Winning Combination: Cookbook Author and an Organic Kitchen Garden

What happens when you combine a cookbook author, a gardening workshop, and an organic kitchen garden? A garden-fresh, culinary experience and perhaps the best salad you’ve ever tasted in your life.

On Friday, November 11, Rooted Garden celebrated Smart in the Kitchen’s Marcia Smart and her new cookbook, “Dinner is Done” in the home and garden of Heather Hendrick. Marcia is a Rooted Garden client. Many of the recipes in her cookbook use herbs and seasonal foods Marcia grows in her own kitchen garden. At Friday’s workshop, the Rooted Garden team taught about growing lettuce while Marcia demonstrated garden-fresh salad recipes from her cookbook.

While sipping on rosemary-apple cider mimosas, guests received a tour of the garden from the Rooted Garden team and learned what’s growing this season in Houston. “We can grow year-round in our city. Just when people think it’s too cold to grow, our gardens are overflowing with cool season crops like lettuces, kale, swiss chard, bok choy, mustard and collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, beans, sugar snap peas, and every herb you could possibly need. The Houston garden doesn’t quit!” says Latasha Harrell, Garden Manager and Gardening Coach for Rooted Garden.

Guests learned how easy it is to successfully grow lettuces year-round while Marcia Smart harvested fresh greens and herbs to make a garden salad and her “Super Simple Salad Dressing” recipe from her cookbook.

“Most of the lettuce we buy from the grocery store was picked weeks ago and travels to Houston from California or Arizona. The lettuce we bring home from the grocery store is nutrient deficient and tasteless. There’s nothing more delicious than lettuce you harvest hours before eating. The best news: lettuce is one of the easiest foods to grow in Houston. Growing your own lettuce is one of the nicest things you can do for your tastebuds and the planet,” says Heather with Rooted Garden.

While the Rooted Garden team was busy teaching, Marcia gathered lettuces, kale, swiss chard, collard greens, and several herbs. “I love cooking with Marcia. She uses simple, seasonal ingredients, and so much of what I need can be found in my own garden,” says guest Amanda Lundquist.

Marcia taught tips for making a terrific salad. Have extra herbs on hand? Chop them up and toss them in your salad! Have you tried collard greens in salad? One of Marcia’s most popular salad recipes is called “Collard Greens and Brussels Sprout Salad.”

Marcia’s green, herby salad with her “Super Simple Salad Dressing” was a crowd-pleaser - a true garden-to-table experience.

Marcia’s cookbook, “Dinner is Done,” features almost 100 of Marcia's favorite recipes as well as photographs that will inspire you to prepare them in your own kitchen. Dinner Is Done also includes Marcia's personal story of how Smart in the Kitchen and Smart in the Kitchen School came to be, her philosophy on cooking and ingredients, the core lessons taught in her Smart in the Kitchen cooking classes, her love of family dinners and tricks for how to pull them off in your own home.

“We are so proud of Marcia and this cookbook. She’s incredible in the kitchen, but there’s nothing intimidating about this cookbook. I love that it’s full of weeknight recipes - easy yet delicious meals to feed a busy, hungry family,” says Heather Hendrick with Rooted Garden.

Ready to get your hands on a copy of Marcia’s cookbook? Head over to her website and don’t forget to check out her Smart in the Kitchen Cooking School!

Guests, as always, you make these workshops so much fun. Thank you for celebrating Marcia and the gifts from the garden with us!

We host gardening events for our clients and their friends regularly! Want to be a part of our gardening community? Send us an email at help@rootedgarden.com.