Grilled Chicken and Potatoes with Tomato and Cucumber Salad

It's time for another Fine Cooking recipe! This one is super simple and it will really impress your friends. Especially if you're able to get some nice grill marks on the chicken! I don't have an outdoor grill, because I don't have a backyard, but this recipe can also be cooked using a grill pan on a stove. When using a grill pan the chicken and the potatoes will most likely have to be cooked separately (unless the grill pan is big enough). Everything is tossed in a lemon vinaigrette, which adds a nice brightness. This recipe serves 4.

The Indoor Garden Expands to The Outdoors

The last I updated about the indoor garden everything was moving along nicely. Since then, I've moved some things outdoors. The tomato plant was outgrowing the space that I had for it in my front window, I had some pepper plants transplanted into my parent's backyard and I also planted cucumber seeds in my parent's backyard. It's been an interesting experience to see the plants begin to flower and set fruit. The carrots were recently harvested and they tasted delicious. Although, they were smaller than I had expected (more on that later).

Mango Salsa

As summer gets into full swing, and the variety of in season fruits and veggies increases, I will most likely be posting more recipe blogs and less environmentally friendly related blogs. Not that I haven't been making new environmental changes to my life, but I've been trying out so many new recipes and I want to share them all! Well, the good ones at least... This mango salsa is perfect for summertime. It still has the spiciness and freshness (from a habanero and cilantro) of a tomato based salsa, but the mango adds a nice fruity layer. I discovered this recipe in my favorite cooking magazine... Fine Cooking! Beware of the habanero, it is one of the hottest chili peppers. It is only about 2 inches long (see picture below), but it packs a punch! For this reason, see my safety tip after the recipe.

Chunky Fresh Tomato Salsa

Today I decided that it was time to pick some cilantro and make salsa. My favorite recipe for salsa comes from Rick Bayless. It felt very cool to be able to pick the cilantro myself and use it while fresh! I can't wait until my tomato plant starts producing... for now I have to use store bought tomatoes. Although I am lucky enough to have a nice produce place close by. The following recipe makes 2 cups of salsa and don't forget to have some Mexican style chips on hand for dipping!

Indoor Garden Update

The indoor garden is coming along just as planned with the exception of the stubborn mint and the addition of a few new plants. I got a strawberry plant for the boyfriend's sweet tooth and a lime basil plant for my Mojito tooth. I never heard of lime basil before, but when I saw the seed packet I had to have it! I immediately imagined it in various cocktails, teas and pasta sauces. Also, I had been waiting for my potato tubers to come and they finally arrived earlier this week. I will be planting them today and I'm so excited!

Basil and Cilantro Planted

A couple days ago I planted the first two plants that will be a part of the indoor garden: basil and cilantro. I've grown basil before, but not cilantro so I'm pretty excited about that. I've also been reading up on how to save seeds from these plants so that I can possibly grow other plants from my own seeds. The main reason that I wanted to write about the basil and cilantro was to share a couple of crafty ideas on how to label your pots so you don't forget which plant is which before it sprouts. The first idea came from Gayla Trail's book Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces. She writes that an inexpensive way to make plant tags is to spray tongue depressors with chalkboard spray and then write in chalk which plant is in that pot and you can always erase the chalk and reuse them! At Christmas time I was given a chalkboard wall decal which I didn't have a purpose for, but I remembered Gayla's idea and came up with my own version. I cut up the wall decal into smaller pieces and stuck them to the pots (labeling what plant was in there and the date that it was planted).