From the Herb Garden to the Autumn Kitchen

Happy Fall Y'all

As the heat and humidity of a southern summer has loosened it's grip, we welcome cooler temperatures and sweet, fresh air making it's way into the house through open windows.

That cooler air seems to give me a burst of energy that was in shorter supply over the summer.

Last week I used one of those bursts of energy to empty out my herbs and spice drawer.  The drawer got wiped out and each jar was gone through to see what needed to be replaced or tossed out.  Once that was done I organized it in a more logical fashion.  It felt good to have that accomplished in time for all of the cooking and baking that will be taking place in the coming months.

For the first time, I decided to dry chives from my herb garden.

After washing and drying them, I snipped them up and set them in shallow bowls on the kitchen counter.  In a few days they were dry and ready to make a tasty addition to scrambled eggs, potatoes, soups or just about anything that could use a hint of mild onion flavoring.

I recently learned about drying herbs in a paper bag.

With this method I washed and dried the herbs and then put them into a paper bag leaving plenty of breathing room around them.

From there they went into a dark closet.  Every few days I would give the bag a couple shakes.  In a week or two they were dried beautifully.  No oven or dehydrator required.

I successfully dried oregano, parsley and lemon balm using that method.  The next thing I will be doing is mint.  Sometimes the mint seems like a nuisance as it is taking over and growing rampant.  But then something makes me remember how delicious it is.  In this case, it was the other evening after having a rather late and heavy meal for dinner.  I prepared a cup of mint tea and enjoyed it on the patio.  Darkness had set in, the autumn air so refreshing, solar lights adding color to the darkness and the nocturnal animals heard, but not seen.  We rarely sit outside in the dark.  This turned out to be an enjoyable after dinner ritual, particularly now that the patio is screened and the mosquitoes left Brett alone.  The tea was better than an after dinner mint and seemed to work wonders in helping to settle that heavy meal.

My dried herbs have also been making their way into new uses.

Sprinkles.

Something I learned about from this book:

Combinations of herbs and spices that can be mixed together and sprinkled onto our food to add beneficial health benefits.  

I have learned so much from this book.

It has made me want to appreciate and use the herbs I grow to the fullest.  I have also become familiar with herbs and spices that I had never heard of.  Her knowledge and presentation (like the thoughts above) really resonate with me.  A fairly simple way to work at keeping myself and my family healthy.

Hello Summer

On this first day of summer I am taking a moment to appreciate the gifts my small garden has to offer.

~ Flowers for cutting

~ Fresh blueberries 

~ A wide variety of herbs

I am learning that you don't have to a have a huge garden to still enjoy a steady stream of bouquets for the house.  I think it's more about making careful selections with what you plant.

While it would be lovely to have enough blueberries to add some to the freezer, I am content to be picking a handful here and there to add to my breakfast cereal and overnight oats.  Perhaps as the years go by, the harvest will increase.

As I continue to learn about the many health benefits herbs have to offer, I am making a better effort to use them daily.  Above is one of two jars of dried oregano.  In the early spring, it was apparent that the plant was out of control.  Rather than toss the excess, I dried most of it.  I gifted my sister-in-law with the other jar.  She has been enjoying it in her spaghetti sauce and homemade pizzas.

~ Spring Oregano Harvest ~

~  Deviled Eggs with Herbs ~

The deviled eggs we had for Easter tasted so good with dill and chives sprinkled on top.

As I'm finishing this post, Brett has just come in with 3 more tomatoes.  That makes 7 so far.  Not bad for two plants on the patio and plenty for the two of us.

Is there anything thriving in your garden on this first day of summer?

🌞🌞🌞

  
 

Holly Jolly

While I was getting my outside morning light today, I collected some greenery from the garden.  Rosemary and two types of holly. Back when I chose the plants for my garden space, I put a lot of thought into favorite plants that would serve more than one purpose. In other words, they needed to be not only pretty, but also be something that could provide bouquets, be edible, provide shade, encourage beneficial insects, be food for the birdies...  Well, you get the idea. With such a small garden, it was an exercise in restraint.

Hollies that provided beautiful berries made it onto the list.

We grew many different hollies in our last garden.  They do well in our naturally acidic soil.  Even though there were several varieties, I was usually hard pressed to find berries to use at Christmastime.  Sometimes the birds beat me to them and sometimes the plants didn't produce.  Therefore, I researched a size suitable for this garden and learned they were best planted with a male and female plant in close proximity.  When they were planted last summer they looked a bit scraggly.  But, it seems they did whatever they had to do to produce some beautiful red berries.  I was able to clip enough sprigs for an arrangement and there are still plenty for the birds.

