Sold out! Blueberry Salads with Blueberry Vinaigrette Dressing #GardenCuizine #recipe

Blueberry Salads

with Blueberry Vinaigrette

Sold out! Blueberry salads with Diana's blueberry vinaigrette salad dressing sold out at Trinity Church's Blueberry Festival last night. Special thanks to the Healthy Garden in Moorestown, NJ for providing the tossed salads. A fun time was had by all who stopped by.

GardenCuizine Homemade Blueberry Vinaigrette recipe: click here
Related Links
Jersey Blues and Blueberry Nutrition

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Black Bears in South Jersey @NWF cheers to Coexisting with Wildlife!

Our Yard is a 

Certified Habitat for Wildlife

Black Bears are Wild all right

Black bears are expected in the Adirondack Mountains in New York, and in areas of Northern New Jersey, but in South Jersey backyards? Last year was the first time I thought about black bears in New Jersey after we had a bear cut through our yard! The police shouted through their mega phones to Harry and me, "Get in the house, a bear is in your yard!" 

Today, since we've had another black bear strolling around the corner here in Mt. Laurel, NJ the past few days, it seems appropriate to post this video about black bears in the Garden State. For communities to coexist with bears, education is key. Check out the below video to learn more about black bears. 

Remember, feeding black bears is illegal in NJ and NY. We let our bird feeders go empty during these past few days with the bear in town.



Related Links
Living with Black Bears
Certified Wildlife Habitat

Growing your own potatoes #GardenCuizine #organic

Planting Seed Potatoes

For years we've been growing our own potatoes. Although we've been getting decent harvests out of a single raised bed for a family of 3, we recently learned that by "hilling" the potato plants we could yield even more potatoes. 

Start with quality seed potatoes. We ordered ours from Wood Prarie Farm, a family farm,  located in Maine. Today, I planted out a 1/2 raised bed of Butte organic potatoes. They were planted in a trench about 6 inches deep. We don't have a lot of space to plant them 12 inches apart so they were placed 4-6-inches apart. The trench was then partially filled in with 1-inch of soil to cover the potato pieces. As the potatoes grow, the soil will be filled in a few times until it is mounded - called "hilling."

Before planting, the potatoes were cut in half leaving eye(s) in each chunk. This is another step that we've never done in the past. We've always planted the whole potato thinking that is what you were supposed to do. It worked for us, but for an even greater yield this time we are cutting the seed potatoes first as shown in the below video.

Check back in about 4-weeks or so for follow-up photos of our hilling process. We have to wait until the plants grow to at least 5-6-inches tall.

I found this gardening video helpful on how to plant seed potatoes:

Related Links
Wood Prairie Farm Organic Potato Growing Guide 
Photos and blog post Copyright (C) 2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Homemade Blueberry Vinaigrette #GardenCuizine

Blueberry Vinaigrette

The inspiration for this recipe came from going to Trinity Church's annual blueberry festival to stock up on fresh blueberries. We buy several cases, rinse the berries, let them air dry, then freeze the blueberries in single layers on cookie trays. Once frozen the berries are easily stored in baggies until ready to use in recipes. 

While at the blueberry festival, we usually get a bite to eat. The food is what you typically find at outdoor summer festivals: drinks, plenty of ice cream, desserts, water and hotdogs. I thought, wouldn't it be nice to have a refreshing tossed salad featuring blueberries and blueberry vinaigrette?
Yields: 2 cups (16oz.) dressing
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Blueberries 
1/3 cup olive oil + 1/3 cup canola oil OR 2/3 cup Smart Balance oil blend
1 tablespoon (T) rice vinegar (can also use apple cider or red wine vinegar)
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 T Agave or Honey
2 teaspoons (tsp) coarse ground mustard 
2 tsp fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 tsp minced or grated ginger
1/8 tsp salt 
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water (or more if necessary to thin as desired)

Putting it all together

• Rinse blueberries and remove any stems.
• Add all ingredients to blender and mix.
• Pour into washed and sanitized dressing bottle or cruet.
• Enjoy blueberry vinaigrette on tossed garden salad topped with additional fresh blueberries.
  
  

Related Links

Trinity Episcopal Church Blueberry Festival

a good place to stock up on blueberries

7th Annual Blueberry Festival 

June 20th 5pm-9pm 

Trinity parking lot Located: 207 W. Main St., Moorestown, NJ 08057

Recipe, photos and blog post Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved. Revised 6/20/14.

