I love growing things...with you

Dear Em,
All Spring & Summer long I've been posting updates about our little garden. It started with me being our biggest skeptic. It's just hard for me to keep things alive (except for you, of course). Luckily, we had Nonnie & Papi's help along the way. I'm so happy to report that we not only kept things alive, we grew things. We grew real things out of soil, & I'm so freaking excited.

When we've walked outside, there have been gorgeous flowers around our patio all summer long. Most of them Nonie planted, but these beauties you & I planted form seeds (I have not idea what they are).

We've had zucchini.

We have two adorable, little eggplants. P.S. Eggplant flowers are my favorite.

We made chili & salsa with our jalapenos & cilantro.

We have heirloom tomatoes.

We have red peppers (that are still green) & banana peppers.

It's actually created a really fun activity for us. It was a goal for me this school year to cook with you once a week. It's become a really nice time we can share one-on-one, & you're learning cooking skills. Plus, we've loved being able to use some of our vegetables from our garden. 

So far, we've made zucchini brownies & smoothies. Today, we will be trying zucchini tater tots. I have plans for apple bread & cider donuts (not form our garden, it's almost time for apple picking!). Daddy has made pizza & grilled cheese with the basil & has plans to use the tomatoes in BLTs. We're pretty much bringing "farm to table" to real life (in a very small-scale, we mostly use one ingredient from our garden at a time in our recipes, but you know, it's almost exactly the same thing).

The bonus that I didn't quite expect was that our little cooking experiment is encouraging you to broaden your food horizons. You've been a little more adventurous in the food that you willingly try, & surprisingly you've found new foods that you like. "Guess what, mom?! I like zucchini!"

Guess what, Em?! I love growing things...with you.

I love you so,

Mommy