Parsley, I Heart You

My husband has been in the hospital all week with a painful abdominal infection. I’ve been back and forthing between there, work, and home, and haven’t been eating well. Last night was the first time I was able to cook myself a late-night meal (a rather weak one by my standards). Still, it didn’t come from a package, a restaurant or coffee shop, so it was nice. We have a pot of sturdy Italian parsley in the kitchen windowsill (I just brought the pot inside from the garden last month, and after a mild, droopy shock, it came right back!), so I grabbed some, and added it to an easy pasta dish. I cooked up some whole wheat penne, added a splash of lemon garlic Caesar dressing my mother-in-law gave me, drizzled some EV olive oil on top, tossed in the chopped fresh parsley, tossed it vigorously, and sprinkled some Parmesan over the top. Very yummy. The dogs, which are missing our pack leader terribly, enjoyed some too.

Growing herbs indoors in winter is a lifeline to fresh food in cold weather. Parsley is such a wholesome herb, and its fragrance and flavor speaks of summer. I also started a pot of Genovese basil from Franchi seed a few weeks ago, and it’s coming along nicely in the sunny dining room window. The rosemary plants that thrived in pots all summer are keeping well (and kind of wonderfully, interestingly straggly) in the cool but bright ‘root cellar’ extension of our garage.

And now that it’s physician-confirmed (I’ve been telling my husband this all along) that Todd has to alter his diet to include fiber and fresh foods, we’ll be clipping even more indoor herbs (whether he likes it or not) for sandwiches, salads, and dinner dishes.

Send some good, healing vibes Todd’s way. I just love that big guy.