Today in Our Garden #GardenCuizine #gardenchat

Click on the photo for larger view  
Today In Our Garden 
South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b) 

Such a beautiful day that even the weeds are beautiful including Eastern Daisy fleabane. Our newly planted Chicago Fig and Cherry trees (Blackgold Sweet Cherry and Stark Montmorency Pie Cherry) are looking good and showing new growth.

Hard to believe that store bought pink trumpet-like blooms of potted Italian Heather (Erica ventricosa) could look so amazing. Harry got the plant from Wegmans - a supermarket - of all places! 

Clematis are especially gorgeous this time of year, especially the rich purple Clematis Wildfire - a Polish hybrid.

The bright lights of Amsonia blue star are fading as our attention shifts to bright hot pink climbing rose Zephirine Drouhin growing beneath a locally crafted ceramic bird house. A little, vocal wren has been actively guarding her nest this morning.

A new, beautiful orange-yellow Scotch Broom plant by the roadside is small now, but will grow into a decent sized 4 to 6-foot shrub: Scotch Broom 'Pomona'.

Memorial Day holiday weekend is a good time to plant veggie seeds and plant out seedlings that were home grown or purchased. What are you planting? We have several homegrown, organic, heirloom tomatoes planted including: Chocolate cherry, large red, large yellow, Goldman's Italian American, Berkeley Tie Dye, and Cherokee Purple.

Happy and Healthy Gardening
We plan to prepare something healthy with red, white and blue this holiday weekend. How about you? Watch for blueberry vinaigrette post coming soon.
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved. 

Today in Our Garden #GardenCuizine and a fun visit to @popesgardens

Click on the photo for full view

Today In Our Garden 
South Jersey
USDA Zone 7a (formerly zone 6b) 
May 4, 2014

Flowering dogwood, Kwanzan cherry, and tulips are still blooming along with variegated Solomon's Seal, Cowslip, Bleeding Hearts and Money plants. Grapevines and hostas are leafing out and Azalea blossoms are just opening up to start showing off their beauty. The beautiful colors and pleasant fragrances sure soften the blow of the damage done this past winter of 2013. New Jersey's third coldest winter since 1982.

We enjoyed visiting Popes' Gardens yesterday where we bought new rosemary plants to replace ALL the rosemary that died. Even our larger rosemary shrub, Rosmarinus officinalis 'Gorizia', that we've had for 9 years - died after the 2013 winter. I decided to replace only the rosemary that we use in cooking, so we selected upright blue rosemary and not the coarse-needle ARP or Gorizia shrub-type.

Joan Pope, one of the owners said she heard several of her NJ customers saying that they lost their rosemary AND butterfly bushes. When I got home I checked our butterfly bushes and a few do look dead, including our 10-year old buddleia bi-color. Some shrubs show definite signs of life, but others, not even one leaf. Maybe those that look dead are just late in leafing out, which is normal for buddleias. So if yours looks dead too, yes it could be, but it may just be late. I'd at least give it to the end of the month before you dig it out. 

What else did Winter 2013 kill in your Garden? 

Our little 6-year old fig tree sure appears dead. The black branch tips show no signs of life at all. In fact, lichen is starting to grow on it's slender trunk. I'm not going to completely give up hope yet or dig it up until June, just to be absolutely sure.

Visit Popes' Gardens
Besides the few replacement rosemary plants, hot peppers, sweet peppers and rhubarb, we picked up Coronado Hyssop, introduced by Denver Botanic Gardens and Colorado State University, which will surely please the hummingbirds. The silvery leaves are aromatic too, which makes it a welcomed garden addition to a sunny, well-drained site.

At the entrance to Popes' Gardens you'll be greeted by their friendly goat and mascot, Rosey. Rosey has a goat friend too, not sure of his or her name. In a huge field behind their greenhouses, we visited some interesting animals. Here are a few pictures of their sweet-faced Alpacas and hairy Highland Cattle. The Alpacas were quite personable!

Scottish Highlander

Related Articles
Uncommon Nutrition from the Common Fig ~ Ficus carica - scroll to the bottom of the article to see our little fig tree when it was only 1-year old. It survived 5 winters without protection prior to 2013.

NJ Winter 2013/14 Summary
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Carrot flower Hummus tasting ✿ Owl Sandwich ✿ Kids nutrition education @InspiraHN #GardenCuizine

Last nights event at Family Success Center Vineland was a success for families. SPLI Students from Cumberland County College provided the program. I was consulted as the dietitian from Inspira Health Network to review the nutrition education materials and recipes, and answer any questions by families. Both kids and parents were tuckered out with smiles after the fun, physical activity segment by PJ Ragone from Inspira Fitness Connection PIT program. Great job CCC Visionaries!

