Tangy Mayonnaise
I have a confession to make. There are two condiments that I consistently buy and rarely make from scratch: Heinz Ketchup and Hellman’s/Best Food’s Mayonnaise. For this scratch cook, this is a travesty. Read more ›
Posts Tagged ‘urban gardening’
Pickled Dilly Beans
Summer holds such promise – big, bountiful gardens, lots of fruits and vegetables, excellent foraging and amazing farmer’s markets. In deep winter I plan all the amazing things I will do with summer produce, along with the great blog posts I will make to accompany them. Then summer hits me like a full bucket of water, and I am deluged with the harvest. Read more ›
Garden Confetti Salad
Summer is a time when dinner is simple, salads are plentiful and the stove remains off. Summer veggies just roll out of the garden one right after another. It’s time to eat the bounty till your full. And my garden has exploded! Read more ›
Coriander Flower Liqueur
Volunteer coriander is taking over my garden! Coriander is another name for cilantro. The seeds must be bulletproof because they survive our deep freeze winters and sprout immediately in spring. Every year we try eat as much cilantro as possible, but invariably, it gets away from me, reseeding my entire garden plot. This year I have a different plan of attack. This year I let it all go, then harvested the tiny flowers to make Coriander Flower Liqueur. Read more ›
How to Freeze Strawberries
My strawberry patch at Dowling Community Garden in Minneapolis has been under construction for years. Wrong location, wrong variety, wrong soil, not enough water, it was soooo frustrating! This year all that hard work finally paid off. Loads of compost and manure combined with heavy spring rains made my strawberry patch go BOOM. I had strawberries coming out of our ears! Read more ›
Seed Starting for Beginners
I’ve been gardening for a long time. And while I’ve planted my fair share of seeds directly into the garden, I have never really started seeds indoors. Minnesota’s growing season is so short that starting seeds indoors or purchasing seedlings is practically required, otherwise you just won’t make it to harvest before the first frost. Every season I feel like I only have one shot to get it right or it’s back to 6 months of winter. Read more ›
Tomato in Two Acts
Tomato season is over for Minneapolis with two nights of hard frosts under out belts (three weeks early, I might add). To celebrate the last of my harvest I made tomato broth and tomato paste from the same batch of tomatoes. Read more ›
Spicy Ginger Mustard Pickles
Mustard Pickles remind me of my Great Grandma Kimbler. She used to make all kinds. They are a deliciously old-fashioned and frugal concoction, intended to preserve and liven up over abundant produce during the summer. Read more ›
Here Comes the Sunflower
Sunflowers are the ultimate garden accessory. Bright, happy sentinels, they come in knee high to giant varieties, in icy pale white to egg yolk yellow to blazing sunset red colors. With a little water, average soil and lots of sun, they rarely disappoint. Read more ›
Middle August
It was an absolutely beautiful weekend here in Minneapolis; 85 degrees, sunny, low humidity, light breeze. It rained early Saturday morning so everything was sparkly and fresh. I spent my Saturday at the farmer’s market and canning, jamming and pickling. Read more ›
Midtown Farmer’s Market
I’m a sucker for farmer’s markets. Where ever I go, I look up when and where the next market is. It’s a bit of an obsession, actually. I haven’t travelled a lot, but I have been to farmer’s markets in Paris; Bangkok; New York City; Hollywood, Santa Monica, Read more ›