Herb Garden Update

So I love to talk about my garden. There’s something so cool about being a part of the process in growing the foods we eat…literally from the ground up. Hubby and I have had a lot of fun taking care of the garden and watching it grow on a daily basis. As I mentioned in my last garden update, we’ve been able to grow a lot of bell peppers that we use often. It also looks as though we may have another harvest of green beans in the near future.

However, for this post I wanted to focus on the herb garden. Our vegetables have been a bit finicky at times, but our herbs have always been producing well. We’ve found it pretty easy to maintain as well. This is the first time that we’ve done an herb garden, so I picked familiar herbs that I can start cooking with more often.

Basil

Honestly, I used to use mostly dried herbs but am now starting to get more comfortable using fresh. I’ve been working on a recipe for spaghetti sauce from fresh ingredients, and that’s been a great way to incorporate many of the herbs in the garden. The least used herb from the garden is sage. Although I used dried sage many times while cooking pork chops, I’ve only used the fresh sage for a chicken recipe.

Sage

One question that parents have asked me before is whether or not infants and young children should be eating herbs/seasonings. I have read before that “young children don’t need seasonings and shouldn’t be getting them.” Personally, I disagree. While they don’t need them per se, I think they’re a great idea! While commercially bought infant foods don’t routinely use seasonings and herbs, you always have the option to make homemade baby food. By doing so, you can have the option to introduce your little one to different flavors.

I think it’s a great idea to use plain fruits and vegetables at first in order to introduce the plain taste to your infants. However, as the infant starts to try new foods and learn about different textures, I think it’s the perfect time to start using some herbs for little meals. This is usually around 8 months. By using these instead of salt, we can limit sodium intake from a very young age (which the Dietary Guidelines report as one of the nutrients that is linked to high blood pressure even at a young age.) And while blood pressure may not be a top priority for you at such a young age, what’s more important is preventing your child from developing a palate that craves high sodium foods.

Rosemary

Thyme

Earlier this week I made some red beans in the crockpot. To go with it, I decided to try Prevention RD‘s recipe for Rosemary Cornbread. Her recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart and Alida’s Kitchen. It was DELICIOUS! While I burnt it a little bit, it was still yummy and even Isaac enjoyed it with his beans.

Ingredients

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease loaf pan and set aside. Put cornmeal in bowl. Sift flour, baking powder, and baking soda together into cornmeal. Stir in rosemary.

Mix eggs, sugar, buttermilk and oil in large bowl until combined. Add flour mixture in to wet mixture by folding in small batches until just combined.

Spoon batter into pan. Bake until inserted toothpick in center comes out clean (about 40 minutes.) Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then move to wire rack to cool completely.Enjoy!

What are some of your favorite herbs?

Thanks for reading

Selene