I’m all about the goodies featured in the image above.
Recently, I was labeled as a Hot & Spicy pepper. Not sure if I should have been blushing or giving a ‘high five’ so I’m going to embrace my true love for peppers and enjoy the moment.
Each spring I enjoy local scavenger huts finding all the different pepper seeds available in my area. I’ve gotten lucky in the past few years finding everything from Hungarian hot to sweet Thai. Not sure if the hunt for the seeds is more fun that getting them getting them to grow but I love the entire growing circle.
This year I’ve found a few new peppers to try starting in my greenhouse here in Ohio. Something about the name ‘biker billy’ gets me super fired up to try this new hot pepper I found at Burpee Seeds.
My ‘P’ section in my Seed Keeper Kit is packed full with seeds I’ve saved from last year. If you keep the seeds in a dry sealed container you can usually use them for up to 5 years. With this in mind, I like to stock up on extra variety packets when I find them in the retail stores.
In my traditional veggie garden you will find at least a dozen plants of each pepper. Last year I grew over 100 different plants in that 40′x60′ veggie bed. Not to mention the plants I had tucked in my raised bed greenhouse landscape project. Now that is ‘a whole lotta’ peppers!’ Producing a little over 5 bushels of peppers last year not a single one went to waste.
As I opened a ‘seal a meal’ baggy of jalapeno peppers today , I couldn’t help but look forward to walking out to the summer garden and picking one fresh off of the plant. The frozen jalapeno featured in the image to the right above has been the most successful when trying to capture the fresh flavor to use in dishes and on top of dips. A popular way of preserving my favorite hot peppers is canning them using the hot bath method. I have yet to get sick of saving a pepper for another day not to mention the unlimited uses for the peppers in menu planning.
Not a fan of the vegetable okra or have you ran out of your stock from the summer harvest? No worries, break out the green beans. I used frozen green beans in this gumbo recipe to make a dinner that warmed our home and got me to #gardenchat on time!
Enjoy – and I would love to hear about your adventures with green beans and okra. – Bren
** don’t forget the white wine with this meal for the adults who will be dinning with you.
I don’t think I have ever seen so much hot air coming from my neighbors.
After enduring a day in with temperatures in the teens , tonight’s dinner needed to be one that filled our home with warmth and comfort. What other food can do that then a yummy roast all dressed up with some potatoes in the pot? Be sure to click here for my ROAST recipe. This was the last dish that would have potatoes from my summer harvest because the pantry is empty. I was sure to save a couple that had eyes on them with hopes of using them to plant in early spring.
In the image above you will see two potatoes that were the last of the harvest this year. I also have a brown paper bag in the image that is not for the bottles of wine but for the treasured potatoes. These potatoes will be stored in dry yet cool location which just so happens to be the perfect place where I store some favorite wines. My hopes are that these spuds will sprout and I will be able to cut them to plant in a few months.
Spring 2010 was my first year to grow my own potatoes. I had a blast doing this and it was super easy. Please visit my post from the day I harvested my first batch : Taytos Have Arrived.
Below is another favorite recipe of mine that is super easy to make anytime of the year.
I hope you can use the potato recipe above or at least you were inspired to scrub up some spuds of your own. I would love to hear some of your potato thoughts so please leave a comment below. If you have grown potatoes I would be honored to have you share some growing tips and maybe some varieties to look for. Wish you much warmth and comfort on this winters day.
This will be my first share for the #GardenChatRecipe shares. Jen of @4bratz2luv always has the best shares on Monday that will get you out of the kitchen in time for the garden chatter. We decided to make a category on our blogs loaded with easy recipes that will allow you to cook up a yummy meal for your family and be on your way in time for #gardenchat.
On a recent visit to a local community garden I was introduced to sprouts. I know some of you are scratching your head thinking ‘what in the world is Bren thinking… sprouts have been around forever!’. Yes they have been around for a long time but I recently discovered a simple and easy way to grow them on my own in my kitchen.
