Recipes from the garden

Recipes from the garden Garden Recipes & Cooking tips

Carnation Vinegar
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With bumper crop vegetables and edible flowers, I have begun to get more creative with my garden produce. Growing your own groceries is a very economical way to eat. I have discovered some really scrumptious, useful & healthy recipes and have compiled some of the more unique ones that I have come across for you here.

Visualize Whirled Peas!

A Few Cooking Tips:
Basil, rose petals, mint, rosemary, nasturtium flowers or pods and other edible flowers are great as a garnish for your fine dining and are a pleasant alternative to parsley.

Finely chopped fresh herbs will produce a stronger flavor.

Dried herbs are almost 4 times stronger than Fresh. If you are cooking with dried herbs and your recipe calls for fresh herbs you can reduce the amount accordingly.

When cooking with garlic or onions, rub your hands under your stainless steel faucet with the water running to get rid of the smell. For some reason the stainless steel works it's magic and eliminates the odour completely.

Never soak diced vegetables in water before preparing them or they will lose all their nutrients.

Run wilted lettuce under cold water, shake it dry, wrap it in paper towels and place in your refrigerator over night. The next day it will have perked right up.

If you plan on doing any canning you can use vinegar to clean and deodorize any old jars you want to reuse and to remove fruit stains from your hands.

GARDENS AROUND THE WORLD:
Eat your Flowers

"I planted pumpkin seeds this year, and enjoy watching them grow and also can eat the blossoms. Just pick blossoms while in bloom, wash, dip in egg and milk and fry. Yum!" - Peggy of Central Illinois

"I like to use both nasturtium leaves & flowers in grilled cheese sandwiches as well as in salads - the blossoms are lovely to float in a chilled cucumber soup, too" - Wendi of Duluth MN -

"I like to put edible flowers in punch, to give it a more romantic look for weddings and showers" - Sandi of VA -

"Nasturciums - can be crushed and chopped and mixed with a light cream rouex/sauce, also put in chopped tomatoes and sauteed onions, and use as a pasta sauce " - Gretchen of Conneticut -

"Many flowers are edible such as pansies, and nastursiums both the leaves and flowers are edible" - Bobby of Tucker, G.A -

"Stuff large zucchini flowers with a wild rice-saskatoon mixture. Yum" - Carolyn of Edmonton, Alberta -

"marigolds ... the flowers look nice in salad and taste isn't really so bad" - Kathe of Shirley NY  -

"Fresh lavender flowers can be used to flavor syrup for jellies. Mix 6 flowerheads into each pint of apple jelly syrup. Remove the lavender before bottling. It is also used to flavor fruit salad and milk and cream for deserts. Flowers be candied to decorate cakes and puddings. Use lavender instead of rosemary when cooking chicken. Lavender ice-cream is a real treat" - Marsha of Newburgh, Indiana

"Oh how I love a salad of homegrown greens and nasturiums. Alot of color and great peppery flavor" - Nadine of Laconia, New Hampshire -

"Use orchids to add style to a nice dinner plate" - Jill of Lansing, MI -

"If you live where it's warm, trying growing a loquat tree. The small yellow fruit is fabulous, the tree can be started from a cutting, and it requires little care. Deer and children love the fruit, too" - Nina of Davis CA -

"Borage although an annual, is a beautiful plant. The flowers are worthy of being in any flower garden. Edible and beautiful in a salad or drink, they taste much like celery. Left to their own devices they will self seed for many years always creating a new and charming picture as they sprawl here and there in the flower border" - Vale of Sutton On. Ca -

"Nastriums make a great decoration on a white frosted cake" - Christine from Canada -

"I grew borage this year and we enjoyed freezing the blossoms in ice cubes for cool summer drinks and they're pretty in salads, too" - Deanna from the Southeast -

"You can eat the honeysuckle has a sweet taste" - Romona of BonneTerre MO  -

"lettece makes a pretty border" - Elaine of Kenosha

"Use rosemary flowers sprinkled over a green salad - beautiful & delicious" - Guy of Las Flores CA -

"I've been doing some reserach on this lately as we have a reptile in our backyard and want to have an enclosure with a healthy, edible landscaping for him. I was surprised to learn that many edible flowers can still be dangerous if purchased directly from a garden center. This is due to the use of the herbicides, fugicides and insecticides. Although garden vegetables have government regulations concerning these items, plants and flowers do not. Therefore, if you are going to eat any flowers, and even some herbs, it is best to be sure that you grow them from seed, in your own yard. That goes for food for your reptilian and chelonian friends as well" - Tamera of Saugus -

"Nasturtium Butter - I let 2 sticks of salted butter (you can use unsalted) sit til it gets to room tempreture then I add anywhere from 20-30 Nasturtium flowers (torn). Shape this into a log a refridgerate.  Makes a very pretty presentation !" - Tom of Sewell NJ -

"Daylily blooms are good. They taste something like celery to me. When dried, they are called Chinese needles" - Diana of Lansing, MI -

"Borage's blue flowers are really good tasting and colorful in a green salad.Borage is a herb and the leaves taste like cucumber it is also good in the green salad" - Carolee of Elliot Lake Ontario Canada -

"Try to pick flowers in the morning or late afternoon to maximize water content. Use blossoms that are free of insects, disease and other damage, and do not take blossoms from plants that were treated with pesticides. Gently wash blossoms in water and drain on paper towels. Serve in a few hours-- edible blossoms do not keep well, even under refrigeration." - Mary of Evans, GA -

"Pansy's are a colorful addition to a salad. There is a use for practically every part of the plant. As pansies cpome in such a variety of colors and shades of colors, you can make a very festive salad with a bundle of mixed pansies" - Jacquelyn of the USA -

"Blend nasturtium petals with cream cheese or butter and spread on thin slices of dark bread or crackers for snacks or appetizers" - Heather of Brockville, On -

"Rose petals may be candied individually or tiny roses may be candied whole. Make sure they are dried thoroughly before storing" - Charles of Gatineau, QC -

"Cooking with Flowers are great, not only do they add beautiful color to a dish but add taste as well.  Roses taste somewhat like perfume but other flowers are very tasty. For example, hibiscus tastes like citrus, lillies and lilacs are sweet, lavender is herbal, and firewood is spicy." - Joe of Colona, Illinois -

"To teach our small children a love for gardening and cooking, we love to plant oregano, cilantro, basil, and green onions and use them in favorite recipes. When it's time for harvest, we can all go out and pick what's needed and then cook up some great pizza sauce or salsa. The children get extra joy out of eating what they grew. But, if you share this joy with your children, it's very important to teach them that only certain flowers and herbs in the garden are edible and others are OFF LIMITS" - Michele of West Plains, Missouri

"Decorate white frosting with sugared pansy flowers" - Donna of Kent, WA
 
"The blue flowers of borage are edible and make a sweet garnish for salads. Try freezing them in ice for cold drinks. Plant borage next to squash plants to deter squash beetles...it really works!" - Fran of St. Charles, Missouri

"I Use My Edible Flowers to Candy or Crystalize them for Cake Decoration. The flowers add a stunning effect to the cake and guests love it! - Peggy of San Diego CA

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