Garden Bounty

Our family loves having a garden. We've had one for the last 10 years or so. We try a few new things every year. The kids love to help plant and pick our bounty. They also help weed because they know that the weeds are taking the water and nutrients from our garden plants - so they are totally into it. Plus - pulling weeds - SO SATISFYING!!! And Mr. 15 is the till master around here - we don't even have to ask him to till the front and back yards before he has it done once a week.

This year, we planted: one beef steak tomato plant, one jalapeno, one Anaheim, 2 groups of yellow beets and 2 groups of red beets, 2 kinds of watermelon, pumpkin, cucumber, strawberry and hula berry plants. We also planted cilantro, dill, parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, lavender, sage and 3 kinds of mint.

We've been out of town a lot this summer - so our garden hasn't gotten the love it really needs - BUT we are harvesting like crazy.

I'm going to post some of my favorite garden bounty recipes - some may really surprise you!

Summer Squash Gratin
Roasted Summer Veggies
Jack's Favorite Salsa - we sub the canned tomatoes, jalapenos, cumin and garlic for fresh
Watermelon Salsa
Tomato Pie
Spinach Pie
Avocado Salsa
Patty's Beet Salad
Mary's Salsa
Onion Beet Salad

  Enjoy the harvest!!!

Garlic Herbed Butter

Flavored butter!! Yum! I eat this on toast, on salmon, with ciabatta and I just read that one of my culinary idols, Tom Colicchio, uses herbed butter on his turkey!! Give it a whirl!

Garlic Herbed Butter
2 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
2 Tbsp fresh chives
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 c butter, softened


Combine ingredients in food processor and pulse. Place onto a piece of wax paper and form into a log. Wrap in wax paper and twist ends. Refrigerate.

Herb Garden

I planted my herb garden this weekend! I've had one for the last 3 summers - but the previous 2 summers herbs and veg were planted in whiskey barrels - which are a much safer bet than these plastic containers, but having fresh herbs right in my back yard is so amazing, I thought I'd give these a try...

Sweet Basil. I. Love. Basil. He's looking a bit sad - but I hope he'll perk up in a few days once his roots have a little time to stretch...

This is going to be the first year I've planted cilantro - my husband has a serious aversion to cilantro, but it has been in a few things lately that he has liked - so I'm going to give it a go...

fernleaf dill - ahh dill. So great for dips and fish.

Rosemary. For the last couple years, my rosemary bush was HUGE! Hope this one is just as strong...

...and although tomatoes aren't herbs, I am going to give these a try too...

You can do this too! I suggest whiskey barrels or planting right in the ground. Living here in the extreme desert, the ground is not a good idea and since I no longer have my whiskey barrels - I got these - at Wal-Mart. 10" plastic planters for $8 each. They come in a bunch of fun colors. Since I'm taking a chance on this plastic, I chose to plant only a few herbs. Each little potted herb (they come at the size seen here) for $3 each. The tomatoes came at this size as well and already in a 10" pot - that cost me $10.

Hopefully all goes well and I'll have mounds of fresh herbs in my garden in no time! My girls and I had such a great time planting together. They always love to check on their progress and help out watering and caring for them. Their favorite thing to do is be sent into the back yard to retreive fresh herbs. Even my 3 year old knows what each of the herbs smell like! When we use fresh herbs from our garden - my girls love to tell Daddy why dinner tastes so good... "Dad - can you taste the basil? I picked it fresh from our garden..." and that, my friends, gives me a big ol' smile every. single. time.

Do you have any gardening tips, tricks, suggestions, adventures??