Planting Your Kitchen Garden

The dictionary says that a gourmet is a connoisseur in eating and drinking who discriminatingly appreciates differences in flavor or quality. A "gourmet cook" might be defined as one who uses herbs and wine with taste and flair. But even for the everyday three-meals-a-day busy mother of a hungry family, using home-grown herbs and vegetables will add to the fun and pleasure of cooking. Only from one's own kitchen garden, be it indoor or outdoor, large or small, can such fresh green fare be chosen.

-Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens by Mary Mason Campbell

Are you the gourmet type of cook or peasant cook? It doesn't matter! In the summer you can be a blend of both! That is, if you have a kitchen garden. One of my very favorite books of all time is Betty Crocker's Kitchen Gardens by Mary Mason Campbell. It is one of those books that I keep nearby for moments when I am nursing the baby and can steal a few bits of gardening wisdom or just read a few lines of prose that is scattered throughout the book. The illustrations were done by my favorite artist, Tasha Tudor, and they are just amazing and wholesome. This is an older book and is out of print now, but you might try to find yourself a copy on http://www.half.com/ or http://www.amazon.com/. If those two fail, try http://www.alibris.com/.

According to Kitchen Gardens, you should keep the following herbs growing in your kitchen garden:

Angelica

Basil

Sweet Bay

Salad Burnet

Chervil

Chives

The Cresses

Dill

Lovage

Sweet Marjoram

Oregano

Mint

Parsley

Rosemary

Sage

The Savories

Tarragon

Thyme

I would personally add Lavender, Cilantro, and Lemon Balm. I would add even more for medicinal and tea purposes, but this is primarily for cooking.

Flavor o' Summer between your teeth,

And those at home to love you;

Hearth and a cellarful underneath,

And God and a roof above you!

-Holfman F. Day

The Old Farmer's Almanac

Eight Vegetable Favorites:

Beets

Carrots

Cucumbers

Lettuce

Onions

Peppers

Radish

Tomato

Five Elbowroom Vegetables:

Asparagus

Beans

Sweet Corn

Garden Peas

Rhubarb

I would personally add a few additional "must-haves" to her list of kitchen garden produce:

Broccoli

Cauliflower

Cabbage

Eggplant

Zucchini

Potatoes

Strawberries

With all of this fresh produce and herbs, you should seldom have to visit a grocery store all summer long!

Farm Fresh Lemon Curd

Oh Yum! Nothing beats fresh lemon curd spread on a light and fluffy biscuit! The secret to a good lemon curd is fresh eggs. I like to gather the eggs just before I make my curd so the eggs are still warm. I also use organic lemons, sweet butter and organic evaporated cane sugar.

Here is my recipe...

1 farm fresh egg yolk

2 separated egg whites

3/4 cup organic evaporated cane sugar (I prefer the Meijer Organics brand)

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice from organic lemons

1/2 TB lemon zest

Whisk this all together well in a sauce pan

1 TB butter

Add the butter and turn the stove top on low heat. Whisk ingredients constantly over low heat until mixture begins to thicken. This takes around 7 -10 minutes. Pour into a glass pint sized mason jar. Keep this refrigerated.

I like to serve my curd over biscuits but it is also delicious over ice cream, cake, or anything else you can think of. Curds are very simple to make and require very few ingredients. They are cheap and nutritious. That fits my description of a peasant food!

Taking A Stand Against GMO's

Ok, so the title of this blog is Peasant Meals. Your expecting a bunch of my cheap, nutritious peasanty recipes, right? Well, you'll get them...but, I want this blog to be much more than that. I love food. It is one of my passions. I love to eat and I love to cook for my family. I am not fancy with my food, I am simple, healthy and budget minded. I cook from scratch and I want to encourage everyone, especially homemakers like myself, to get back to the basics.
One of my biggest concerns has been for the past few years the introduction of genetically modified or engineered foods into our diets. Our government is gaining increasing control over our food supply and we should all be very concerned. The goal is cheap food. How, you ask, is the government controlling our food supply? To make a very long story short, the government is in control of our large factory farms. They pay the farmers to grow food and that food is now being grown with genetically modified seeds. Watch the documentary, "King Corn" for an enlightening view on just one aspect of the American food supply. I also highly recommend the documentary, "The Future of Food".
Did you know that 7 out of 10 items off the grocery store shelf will now contain genetically modified ingredients? Wow! How can you possibly avoid consuming them? Here is a great site that can help you get started...http://www.geaction.org/truefood/shoppersguide/
My other tips are to purchase as many certified organic foods as possible, shop at local farmers markets and get to know the farmers personally, and (my favorite tip!) grow your own food in a backyard garden!
We are very blessed to live an area served by Meijer grocery stores. These large super stores are very similar in layout to Walmart, but I really hesitate to compare the two. Meijer is of much higher quality than Walmart! I love Meijer! They have really gone above and beyond to provide us here in the Midwest with exceptional quality food and other goods. They have recently introduced two new lines, Meijer Organics and Meijer Naturals. Both are free from gmo ingredients! They are very economically priced, which I appreciate very much. The stores are also clean and pleasant to shop in. As a mother of six living on a very tight budget, I need all the help I can get when it comes to purchasing food for my family. One of the complaints that I hear often from people who desire to eat well is that they just feel like they can't afford to. Meijer is making a way for families to start eliminating gmo's from their cupboards while sticking to a budget.
In my upcoming posts I would like to highlight some Meijer Organics and Naturals foods. If you live within driving distance of a Meijer store, I urge you to support them!
This is also gardening season. I am urging you to plant something this year! Even if it is only a few pots of fresh herbs or a small container garden... plant something. When you are choosing your seeds look for OP seeds, which are open pollinated. These seeds are often referred to as heirlooms. These seeds have not been engineered. The seeds can be saved and replanted year after year. Most f-1 hybrid seeds are also safe, but make sure you check with the seed company just to be sure. Hybrids are usually just seeds that have been bred for outstanding characteristics. They have not been engineered or bred outside of their classification. Many seed companies are now carrying a large selection of heirloom and certified organic seeds! This year I purchased many of my seeds at the local store that sells Burpee seeds. They were all 40% off and they had a great selection of heirlooms and organic seeds! I saved a lot of money. In the past I have spent an enormous amount of money buying heirloom seeds from various catalogs. That was not an option for me this year but I was still able to get some great varieties! Meijer also sells several started plants that are certified organic and heirloom varieties in their garden center. I am also fortunate to live nearby some wonderful family owned garden centers too.
I hope that you take this gmo threat to your health seriously. You have reason to be very concerned! For more information on this subject, visit www.seedsofdeception.com and www.mercola.com.