The time has come to seriously start bringing our tiny haul into the kitchen. Our little Not Garden is not doing as well as it once was. Between busy schedules, hot weather, and an impromptu trip to Saskatchewan the plants have been a little neglected.

In our Not Garden post, we shared our tomato selection and abundant nasturtiums. When we repotted the nasturtiums Matt had to cut them back quite a bit because they were looking a little sickly. Fortunately they quickly bounced back and we started getting a good number of blossoms.

With this bounty of blossoms I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. @goldenoakfarm mentioned that they could be used in sandwiches or dehydrated and added to supplement layer feed over the winter. Since I have nothing to feed yet, sandwiches it would be.

The Sandwich

I've mentioned before that since I eat gluten free I don't often eat alternative bread products. But, while we're currently sharing a residence with my parents, there is no shortage of gluten free bread, and I'll admit it's pretty tasty. So, I made a half a sandwich and replaced the lettuce with nasturtium leaves.

I invited my mom to have a bite and, when she heard what was in it, she scrunched her nose up at me. Even so she was a good sport and came over for a sampling. She raised her eyebrows in disbelief at how well the leaves meshed with the other ingredients.

If you haven't tasted nasturtiums, they have a bit of a spicy pepper flavour similar to a radish. I started conservatively with the number of leaves because I didn't want them to be over powering. I ended up adding more and was pleasantly surprised.

The Salad

Years back, before Matt and the concept of gardening for myself, I tried nasturtium flowers at the farmers market. I was in awe of the vibrant colours and peppery taste. The idea of adding them to salads made me think of hosting a fancy dinner party where the guests would Ooh and Aah at my gourmet salad. And then I moved on and forgot completely about them.

Well, nearly a decade later, I finally made that salad! It did, in fact, look pretty fancy but it was shared between Matt and I over supper instead of a dinner party. I'll admit that I was still in awe of the vibrant colours that seemed to pop right off the plate.

But did it taste good?

To quote Matt, "Mmm, it tastes like salad!"

I mixed the nasturtium leaves in with some romaine and shredded cabbage, then added our home-grown tomatoes, some grated carrot and topped it all off with some flowers. Instead of using store-bought dressings we opt to drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar over our salads.

The flavours were quite complimentary and, surprisingly, the nasturtiums weren't over-powering at all. Little R pointed and called out, "Nuh, nuh, nuh!" which loosely translates to "I want that! Gimme, gimme, gimme!" So we offered her some tomatoes and flower petals which she happily devoured. Little H, on the other hand, remained skeptical.

The Vinegar & the Rinse

@goldendawne suggested making a floral vinegar out of them for a hair rinse. This was a direction I hadn't considered at all! I started reading about rinses and was excited to give it a try. My flowers were abundant and I could just picture how beautiful this would look. I wasn't even concerned about how well it would work! Then our impromptu trip happened and when we got home most of the flowers had wilted. [Cue sad Charlie Brown music]

Sorry, @goldendawne! If I am lucky enough to get any more flowers I will give this a whirl, otherwise it will have to wait until next year.

I also want to give my flower crunching friends a little shout out because if you enjoyed this post, you're sure to enjoy @sagescrub's Fresh from the Garden Salad.

Do you use nasturtiums? If so, let me know! I will certainly keep growing them and want more ways to put them to good use.

All photos and illustrations in this post are original work by Mrs. Canadian Renegade.

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