Author Archives: Debra

Garlic scapes: good eating

Hardneck garlic (as opposed to softneck) makes a curlique flower stalk that is delicious eating. These curlique stalks are called scapes. Right now the scapes are perfect for eating. You can tell because they curl in on themselves. As the … Continue reading

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Summer fruits

This past week, I was in SoCal visiting family. Here is one of my family’s pet Mohave Desert tortoises (They have two rescue Mohave tortoises and a rescue Mediterranean tortoise.) eating apricots from my sister’s tree. More on fruit and … Continue reading

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Rhubarb-ade

I concocted a new summer drink with rhubarb. With three huge rhubarb plants, I have more stems than I know what to do with. I again pulled out enough stems to thin out the rhubarb, trimmed and washed the stems, … Continue reading

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Peas for salad

This time of year, I often thin my pea sprouts and use the sprouts chopped in salad. The chopped sprouts add a nice pea-flavored freshness to a salad. And it serves the function of thinning out the peas for a more productive … Continue reading

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Salad-makings

There are many flavorful tender greens for salads right now such as herb leaves, beet greens or baby chard. You can carefully pinch off the larger leaves and let the rest of the plant mature for harvest later. Add them to … Continue reading

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Spring salads

These cool, spring days are prolonging the salad greens. Lovely, tender spinach for omelettes and lettuces with herb leaves for salad. One client told me she’s serving her teenage daughters microgreen salad sprinkled with chive and borage flowers! Beautiful, nutritious … Continue reading

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Floral arranging with vegetables

     

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Radishes

Radishes are ready for the harvesting and munching. Great sliced thin in that spinach salad. Lovely scarlet color. Of course, the traditional way to eat radishes is sliced thin with butter and salt on dark rye bread. How do you enjoy … Continue reading

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Delicate, delicious spinach

These cool, rainy days have produced splendid spinach for eating raw or cooked. If eaten within a few hours of picking, the flavors are the best. I made a spinach salad with herb leaves.

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Morels on the South Side

In the rarified community of Hyde Park, on Chicago’s South Side, morel mushrooms are showing up in residents’ yards. Jack Spicer of Hyde Park Landscaping found about a quarter pound in a client’s yard. The client was kind enough to … Continue reading

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