🐦🐦🐦

Just the pop of red I was looking for and the rosemary is adding a nice pop of fragrance.

How are your holiday decorating plans progressing?

                                                     

Appreciating The Gifts of Nature

The great outdoors has been providing gifts to make our stay-at-home days prettier, tastier and slightly more interesting.

Currently in bloom is the Annabelle hydrangea.  I love that it only takes a few to make an arrangement for the dining table.  I really love them in an aqua Ball jar and if it's a vintage jar, even better.

Speaking of vintage...

I couldn't resist finding a flower in the garden for this wee Ball jar.

I've been picking a few blueberries every day.

So good on our cereal or oats in the morning.

One afternoon I stepped out on the patio and was greeted with this.

I probably would have missed it altogether had I not gone out there for something.

After the rain, it was a beautiful sight.  One I didn't want to miss.  So, I dashed in to fetch a beverage.

A refreshing glass of iced tea.

I sat and sipped and enjoyed nature's beautiful gift.

🌈🌈🌈

The tea was made earlier with the mint that is currently flourishing in the garden.

I popped a sprig in with one of these green tea tea bags.

A tasty, healthy way to wet your whistle.

While I'm not advertising the Luzianne brand of tea, I do think it's my favorite.  I also love it in the regular (non-green) form.  

Are you an iced tea drinker and, if so, do you have a favorite?

A side note on the new Blogger format:

After reading about the changes I decided to bite the bullet and try this post using the new format.  I'm in the group who resists change, especially with regards to computer related topics.  I have to say it wasn't too different.  The one thing I couldn't figure out at first was how to enlarge photos.  Thankfully I was able to figure it out after exploring a bit further.

I guess the true test will be when the publish button is hit.

Ready... Set... Go!

(wish me luck :)

From the Herb Garden ~ Dehydrating Rosemary

I've been growing rosemary in my garden for years.

Usually when I want to use some in cooking, I clip a few sprigs, mince it up and add it to the food. That works fine for the most part, but sometimes if the weather is stormy or I'm in my pj's and don't feel like trotting out to the garden, it loses it's appeal

This morning I decided to take measures to insure that there would be rosemary at the ready despite the circumstances.

Here the rosemary grows in the ground year round and, if I'm not careful, it will soon be a rather large shrub.  So it is a good idea to prune it a bit every now and then.  

After a light pruning I washed and lightly dried the trimmings.

Then I laid them out on the dehydrator rack that came with my counter top oven.

I've had this oven over a year now and just realized it had a dehydrate feature.  :)

I guess it's time to put it to the test.  

The door stays ajar while the dehydrating takes place inside.

The scent of drying rosemary is a bit like Christmas.

 Once dried, I removed the needles from the stems

and ran them through my coffee grinder.  Actually, I no longer grind coffee beans at home so it has been repurposed into an herb grinder.  

I chose to grind it up pretty fine as sometimes despite how finely I chop it, rosemary is a bit woody.  I think this will be just the texture I'm looking for when I use it on the potatoes I'll be roasting for dinner tonight.  

If you are a fan of rosemary, what are your favorite ways to use it?

From the Herb Garden ~ Chive Blossom Vinegar

 In all the years I've been growing chives, I've never once made vinegar with the blossoms.  I have seen the pretty pink-hued final product in some of my herbal books and thought maybe someday I'd try it.  Well, I guess that day has finally come.

At the start of our stay home orders, it occurred to me that if I used my time wisely a lot could be accomplished by the time this was over.  I considered making a list of projects to keep us busy and then decided that wasn't really necessary.  Since we both work from home, we are normally home a lot and tend to stay on top of most things around here during the week.

For us it is more a matter of finding some variety to add to our days to keep from going stir crazy.  Part of that for me has been trying some of the simple things that I never seem to get to.

In this instance, snipping those blossoms off my chives before it's too late and they have dropped their seeds all over the garden.

After a very thorough washing, into the jar they went.

The vinegar was added and now they will rest in the dark pantry for a few weeks.  Every couple of days I will give them a little shake.

It sure is a pretty looking concoction so far. 

Outside the kitchen door the lettuce I planted in pots is growing well.  I see a salad dressed with chive vinaigrette in my future.

🥗🥗🥗

How are you all doing?

Are you finding ways to add variety to your days?

Anything planned for the weekend?

I'm craving chocolate and the supplies in that department are a bit sparse around here.  With a birthday coming up on Sunday I'll be rooting around in the pantry to see if I can at least whip up a batch of brownies.  

That old saying about variety being the spice of life is so true, isn't it?

Take Good Care!!