Friday, July 1, 2011

Lamb's Quarters...compost or cook?

Lamb's Quarters - a weed I have been plucking from my gardens for as long as I can remember. This week, I heard that Lamb's Quarters are edible, and very, very GOOD for you. I saw a few reviews online and decided that I would let a patch in my garden grow and, if I was brave enough, I would TRY some.
 

Well today was the day! I went out and picked a basket full. It felt kind of grainy and it had a powdery coating on the leaves.
I carefully picked the leaves off the stalks, and then washed them. I didn't want to find any bugs later on...that would be a real turn off...so I washed them REALLY well. The white film washed off too.
I must admit, I really didn't know what to do with them at first. I had read that you could use them the same way as Spinach, so I cooked them with a bit of olive oil and lots of garlic.
They shrank a LOT! 
It tasted a lot like spinach and I liked it. I just wanted to do more!
Then I thought about the zucchini I had picked from the garden this morning.
I decided to make zucchini boats and stuff them with the Lamb's Quarters and other stuff. I cut them in half and microwaved for 5 minutes. Then I scooped out the seeds.
In a bowl, I mixed the cooked greens, onion, diced fresh tomato, fresh garden basil and a bit of Romono Cheese and stuffed it back into the zucchini.
Then I topped it all with grated cheese. I was out of Mozzarella so I used Cheddar.
Then I put it all under the broiler until the cheese was melted.
(I forgot to get an 'after' photo - I just couldn't wait to sink my teeth into them!)
It was DELICIOUS!
And to think that I ate a WEED with my dinner!
I'd do it again too!

EDITED TO ADD-if you plan on eating the weeds out of your yard, it is VERY important that you correctly identify them. For more info on identifying Lamb's quarters, click here.

3 comments:

  1. It's great to learn the name of that weed that seems to pop up everywhere in the garden. Thanks for all the great info.

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  2. I forgot to add .. have you been to Blotanical? It's a great gardening community where you can meet many more bloggers from Canada and around the world.

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  3. I have this stuff growing like crazy in my lawn in the backyard. I've been pulling it for the compost heap. Might have to try some for dinner. I have the worst soil you could imagine as well. 2 inches of grass and nothing but sand underneath

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