Mary, Mary Quite Contrary How Does Your Garden Grow?

My herb gardenGrowing up, we had a huge garden.  I use to love to "help" my dad weed the garden (i.e. sometimes pull weeds, more often dig up plants).  I still have fond memories of eating a tomato, still warm from the sun, like an apple or picking corn and immediately cooking and eating it without any butter on it because it was so sweet.  Even though I get lots of fresh produce from the farm markets it is nearly impossible to duplicate these flavors. 

Unfortunately, I'm not able to have quite as ambitious a garden now.  I still plant some tomatoes, but mostly I plant herbs.  Herb gardens are wonderful.  They are relatively low maintenance, they add tons of flavor, smell great, save money (who ever uses an entire bunch of name that herb if you buy it in the grocery store), space efficient, and--as long as you bring the planters inside--you can grow them year round.  Thankfully, my belly hasn't gotten in the way of the bbq....yet

I'm currently growing thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil, sage, lavender, cilantro, mint, and lemon verbena.  I managed to kill my parsley (to my green thumb's credit, however, a bug decided to lay eggs on the plant, so technically it wasn't me who killed the parsley) and basil (that was my fault).  Luckily, for $2.50 I could replace the basil.

I use fresh herbs in almost everything I cook.  Lemon verbena has--you guessed it-- a lemon flavor.  It's great with poultry or in salad dressing.  Last night, we had grilled lamb chops that I marinated with rosemary and mint (click here for the recipe).  It was an easy meal and very flavorful thanks to the fresh herbs.

Eating for Three

As some of you may or may not know, I've been eating for three over the past eight months...we're expecting twin boys in another month or so.  While this may have been a great excuse to try lots of new recipes, pregnancy has actually made it quite hard to cook.  Imagine cooking, while sea sick, with a forty pound bag of dog food strapped to your chest.  It's not that fun.  trust me.

I've been making simple meals, lots of take out, and sometimes even my husband pitches in.  I'm not complaining, he really does try, but I think he perfected his cooking during college when gourmet was sticking an entire box of pasta in a pot, not stirring it, and then consuming the "pasta log" with a knife and fork.  Unfortunately, he hasn't made much progress... the other night we had an argument on how to make ravioli--he insisted that you didn't have to use much water or stir the pot and that there was no need to heat up the sauce since it would warm up once it mixed with the hot ravioli.  don't try this at home!!!!!

Now that summer is here, I can't resist the kitchen.  Unfortunately, it's difficult to stand for long periods of time, so I have resorted to sitting down to prep the meals.  it works though!  It's early in the season, but I have been able to get delicious tomatoes in the farm market.  Summer GazpachoGazpacho, paired with crositini and crabs, is a delicious and easy summer meal.  I usual serve it with Maryland lump crab meat or smoked fish (trout or salmon are delicious) to add protein.  I also made delicious crab cakes--the key is getting high quality lump crab meat (you really can't beat maryland crab).  Although you need some spice and bread crumbs for flavor and texture, use restraint or else you will overpower the crab.

Here's to being barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen....