container garden Archives - Cooking in my Genes

30 Seasonal Recipes to Make in June

Jessica Kostka — Wed, 27 May 2026 22:51:17 +0000

We are starting to transition from the Spring to Summer season so there are so many recipes to make in June!

At my local farmers market there is MUCH more colourful produce; it’s hard not to buy all of it!

And, my rhubarb plant is THRIVING already. I do a happy-dance every year when that plant pops because I am such a fan of all rhubarb recipes. If you’re a rhubarb fan like me, here a couple of my favourite ways to enjoy it:

In a cocktail: Rhubarb simple syrup is easy to make and keeps in the fridge for 2-3 weeks. Mix it with some gin and soda for the perfect patio cocktail.

In dessert: This Rhubarb Cake is so easy to make and honestly just delicious. Or if you want to make something simpler, try ice cream sundaes with a strawberry-rhubarb sauce.

What’s In Season in June

It’s time for Summer produce to make it’s way onto your weekly menus! So, let’s chat what’s in season for this month plus tips for planting a vegetable or herb garden at home.

What else is there to make this month?! Here are more recipes to make in June:

Asparagus
Bell peppers
Blueberries
Carrots
Cherries
Fresh Herbs
Mango
Spinach
Strawberries
Radishes
Rhubarb

Here are my top tips to starting a vegetable garden at home

Are you growing any of your own herbs or vegetables at home? There’s definitely been an uptick in growing your own food this Spring and into Summer. At our house we have two container gardens along with a few smaller pots with herbs and tomatoes.

Look up what growing ‘zone’ you’re located in.

Here’s one plant map, if you scroll down a bit you’ll find each Canadian province listed which you can click on and find out the zone you’re in. This can help inform what you may try to grow in a vegetable garden. I’ve had great success with a variety of lettuces, peppers, tomatoes, radishes, carrots and beets – we’re in zone 4.

Experiment

Honestly the fun part of gardening is just trying different seeds to see what works! Last year I even tried my hand at growing potatoes in a very deep container and it worked. A friend of mine bought a strawberry plant in a hanging basket and is already getting delicious berries!

Start small

When I first started a backyard garden I tried a bit of everything. Depending on your space, you could start with a pot or two of herbs. Or, try your hand at tomatoes which do well in containers too. Since we tried a ton of different vegetables in our first year, now we know what grows well from Spring to Summer.

Growing your own food is absolutely so satisfying. Once we’re in the midst of the summer I love being able to go outside and pick what I need for the recipe I’m cooking. Whether its jalapeños for tacos, herbs for making cocktails or carrots towards the end of summer, it’s so neat to enjoy the food you’ve grown.

I’d love to know which herbs or vegetables you’re growing this year; let me know in the comments below OR if you have any questions!

The post 30 Seasonal Recipes to Make in June appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

What’s In Season – Recipes to Make in September

Jessica Kostka — Mon, 07 Sep 2020 22:18:16 +0000

It’s a delicious time as we start to transition from Summer to Fall.

Not only do we have lovely Summer fruits and vegetables to enjoy, some of the Fall season favourites are starting to arrive.

So, let’s chat September recipes and a final garden update for you!

Did you grow a herb or vegetable garden this year?

If you’ve been following along with my what’s in season posts you’ll know we had both of our small container garden’s growing along with some small herb pots. We had mixed results throughout the summer, I think due to the lack of heat in the beginning. However, it was still a pretty good harvest!

Here’s what the backyard garden grew

Beets: We grew golden and striped beets, both of which I am harvesting over the next few days. I like to remove the beet greens (which you can sauté and are delicious), clean them and store them in the fridge. Beets should be good for about a month or so.

Radishes: We planted and harvested radishes twice throughout the summer. I’ll definitely grow them again because they grow fairly quick!

Carrots: FINALLY the carrots are ready! They are absolutely delicious and took the summer to grow; I will 100% grow them again.

Mesclun Lettuce Mix: This lettuce mix was a ‘cut and come again’ type which meant we had salads for daysssss throughout the summer. I love this mix because you could literally cut what you needed about every 1.5 weeks and it just kept growing back again. Towards the last week of August it was definitely done though as the lettuce leaves turned quite bitter.

Jalapeno Peppers: After many successful summers growing jalapeno peppers this time was not meant to be. The peppers took FOREVER to grow and honestly I think we have one that’s worth using. I’m going to leave them longer through September because I think we’re in for more sunny, warm weather so might as well see what happens.

