When my garden starts producing, it is a giddy moment for me. I love to can jams, butters, pickles, and sauces, but often draw a blank with what to do with my other fresh veggie produce. One of the ways I’m hoping to combat food waste is by compiling a list of recipes that use what I grow. This is a work in progress, obviously, but I’m hoping my new garden notebook will help me remember why I planted something in the first place.
I think this is such a good idea that I’m going to be sharing more on this as we go. You can look for gardening posts here on Mondays. I have a lot I want to cover over the year, so be sure to add me to your reader or follow me on Twitter and Facebook. We have already talked about planning your first garden and where to buy your seeds. Now, I’m hoping that these recipes get your gardening ideas flowing as far as what seeds to buy.
We will be starting with eight basic recipes with the majority of ingredients being those you can grow. I won’t be giving you exact recipes at this point because there is a large variety for each one I mention. This post is meant to get you thinking about what you can plant that you will eat.
Salads
This is your basic garden recipe. Green, leafy veggies are some of the easiest to grow and they can be started pretty early in the garden season. Salads are the perfect way to start adding more fresh produce to your diet.
Salad ingredients you can grow:
- romaine lettuce
- spinach
- kale
- swiss chard
- arugula
- onions
- tomatoes
- bell peppers
- mushrooms
- sunflowers
- herbs for making your own salad dressings
- celery
- carrots
Advanced steps: plant a nut or fruit tree, grape vines for raisins, cranberry bushes for craisins, raising chickens for hard-boiled eggs and chicken, raise dairy goats to make feta
Salsa
This is makes a super yummy, fresh, and easy snack, side dish, or condiment. From fruity to spicy, you can find a salsa recipe for you.
Salsa ingredients you can grow:
- tomatoes
- jalapeno peppers
- onions
- garlic
- cilantro
- parsley
- black beans
- corn
Advanced steps: grow fruit like peaches (or mangoes and pineapple, if you are lucky enough to live in a region that this is possible), grow corn to make your own tortilla chips
Spaghetti Sauce
Spaghetti sauce can be used on spaghetti or for the sauce on your homemade pizza. Making your own homemade pizza is rather easy and very frugal, especially if you make your own sauce and grow your own toppings.
Spaghetti sauce ingredients you can grow:
- tomatoes
- basil
- onions
- carrots
- garlic
- oregano
- mushrooms
Advanced steps: raising dairy goats to make your own mozzarella, grow wheat to make your own pasta
Pizza
You all know pizza is not really a vegetable, right? So you can’t actually grow pizza. However you CAN grow your own toppings and sauce (see above). This makes for a super frugal dinner.
Pizza ingredients you can grow:
- mushrooms
- bell peppers
- onions
- jalapeno peppers
- tomatoes
- shallots
- spinach
- broccoli
Advanced steps: grow your own olives, make your own pepperoni or sausage, raise meat chickens
Vegetable Soup
Vegetable soup can be rather hearty if you know what your are doing. Root veggies work very well in soups and are relatively easy to grow. They are also what gives your vegetable soup that hearty feeling without meat.
Vegetable soup ingredients you can grow:
- tomatoes (for tomato juice and diced tomatoes)
- green beans
- corn
- carrots
- celery
- turnips
- rutabaga
- potatoes
- peas
- mushrooms
Advanced steps: raise chickens to make bone broth (or make your own vegetable broth)
Fajitas
Fajitas can be more than peppers, onion, and meat. Try making some veggie fajitas, it is frugal and just as yummy. You can grow toppings for them (like salsa), too.
Fajita ingredients you can grow:
- onions
- bell peppers
- jalapeno peppers
- zucchini
- yellow squash
- black beans
- corn
- mushrooms
- lettuce
- garlic
- orgeno
Advanced steps: raising dairy goats to make sour cream and cheese, making your own tortilla shells
Baked Potatoes
We grew potatoes successfully for the first time last year, I’m hooked. It was a lot of fun. My kids enjoyed digging the potatoes, too. Sour cream, cheese, and bacon may be too advanced for you or simply unrealistic because of space, but you there are more ways to dress a baked potato.
Baked potato ingredients you can grow:
- potatoes
- broccoli
- chives
- corn
- garlic
- mushrooms
Advanced steps: raise your own meat or dairy goats for cheese, sour cream, sausage
Omelets
Garden produce isn’t just for lunch and dinner. You can use your harvest to make omelets, frittatas, or simply dress up your scrambled eggs.
Omelet ingredients you can grow:
- mushrooms
- onions
- garlic
- tomatoes
- zucchini
- bell peppers
- yellow squash
Advanced steps: raise chickens for eggs, make your own cheese, raise your own bacon or sausage
There you have it, eight “recipes” you can grow in your garden. You’ll notice there is a decent amount of overlap with these recipes and their ingredients. Now, take a look at what you eat and make a list of the ingredients that you can grow. The more food you grow, the more money you can save.
Tell me, what vegetable do you eat most regularly?
Next week, I’m going to show you some of my favorite seed findings.
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