GardenCuizine

Dahlia of Hope

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Wed, 14 Oct 2026 19:46:09 -0400

Dahlia of Hope

Despite my husband Harry's current health concerns, we managed to have a wonderful weekend at Ward's Flower Farm last weekend. Their dahlia design class featured award winning Philadelphia Flower Show designer of Jennifer Designs Events, Jennifer Reed.

Both owner's, Alyssa and Allen Ward, at Ward's Flower Farm were there to welcome us. They had a great turnout despite the rain! Their farm is located in Southern NJ, Salem County. Ward's grows lots of organic, sustainable, beautiful blooms including dahlias, asters, cosmos and zinnias.

Jen's dahlia design class had a magical way of taking our minds off serious things like cancer. We had to focus on the moment, her instruction, and the colors and beauty of the flowers. Floral design, like photography, is wonderful and therapeutic for the spirit, heart and soul.

This class was even more special to me, as I took out and revisited the dahlia catalog and detailed note book from my late cousin, Bob Tait, who was a dahlia enthusiast and grower of dahlias in his NJ home garden.

Attending Jen's class gave us renewed strength to carry on with the current and very stressful medical tests and cancer treatments.

If you can relate, keep pushing! Having hope means so much.

Best,

Diana Wind

Related links

Ward's Flower Farm

Jennifer Designs

DGA Food Group Nutrition Fun Facts and Recipes for October

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 4 Oct 2026 19:42:03 -0400

Dietary Guidelines for Americans

Food Group

Nutrition Fun Facts and Recipes!

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans were updated this year on January 7, 2026. Healthy eating still features five food groups; keeping in mind that most people in the world are lactose intolerant, so many people have water in stead of dairy milk. There are lots of alternative milk products too, such as oat milk, soy milk or almond milk.

In the five food groups, let's learn more about a specific food from each group starting with seasonal NJ Farmer's Market picks for October:

Fruit - Apple
Vegetable - Pumpkin
Whole Grain - Oats
Dairy - Yogurt
Protein - Pork

Fruit Apple Fun Fact: "One average sized apple contains almost twice the amount of fiber as one serving of a fiber supplement. It also tastes a lot better, too. Why bother with supplements when you can eat a delicious apple?" (1)

This is true; it may take three fiber gummies to provide 5 grams of fiber! So if you only take one fiber gummy it will provide only 1.6g of fiber. One medium to large size apple (200g) contains 4.2 to 4.4 grams of fiber, which is an excellent source of fiber providing over 20% daily value of dietary fiber! (2) Food is Medicine! As they say, an apple a day keeps the doctor away.

Apple video with recipes for apple stuffed pork tenderloin and apple crisp!

Veggie - Pumpkin Fun Fact: The largest ever pumpkin weighted in at 2,517.5 pounds and was grown in 2019 by Karl Haist of Clarence Center, New York. (3)

Whole Grain - Oats Fun Fact: As healthy as it is, most oats are still used for animal feed; only a small percentage of oat production in the USA is used as human food. (4) Most of the oats that are consumed by people are for oatmeal and oat flour.

Dairy - Yogurt Fun Fact: "Greek yogurt did not originate in Greece! However, the Greeks were the first to mention it around 100 BC. And way before that Indian Ayurvadic history mentions health benefits dating back to 6000 BC! Strained yogurt or straggisto is a staple dish in Greece, the term “Greek yogurt” was first made popular by a commercial yogurt company located in Greece, and later used by other U.S. and European yogurt companies. Britain is the only country that regulates the term, where yogurt must be produced in Greece to carry the title." (5,6)

Protein - Pork Fun Facts: Pork is over the top an excellent source of B vitamins such as Niacin (vitamin B3), Thiamin (vitamin B1), Riboflavin (vitamin B2), and Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine); pork is also is also an excellent source of the important immune fighter mineral, Zinc! (7)

References

1) Farm to Fork - NJ Apples: America's Heartland. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTldDNqWosg&t=12s Accessed 10/4/2026. Thank you Parlee Farms in Massachusetts!

2) USDA Agricultural Research. Food Data Central. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/1750340/nutrients Fuji Apples. Accessed 10/4/2026.

3) Farmers' Almanac. Quick Reference Pumpkin Facts. Accessed 10/4/2026. https://www.farmersalmanac.com/little-known-pumpkin-facts

4) Northern Crops Institute. Oats. https://www.northern-crops.com/crops-of-the-northern-region/2014/3/21/oats Accessed 10/4/2026.

5) Harvard T.H. Chan the Nutrition Source. Yogurt. Accessed 10/4/2026. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/food-features/yogurt/ Thank you Harvard T.H. Chan on Yogurt!

6) Mauro Fisberg, Rachel Machado, History of yogurt and current patterns of consumption, Nutrition Reviews, Volume 73, Issue suppl_1, 1 August 2015, Pages 4–7, https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuv020

7) Pork Nutrition. https://pork.org/nutrition/pork-nutrition/ Accessed 10/4/2026.

