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3 Super-Quick Do-It-Yourself Recipes for the Urban Home Gardener

Garden-Michael

You’ve spent the time and effort growing your produce, nurturing and watching over it as it sprouts into life. One of the most rewarding areas of agriculture and home gardening for me is using this produce to create mouth-watering, healthy & delicious treats for my family (and me!) to snack on. Something about home-grown just makes food taste so much better!

Because I’m always outside tending to my urban garden, I don’t always have the time to prepare food or full meals using the produce I have grown. This is the main reason I love creating and experimenting with smoothies and various blends of my fruit & veg – Not only do they taste great, but they can also be made with such little effort in next to no time at all. 2 of the following recipes are quick and easy smoothies that anybody can make, the third is a perfect side dish but still just as tasty and simple to put together.

If you are looking for a healthy new treat you can make with food you have grown, I strongly recommend a few combinations to really get those taste-buds kicking. As always though, don’t feel limited to my suggestions, they are merely some tasty ideas I found from my own experiments. You may find you like something completely different to me, and could try adding in various extra items to your smoothies. Either way, the aim here is to put the rewards of our urban gardening efforts into fruition, and enjoy the produce as you so rightly deserve.

I should also point out that all of these work great as a daily detox drink, helping to clean your body from the inside and flush out all those nasty toxins. A healthy body is a happy body.
Without further delay, here are some of the beautiful arrangements I found playing around with my blender and some fresh fruit and vegetables from the garden.

Smoothie Heaven

All you are going to need is a reliable blender, 10 minutes of your time and the ingredients for either smoothie listed below.

As keen as I am to grow all my own products, I unfortunately did not grow all of the following ingredients myself. For those I purchased, the best produce was found at local fresh food markets, where you can often find a whole range of home-grown foods and organic fruit and veg.

1 – Spinach, Avocado & Kale Smoothie

What you will need:
• 1 cup of Spinach
• 1 cup of Kale (Chopped)
• ½ cup of green grapes
• 1 Apple (Any variety)
• 1 Avocado (Chopped & Frozen)
• Apple Juice or Water

Easily a contender for my favourite blend of all time, thankfully I’ve found that spinach goes with more or less anything – Which is very encouraging, given its health benefits and huge amount of nutrients. The vast majority of my smoothies tend to include spinach and kale, and plenty of it! The 3 main ingredients, spinach, kale and avocado give this smoothie a beautiful light green colour, and a wonderful texture too.

To make your smoothie, cut up each ingredient into sensible sizes, purely to help with getting it into the blending machine. Then blend away for 30 or so seconds before adding your liquid for consistency.

It is best to leave the Apple juice/water till last, and it should be added in small amounts to the blender, until you reach the desired consistency. I do not tend to add much extra water during the blending process, but you may find the end product too viscous for your liking – in which case mixing with water will help to smoothen out the final product.

2 – Morning Citrus Detox Smoothie

What you will need:

• Lemon
• Lime
• Kale
• Spinach
• 1 Apple (Any variety)
• Ginger
• Celery
• Carrot

When I can’t wake up in the morning, this citrus focused smoothie really gets me going. Using so many simple and easy to grow foods, this smoothie is jam packed full of nutrients, vitamins and all the detoxing agents you need to flush out those toxins from your system.

A word of warning, this one is an acquired taste for me; the ‘zing’ can take a little time to get used too. Once you are past this stage, it can become quite addictive; it is incredibly refreshing and makes you feel great and ready to take on the day.

As before, blend it all up together for around half a minute. I often find this one doesn’t always need any additional water or juice adding, but it is still an option if you should find the consistency a little too thick.

The citrus detox smoothie is my personal selection for the morning. Packed in an air tight container and stored in the fridge overnight, it is always ready for the morning, to make me feel alert even on the slowest of days.

Veggies-Jonathan

3 – Garlic Herb Roasted Vegetables (Courtesy of Annie’s Home-grown Recipes)

Having an urban garden isn’t all about growing ingredients for smoothies though. I am sure you have probably used your produce in many home cooked meals already. Here is a side dish which goes so well with roast dinners, and many other meals. My family absolutely love it, which is an uncommon occurrence when I prepare food!

A warm blend of potatoes and freshly grown veg with a hint of garlic really gets the taste buds going.

What you will need:

• 1 pound of potatoes
• 1 pound of Brussel sprouts
• ½ of a Red onion
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of fresh, cleaned and chopped rosemary
• 1 teaspoon of Thyme
• 1 and ½ teaspoon of salt
• ½ teaspoon of black pepper

Roasting those veggies

1. The first thing to do is preheat oven to 400 F. You can then clean and dry your potatoes. Slice the potato into even chunks and place in a large bowl. Approximately 1 inch chunks are a great size.
2. Peel and discard any brown leaves on the outside of your Brussel sprouts. After cleaning you can add these into the bowl with the potato. I normally leave the Brussel sprouts whole to match the same cooking time as the potato.
3. Cut the red onion into similar size chunks as the potato, and add to the bowl.
4. Next, drizzle a fair amount of extra virgin olive oil onto the mixture, roughly 3 tablespoons. Here you can also add salt, pepper and any herbs you wish to include.
5. To evenly coat the vegetables with oil mixture, toss the bowl carefully. Next spread the mixture evenly on a sizeable sheet pan. Ensure that the vegetables are spread out evenly so heat can circulate around them.
6. Put the tray in the oven and cook until tender/brown. This should take approximately 30-40 minutes. Around half way through the cooking process, take the pan out of the oven and toss the food again, to make sure we cook both sides.
7. It’s now ready to eat! Get a serving dish and add this as a delicious side to any meal, although it tastes great on its own too!

Annie’s home-grown foods recommend trying this recipe with a variety of fall vegetables such as squash, turnips, or parsnips. You can also swap out the potatoes for sweet potatoes for a little extra flavour.

There are 3 very simple recipes you can put together no matter your level of experience in cooking. As always with home-grown food, it is good to experiment and try out new things.
Staying healthy is important, and by eating natural foods like those grown in your garden, you can get all the nutrients you need to keep you going strong.

2 Comments

    1. Hi Kristina,

      Good spot. We would change the photo, but we think it is quaint.

      Regards – Web Team

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