by Caroline

One of the things I love about tending a vegetable garden is being inspired by what’s available in the garden at any given time and making lively meals to share with friends.

This past week I had half a bed of spinach that was starting to go to seed so I pull it out and cleaned it up. The garlic scapes were also coming in. When garlic is growing, once it has enough leaves, it forms a stem with what would eventually become a flower. In order to put the energy of the plant back into forming the garlic bulb growing beneath the earth, you pluck the scape off and it can be used anywhere you might use garlic. They’re easy to recognize as they curl like a pig’s tail! The various dill plants that I’d started from seed in March were also doing very well, so I dreamed up a dressing that would include these 3 ingredients.

Basic recipe: Blend spinach (about 4 cups loosely packed), 1 ripe avocado, the juice of a lemon (about 3 Tbs), 1 cup loosely packed dill, 4 garlic scapes (or 2 cloves garlic), salt to taste, 1 teaspoon honey, a bit of water to help with blending.

Spread the dressing into ice cube trays and pop into a zip lock bag once frozen.

The salad meal below has various types of garden lettuce, steamed baby potatoes, steamed green beans, sliced cucumber, chopped chives & garlic scapes, chive flowers, and of course a few cubes of thawed dressing!