The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" is not so beautiful

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Mon, 21 Sep 2026 19:20:52 -0400

Taking a Closer Look

at the not so beautiful, "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"

The bill (P.L. 119-21) passed and was signed into law by Donald Trump on July 4, 2025

https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ21/PLAW-119publ21.pdf

As a registered dietitian and adjunct nutrition faculty at Rowan University, the cuts to SNAP are hitting me hard right now as an educator; but not nearly as hard as the families affected personally and the employees whom have lost their government jobs.

SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is formerly known as America's food stamp program. The program provides food benefits and more to low income families. The recent SNAP cuts could widen New Jersey's nutritional health gap.(1)

The SNAP-ed programs served Community Nutrition gardening, diet and lifestyle interventions in so many wonderful ways across the US and are already feeling so missed. Our south Jersey Rutgers Extension office had a wonderful program that is now dismantled. You may remember some of the recipes posted on GardenCuizine from our NJ SNAP-ed program.

Here is a link to Maine's SNAP-ed recipes and tips and Eating Healthy on a Budget Cookbook.

This video shows success at the 2023 California Fresh Calfresh SNAP-ed program:

Community nutrition education is needed to inspire and teach people how to eat well to prevent nutrition related diseases, such as: obesity, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, etc.

Tonight, I took a closer look at The One Big Beautiful Bill's (OBBB) cuts to the SNAP program but also the many rescissions of a LOT of funding related to our environment; oh my, this is outright appalling and is unacceptable.

Below chart clip of Sec 60001 to 60026 rescission/repeals: (2)

I am not sure why our scientists and leaders have lost their voice (sorry if you are speaking out, but it does not seem to be loud enough!) in convincing the public and the President on how critical a clean environment is for the future of all of us and our children, including the President and his friends and family members.

Sorry for such a heavy post; it may be partially related to me feeling sad of the new health struggles that Harry is facing. We have a big day tomorrow with medical experts. Nothing is ever easy. And to make it worse our weeds are winning in the garden... tomorrow is a new day.

Stay strong. Keep pushing!

References:

How SNAP cuts could widen New Jersey's Nutritional Health Gap. Accessed 9/21/2026. https://policylab.rutgers.edu/publication/how-snap-cuts-could-widen-new-jerseys-nutritional-health-gap/
US Congress.gov. Public Law 119-21. Accessed 9/21/2026. https://www.congress.gov/119/plaws/publ21/PLAW-119publ21.pdf

Wonderful Visit to Ward's Flower Farm

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 15:17:59 -0400

Ward's Flower Farm

Sunflower Design Class

with Jennifer Reed

Harry and I enjoyed a wonderful visit to Ward's Flower Farm this summer to participate in a Sunflower Design Class by Jennifer Reed. I've wanted to go there for a few years now; we finally had the perfect opportunity. Ward's Farm is in scenic Mannington Township located in Salem County, New Jersey.

Their parking lot is next to their beautiful meadow featuring lots of colorful cosmos with butterflies fluttering about. Allen, one of the owners, gave us a brief history of their farm and walked us down the leading path to tour the grounds. He explained some of their plantings.

I wish I knew the variety of white asters they grow. They were a lovely touch to the gorgeous floral arrangements that we made.

Allen and his wife market their business on social media. That was how I first learned about them. The link to their website is below to learn more. They note on their website that they started with vegetables then switched over to farming mainly flowers and farm a little over 11 acres.

I've always loved driving through Salem; it's surrounded by lots of open space and preserved farm land. Like many Jersey farmers, their neighboring farm was growing soybeans. Ms Ward was sick on the day we visited, so we did not get to meet her. Allen gave us the tour and picked the flowers for the group.

It rained during our visit, but we did need the rain, the group in attendance didn't seem to mind. They had a large hoop house for cover that they use for weddings and parties. That was where floral designer Jennifer Reed awaited for us so she could start the Sunflower Design Class.

Jennifer of Jennifer's Designs does amazing floral designs. She has won many accolades from designing large scale award winning displays, including most recently, best in show at The Philadelphia Flower Show! She was also lead floral designer at The First Lady's Luncheon and the Grammys Red Carpet!

Wow! How lucky to have Jennifer share her talent with us right here in South Jersey. I can't write about all of her many achievements to do them justice, best for you to visit her website for more information about her very accomplished floral designer background.

The tour at Ward's Flower Farm included a stroll to admire flower fields; a honey bee area; and a pond that must make a lovely wedding backdrop in photos. We walked over a bridge over the pond to see the sunflower patch and another huge flower field in the distance where they grow dahlias and other flower varieties.

We were provided with everything from the wide mouth glass vase to pruners and gorgeous fresh picked flowers to design individual, large floral arrangements. I loved that the designer uses a lazy Susan to spin the arrangement while designing! This reminded me of my pastry chef cake designs. Why didn't I ever think of that for our church flower guild arrangements?

Jennifer taught us to start out with greens fanned along the vase base; we included Baker Ferns and Lemon leaf greens. Then we positioned about 5 sunflowers around the bottom atop of the greens, followed by solidago filler. We added another layer of sunflowers around midpoint, and a center sunflower to set the height.

