Using Your Garden

Our garden is flourishing! Our tomatoes are just starting to ripen on the vine which gets our creative cooking juices going. Gardening can be fulfilling for so many reasons and it can also help save some money on vegetables from the store. A new article this week by the AP highlights the hidden dangers that may sneak up on the novice gardener. It stemmed from a mix up by a celebrity chef who mistakenly recommended a toxic herb that had a similar name as a non-toxic herb. Not his finest recipe! The beauty of herbs is that many do in fact have medicinal qualities. Likewise, they may also contain toxic substances as well, especially if eaten in large quantities or if combined with certain medications. Here are a few examples they cited:

• Garden Pea is non-toxic, but the sweet pea planted for it's beautiful scent is toxic if consumed.


• Potatoes have toxic glycoalkalaoids throughout their stems and in the tuber itself. Ever leave a potato on the windowsill in the sun for a while? You will notice that it turns green. This is a concentration of those toxins and a warning that they potato is no longer edible. Fried green potatoes should not be on the menu. Throw away a potato if it is green.


• Leaves of the tomato plan, avocado, horse radish and rhubarb are toxic, so do not attempt to get creative with these greens.


• Nutmeg in large quantities can lead to nausea, vomiting and even hallucinations according to this article. I now understand where my banana bread went horribly wrong one year.

So if you are thinking of producing your own vegetable garden, do it, but make sure you know what you are planting and how to use them. This link has a lot of different useful tips: http://www.gardenguides.com/

Below are some pictures of the foods from our garden that we recently used in a Friday night Italian feast! In white are the foods that came right from the garden.

Appetizers: Jalapenos, cheddar (50% light Cabot-my favorite), cucumbers and dill, tomatoes and basil drizzled with olive oil.

Main Course: Chicken Parmesan with homemade tomato sauce, oregano, basil, parsley. Dipping sauce of olive oil, garlic, garden spices.

Handy tip: Here is a link to a neat article in fine cooking for Cutting a Chiffonade of Basil. You will look like a pro and it saves time. http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/articles/cutting-chiffonade-basil.aspx

They also have a great link to facts about growing basil. Basil is one of my favorite herbs. It adds so much flavor to so many meals. http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/dtSearch/searchResultsPlantGuide.aspx?searchfor=basil&channel=plantguide&page=1

Cutting calories in the dish below: we used low-fat cheese and portion control on this meal! Our plates were filled with 3 oz of chicken (looks like the palm of your hand or a deck of cards) and 1/2 cup-1 cup pasta. The rest of our plates were filled with veggies in the form of a salad.

7-Day Goals: Try to find a way to use fresh vegetables this week. If you do not have your own garden, try to find a farmstand or simply get them from your local grocer. Use your imagination and try to find a creative way to fill 1/2 your plate with veggies.

~K