Baby Kale: Another leafy green I’d definitely grow again. Sort of like the lettuce I talked about above, I was able to harvest it many times. But next year I’ll definitely sow the seeds closer together for more kale.

Tuscan Kale: I planted this too late and in the shadow of the very large broccolini plants so it really didn’t have a chance. I plan to sow these seeds earlier next year.

Broccolini: Speaking of broccolini, this was a fun experiment. I think it would have worked better had I known how tall these plants would really get. I might try them in their own planter next year so they can take up as much space as they need to grow. We did grow a few broccolini stems though!

Herbs: Our more sturdy herbs like rosemary, thyme and oregano did really well. Unfortunately the more delicate ones like cilantro, dill and parsley didn’t yield much. So, I think for next year I’ll change up where they were planted.

If you want extra info on how-to store or use fresh herbs in recipes, check out all of my tips here.

And, one of my favourite ways to make those fresh herbs last longer once harvested is to freeze them! Fill an ice cube tray half-full with washed and diced fresh herbs; then fill the rest of the way with olive oil or melted butter and freeze. Store the herby ice cubes in the freezer for the cool season. Some of my favourite combinations are:

Parsley & Oregano in olive oil: Use this as a base when starting to sauté onions to make a tomato sauce.
Rosemary & Thyme in olive oil: Toss on a sheet pan and warm in the oven for a few minutes. Then toss potatoes in the herb and oil mixture before roasting.
Rosemary, Oregano & Thyme in butter: Place in the roasting pan when roasting a chicken, then as it mixes with the juices use to baste the chicken.

So with all this talk of garden vegetables and harvesting, here are some September recipes to make:

Apples: Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Muffins

Carrots: Honey Butter Roasted Carrots & Radishes

Pears: Spiced Oatmeal with Honey Pears

Peppers: Peanut Chicken Power Bowl

Tomatoes: Quick Green Salad

Zucchini: Zucchini & Prosciutto Pizza

I’m excited to start cooking many of these recipes as we transition seasons; I’m especially looking forward to cooking allll the apple recipes! How about you!?

And if you’re looking for an easy weeknight dinner as we head back into more of a routine, my Pesto Baked Chicken is where its at. Plus, these Turkey Meatballs from Ambitious Kitchen are absolutely delish too!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

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What’s In Season – Recipes to Make in July

Jessica Kostka — Fri, 17 Jul 2020 03:12:10 +0000

July is one of my favourite month’s of the Summer because of all of the amazing produce that’s available!

From berries & cherries, to and veg to choose from, most of our meals are inspired by what’s at the market.

So, let’s chat recipes to make in July along with a garden update and some camping-food inspo from my latest adventure!

Our backyard vegetable garden is finally making some headway. We’ve had a mixed bag of weather this summer so with some sustained sun & a little more heat lately, things are growing!

Cherry tomatoes & jalapeños are small but growing well. We ate our way through two rounds of arugula and our first round of radishes. Beets and carrots are coming along and will be ready to enjoy in a few weeks! I planted a mesclun lettuce mix that you can cut and it grows again quite a few times; same with a batch of baby kale so our salad game has been strong.

With a bit of space once the arugula and radishes gone, I planted more beets and a hardier kale so we can harvest in September too!

I love to cook with the vegetables we get from the garden; as we continue more into the summer I’ll have more to share about what we’re cooking.

So, what other delicious July recipes are waiting to be enjoyed?

Apricots – Easy Apricot Jam

Cherries – Cherry Bourbon Lemonade Smash

Blueberries – Summer Fruit with Whipped Cream

Corn – Roasted Summer Vegetable Salad

Strawberries – Strawberry Lemonade Rosé Punch

Watermelon – Watermelon Mason Jar Salad

And, if you need a bit more recipe inspiration for July, I recently went on a fun camping adventure with one of my friends to Dinosaur Provincial Park – it was such a cool spot!

Of course, food and drinks were key and we made sure to plan appropriately. We basically ate all the things we craved – for dinner, campfire nachos and potatoes! The potatoes were especially delicious; I boiled new potatoes at home then at the campsite sautéed them in butter, fresh rosemary & thyme and topped with cheese curds. We had s’mores around the campfire, one of which I made with peanut butter cups (OMG!) Then, for breakfast classic scrambled eggs, sausages & toast.

