Sunday, May 16, 2010

I Eat Flowers!

I'm good with animals, and I'm not too shabby in the kitchen. But when it comes to gardening, I suck. I can kill plants with a simple glance. I'm pretty sure plants fear me because I love to eat them. That theory would explain why I'm so good with animals ...

Despite my black thumb, I try to grow herbs and random plants every spring. They typically die before summer's end, but I can't stand to fail at anything. So I keep trying. That's why I purchased a nasturtium plant at the Memphis Farmer's Market a few weeks ago. I was certain the plant would die before the edible flowers bloomed. But hey look! It bloomed!

If you've never eaten a nasturtium flower, they really don't have much of a taste. But they look so damn cute atop your salad. I had one of my flowers with a simple salad of local lettuce, kalamata olives, radishes, carrots, and bacon bits. The salad was dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar:

I enjoyed my floral salad with Pizza Toast!

That's a slice of French Meadow Hemp bread topped with marinara and Daiya Italian shreds. I baked the bread in the oven for about 10 minutes, until the Daiya melted. Yum!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That does look super cute! Nice work girly.

The Voracious Vegan said...

That is just beautiful and they do look so bright and pretty on top of your salad! Congratulations on not killing it instantaneously! ;-)

I've always been too scared to eat edible flowers. I have horrible allergies to pretty much everything in nature and definitely in all kinds of flowers, I don't even want to imagine what would happen if I munched on one!

Mihl said...

I love that plant! I usually thrown both the leaves and flowers into a salad.
Btw. There's a song by a German punk band called "Ich ess Blumen" (I eat flowers).

T said...

I can't garden to save my life either... but at least I'm a good composter!

What a pretty salad topping! But I'm craving that pizza toast...

werner said...

I will have the pizza toast and skip the flowers! lol, maybe I should give it a try..

jessy said...

the nasturtium plant is so pretty - and so awesome on eating the flowers! gotta love a plant that's pretty to look at and edible! doublew00t! i'm not the best gardener either. i am good with herbs & tomato plants, but that's about it. ah ha ha!

i've gotta tell ya that your hoe cakes, jam-filled soda rolls, and the tofu chicken-fried steak are all oh-so yummy looking, Bianca! you've been nomming on some serious deliciousnesses lately. i almost forgot about your mess 'o greens - i think i know what i'll be making soon. mmmmmmmm!

Leslie Richman said...

Yay for eating orange flowers, and super yay for pizza toast!!!

The Kuntrageous Vegan said...

The final picture is proof that Daiya is not only good; but delicious. No one ever uses much vegan cheese.

miss v said...

the only flowers i've eaten are zucchini blossoms. i fried them and they were scrumptious!

Erin said...

Congratulations on your plant success! I'm with you on the whole black thumb thing. When I was in school at Bauman we learned all about edible flowers, but I can't see myself as a person who garnishes with flowers. Your salad is really lovely though!

Anonymous said...

I think nasturtiums have a very strong, distinct taste! They're super mustard-y! :)