Tag: DIY

Nutrition, recipes

Green Seasoning

Posted on by mghdiabeteseducation

By Fern Harper
Administrative Coordinator for the DSME Program

Mixed vegetables in a wicker basket

Season your food using only fresh ingredients and no salt. I like to use this green  seasoning in soups and as a marinade for meat and chicken.  It’s also very delicious with steamed vegetables.

You can buy these vegetables at your local supermarket or Farmers Market, or you can even pick them fresh from your own garden. Depending on your taste, you can add more or less of any ingredient, or substitute in other vegetables.

Ingredients:

2 cups of green onions
1 whole red pepper (seeded, chopped)
1 whole green pepper (seeded, chopped)
2 cups of celery
One bunch of cilantro (fresh)
One cup of thyme leaves (fresh)
One cup of basil (fresh)
One cup of rosemary (fresh)
1 bunch of chives
2 cups of onion
3 cups of garlic
1 cup of fresh mint leaves
2 shallots
A small piece of Ginger
¼ of a lemon
One quarter of a scotch bonnet pepper, seeds removed if you do not like it hot (optional)
¼ to ½ of cup of vinegar to moisten.

Additional items you will need:

Food Processor
Preserving glass jars
Mixing bowl (optional)
Ziploc bags (optional)

Preparation:

Wash vegetables and cut into small pieces.  Place in a food processor and process to desired texture, adding vinegar as needed.  When finished, pour into a preserving glass jar and store in the refrigerator.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can mix your vegetables in a large bowl and store in quart size Ziploc bags (vinegar, lemon juice and ginger are optional with this method).

Green seasoning will last about 2 months in the refrigerator.  You can also store in Ziploc bags in the freezer and take out and defrost as needed.

Enjoy!

(Post content reviewed by MGH Nutrition Department)
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Guest Post

A Home Gardening Experiment: Harvest

Posted on by mghdiabeteseducation

By Chrisanne Sikora
Social Media Coordinator

Let me get this out of the way first:  I have tomatoes!!!

Tomato plants (give or take an oak tree)Okay, now I’ll back up a bit.  Last time I checked in, I’d just transplanted my seedlings from the kitchen greenhouse to the backyard.  That was back in early June, and almost immediately afterward we had a little cold spell.  My tomato seedlings went into shock and of the ten that were planted only about three looked like they were going to make it.  Though that was a little disappointing, there wasn’t much I could do about it – can’t control the weather after all.  What I did do was spread some mulch over the garden bed to protect the roots, and watered.  Every day.  If I’ve learned one thing it’s that tomatoes are thirsty little things.

Delicate yellow flowers

As it turns out, most of the seedlings recovered from the cold snap and I soon had about a half dozen thriving tomato plants (and one oak tree trying to pass itself off as one.  If you look closely at the picture above, you can see it hiding in the middle of the pack).  Right before I went on vacation in July, I noticed a few little yellow flowers popping up on some of the vines – a good sign that tomatoes were not far behind.

Young green tomatoesSure enough when I got back home there were still a few yellow flowers here and there, and a number of little green tomatoes.  The vines had also grown another several inches while I was away and they’re now peeking up over the bottom of the deck.  Amazing how they went from scrawny not-sure-they’re-going-to-make-it seedlings to a mini jungle in about a month and a half.

So after a few false starts, I’d say my home gardening experiment was ultimately a success.  A few tomatoes have already started turning orange, and there’s enough young fruit that I expect to have home grown tomatoes in my salad for the rest of summer and into the fall.  Hmm, what should I try growing next year?

Tomato harvestGot any good tips for a newbie gardener, or a suggestion for my next gardening  adventure?  Leave me a comment below.

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Guest Post

A Home Gardening Experiment: Moving Day!

Posted on by mghdiabeteseducation

By Chrisanne Sikora
Social Media Coordinator

Tomato seedlings

It’s been several weeks since I planted my tomato seeds and they’re now ready to be moved out into the back yard (probably a bit overdue as they’re overgrowing their greenhouse).  Actually, I’m happy with how many seedlings I have.  For a while it was looking like one of the trays wasn’t going to make it at all; there were a couple of sprouts soon after planting, but they died quickly from not getting enough water (oops).  A more concentrated effort at regular watering (and maybe a little help from Miracle-Gro®) and both trays were flourishing. 

Prepping the garden

The spot chosen for my vegetable garden is just underneath the back deck, next to a feisty old rose bush.  I prepped the area for planting the weekend before:  defining where the lawn ends and the garden begins, ripping out as much of the grass and weeds as possible, and turning over the top layer of soil with a pitchfork.  From there, it was just a matter of gently removing the seedlings from the greenhouse trays, separating them out (they were getting all tangled up) and planting them in the ground. 

Planting a tomato seedling

Once all the seedlings had been transplanted, I set up tomato cages over them so they’ll have something to support them as they get bigger.  Since they’re so small right now, I secured them to the cages with twist ties to keep them stable—just until they can “stand up” on their own.  I’ll probably spread some mulch in the garden to help protect the roots and prevent some of those weeds from coming back (and so it’ll look nicer, too). Setting up the tomato cages

So my home gardening experiment is in full swing.  Can’t wait to start seeing some tomatoes!  If you have any great gardening tips, leave me a comment below.

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