Herb Garden and YouTube

Hey there foodies!  I’ve missed you. I’ve been dealing with some rotating family illness, but all three of my kids are finally back in school, and I’m looking forward to getting back to blogging!  So, what have I been up to?

Right before I went on hiatus, I planted a window-box herb garden.  I had been wanting to do this for quite some time, and I’m so excited it’s up and thriving.  I’ve had better luck with some herbs than others.  I’m actually having trouble with traditionally easy herbs like mint and dill weed, but all three kinds of basil I planted are perky.  I’m looking forward to telling you all about my herbs and how I’ve been using them.  Did you know, compared with the same amount of lettuce, raw parsley gives you 3 times as much vitamin A, 4 times as much calcium, 5 times as much iron, 17 times as much vitamin K, and 44 times as much vitamin C?  Similarly, the total antioxidant capacity of fresh oregano is eight times higher than spinach! Read more at Nutrition Diva – Are Herbs Good for You?

During my sick leave, I’ve been spending a lot of time on YouTube and listening to podcasts.  While my 15 month old was very sick with a cough, one of the only things that would calm her was watching episodes of Good Eats.  I also found an excellent YouTube channel called Cooking Up a Story, where I learned about many things I never knew existed, like growing pears in a bottle or organized food swaps. 

I received some handmade chocolates for the holiday of Purim and this evening I decided to learn about confections YouTube.  I watched a women sculpt chocolate roses and I learned about making lace and and fabric type designs with a product called SugarVeil.  The SugarVeil channel is obviously an advertisement for the product, but it is still so cool!  After watching the first few videos I thought, can you make edible clothing with this stuff?  And sure enough, the the artist and entrepreneur made wedding dresses!  These are really worth seeing.

I’ve already posted about my favorite podcasts, including The Splendid Table and Nutrition Diva, but I recently started listening the a program out of California – KCRW’s Good Food.  Search for them in the iTunes store.

Coming up soon on this season of Cooking Outside the Box…

• Unique herbs and what they can do for you
• Healthy sesame paste cookies
• The much anticipated great apron giveaway