Garden Parsley in Our Pad Thai, and an Epic Pink Smoothie Recipe

I’ve discovered the best flavor combo in the cosmos: watermelon and banana. This is a big jar of fresh pressed watermelon juice blended with two spotty, ripe bananas. It quenches thirst and replenishes potassium. It worked like a delicious charm last Sunday, when it was 85 degrees outside and we were building the deck and sweating hard. This is going to be my summer drink for sure.

New life incoming! A beautiful pair of sparrows has taken up residence in our birdhouse. Last weekend, they were busy making love and building their nursery.

Last night marked a defining moment in the 2017 growing season: I added our first garden food to dinner. I made an awesome pad Thai (I should post my recipe, because frankly, it’s amazing) and added our garden parsley to it. Pad Thai calls for lots of cilantro, but cilantro tastes like soap to me. I avoid cooking with it.

Parsley is a great substitute. So, for dinner, we had a creamy pad Thai with crunchy raw carrot slivers, red and yellow pepper, onion, cabbage, and cucumber. The parsley went into the peanut sauce of peanut butter, garlic, Braggs aminos, coconut sugar, and fresh lime juice. I made enough to feed four people, and we hogged it all.

The weather has cooled. Highs in the 50s and 60s for the next 10 days, then, it starts creeping up a little. Spring has been slow coming. The garden needs a warm, mostly dry May to get its best start. A soppy, cool May will wreak havoc with the soil, breeding fungus that will later attack the veggie plants.

I’m trying in vain it seems to germinate some turmeric rhizomes. They’ve been in a sprouting jar and on a heat mat for one month with no signs of life. They’re not rotting, but they’re not sprouting. This weekend, I plan to transfer them, plus some fresh ones, to a pot of soil. Maybe, like avo pits, turmeric rhizomes germinate best in soil.

I already posted about that groovy watermelon juice I made last weekend. I forgot to mention that, after I drank a huge jar of it, there was more to drink in the fridge. The day was hot and sticky, and we were sweating a lot, so I decided that some potassium was in order.

So, I blended the fresh, cold watermelon juice with two spotty, ripe bananas. It made the most refreshing, sweetest, potassium-and-mineral packed smoothie I ever had. It’s also the most amazing baby pink color (I happen to love pink food). I think this will be my standby drink this summer.

Take about 2 cups of fresh, cold watermelon juice and blend it with two ripe organic bananas. If you want it super cold, add frozen bananas. It will satisfy your thirst naturally and give you lasting energy on a hot day. Bananas are the best stuff on Earth.

Live in peace.