cooking!

a few things I have done to eat my own plants this week:

Cut a bunch of Swiss Chard

the plants look great!

and put it in a pasta sauce. I used a tomato sauce base, added minced Garlic, Oregano and Parsley (all home-grown), bay leaf (something I'd like to grow some day, but I read that bay trees are difficult) and the Chard, wilted a bit in some olive oil.

It was very good over pasta with a sprinkling of parmesan on top. I've still got some left and am thinking to try it over lentils tonight.

Another day I tried my hand at making rosemary bread again. This time I used the rustic bread recipe and just added about four heaping tablespoons of dried Rosemary, rubbed into smaller bits between palms.

My bread still turns out a bit too dense, doesn't rise as much as I want it to. Perhaps because my apartment is kept cold, so I don't have a good warm spot to keep it in. (I kept rewarming the oven). But the flavor was just what I wanted. I discovered by happy accident that I love rosemary bread with honey. Once we ordered pizza and the breadsticks side wasn't the usual cheesy kind but a bread full of rosemary. I tried it with honey and the flavor combination is fantastic. Now I'm thinking of making rosemary bread every week!

The highlight of the week was an alaska salmon my mother herself caught! I poached it in milk with a bit of flour stirred in to make it creamy and flavored simply with dried Dill I grew last summer, and fresh Tarragon from my windowsill. It was so good I only got a picture when it was cooking in the pan; we ate it promptly (but also slowly, to enjoy the flavor more!). Thanks, Mom!!!

This used up the rest of my dried Dill- I will have to grow more! Becoming quite fond of that herb.

The Tarragon is also a current favorite; I put it in eggs quite often. The poor plant never has a chance to grow big because I keep eating it!