Eat Your Greenies...

     You can only imagine my happiness when I came upon this small clump of parsley in the mulched garden.  A true biennial, which means it grows to maturity in the first year and then goes to seed in the second, it does gives some fresh leaves its second year if you can catch it quickly enough!  And, because of this fabulous, unseasonably warm weather, I did "catch" it!

Curly Parsley

     So, even though it's only a bit of green, it's still green, and that means it is coming inside to my kitchen for lunch!

 
Now to put my herbal "nerd" on...Parsley is not just a decoration.  As a matter of fact, its health benefits outweigh most of the fancy dishes it's used as a garnish on!  Crazy, right?  I would fill up a page on everything it's good for, including your heart, rheumatoid arthritis, as well as being chock-full of antioxidants to boot.  If you can remember that it's rich in vitamins A and C, that should be all the info you need to want to grow, and eat this wonder herb.

                                                    

Yep, I minced these little leaves of health right onto whatever we were eating this day, which happened to be a mix of leftovers.  Case in point, "Chili Baked Potatoes," (a perfect way to use up a glob of leftover chili.)  It helps to give a little bit of nutrition to an otherwise heavy meal. Of course, to get more of the health benefits, eat more parsley, but for now, a sprinkle will do because much more parsley will be on its way in a month or two!

  So, think about giving parsley a try.  It's a strongly-flavored herb, so start with a small amount and work your way up. Don't give up if you don't care for it...it can take up to ten tries before we know we don't like a food.  So go for the ten and eat some green!