How to Dehydrate Garlic in an Oven

Garlic is ripe all at once. Put up your crop by dehydrating in an oven, then use your minced garlic year round. This tutorial shows you how.

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I started this blog (and most of my posts are for) people like me who eat locally and seasonally from a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share. Every once in a while, though, I've got posts for backyard gardeners. We're an intrepid bunch, looking to grow our favorites each year as well as try new things.


Many gardeners I've known start with tomatoes, because nothing beats a homegrown summer tomato. With tomatoes as the gateway vegetable I find that peas, peppers, squash and melons aren't far behind. Growing garlic is the next level up, and I've lost count how many folks I've encouraged to give it a whirl.

Where I've grown garlic--places that have some snowfall--I've found if tulip and daffodil bulbs will grow, so will garlic. [Never mind if your local varmints eat your tulip bulbs. In my experience the varmints don't have a taste for garlic.] You plant garlic in the Fall, and--this is why I'm posting now--harvest it all at once in early summer.

Quick Crispy Sugar Snap Peas

A fast and flavorful side, these sugar snap peas are quickly sautéed with spring onions for a crunchy accompaniment to any meal.

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I plant peas each Spring, hoping to get a jump start on the edible goodies coming out of my back yard. I never seem to remember succession planting, though, so I mostly get just a handful of peas harvested at a time. An amount that generally gets snacked on as I walk back into the house.

It's rare for me to get a working amount of sugar snap peas.  Peas are so yummy raw, or dunked in hummus or our favorite Spiced Cottage Cheese Chip Dip that I tend to just eat them that way. In an effort to broaden the family's culinary horizons I've also made a Cold and Creamy Pea, Avocado and Mint Soup--but it turns out that chilled soups are not something the other household residents embrace. All the more for me.

Simon's interest put all my other meh photos of peas and pea blossoms to shame this morning.

Waffled Carrot and Turnip Fritters

Shredded carrots and turnips, combined with a bit of spring onion, make an earthy and sweetly savory side dish or appetizer. Topped with some parmesan cheese and butter, it's a tasty way to enjoy the farm share. Use a waffle iron to make this fun snack.

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I find the start of each Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share season to be rife with promise. We'll have high expectations to eat ALL THE THINGS and then get bogged down in sheer volume of vegetables.


What helps me the most is to have a few 'go to' methods to deal with different types of produce. For example, when I'm overwhelmed with greens I know I can whip up a Fast Greens & Pasta dish to use up a large bunch in a way my family will enjoy.


I shared last week how I turn to my grill, in the summer, or to my roasting pan (in the Fall when I'm not worried about heating up my house too much) to turn root vegetables into building blocks for future meals.

Today I'd like to share another method--fritters.  I like to fritter away my time in the kitchen. It's much more productive than frittering away my time on Facebook, and the results are far tastier. I've shared several recipes for shredding vegetables to make vegetable pancakes or fritters. One summer standby (that you can make off season if you shred and freeze your summer squash) is my Zucchini Pancake recipe. I've shared a previous plain Turnip Fritter recipe here. I've even waffled up some St Patrick's Day leftovers in my Corned Beef Hash Brown Waffles.