Earth Day 2010

I don’t know why it feels so good to get your hands dirty with soil and plant herbs in your home.  It can be done in apartments or houses and there is no doubt that dishes prepared with fresh herbs are more aromatic, colorful and savory.  I have had success stories as well as disasters with my gardening, but I keep going at it.

I have mentioned in previous posts that I have a fresh herb garden.  It was not very pretty, rather a bit wild, so last Monday I worked on it with my daughter to make it look appealing and more organized .   We transplanted the rosemary and oregano to pots and sowed new seeds for sweet basil, cilantro and italian parsley.   I have not been very lucky with my sweet basil, but have high hopes this time around.  I must tell you it is not an organic garden yet, but I am working on getting organic top soil and making compost in the near future when I start a bedding for my vegetable garden.

I was looking for a cool way to lable my herb garden when, tadah!!! Martha Stewart “personally” sent me an email with a great idea!  Ja, ja!!  So I went with the kids to my backyard and started looking for rocks approximately the size of the palm of their hands. We found really beautiful quarz-like smooth rocks that problably I had thrown away from a nice flower centerpiece I got as a present or something like that, because they where very different from the rest of the rocks in my backyard. Anyway, they were lovely,  so I took out a blue Sharpie and started to lable my herb garden. Turned out so nice and really pretty! Tomorrow Cristina and I will soil our hands to teach the girls in our Girl Scout Troop to pot and care for cherry tomatoes. By doing this, we will try to plant a seed in the hearts and minds of the next generation to love and care for our Planet and all living things.

Have a nice Earth Day!

Meet Rosemary. Ja! You can see Culantro (recao) in the back on the ground starting to spread its seeds.

Recao- Culantro

Sweet Basil starting to grow

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Oven roasted rosemary-garlic potatoes

Savory, simple and wholesome side dish.  I make these potatoes a lot because they are so easy and taste so good.  It is a quick-fix option to accompany a weekday main dish and should be in every busy moms’ recipe book as an alternative to serve their families something fresh and delicious with little effort.  Believe me you will get hooked on these potatoes!  I use fresh rosemary from my herb garden, but you may also use dried.  Also, my favorites for this dish are yukon gold potatoes, but you can use russet potatoes as a substitute.

Enjoy!

Oven roasted rosemary-garlic potatoes

Ingredients

4 yukon gold potatoes peeled and cubed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 garlic cloves minced

2 tbsp loosely packed fresh rosemary

1 tbsp kosher salt

pepper to taste

Procedure

1.  Pre-heat oven at 375º f.  Peel potatoes and cut into approximately 1×1 inch cubes.

2.  Place potatoes in a large bowl and season with the remaining of ingredients.   Mix well with a spoon.

3.  Pour potato mix in a jelly roll pan and spread evenly.

4.  Roast in oven for approximately 45 minutes. Every oven is different, so if the potatoes have not reached the desired color, put it on broil for a few minutes. Let rest for about 5 minutes, stir and serve.

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