Newly released Dirt To Dish garden cookbook of seasonal recipes inspired by homegrown food or patio herb gardens, a great book for healthy eating!
Let Me Take You On A Culinary Journey Through Seasonal Cooking
It all started in the winter months with a few seeds in kitchen window sill pots, and by late summer, I had developed a garden type I’d say was not bad for a first time rookie gardener.
That, however, was several years ago and those winter seed pots sprouted life for a summertime of excess produce for many of my favorite recipes and to give away, of which I repeat every year.
Be it a patio garden of pots filled with cherry tomatoes and herbs or a large garden of fresh vegetables, Dirt To Dish is my full-color illustration gift to inspire you to grow your own seasonal eating.
Can you imagine how good it will feel to ditch the grocery store during the summer months!
Edible Gardening – From Flowers To Soup
Have you ever smelled the sweet and sometimes exotic scent of a flower and wondered if it tastes as intoxicating as it smells?
Or pulled a beetroot from the ground and cut it in half to expose its stunning magenta color, and thought ‘this might make a beautiful ice cream’?
Well, these are some of the adventures I have had exploring the world that connects my yard and my kitchen, which has been a good way to bring to life an artist’s garden.
There are days when my humble gardens serve as meditation retreats for me when I just need ‘me time’ away from people.
On these days, the edible flowers that grow in various seasons inspired great recipes for cocktails and ice cream.
And then there are most days when my august vegetable patch inspires enticing recipes, such as my favorite chilled lemon cucumber soup, which is served in the lemon cucumber that looks like a lemon bowl!
So let’s see if we can inspire you to start planting, watch things grow, and see how you might incorporate whatever you produce from a ‘pot or a plot’ into unique new recipes of your own!
Dirt To Dish Doesn’t Depend On Time Of Year Growing
The main portion of the book expands over spring and early summer, and showcases a bountiful harvest by early autumn with seasonal ingredients.
However, containers of ornamental edibles, such as nasturtium and micro greens, linger long into the winter in a sunny window while snow falls outside.
Be it for desserts or drinks, flavors and extracts are needed to enhance flavors, so what better way than to extract flavors naturally; be it from citrus, flower petals or herbs!
Gathering and drying edible flowers and herbs throughout the outdoor growing season, provides an abundance of flavors that contribute to a simple recipe such as:
- Dried fennel pollen for fennel ice cream, or the fennel fronds, loaded with flavor, in a fennel tomato soup, deliciously served with seafood.
- Tucked away in the freezer are always slices of jalapeños, which provide lots of flavor all winter, and are great in my corn jalapeño muffins!
- Since fresh mint grows like crazy all summer all by itself, both fresh and dried are found in my tzatziki and scones, or cocktails with a splash of lime juice.
Seasonal Gardening – A Great Idea For Delicious Meals
While I still consider myself a rookie gardener, I have shared most of the practical gardening tips I have learned along the way, such as fussy tips about herbs, or the patience rewarded at summer’s end in growing peppers.
The best part about my book, at least for me, is that I get to relive the memories each season brings into my kitchen, as I leaf through the many colorful pages with an easy recipe for each photo.
I am reminded also of the added benefit high quality produce offers both my health and my purse, taking into account that a $2.50 bag of seeds will often provide an abundance of fresh produce.
This, is a great way to save on food costs in the summer and even in the winter, if you can or tuck away plenty into the freezer for soups and stews.
Here’s What To Expect Of Seasonal Produce From Dirt To Dish
Of course, we think of spring and summer as the most productive times of year to grow local produce, depending on your own region, but I want to take you well into the winter for the activity that both utilizes growing season or prepares for it.
And so, here is how this inspiring dirt to dish book is laid out.
Spring
After the long grey sleep of winter a splash of color begins to emerge with the promise of rich foliage on its way. The days are growing longer, our soup and stew bowls have been put away and exchanged for salad plates, and the sunshine has begun to whisper ‘here I am’ once again.
It’s time to prepare for the bountiful season, whether we’ve started seeds indoors in late winter, or have begun those exciting weekend visits to our local garden shop, whether we’re rookie gardeners or novices. Another year of Dirt To Dish promises lie before us, so let’s indulge in every possible aspect of it!
Included is – cherry blossoms, peonies, strawberries, peas and spinach.
Herbs
A love affair with herbs is as real a love affair as it gets! Herbs make my food taste fabulous, calm an upset tummy, boost my hormones, and inspire some of my best recipes.
For this chapter we indulge in – lavender, basil, red clover, thyme, fennel, oregano, rosemary, sage, mint, parsley.
Summer
Where would summertime be without flowers, bees, fresh fruit and vegetables! Flowers that woke us in spring, breathing life into the last grey days of winter, are now vibrantly nourishing the bees and butterflies and us!
New flower seeds have been scattered about the garden and in hanging pots. Numerous fruit and vegetable seeds were started indoors in small pots at the end of winter, and are now ready to be transplanted outdoors.
Summer is now in full swing and there are so many delightful ways we can play to promote an abundant harvest for our dish, cup, glass or bottle.
The abundance of summer includes edible flowers – hibiscus, dandelion, pumpkin blossoms and roses. For the produce abundance we have – raspberry, cherry, cucumber, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, okra, watermelon, carrot, tomato and beets.
Autumn
As the heat of summer begins to loosen its grip, cooler nights and more precipitation return to the air, and our plants begin to breathe a sigh of relief, as do we.
But don’t put your harvest baskets away yet, autumn is the season for a different variety of good-eats to gather from our yard.
Autumn is also the time of year to harvest as many of our still abundant herbs and peppers as needed, dry them, and prepare them for the dried seasonings we will want to cook with during the cold winter months.
When the water is removed from herbs, flowers and peppers, their flavors are intensified, yet their healthful benefits still remain for the months ahead. It’s also a great time to think about turning some of the herbs and flowers into swags and wreaths for the holiday seasons up ahead.
And as for fruit in autumn, I must boast about my two favorite fruits that are ripe for picking in autumn, Figs and Grapes. Yes, I am proud to say that they are both now growing on my small property, not many, but certainly enough to celebrate them each autumn with great recipes.
The autumn harvest includes – shiitake mushrooms, figs, grapes, black walnuts, acorns and pumpkin.
Winter
We did it! A flurry of activity for three-quarters of the year developing our skills and adventures in both the garden and kitchen, and now it’s time to put our feet up, light a fire and feel pride in all that we’ve accomplished. Upcoming celebratory holidays are about to make demands on our time and creativity, but our pantry and freezer are stocked and ready to meet these culinary challenges.
And then as the New Year sets in, when we revisit our potting shed in the cold of winter, rearranging the pots we will use in the new growing season, order new seeds, and anticipate the beauty of the new calendar year, as we restart the next seasonal cycle.
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I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.