radish sandwich

even though radishes are not one of my girls favorite foods we can't help but plant them in the spring. they are a great crop to grow in the garden for young people.
they germinate fast and grow fast too. and harvesting them is such fun!

we always grow the 'easter egg' variety. they come in a beautiful variety of colors and the girls love the name. we try to harvest them when they are small and on the younger side to avoid them getting too hot.

i love eating radishes whole with just a pinch of salt but my girls have not quite caught on to to my radish enthusiasm until recently when i remembered how my mother would like to eat her radishes with butter which i believe goes back to our irish roots.

 it's true that most things taste better with butter and believe it or not radishes and butter are truly delicious.

 i introduced this sandwich to an after school garden club last week and it was quite the hit. the students devoured an entire baguette with generous helpings of radish.

radish sandwich

slice of your favorite bread
generous amounts of butter
thinly sliced radish
a pinch of sea salt
chopped up chives or other herbs are nice too

enjoy!!

thinning out & a salad

am i the only one who hates thinning out seedlings? all i can think is that these little babies that i'm trimming could have the potential to grow into full sized plants, producing delicious veggies or beautiful flowers or herbs. (i actually found myself so incapable of thinning my tomatoes that i ended up transplanting them all into their own little pots and i'm now saddled with about 100 tomato seedlings! i have some very lucky friends and neighbors...)

last night i found myself desperately needing to thin out my radishes and arugula if i wanted any of them to grow to their full potential. so thin i did. but those little greens that i pulled out were not destined for the compost. instead, they headed straight for the salad bowl for a light dinner. if i were feeling fancy, i'd call it a microgreen salad.

toss some mini arugula and radish greens (or whatever you have, baby chard or kale would be delicious too) with sunflower seeds, some chopped gouda (chevre would have been delicious, but this was all i had on hand) and a little balsamic vinaigrette. some of the radish seedlings had begun to produce tiny fruits, so i washed those off and sprinkled them on top. delicious.

no seedling left behind!