Kids learned about the food groups and healthy eating, making and tasting healthy foods, including whole grain bread, low fat cheese, hummus and olives. Olives were used in light Babybel cheese ladybugs (not shown).
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Italian Easter Bread #GardenCuizine #HappyEaster

Italian Easter Bread

Our family tradition is to bake 2 large rings of Sicilian Easter Bread on Easter Sunday. Fruit is added to the dough. This year I added chopped dates, anise seeds and candied orange. Uncooked eggs are added to the dough braid and bake in the oven. Eggs baked in the oven usually come out perfectly hard cooked. This year was the first time I ever had an egg explode during baking! Luckily, it was only one egg and it exploded near the end of baking with only a part of the shell coming off.

In trying to figure out why the egg exploded, I've concluded that in past years I have often peeked into the oven (heat escapes) to look at the bread. This year I never opened the oven at all and heat never escaped. It seems that 350° F is too high a temperature to bake eggs. I now recommend baking the bread for the first 20 minutes at 350° F then reducing the temperature to 325° F for the remaining baking time to avoid risking an egg burst.

Happy Easter!
My revised recipe for whole grain Italian Easter Bread is posted here.
Photos and blog post Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Sowing seeds in April yields summer garden harvests and beautiful gardens #GardenCuizine

Still Plant Seeds in April

Start planting seeds both indoors and out in March and April. Plants that can tolerate cooler growing temperatures can get planted outside, while frost sensitive plants are best getting their head start indoors. I've been planting seeds indoors under fluorescent lights since St. Patrick's Day and during National Nutrition Month.

Any seedlings started indoors under lights can then be planted outside Mother's Day or after, when the danger of frost has passed. Resist the temptation to plant plants directly outdoors now in this 80 degree early Spring weather. If you heard today's forecast - cooler air is on the way, which is more seasonal for early Spring.

Sowing seeds in April brings rewards later in the season. Rewards come in many forms, especially the personal gratification that comes from nurturing a plant from seed, and seeing the mature plants yield nutritious crops. Cooks know how wonderful it is to stoll outside for fresh veggies or a few snips of fresh herbs on demand. Growing and adding perennial and annual flowers make any yard and veggie garden look wonderful and inviting too. Inviting not just to you and your family and friends, but to wildlife, including butterflies and hummingbirds.

Below lists more plants that can be grown from seeds, followed by the number of days to germination, which will be updated as they germinate. You may notice that a few of the seeds are duplicates from previous posts. This could be because our cat(s) ate the first round of grass-like seedlings! Or, the seeds failed to germinate the first time around, which can happen if the seeds are old, or if they were exposed to too much light or air.

• Yvonne's Red Salvia: 10 days
• Italian Parsley
• Heirloom Tomato Berkeley tie-dye (beefsteak with metallic green stripes): 9 days
• Purple Majesty Millet
• Basil 'Green Bouquet': 5 days
• Hollyhock Peaches and Dreams
• Zinnia Queen Red Lime: 2 days
• Heirloom Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate (Polygonum orientale) a 6-9 foot annual

Blog post and photo Copyright (C)2014 Wind. All rights reserved.

Zucchini and Onion veggie side dish #GardenCuizine

Zucchini and Onion 
veggie side dish

Stir fried zucchini and onion direct from your garden or your local market makes a quick cooked vegetable that is easy to prepare and can be on the table in less than 20 minutes. This is one of our favorite veggie side dishes for dinner. We served it tonight with sea bass and freekeh.

Serves 3-4
Ingredients
2 medium zucchini
1/2 large onion
2 tablespoons canola, peanut or olive oil
a few drops hot sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Putting it all together
Simply rinse and slice the zucchini in 1/4-inch rounds. Peel and slice the onion. Heat oil in a wok or skillet; add zucchini. Stir fry for a few minutes, then add the onion. Stir until the veggies begin to brown. Season with salt and pepper. Push the veggies to the outer edges of the pan or wok and add the garlic and ginger. Stir to cook and incorporate flavors.

For a complete meal, serve hot with 3 to 4 ounces low fat protein and a serving of whole grain, such as freekeh, rice or quinoa.

Buon appetito!
Related Links
Zucchini: A Growing Guide
Photos and recipe blog post Copyright ©2014 Wind. All rights reserved.