This last week I finished making our family’s favorite: Sri Racha. All the men in our family love this spicy condiment and chances are your’s do too. It’s on our table at almost every meal.  Last year for Christmas stocking stuffers, I bought sri racha key-chain bottles and filled it with my homemade sauce. Now they…

Don’t throw that Easter ham bone away! Even if it has just a tiny bit of meat left on it, there’s still plenty there to make a nice soup. I especially like ham cooked with navy beans, but any variety will do. This makes 6-8 servings of soup and each serving has 2½ servings of…

Nettles are one of the first weeds to emerge in the spring and can quickly take over your yard if you turn your back on them. Now you can make good use of them. They are a very nutritious food: high in trace minerals and more nutritious than spinach. They have a diuretic property, so…

My kids don’t like beets, but this dish has made them, well, tolerant, of beets. It is my favorite way to eat them. Quick and easy, this is a good way to use of the beets from your garden that you’ve been storing all winter long. Ingredients: 2 – 3 beets, enough to make 4…

It’s asparagus season and hopefully you have more than you know what to do with and are able to share with family and friends. I use only the very top 5-6” of the spears. If any of the remaining stem is still tender, I save it to either dehydrate or make Cream of Asparagus Soup.…

This is a wonderful way to use all the tomatoes and cucumbers coming out of your garden. Fresh, light and colorful, it is a good companion to sea food and chicken. For added color, I like to use a variety of different colored tomatoes. Ingredients: 2-3 large tomatoes, about 3 C diced 1-2 large cucumbers,…

The joke is “Leave your car windows rolled up in the summertime or someone will deposit a bunch of zucchini in your car.” But the truth is, there is no such thing as “too much zucchini.” Honestly, there are so many amazing ways to use zucchini, why would you ever want to give away this…

How many times have you complained about having too much zucchini? If you want to curb your zucchini production a bit, why don’t you eat the flowers? The flowers are tender and very tasty. The most common dish for them is fried, although there are lots of recipes for soups, pastas and quesadillas made with…

This dish is the perfect combination of spicy and crunchy, a great way to use some of the zucchini in your garden. Ingredients: 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 lb zucchini, diced 1 med onion, diced 1 small bell pepper, diced 1-2 jalapeno pepper (depending on taste), seeded and diced 3 C tomatoes, peeled, seeded and…

This contrasting flavors and textures of this salad are a great surprise. Your family will ask for seconds. The color of red onion will stand out but you may prefer the flavor of sweet onion. Fennel is so easy to grow. You’ll want to have some all summer long to use in recipes like this.…

You know all those zucchini that you miss and don’t find until they are the size of a three-month old baby? Well, here is the perfect use for them. Zucchini is the tofu of the vegetable world. They take on the flavor of anything they are cooked with. Trust me, these gummies are amazingly yummy.…

You thought radishes were just a garnish for salads and vegetable plates, didn’t you? Think again. This creamy, spicy soup is the perfect way to use up the radishes from your garden on a cold fall day. Ingredients: 1 C red lentils 3 C water ¾ – 1 lb radishes ½ onion 1 Tbsp olive…

My kids aren’t big cole slaw eaters. That is, until they ate this version. It’s a great combination of spicy and sweet. My youngest likes it so much, he asked for it for his birthday dinner. If you use horseradish straight from the garden, like I did, grate it finely and prepare the salad dressing…

No garden should be without kale and collards. These easy-to-grow green leafy vegetables are both  from the Brassica family (which includes cabbage, kohlrabi, Brussel sprouts and broccoli.) What makes these so great? Well, first of, they are packed with nutrition. Studies show that they may prevent several kinds of cancer. And they taste good! These are…

It’s asparagus season and this is a family favorite. But really this recipe can be used for almost any veggie. Try it with fresh green beans, sugar snap peas, zucchini slices and broccoli or cauliflower florets. The key to a light but crispy coating is the soda water. Also, make sure the oil is hot…

Every year I plant way too much Swiss chard. In my defense, it’s such an easy vegetable to grows and I forget how much just a couple rows will produce. Then I work all fall chopping, blanching and freezing dozens of bags of Swiss chard, only to have the family complain about it. Then I…