3 Easy Spring Garden-to-Table Recipes

Spring has proven to be abundant so far in my patio garden, and with the regular harvests of chives, lettuce, spinach, mesclun, and radishes, I've been finding good use for my fresh garden food. I've prepared a couple easy and simple recipes that incorporate my recent harvests. 

Note: On most recipes like this, I don't list exact amounts to add, because you can't really go wrong with the ingredients, and you can easily downsize or upsize the recipes since they're fresh.

SPRING AVOCADO TOAST

Simple, light, fresh with a kick. 

What you'll need:
2 slices whole wheat toast
1 small avocado
About 5 red round radishes
A few leaves of arugula, spinach, lettuce or other leafy green
Sprinkling of sea salt

How-to:

1. Toast your bread. 
2. While it's toasting, slice up the radishes thinly and mash up your avocado. 
3. Once bread is toasted, spread avocado on top, layer your greens and radishes on top, and then sprinkle with salt. 
4. High-five yourself for eating a salad on toast and being way ahead of the game.

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SPRING GARDEN SALAD

This salad is easy, and kind of a no-brainer. Chop the veggies, toss together with dressing, sprinkle with blossoms, and voila! Done. It went really well on the side with a baked potato, and Walmart's Great Value brand popcorn chicken. Seriously, that stuff is amazing and microwaveable, and I can't be totally gourmet at all times. Plus, after my long commute, that's good enough for me.

What you'll need:
Leafy Lettuce (Romaine, green leaf, or red leaf. Avoid iceberg lettuce, it tanks the garden freshness of the recipe.)
Mesclun
Spinach
Radishes
Cucumber
Carrots
Greek Vinaigrette
Chive Blossoms

Optional: 
Add chopped chicken, turkey, hard boiled egg slices, feta cheese or switch to any dressing you prefer. 

How-to:

1. Chop up equal parts lettuce, mesclun and spinach and toss together in bowl. 
2. Chop up carrots, radishes, and cucumber and toss with greens.
3. Rinse chive blossom, and tear blossom head apart into the tiny smaller flowers. You don't want to eat the entire flower head whole. (That's kind of an awkward mouthful.) 
4. Drizzle with greek vinaigrette, and sprinkle with chive blossoms. 
5. Toss salad to combine, and serve.

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SPRING PASTA SALAD

Pasta salad is an easy dish and goes with about any type of protein, or is great as a standalone dish. As you see in the picture, it went very well with that amazingly gourmet Great Value brand popcorn chicken that showed up in my other recipe photo, too. Seriously, that stuff is good.

What you'll need:
Garden rotini pasta
Black olives
Cucumber
Carrots
Spinach and/or mesclun leaves
Parmesan cheese (shredded, grated, the powdery form, any kind)
Red pepper flakes
Zesty Italian vinaigrette dressing/marinade

How-to:

1. Cook pasta as directed on package
2. While pasta is boiling, chop up olives, carrots, and cucumbers.
3. When pasta is done, drain the water, and pour noodles into serving bowl.
4. Add chopped veggies, and spinach and/or mesclun leaves (amount is your preference.)
5. Stir in vinaigrette, grated parmesan, and sprinkle red pepper flakes.
6. Refrigerate before serving to set the flavors, and chill the pasta.  Will last for several days in the fridge if covered tightly. 
7. (Also, tastes good warm right after making if you don't have time to wait.)

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Happy spring harvesting, and eating. Let me know if you try any of these recipes, and what you thought of them!

++ What are you harvesting right now in your garden? 

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