Grow Your Own #5 Round-Up

Happy New Year! December was a very busy month, but we still managed to make some dishes using herbs grown in our kitchen garden. With temperatures ranging in the 20s to 40s F, it's just too cold to grow produce outdoors! We have mint, seven different types of basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, Italian parsley, cilantro, habanero peppers, and saffron crocuses growing in the sun room. My experiment with growing grape tomatoes has not been successful thus far, but I will keep trying.

Many thanks to all the participants of Grow Your Own. This time we have made dishes using our own homegrown chickens, rosemary, cassava, and basil.

Grow Your Own #6 has already begun, so be sure to send in your entries by January 29. And now, the round-up! Click the photos to visit each post.

Adobo is a national dish of the Phillipines, and Gay of A Scientist in the Kitchen (Phillipines) made a delicious variation using coconut milk and the chickens that she raises. I love adobo and this one looks like some wonderful comfort food.

Laurie of Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska (Anchorage) used the rosemary she's growing in her bedroom and made a lovely loaf of rosemary bread which has both semolina and all-purpose flour. The dough requires two risings, but this is a bread that you can make all in one day. She also mentions a bakery and cookbook worth investigating, Le Pain Quotidien, which I will definitely check out.

Not all of the U.S. is blanketed in snow and cold. Dawn of Wicked Good Dinner (Florida) is basking in temperatures in the 80s F and still enjoying her grill. She made a yummy dish of grilled artichokes and clementines with some of the rosemary she grew from seed. The balsamic vinegar marinade sounds delicious!

Cassava is native to South America, and Cris of From Our Home to Yours (Brazil) has a local connection--her in-laws grow it organically on their farm! She keeps some in her freezer ready to use. The starch made from the roots is used for making baked goods such as her Brazilian Cheese Rolls.

I'm not a fan of meatloaf, but I went out on a limb and made an Italian-style loaf with sun-dried tomatoes and plenty of fresh basil from my kitchen garden. We enjoyed it, two of my boys ate several helpings each, and it tasted even better the next day. We're going to play around with this one for a while and probably make some meatballs based on this recipe.