This is the first year we haven’t belonged to a summer CSA in seven years. That’s because we have a vegetable garden of our own for the first time.  I have long been a perennial gardener, but I am pretty clueless when it comes to veggies and fruit. So this past winter I spent hours reading The Vegetable Gardner’s Bible. And attempted to make an informed planting plan.

We have two raised beds, one is 15-feet and the other is 20 feet. We also have another 20-foot bed for vegetables, blueberries and herbs. Which isn’t really a ton of space. But when we were planning it out last fall, I really had no idea what it all was going to mean. I was having a hard time figuring out how much mesclun mix  grows in a row that is about 8 feet long.

This spring I bought seeds and got them in between torrential rain storms.

My mom gave me some really sad looking heirloom tomato plants she had grown from seed. I put them in. And I bought some healthier looking ones from a local nursery. I also got some obscure pepper plants and put them in. I have had some happy successes. And some not so great successes (I ended up letting the shelling peas get too tough when I couldn’t get out to harvest them during a busy work week. We ate them anyway. I also let some radishes get waaaaay too tough and spicy. Ugh.) The girls are loving it and have been happy to much raw kale and chives as I’ve been planting, weeding and watering.

We’ve had Spinach, radishes and mesclun mix, baby lettuces, kale, snap peas and shelling peas. We have a ton of herbs. Nasturtiums.

And now finally the green beans are ready!!!!

There’s plenty more stuff coming soon. I will keep you posted don’t worry. But in the meantime enjoy this easy summer-in-your-mouth recipe. Green beans with basil vinaigrette. What are you growing this summer? Have you had any great successes? What hasn’t done well? Please be sure to leave a comment and let me know.

green beans with basil vinaigrette

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 20 minutes
• Yield: 6 cups 1x

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Ingredients

• 1 pound green beans, stem end trimmed off
• 1 small clove garlic, peeled
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• Freshly ground pepper to taste

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Instructions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Fill a large bowl with ice and water for an ice bath. Add green beans to the boiling water, stir to submerge and cook until the beans are crisp tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain and transfer to the ice bath. Let sit in ice bath until chilled, drain and transfer to serving platter.
2. Meanwhile, chop garlic. Sprinkle with salt and continue to chop and mash with the side of a chefs knife until it forms a paste. Puree basil, olive oil, vinegar, Dijon and the garlic salt mixture in a blender or mini-prep food processor until smooth.
3. Pour dressing over the green beans and grind pepper over to taste.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 cup
• Calories: 68
• Sugar: 2 g
• Sodium: 234 mg
• Fat: 5 g
• Saturated Fat: 1 g
• Carbohydrates: 6 g
• Fiber: 2 g
• Protein: 1 g