Delishytown
Cooking is fun. Eating is funner. I cook, photograph and write these recipes.
Everything I post on this blog I make from scratch using fresh wholesome ingredients.. I've been cooking since I was a little kid.
My recipes are based on trial and error, along with studying cookbooks, family recipes, blogs and cooking shows.
Some of the veggies and herbs I use are grown in my garden. Yay sustainability!
I'm working on making my yard into an edible landscape. It's really fun to go out in the garden and pick your veggies for dinner!
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1948-(via File Photo) on Flickr.
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8 posts tagged edible back yard
Growing Organic Zucchini
Here’s a healthy zucchini plant growing in my friends garden. Zucchini is easy to grow. It likes warm weather and full sun. The large yellow flowers are edible, as well as the zucchini squashes that form from the fertilized flowers.
Conventionally grown zucchini is one of the foods most likely to be GMO in the grocery store, so it’s a good idea to grow your own organic zucchini this summer.
I’ve grown this plant for many years. My main gardening tip for success is that the large leaves tend to be susceptible to fungal diseases. Water them early in the day so that the leaves can dry off. Try to not wet the leaves each time you water, just water the soil if possible. If you do see an outbreak of (usually powdery type) fungus on the leaves, just spray the plant with a milk + water solution, about 1/3 milk to 2/3 water. I planted these with organic compost and organic vegetable fertilizer.
The best thing about zucchini is that it can be harvested at any stage, from very very small with the flower still attached, to XL used for grating into zucchini breads and muffins.
An easy recipe for zucchini are these crispy zucchini rounds. Just coat sliced zucchini with scrambled egg wash, then dip it into bread crumbs mixed with grated parmesan cheese, seasoned with salt pepper and a little garlic powder and paprika. Spray with olive oil spray and bake at 400 for 20 minutes until crispy. Serve with your favorite creamy dressing or organic ketchup. Yum!
Here’s a picture of Carrots from our garden! And a couple of peas too! My sister and I had so much fun harvesting these. Pulling carrots out of the garden is like finding gold. I might make some carrot soup, or maybe just chop them up into a big salad. Yum! Can’t wait.
Carrots are so much easier to grow than I previously thought. We grew these in big pots filled with organic potting soil. If you plant in the ground, they like loose, loamy soil, so dig deep, and add organic compost. They don’t like being transplanted. Sow the seeds directly where they will grow, on top of the soil and gently pat down. Surprisingly, they do well when crowded, don’t feel like you have to thin them out meticulously. They love cool temps, so all you Northern gardeners can get your carrots started soon!
Happy gardening! :)
Garden Greens in our edible landscape. Purple Kale, Rainbow Swiss Chard, Red Romaine, and Radicchio. Happy Spring!
Kale Salad with Strawberries, Pistachios, Pansies and Feta
Happy Spring everybody! This salad was grown in our garden! Yum! It was so delicious. You can use any kind of greens and edible flowers you have growing to make this. I used purple curly kale from the front garden and edible pansy flowers. I dressed this with fresh lemon juice, olive oil, a little honey and salt and pepper. Rub the salad bowl with a cut garlic clove first, toss the salad and dressing, then garnish with the edible flowers. Delicious!
Rainbow Chard Quiche with Buttery Corn Flake Crust
This quiche was made with Rainbow Chard from our edible garden. The corn flake crust was a delicious experiment. I used up the last of the flour to make this crust and forgot to save some for rolling out the pastry dough. I wracked my brain and came up with the idea to blend organic corn flakes in the food processor until very fine, and use it as the flour to roll out the dough. It’s the best experiment I’ve ever tried. Please try this technique! It’s so good, flaky, crispy and tasty!
Heat oven to 400.
In a mixing bowl, sift 1 cup flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar. Grate 1/2 stick cold butter into it with 2 tblsp coconut oil. Mush together with your fingers until pea sized bits form. Add 2 to 3 tblsp ice cold water and mix together until just combined. Form into a disk, cover and chill for 20 minutes.
While the pastry dough rests in the fridge, Saute 1 small chopped onion and 2 - 3 cups chopped chard, stems and leaves, in a skillet. Season with salt and pepper.
Scramble 4 eggs with 1/2 c milk. Add fresh grated nutmeg to the egg mixture.
Grate about 3/4 cup cheese, I used cheddar, swiss and parmesan.
Pulverize organic corn flakes in a food processor until fine and floury.
Dust the surface of a large cutting board with the corn flake flour, place the chilled disk of dough on the board, top the disk with more of the corn flake flour and roll into a circle about 12 inches in diameter, adding more of the corn flake four as needed. The corn flake flour and crumbs will press into the pastry and become one buttery flaky delicious crust once baked. Yum!
Press the rolled out crust into a buttered pie pan. Press gently into the pan and shape the edges. Add the sauteed vegetables, then the grated cheese, and pour the egg mixture over it. Bake at 400 for 1/2 hour or so until a toothpick comes out clean. Yum!
Edible Landscape Update Feb. 14, 2013
Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone! My spring garden is up and growing. I haven’t posted edible garden pics lately so here a few shots of some of the plants in our garden from this week. I live in Southern California. The days are usually in the low to mid 60’s, and the nights go down into the 40’s. We get occasional frost and it’s supposed to rain next week.
We currently have a lot of spring vegetables growing in our front and back gardens. In the front yard I plant pansies, poppies and stock with the vegetables. In the back I have a bunch of nasturtiums planted, and various other flower seeds started, but I’m mostly concentrating on vegetable growing back there. We’ve got garlic, shallots, kale, chard, various lettuces, arugula, peas, carrots, fennel, potatoes, blueberries, strawberries, lemons and artichokes growing right now. There’s also cilantro, thyme, rosemary, parsley and oregano. Some of the herbs are a bit dormant right about now, but the cilantro seems to love this weather.The grapes, apple tree, and raspberries are also dormant at this time of year, and I won’t plant basil, tomatoes and warm weather stuff until about late April or early May.
I harvested a big salad spinner of rainbow chard and kale this morning and i think I’m going to add it to bean and cheese burritos for lunch. Yum. Happy Gardening!
Edible Landscape Update: January 11, 2012
It’s time to plant lettuces, peas, beets and cool weather crops.
This week I turned over our vegetable gardens. You do this when the garden soil is a bit dry. First, pull out all the spent foliage, then just start digging, one shovel full at a time, sifting through the clumps to remove old roots and weeds.
The places I turned over had tomatoes, basil and squashes growing in them last summer. Turning over your garden is hard ass farmer work. But you don’t have to go to the gym the day you do it. Or the next day. It’s a good idea to stretch though. And the fresh air and sunshine are beauteous! I love this time of year in my neck of the woods. Nothing compares to Winter in Southern California. Please don’t hate me. In exchange for this wondrous Winter weather, we have earthquakes and mudslides.
In the midwest you can plant cool season crops starting around mid to late March.
The first two pictures here are “volunteer” red lettuce from seeds that planted themselves. The seeds must have flown hither and yon as they were drying on the plant. It’s good to get familiar with seedling identification when you’re growing your own veggies, so you don’t accidentally pull out volunteer plants while weeding.
To get seeds from my favorite plants, I let them flower and then let the flowers dry on the plant. Once they’re dry, pull the plant out, and scrunch up the flowers onto some paper. You’ll see a bunch of little seeds come sprinkling out.
In the case of the sugar snap peas, you just don’t pick the last few, reduce watering a bit, and the peas become seeds as they dry on the vine. You end up with totally free, organically grown seeds.
