All in a Day's Work

There is something wholly satisfying about growing your own food. No matter how much or how little you grow, it's always such a delight. The thing I love about having my own mini-garden is that it really gives me an appreciation for the miracle of nature. How cool is it that your plants grow from these tiny seeds with nothing more than water, sunlight, and love?

I'm very pleased to say that all of my little herbs have turned into an urban jungle (well, not quite, but I hope it'll get there). My cinnamon basil has grown three extra heads, my stevia is climbing like mad, my mint is well... acting like mint, my pepper plants are flowering and producing like mad, and my thyme is quickly outgrowing its pot. And that's only the beginning!

I had to do some serious pruning today before I head out again tomorrow to see my family across the sea. The amount of basil I got from my harvest was so great it was a good enough amount to make a mean pesto. I collected a little bit of everything: basil, thyme, oregano, basil, tarragon, calendula, mint and some hot peppers:

For the pesto, because I'm trying to cut down the fats in a lot of my recipes, I found a pretty cool way of making an alternative raw pesto. This one had basil, water, almond butter (instead of the pricey and oil-rich pine nut or macadamia nut), salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I thought it worked out just dandy!

All the herbs I collected along with some skin-loving calendula flowers went into a salad. My new favourite thing is breaking up kale chips into my salad. It's a textural foodgasm. Andrew is not a huge fan, he said it reminds him of people who eat potato chip sandwiches, which I think is totally cool, since I could totally see how the mushy and crunchy textures would work great together!

So this is going to be the last post I write for the next couple weeks on this continent. My parents are taking me for my grad trip to a place I've wanted to go since I was a kid. So for the next little while, look out for culinary veggie delights from my native land and beyond :)