I’m using this 3 tray kitchen crop kit from HomeTownSeeds.com to grow my sprouts in today. There are many different sprouting seeds available by just about every seed provider today but you want to be sure to purchase seeds that are truly grown for sprouting. Using a seed that is produced for sprouting will ensure that the seeds have been handled in a sanitary manner and do not have any seed coatings, since you will be eating the seed as well as its sprout. Some easy and effective seeds to try if you are a first timer at growing your own are Alfalfa and Mung Beans. For these recipes and video I am using Alfalfa.
I put together this quick video to show you how easy it is to grow your own sprouts in your kitchen.
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How Cool is that?! In 3 days I had this yummy handful of sprouts!
Chicken, Harvati Cheese and loads of Sprouts Melt!
It is hard to make that image of the sandwich look as good as it tastes. You can click on the image above for the super easy recipe and the video in this blog entry shows how to grow the sprouts. This is a quick and easy meal for summer or winter now that I can grow the sprouts on my own in the kitchen.
Do you have a favorite recipe you enjoy using sprouts in? I would be honored to have your thoughts on my network here at BGgarden.com blog so please leave a comment.
Nothing beats opening a jar of canned roma’s from the summer canning projects and mixing it with some of my favorite herbs from the winter greenhouse. Tonight’s dish was whipped up with some garden fresh love.
Simple and fresh ingredients will make any dish a gourmet addition to the menu.
CLICK IMAGE above for RECIPE
This is one of my favorite recipes that we enjoy as a meal in the summer or winter. The fun thing about growing year-round is anyone can enjoy a ‘fresh’ additive to any recipe. What could taste better then that?
I would love to hear from you….suggestions for any recipe welcome on the comment section below.
I don’t remember a cold spell like the one we are enduring leading up to winter in a long time. We’ve been experiencing negative wind chills for a few days in a row with only a few days peaking close to above freezing. It makes it a challenge to enjoy the Holiday events and also carrying those 5 gallon watering buckets out to the greenhouse for winter growing a challenge. Thank goodness for those garden favorites I saved from the harvest this past summer by freezing them or canning so we could enjoy warming recipes like my Garden Fresh Pot Pie.
Garden Fresh Easy & Quick to Make
Nothing beats a meal that can be served up in one dish and warms the entire family that is on a busy schedule. Not to mention being able to use garden fresh treasures that are always healthy during the winter months. It took me a few years to finally master a chicken pot pie that my picking eaters enjoy even when served as left-overs. In the pot pie recipe that you will find by clicking on the image below, I used green beans and corn from our summer garden. I used the freezer method to preserve them because I’m not familiar with the canning method for these veggies. I hope to learn how to preserve them using the canning method this next growing season. If you have any tips on how to do this please leave me a comment at the bottom of this post.
Bringing the garden to the winter dining table is always a special event in my home. It is a reminder of how hard work can truly pay off in months after the garden has been worked under for the season. This dish is easily made for under $4 a meal. This pie recipes is enough for 8 people. I hope you are able to use this recipe when you are on a tight schedule but are wanting to enjoy the comforts of a home cooked meal. Happy Holidays from my garden and kitchen!
Each spring I enjoy local scavenger huts finding all the different pepper seeds available in my area. I’ve gotten lucky in the past few years finding everything from Hungarian hot to sweet Thai. Not sure if the hunt for the seeds is more fun that getting them getting them to grow but I love the entire growing circle.
In my traditional veggie garden you will find at least a dozen plants of each pepper. Last year I grew over 100 different plants in that 40′x60′ veggie bed. Not to mention the plants I had tucked in my raised bed greenhouse landscape project. Now that is ‘a whole lotta’ peppers!’ Producing a little over 5 bushels of peppers last year not a single one went to waste.
This will be my first share for the #GardenChatRecipe shares. Jen of 
On a recent visit to a local community garden I was introduced to sprouts. I know some of you are scratching your head thinking ‘what in the world is Bren thinking… sprouts have been around forever!’. Yes they have been around for a long time but I recently discovered a simple and easy way to grow them on my own in my kitchen.
Nothing beats opening a jar of canned roma’s from the summer canning projects and mixing it with some of my favorite herbs from the winter greenhouse. Tonight’s dish was whipped up with some garden fresh love.
