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- Learning to like the "green stuff".
Learning to like the "green stuff".
- By Jackie Hardin
- Published 09/16/2008
- Food & Drink
- Unrated
Jackie Hardin
I am an advocate for women and children, a wife, a mother and a grandmother. I have a passion for learning new things and sharing with others. I am a writer, an herbalist, a foodie, a crafter, an artist, and a teacher.
View all articles by Jackie Hardin
One of my children recently brought home a friend for dinner of chicken, potato salad,corn on the cob,sliced tomatoes,biscuits,iced tea and cake.As the food was being passed around the table, my daughter's friend leaned over and whispered," What's the green stuff?" Everyone sitting around the table burst into laughter.
"Everything we eat here has "green stuff" in it, replied a family member, and our guest looked bewildered.Someone else chimed in," We even have "green stuff", in our desserts"...and that night he was right.
The chicken had been sprinkled with rosemary before being broiled, the potato salad contained a good handful of parsley and salad burnet, the corn had been roasted with butter and mint, the tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar and sprinkled with fresh chopped basil, the tea was a choice between two commerical varieties of herb tea, and last but not least , for dessert there was pound cake flavored with the lemon herbs; lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon thyme.
Of course each dish was appropriately garnished with herbal leaves or flowers.My family informed our guest that the " green stuff" was herbs, and then reassured him they would do him no harm. By now, my family is acclimated to my herbal hobby.They are accustomed to eating food with "green stuff" in it, smelling potpourris curing,having the front door decorated with herbal wreaths or swags,being offered anise seeds when they hiccup,or having crushed basil leaves rubbed on the site of an insect
sting to relieve the pain.
This was not always the case. In the beginning, my eldest son and even my husband would comb through their food in search of any "green stuff", carefully pulling it aside on their plates so as not to eat any.Sometimes they had good reason.Many a dish was ruined when I used too much or the wrong combination to the point of over powering the food.
Now I use the right touch and blend , and after years of experimenting, the herbs enhance the flavor of the food, instead of dominating it.As I became more adapt at seasoning with the "green stuff", my family's attitude began to change.It was with amusement that I watched my eldest son, shortly after his marriage, rummaging through my herbs and spices looking for some"green stuff"to go on bread. This could have meant a number of herbs, but I knew he wanted the garlic chives.In the future he would return looking for the "green stuff"for spaghetti sauce, salad dressing and poultry stuffing.
Even the grand babies are exposed to the "green stuff". The eldest, now three, has grown up in the herb garden, sitting in her carriage as an infant, watching her grandmother weed and experiencing the smells and the beauty of the plants.Now she and her sister play in the garden, content among the herbs, picking with permission, the mint and fennel, studying the swallowtail caterpillars, watching the butterflies hovering over the flowers.Most fun of all, is watching them use the woolly leaves of lamb's ear to create donkey, sheep or rabbit ears when they are singing "Old McDonald's Farm.
As their baby sister gets older, she too will join us in eating,playing and learning about the"green stuff".
"Everything we eat here has "green stuff" in it, replied a family member, and our guest looked bewildered.Someone else chimed in," We even have "green stuff", in our desserts"...and that night he was right.
The chicken had been sprinkled with rosemary before being broiled, the potato salad contained a good handful of parsley and salad burnet, the corn had been roasted with butter and mint, the tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar and sprinkled with fresh chopped basil, the tea was a choice between two commerical varieties of herb tea, and last but not least , for dessert there was pound cake flavored with the lemon herbs; lemon balm, lemon verbena and lemon thyme.
Of course each dish was appropriately garnished with herbal leaves or flowers.My family informed our guest that the " green stuff" was herbs, and then reassured him they would do him no harm. By now, my family is acclimated to my herbal hobby.They are accustomed to eating food with "green stuff" in it, smelling potpourris curing,having the front door decorated with herbal wreaths or swags,being offered anise seeds when they hiccup,or having crushed basil leaves rubbed on the site of an insect
This was not always the case. In the beginning, my eldest son and even my husband would comb through their food in search of any "green stuff", carefully pulling it aside on their plates so as not to eat any.Sometimes they had good reason.Many a dish was ruined when I used too much or the wrong combination to the point of over powering the food.
Now I use the right touch and blend , and after years of experimenting, the herbs enhance the flavor of the food, instead of dominating it.As I became more adapt at seasoning with the "green stuff", my family's attitude began to change.It was with amusement that I watched my eldest son, shortly after his marriage, rummaging through my herbs and spices looking for some"green stuff"to go on bread. This could have meant a number of herbs, but I knew he wanted the garlic chives.In the future he would return looking for the "green stuff"for spaghetti sauce, salad dressing and poultry stuffing.
Even the grand babies are exposed to the "green stuff". The eldest, now three, has grown up in the herb garden, sitting in her carriage as an infant, watching her grandmother weed and experiencing the smells and the beauty of the plants.Now she and her sister play in the garden, content among the herbs, picking with permission, the mint and fennel, studying the swallowtail caterpillars, watching the butterflies hovering over the flowers.Most fun of all, is watching them use the woolly leaves of lamb's ear to create donkey, sheep or rabbit ears when they are singing "Old McDonald's Farm.
As their baby sister gets older, she too will join us in eating,playing and learning about the"green stuff".