herbs | soup, salad, & sunflowers

Cilantro tastes like summer.

January 19, 2013 § Leave a Comment

It’s still winter.

No more 70 degrees here. And the “promise” of a snowy, slushy mix on Thursday night confirmed that it is indeed, winter. I’m making the best of it: wearing huge, thick, knee-high socks (stolen from my husband) around the house, adding extra quilts on our bed, and continuously filling up the bird feeder for the cold little guys outside. But, I want to garden. Real bad.

Maybe that’s why I loved, loved, loved loved loved the homemade salsa we had with salmon the other night. Whole Living is my new best friend.

Orange Avocado Salsa

It’s a Whole Living recipe, and all the info is on the link above. But all you need is:

an orange
fresh cilantro (perfection)
red onion
an avocado
fresh lime juice
sesame oil (I didn’t have that so I used extra virgin olive oil)

Chop all that up and combine it with a little sea salt and coarse pepper. Delicious when served with the meal on the Whole Living link, but I can imagine this would be good with tortilla chips in the summer, on our patio, with some sangria. Sigh.

Is it spring yet?

Anna

Fragrant Herb Garden, The Beginning

April 1, 2012 § Leave a Comment

A few months ago I wrote about an idea I had for a fragrant herb garden. Well I started it! My goal is to have our patio full of good smelling plants and flowers, perfect for a glass of wine and a good conversation.

I took a trip to Logan’s a week or two ago and found exactly what I wanted. Lavender, thyme, spearmint, and citrus mint, to add to my rosemary and oregano from last year. I also got some basil and cilantro (I’m a sucker for a good caprese salad and anything mexican with fresh cilantro. And so the herb garden has begun! So far my two favorites are the lavender (huge fan) and the citrus mint (the scent reminds me of Earl Gray Tea.)

Other fragrant, out-of-this world flowers that I have growing around our patio are: confederate jasmine (crawling the fence) gardenia, and peonies. All are looking extremely healthy, showing lots of new growth! I can hardly wait for their blooms.

Now I just have to find a way to arrange everything. Currently, I have multiple terra-cotta pots all over the place. Lovely, but I eventually want to have many more plants and there’s only so much our patio space can take without going vertical. I’ve found some really cute ideas while browsing the web: plant ladders, benches, etc. and I think that’s the route I’ll go.

Here are some snapshots of the herb-lings.

Now to find an inexpensive plant ladder…

Fragrant Herb Garden

January 16, 2012 § Leave a Comment

It’s no news that I’m super ready for spring. I’ve been organizing, cleaning, decorating, and dying to see some tulips poke their heads up through the soil outside our front windows! It’s a waiting game for me right now.

Of course, all the waiting leaves me plenty of time for dreaming and planning for spring and summer. I’ve become slightly infatuated with the idea of growing a ton of fragrant, potted herbs on our patio (I’m embracing living with limited outdoor space!) Last year, I grew rosemary, oregano, basil and parsley. Successful! My rosemary turned into more of a tree, and my oregano is overflowing its pot as well (brought them indoors during the cold.) Anyway, I want to add to my patio garden this spring.

Some ideas are: