you know i love this stuff, right?!
sorry if it’s redundant…
sorry, not sorry.
Tag Archives: organic
{happy (belated) asparagus season!}
18 Juni’ve been getting my fill of delicious organic asparagus!
it is a marvelous food to eat in spring because it is very cleansing to the body and blood. asparagus is also in season during the spring, which just further proves how awesome and intelligent nature is! 🙂
i like to enjoy asparagus raw or lightly sautéed in grass-fed butter with a dash of himalayan pink salt and black pepper. sometimes i like to add it to risotto with wild mushrooms. when i lived in the mountains years ago, i had a lot of fun foraging for asparagus because it grows wild on the western slope of colorado. pretty cool, huh?!
a tip for keeping asparagus : treat it like fresh-cut flowers. keep the ends trimmed and leave them in a little water in the fridge until ready to use.
do you love asparagus? how do you like to prepare yours?
{foodie/foto/flashback friday – spring/garden fever}
9 Marseriously, though… is it time to garden, yet?! i am so eager to get out and play in the dirt!
i definitely want to grow some {organic} cabbage again this year!
here’s a little flashback friday for ya : to that ONE i grew last year and turned into delicious sauerkraut!
hope you have a great weekend!
{seriously obsessed with spices}
5 Febeveryone knows i love to cook.
for the most part, i keep it super simple when making meals. and my philosophy is :
quality in = quality out.
in other words – if you start with good ingredients, you generally end with a good meal…
i have only recently begun experimenting with spices in my cooking. i have been collecting spice jars over the last few years, as i was gypsy-ing around the country… and when i settled in a place i feel at home in, i felt super excited to finally display my spice jars.
i received these cool 3-tiered bamboo spice racks as a christmas gift, and i was so eager to get my spice jars out of the cabinet and onto the counter.
it’s the little things, right?!
something about seeing this beautiful rainbow collection of spices just makes me feel so happy inside. and it’s really been fun to experiment with the different aromas/flavours.
of course, in true audrey michelle form, i alphabetized my spices.
here’s what is in my collection :
- some kind of awesome spice my friend brought me from argentina
- all-spice
- bay leaves
- celery seed
- chives
- cilantro {homegrown and dried}
- cinnamon
- comfrey
- coriander
- cumin
- curry powder
- dill {homegrown and dried}
- garlic
- ginger
- herbs de province
- kelp
- lemon peel
- marjoram
- nutmeg
- old bay seasoning (can’t live without it)
- onion
- oregano
- parsley
- paprika
- pickling spices
- rosemary
- sage
- sesame seed (black)
- salt (black)
- tarragon (LOVE THIS STUFF!)
- turmeric
- saffron
- vanilla
{homemade relish with my homegrown cucumbers!}
11 Jul
so, as i mentioned in my last blog – i have harvested well over 200 cucumbers this year from my garden! i wish i would’ve been weighing my harvests, to get more of an idea of yields. however, looking back through the fotos i snapped every time i harvest – it’s safe to say that number is pretty accurate. crazy, right?
anyway, on top of sharing my harvests with neighbors, and consuming a cucumber a day, i also enjoy making pickles and relish with my cucumbers! that’s why i specifically grow the pickling cucumbers. that, and i just think they taste better.
i will share my pickle recipe soon, but for now i want to share this super yummy relish recipe that a good friend of mine passed along to me last year. i love it because it’s very simple and does not have added sugar. the only sweetener is honey and i think it is so well-balanced in flavour. i love add my relish to egg salad or tuna salad. it’s also just good right out of the jar!
homemade pickle relish recipe :
- 1.5 pounds {pickling} cucumbers, finely diced {mine was homegrown}
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 green bell pepper, finely diced
- 1.5 cup distilled white vinegar
- 6 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill {mine was homegrown! 🙂}
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 tsp turmeric
- 1 tsp kosher salt {i used himalayan pink salt}
- 1 tsp celery ceeds
- 1.5 cornstarch
directions :
- in large saucepan, combine all ingredients except cornstarch. simmer over medium-high head until vegetables are tender – about 8-10 minutes.
- in small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and 2-3 tbsp of the cooking liquid until smooth. add to pan and let cook another 3-5 minutes. cool.
- use canning method to preserve, or store in airtight container, chilled, up to 1 month. also freezes well.
i made a lot more than what is pictured – this jar i gave to my neighbours. 🙂
i also tasted mine before adding the cornstarch. if i needed to increase any of the ingredients, i did. i think i added a little extra honey and vinegar to mine because i had a little more than 1.5 pounds of cucumbers. the key is to start with small amounts… you can always add more. i love the colour it turns out – that’s largely due to the turmeric.
i hope you enjoy this recipe and please do let me know if you ever try it out!
thanks for reading! 🙂
{saturdays in the garden : volume seven}
8 Juljust a little update on the garden… my posts are not in “real time,” as it were… i’m several weeks behind in keeping up with what’s going on, currently.
for example, most of what you see in the following fotos, has been pulled from my plot. we are straight up in the heat of summer here in NC, and my tomatoes are just about all that remain. i pulled up all my broccoli, because i didn’t get it in the ground soon enough and it never formed a head. i harvested one beautiful cabbage that i’m currently making sauerkraut with. my cilantro is done… as is my dill and basil, but i planted more of both. i pulled my kale and planted arugula in its place. and my cucumbers are on their last limb, but i must’ve harvested around 200 of them this season. i have pickles for days! 😉
july will be focused on tomatoes. then in mid august, i will plant more cabbage and cucumbers and perhaps try again for more peas later in the month or toward september. i really enjoy making {and eating} sauerkraut, so i intend to plant a lot more cabbage for fall.
meanwhile, here are some pics of what late may/june were like in my plot :
so pretty and ALIVE!
still fascinated by pea tendrils… and i made lots of pesto with my basil!
oh kale, yeah!
harvest!
my beautiful cabbage! Continue reading
{first asparagus of the season}
9 Mar
fresh from the farmer’s market! 🙂
looking at the different shapes of this asparagus, had me thinking similar to when i looked at all those cool seashells…
—
i love asparagus so much and i only eat it when it’s in season.
did you know that asparagus is loaded with fiber and actually aids in cleansing our gut and also offers awesome detoxifying benefits? i think that’s so cool, considering it is in season in spring and that is a perfect time to prep our bodies for cleansing and switching gears to lighter foods. furthermore, asparagus is a natural diuretic… which may be TMI, but hey, it’s just a fact.
on a different note – i’m so ready for the time change and gaining more evening light! i am so super excited to start a garden this year!!
i am audrey michelle
i am a minimalist
i am a ritualist
f&f on your boards