Honestly the whole experience was just so fun; it was nice to get out of the City and see a different part of Alberta!

Need some more Summer recipe inspiration!? Check out my latest e-Cookbook which you can download here for FREE.

Happy Summer friends!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

The post What’s In Season – Recipes to Make in July appeared first on Cooking in my Genes.

What’s In Season – Recipes to Make in May

Jessica Kostka — Mon, 11 May 2020 21:08:05 +0000

I can finally feel Spring in the air!

Garden centres are open which has allowed me to start planning our vegetable gardens.

We got our hands on some fresh herbs that we’ve already been cooking with AND they’ll eventually get planted once it warms up just a bit more. So with that in mind, let’s chat what’s in season and May recipe inspiration!

The first gardening I really did was planting herbs each summer. I love that I can go outside and grab some parsley for the finishing touch to a recipe when I need it. Or, any other herbs for that matter!

I started small by planting a round planter of herbs each summer just like my Mom did (& still does) to this day. I find it’s the easiest way to grow them when you don’t have a lot of space too.

How to Use Fresh Herbs in Recipes

Parsley:

We use parsley as a garnish a lot. However, it’s so great mixed into fresh summer pastas – think baby tomatoes, parsley, parmesan cheese, garlic and squeeze of lemon. YUM!

Thyme:

Fresh thyme is delicious in my Sweet Potato & Cheddar Drop Biscuits. These are great for Spring weekend breakfast or brunch.

Rosemary:

Chop fresh rosemary and mix with olive oil, salt & pepper for the perfect potato ‘marinade.’ Bake chopped potatoes with this mixture at 425F for about 40-50 minutes for a crispy & delicious side.

Basil:

One word – pesto. I basically harvest all of my basil, make a batch of pesto & freeze it. Then, wait for the basil to grow back to start this process all over again! Pesto is SO versatile; I love it on pasta or in pasta salads. Also, basil is a delicious herb to use in cocktails.

Dill:

I love making my own yogurt-dill dip using fresh dill, garlic and a squeeze of lemon. Plus don’t forget pinches of salt & pepper! Delicious with salmon or on sandwiches. You could also try adding some fresh dill to this yogurt dip that goes with my parsnips fries; just limit the garlic a bit so that the dill flavour comes through!

Cilantro:

If you’re on ‘team cilantro,’ it is so fantastic for tacos and asian-inspired dishes.

In general, whether you’re buying fresh herbs from the grocery store or market or pulling them from the garden, take a little extra time when you bring them home so they last longer in the fridge.

Tips for Storing Fresh Herbs

Soft herbs like parsley, basil, cilantro and dill have ‘soft’ stems so store them like you would fresh flowers. For parsley, cilantro and dill, cut about 1 inch off the stems, place in a jar with water, cover with a plastic produce or ziploc bag and store in the fridge. Keep in the fridge and replace the water every couple of days. These can last about 2 weeks so when ready to use, take the amount you need, wash and they’re ready!
Basil is a bit of a tricky one as it’s very delicate. If purchased from the grocery store, it’s like grown in a greenhouse and comes already packaged. I usually leave this at room temperature and use within a couple of days. If I’m cutting basil from the garden, I’m generally going to use it right away. However, you could follow the same instructions as the soft herbs BUT leave it in the water at room temperature.
Hard herbs like rosemary, thyme and sage store well when wrapped in a slightly damp paper towel, then wrapped in plastic and put in the fridge. They will last 1-2 weeks. My best tip for these herbs is to
Mint is technically a hard herb because of it’s stem, however, I’ve found I can store either way mentioned above and it still does well.
And, the best way to clean any herbs that you’re using is get a bowl of cool water and dunk the herbs in a couple times so that any dirt sinks to the bottom. Refresh the bowl with clean water before moving on to another herb.

With all of this fresh herb talk, let’s get to the recipes to make in May! Many of which feature some favourite herbs like mint & basil:

Cucumbers – Minty Cucumber Gin Spritz

Fresh Herbs – Easy Basil Pesto

Radishes – Spring Toast with Radishes, Pea Shoots & Feta

Rhubarb – Rhubarb Cake

Strawberries – Easy Strawberry Jam

Tomatoes – Roasted Tomato, Arugula & Halloumi Salad with Pesto

I hope that the Spring season reaches you wherever you are if it hasn’t already! And, that these recipes inspire you in the kitchen this season.

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

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