Our garden is blooming! And thanks to the wonderful rain we have received over the last few months on the California coast, it is so very happy.
There is nothing like rain water. Those of you who don't live in drought state might think me silly, but my plants just adore rain water when they can get it!
I wait for spring all year long, because that is when our garden becomes my outdoor dining room, my reading room, and where we host all our friends and family.
This weekend, I intend to eat at least two meals in the garden, and enjoy the flowers, the bees, the birds and all that green.
I'm making my new very favorite sandwich. It is. SO GOOD. And practically guilt-free. It's healthy! {Shhhh. don't tell your tastebuds, they won't believe it anyway.}
Look for the recipe at the bottom of this post - it was created by Lisa, our friend who is a chef.
Our little garden fairy is one of my favorites. Like antiques {which she is not, she is composite} she has some damage, her poor knee has a hole. The neighbor's cat knocked her over when she forgot that we have Bentley, our Lab, and ran like a crazy-thing when he came outside.
Never mind. I still love her. Hole and all, it means she's had some action in her life, and didn't just sit on a shelf all the time.
Here is a close-up!
Just for fun, here is a shot of this same plot last year, a little later in the season. The drought, and then the heavy rains we had, made some of our plants from last year "disappear" but like life, a garden is constantly evolving.
We are always looking forward to planting new plants to try in the borders. And by we, I mean John. I am not a gardener. Shocking, right? I LOVE gardens. I am just not good at planting.
I am good at buying plants, watering, planning borders and being bossy about where plants should go. And where they need pruning. {John is a patient gardener and husband.}
This is my little herb garden, and bird bath. We are so blessed to have lots of birds in the garden, they sing their hearts out all day, splash around in the water in the birdbath, and make quite a racket before settling into the large bushes to go to sleep at dusk.
We'll probably eat these sandwiches on the deck. Since it's early in the year, maybe the parasol won't be needed and we'll sit in the sun. These sandwiches are so good, that I might just make them both weekend days.
After the sandwiches, there is work to be done in the garden. {yes, I'll help!} Our little pink climber needs to be cut out of the gingko tree. So maybe John will need to eat two avocado sandwiches for energy!
If you have never had an avocado sandwich {is that possible?} you won't believe how delicious they are.
I hope you try them and let me know if you did, or not!
Lisa's recipe calls for micro greens, which are these cute little greens you can buy at some markets, Whole Foods, etc. Sometimes when I don't have that, I use arugula or just a few spring lettuce leaves.
And when I want to change it up, I omit the tomatoes, the olive oil, and just drizzle with balsamic vinegar for a whole different clean eating sensation!
AVOCADO TOAST FOR TWO
Avocado Toast with sweet heirloom tomatoes, lemon olive oil drizzle, sriracha salt, crushed hemp seeds, and micro greens are perfect for lunch, a light dinner with a salad or soup, or a snack if you are really hungry.
Ingredients
-
- 1 ripe avocado
- 2 slices artisan whole grain bread
- mini heirloom tomatoes, red & yellow sliced in half
- lemon infused extra virgin olive oil (or evoo)
- sriracha salt (or pink himalayan salt)
- crushed hemp seeds (or crushed chia seeds)
- micro greens
Instructions
-
- Toast 2 pieces of artisan bread
- Cut avocado in half, remove pit,and scoop out avocado on a plate. Use a fork, press avocado till smooth, and spread avocado on toast.
- Slice heirloom tomatoes in half, place on top of avocado.
- Drizzle lemon infused evoo over top.
- Sprinkle with sriracha salt (or pink himalayan salt) and crushed hemp seeds.
- Place some micro greens on top.
I hope you have a beautiful weekend, even if spring hasn't quite shown up all the way where you live.
LINENS | DISHES, GLASSES, CUTLERY
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING TO MAKE FOR LUNCH IN THE WEEKEND?
22 comments
Your garden is so colorful and lush, Lidy! I’d spend every available moment in it, too. I also love statuary and can’t bear to toss out anything despite a chip or two.
The sandwich looks irresistible. It’s ironic that yesterday I came across a ‘recipe’ for avocado toast and wanted to see what the fuss was all about. I put a sandwich together a bit like this one in your post. It was outstanding and I’m so looking forward to playing with the ingredients as you are. Hoping to get a blog post up this weekend and I’ll share it.
Have a wonderful day in the garden and a big yay for all of that rain!!
Jane x
Thank you Janice. I hope that spring will soon launch in your beautiful part of the world!
I know especially in Wisconsin, the wait for spring can be long. :)
Hope you enjoy a beautiful weekend! If you don’t want to do the olive oil on top, I love it with the splash of balsamic vinegar, too!
Dear Lidy,
Your garden looks wonderful. I am waiting for some warm days to get out and start working in my garden.
Living here in Wisconsin, is a bit challenging. The weather seems to take a bit longer to warm up than
in the previous locations that I have lived. Some of the Spring bulbs are peeking out of the ground, so it won’t be to much longer a wait.
The Avocado sandwich looks great. I will be heading out to the grocery store shortly, and will definitely pick up the ingredients I need to prepare these wonderful looking delicacies. Our nursery here in town just started selling those micro greens. I so enjoy reading your Blogs. Thank You for Sharing with your fans.
Thank you Diana….I am so happy you loved the coat rack, they are so handy! Happy weekend to you, too!
Thank you. Cindy, you will adore this! Try it without the olive oil and with a splash of balsamic, too! It’s divine!
We ARE lucky to have rain, although we needed it so badly. Our area is finally coming out of drought, and we can once again water our gardens. It is sad when nature is confused, isn’t it? Last year our roses bloomed in February due to a strange heat wave, and the rest of the garden was not at it’s best due to lack of water. {we were putting buckets in our shower to catch every drop we didn’t need for washing to throw on our thirsty plants! -you could get a fine if you used too much water} but thank goodness this year everything is back on the normal schedule.
A beautiful garden, healthy sandwich and a good book, , what else do we need?
What a gorgeous garden. No wonder you want to eat there twice a day!
You are lucky to have the rain. We have had gorgeous, cloudless blue skies for weeks, quite warm, which is lovely for walking around but I see the plants are starting to suffer. I saw a fig tree yesterday with leaves all shriveled and huge figs on it. Figs are for August, not April. It was shocking Anyway, I can’t believe I am hoping for rain.
Avocados suddenly got very expensive and not very good here. Of course, they are all imported. No idea what is going on but I’m in guacamole withdrawal.
I enjoy a tartine of beef carpaccio with strips of parmesan and basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.
Your garden is a paradise and thriving. Enjoy it!
Thank you for the garden tour. Love your garden setting and we’ll be having the avocado sandwiches this weekend! xoxo