It’s finally warm and beautiful outside! The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, and you know what that means: eating outside!
This time of year I am always on the lookout for different ways to make a veggie burger. This sweet potato version is a doozy: sweet and spicy and starchy all in one! Add in some creamy avocados, fresh microgreens (which I grew! in my own garden!), and garlic aioli, and this burger will be just delicious!
Sarah and I have been making lunches together for quite some time. And yet…we hardly ever make sandwiches. A classic lunch food, completely ignored!
I completely love sandwiches (what’s not to love about food layered between slices of bread?) and yet, I struggle to feel at all original or creative when it comes to making sandwiches at home.
But as I picked four bright red tomatoes off the vine growing in my front yard, inspiration struck: caprese salad inside a sandwich! Because what could be better than tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil all together?
This sandwich was super messy. Not going to lie about that. But it was also amazingly delicious and very simple!
I so want to tell you about how awesome this pico de gallo is, and how I grew some of the tomatoes and all of the green peppers.
But first, I have to tell you that while I was making this delicious, amazingly fresh summery salsa, my son was eating crayons.
CRAYONS! I cannot get the child to eat a fresh fruit or vegetable to save his life, but crayons are yummy. What!? And he was so sneaky about it, too, just sitting in his chair and pretending to color quietly whenever I poked my head in to look at him, and taking huge chunks out of yellow and green as soon as I turned back to chopping.
Motherhood, friends…motherhood. I don’t know what I’m doing.
A few weeks ago, Sarah told me that she had a dill plant that was threatening to take over the world, and asked if we could possibly put it to good use?
Um, YES!
I must admit that I’ve never really liked dill. (I think I have admitted that before.) It just reminds me of pickles, which I hate. But this is what Sarah and I are all about: trying new things, and re-trying old things, and generally just eating awesome foods. Plus, I love that she and I are both trying to grow a food garden this summer! I am all in favor of eating what we grow!
Dill goes great with fish and eggs and veggies, so we tracked down some delicious salmon recipes and tinkered a bit and came up with something amazing. Something that actually made me think, “I wish there were more dill in this!”
And the world stopped spinning for just a second.
A while back, I mentioned that I am growing acorn squash this year! I have a little container vegetable garden on my porch, and almost everything I am growing is thriving.
Except, sadly, for my acorn squash. It all started out brilliantly: I had four plants that were green and leafy and growing like gangbusters. About a month ago, a crazy amount of blossoms started opening up and I got pretty excited for some squash to reveal itself. But…only two of the blossoms on all four of the plants sprouted squashes. After a while of not seeing any more little babies growing, I mentally threw up my hands and decided to start harvesting the blossoms. (Maybe that was my mistake? Who knows.)
Immediately after harvesting my first bunch of blossoms, the plants started yellowing. I am not an experienced gardener, people. I was at a loss. Eventually I found that one of the vines was being eaten from within by a worm—and there went one of my two baby acorn squash (augh!). I still can’t figure out what’s wrong with the others.
So. Believe me when I tell you that these quesadillas were a labor of love. With these, I used up the last blossoms my poor, sad acorn squash seem like they are going to produce.
What a tasty way to go out!
I love my friends.
I especially love it when I receive texts out of the blue that say things like, “Hey! I am growing zucchini! Do you want to have my early squash blossoms to cook something awesome?”
Um…YES.
Zucchini blossoms are a definitively Spring-season foodie find. (Although, I believe all types of squash produce yummy blossoms…so stay tuned for potential acorn squash blossom goodness, grown by yours truly, later on!) Zucchini, which ripen around these parts in early Summer, bloom with delicate and completely edible flowers in the Spring.
And, um, did you know that there are girl flowers and boy flowers? (I felt a little like I was at a middle school dance or health class when I typed that.) That’s right, flowers have gender, and girl flowers come complete with tiny, baby zucchinis attached. Which, obviously, grow into adult-size zucchinis if you don’t cut them off the vine to eat the tender blossoms first.
And although you may want to save some of your zucchinis for actual zucchini purposes later on, like zucchini and corn tacos or zucchini bread, you should definitely select a few of those blossoming beauties to snip early and eat this Spring.
This delicious dish is dedicated to Jessica, who furnished me with home-grown, organic squash blossoms and a bunch of my favorite herbs. Just because she’s awesome.
Smells Like Brownies 