how to keep it looking bright and green!

Start out with clean ice cube trays and a cookie scoop. My scoop is 1 tablespoon, and since two would have overfilled the tray, I placed one scoop in each pocket. You will need just a little space at the top, so don’t fill it completely full.

Once you have all of your pesto scooped into the trays, gently tap them on the counter to remove any air bubbles and to settle the pesto into an even layer. Lightly drizzle a thin layer of olive oil over the top of each pesto cube. This will help seal out any air that could turn your pesto brown.
When you are finished drizzling the oil, cover the tray with a layer of plastic wrap and press it gently onto the pesto to remove the air. Once the air has been pressed out, just place it in the freezer!

I missed a spot on the plastic wrap…it probably pulled when I picked up the tray. Check yours before you set it in the freezer just to make sure it didn’t shift like mine! Because of the oil, it retained it’s green color as it froze, but I like to be double sure that my food will be perfect when I want to use it!

Once your pesto is frozen (I left mine overnight), remove the plastic wrap and run the bottom of the trays under cold water for a second or two to loosen the pesto, if necessary (be careful not to get water on the pesto).

Label a gallon size freezer bag, being sure to include the size of your pesto cubes.

Now just remove the cubes from the trays and toss them all in the bag!

They should be a lovely green color. Now you are ready to pull out exactly how much you need when you’re ready to eat it! Garden-fresh flavor any time. Doesn’t get much better!
Be sure to squeeze out as much air as possible before you put your bag of pesto in the freezer, and you’re done! Easy!

Basil Pesto

October 1, 2014 by Becky

If you still have tons of basil in your garden and can’t stand to see it go to waste at the end of the season, basil pesto is the perfect solution! You can make it exactly how you like it for MUCH less than you will pay at the grocery store. It’s delicious in all sorts of recipes…and you can even freeze it (stay tuned for simple instructions)! There are so many reasons to make pesto, so don’t let that beautiful basil go to waste!

Pesto is very versatile…you can make it a strong flavor or make it more mild (which is especially helpful if you’re cooking for kids – or anyone else – who doesn’t like strong flavors!), and you can even add in other greens and different kinds of nuts. This recipe changes up traditional pesto just a little bit, but it still has a wonderful, rich flavor that will make you happy you made a big batch! You can always make a smaller batch, but if you have a lot of basil from your garden, this recipe is perfect for using it up!

Ingredients

https://westerngardens.com/basil-pesto/

Enjoy your pesto tossed with pasta, on baked potatoes or spread on bread! And stay tuned for some upcoming recipes that use this delicious pesto!

Pine nuts are traditionally used in pesto, and walnuts are often used as a substitution. We used pecans in our recipe and loved the results!

For a stronger flavor, add in one additional cup of basil leaves and omit the spinach.

Spinach Salad with Marinated Tomato & Basil

September 16, 2014 by Becky

Tomatoes in a salad are nothing new. More like an old standby, really. But if you are new to marinating tomatoes before you add them to your salad, this recipe just might knock your socks off!

Perhaps unless you’re shopping at a farmer’s market, homegrown garden-fresh tomatoes really have no equal. Even a good, expensive tomato from the grocery store can never compare in flavor and texture to a vine-ripened, juicy tomato from the garden. John Denver even sang about homegrown tomatoes! If you’ve never heard the song, give it a listen. It’s cute…and true. Winter without homegrown tomatoes is most definitely a “culinary bummer!”

The balsamic dressing for this salad is simple and goes together quickly, but it adds a wonderful dimension to the tomatoes. With just a few simple ingredients, your side salad will become the highlight of your meal!

Ingredients

https://westerngardens.com/spinach-salad-marinated-tomato-basil/

Give this simple salad a try and you might just start marinating all your tomatoes!

For more great recipes using tomatoes and basil, check out:

Caprese Appetizers

September 10, 2014 by Becky

These beautiful caprese appetizers are the perfect addition to any meal. They are light, full of flavor, and fun to make! You will love them because they are easy and delicious…and when the tomatoes and basil come out of your garden, they’re inexpensive too! (And who doesn’t love that?!) caprese appetizer 5

One of the very best summer tastes is a garden-fresh homegrown tomato. And one of my favorite garden-fresh tomatoes is the Sunsugar cherry tomato. They’re sweet and delicious…and perfect for an appetizer like this! Especially if your plants are producing more than you can eat and you need more ideas to use them up! (Because when my sunsugar plant starts producing, I can hardly keep up with it!)

Stack it with some basil, balsamic, bread & cheese, and you’ve got an appetizer that just might ruin your dinner!

Ingredients

https://westerngardens.com/caprese-appetizers/

For the most amazingly easy way to slice cherry tomatoes in seconds, see our tutorial!

This is a fun appetizer to customize any way you want it. Change up the order of ingredients, or the way you assemble it! Or even make each of them different. No matter how you put them together, they taste incredible and you won’t be able to stop at just one! It’s the perfect combination of flavors…which means you might not save room for dinner. But when the appetizers are this good, who cares?!