Tag Archives: Parsley

My Winter – Spring Garden and Meal Plan – Week 8

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The winter has been a little longer and colder which means my vegetable garden has been producing very slowly. This is my first winter garden and it seems to be going ok. Lessons I have learned:

  1. My swiss chard did not survive as something ate that – not sure what. So, next time I may have to place little wire cages around them
  2. Next year, I will invest in some recycled windows to create a cover so I have a mini hot house

Two surprising things happened with this crop:

  1.  My plants survived the snow and ice. I will definitely get a crop of  broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and cabbage (respectively in photo’s below)….and a little bit of spinach.
  2. And my parsley which had died out came back to life and is flourishing.

Broccoli Cauliflower Carrots
Cabbages Parsley

In the meantime, waiting for this crop to grow, we are buying our veggies (still within the $70 budget). Here is our meal plan for this week – it will be similar to last week (its better not to even talk about it :-)). I have decided to cook most of the meals in the weekend to see if that it is easier to stick with the plan.

DAY BREAKFAST DINNER EXERCISE
Saturday ^Breakfast Sandwich Creamy Vegetable Shepherd’s Pie (thanks to Kristel’s list and links)
Sunday Bircher Muesli (with soy) Chicken and Vegetable Cacciatore + Quinoa or Wheat berries 3-4 Mile Walk
Monday Bircher Muesli (with soy) Vegetable Frittata
Tuesday Whole Grain Cereal+Soy Vegetable Soup (Slow Cooked) 3-4 Mile Walk
Wednesday Oatmeal with Banana and Almond butter ^Pizza @ zPizza (love the options at this place)
Thursday Whole Grain Cereal + Soy Slow-Cooked Indian Dal
Friday Smoothie Vegetable Pasta Bake + Quinoa Pasta 3-4 Mile Walk

^ indicates my splurge for the week

Summer Herb Pesto

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The basil in our garden went chaotic this year and I needed to find a good use for it. Everyone suggested Pesto. I found a great recipe on allrecipes.com. I am not a huge fan of pesto – it is a little too strong, but the spinach and other herbs in this recipe complement the taste and makes the pesto a little more subtle. All the herbs came from our garden.

  

I made two batches and it looks like I will still have a third batch before my basil is done :-). I froze my pesto into 2 inch ice cubes (this large ice cube container I found at Crate and Barrel but it is now available at West Elm as well). I plan on defrosting them into small glass containers for Christmas gifts.

    

We also used the fresh pesto to make tortellini pasta with a pesto sauce, and a chicken pizza with pesto sauce. Both were great but I preferred the pizza.