Additional accents included: white zinnias and asters, greenhouse-grown blue-grey eucalyptus, asparagus fern, and bright orange marigolds to complete the arrangement. The sturdy stemmed, large, yellow, sunflowers were the highlight.

Jennifer pointed out that according to a study, the color yellow may bring positive results to hospitalized patients. Yellow is very cheery and uplifting!

To complete our NJ adventure, when we got home, we cooked Jersey Corn and fried Jersey tomatoes for dinner! I forget what our protein was, but we did have protein too, of course, to balance out the dinner.

Almost forgot to show you this brief pic of a spotted horse seen on their street at a neighbor's farm as we left Ward's farm. If a horse could be a dalmatian, this one was! It looks like a Leopard Appaloosa horse breed, which I've never seen before.

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for a post of what's growing in our garden, coming next.

Happy Gardening!

-Diana

Related Links

Largest Acquisition of NJ Farmland

Wards Farm history

Jennifer Designs PHS Best in Show 2025

Jennifer Designs

ASN Conference Nutrition2026 Poster Session: Prevent Youth Type 2 Diabetes

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 13:11:21 -0400

ASN Conference Nutrition2026

Proud to present at the American Society of Nutrition annual conference July 25-28 near Washington, D.C. at the Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center, National Harbor, Maryland.

I had a mixed bag of emotions departing from home to attend as our cat Cali was dying. It was hard to leave home knowing this. She held on until I got home; she passed away yesterday from hyperthyroid.

The conference was a lot to take in for a first timer. I hope that I will have the opportunity to attend again. Next year is in Vegas and their centennial Nutrition2028 is slated for Boston, my favorite city.

I plan to encourage my students to get involved in the group's engaging members, GEMS. This was the first I learned more about ASN's special interest groups. I signed up for the Community and Public Health Nutrition GEM.

Some of my former professors from Rutgers were there as speakers! Seeing Dr Fitzgerald was a highlight for me. Another exciting highlight for me was meeting Dr Dodge from University of New England (UNE) in person! She was my mentor for this research along with Dr Falls. Dr Dodge directed the master's in nutrition at UNE. Now she is developing their doctoral program.

Standing by my poster was of course a huge honor. People all around me came from all around the world to present their research. Just across from my poster was a scientist from Ireland standing by her poster.

The symposium on The Gut Microbiome and Risk of Child Obesity by Dr Comstock of Michigan State University was very interesting. The ASN Welcome Reception was terrific! They provided a free glass of wine and delicious food. It was great to see a Rutger's PhD, RD standing among the group selected as Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition.

It was also great hearing Christopher Duggan, MD, MPH, speaker from Boston Children's Hospital. He is also the editor in chief for The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Congrats to him on receiving the 2026 Robert Suskind and Leslie Lewinter-Suskind lifetime achievement award. Since I work in a teaching hospital, I liked that he encourages doctors to learn more about nutrition, "...Many of the underlying problems are nutrition problems," said Dr. Duggan. He does not see this as a threat to dietitians as they are an integral part of the healthcare team. He credits learning a lot about nutrition from dietitians and other mentors, including Dr Walter Willett, a physician and nutrition researcher and professor at the Harvard Chan School of Public Health.

A beautiful ending to a very busy day!

The conference location was along the Potomac River at the Gaylord Hotel and Conference Center. The large 350 foot tall Capital Wheel was nearby and lit up the sky with a rainbow of colors every night. The sunset and surrounding landscaping at the hotel were gorgeous. I didn't get any photos of the plantings, but it was sort of what you would expect to see at Longwood Gardens.

My personal interest in doing all that I can to help children prevent type 2 diabetes was strengthened by this experience. It made me reflect on all of the children and adolescents and families that I have had the privilege to consult and treat.

As these individuals with prediabetes continue working on their wellness goals, such as combined lifestyle interventions of healthy eating and exercise for at least 30 minutes a day, they can be reassured that some evidence shows that this can lower hemoglobin A1C, which in turn can delay the progression or even reverse their prediabetes.

I hope that my research poster on the topic was noticed by others as many dietitians and researchers may be unaware that the rate of adolescents with prediabetes has now reached the adult rate of one in three having prediabetes. Prediabetes leads to type 2 diabetes and in most cases this is preventable.

Follow me on Instagram for more on this important topic.

Related links

Career Pathways in Nutrition

New GEM for Physicians interested in Nutrition

Membership in ASN for students - FREE for undergrads; $40 for students

Preventing Type 2 Diabetes in Kids

Proud to be presenting at ASN #Nutrition2026 !

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:47:55 -0400

I am proud to announce that my nutrition abstract was selected to present at the Nutrition 2026 conference in Washington DC this weekend! Below is my time and more information:

Session: (P07) Community and Public Health Nutrition (I) (Poster Session) (10:00 AM – 2:30 PM)

Saturday, July 25, 2026

11:30 AM – 12:30 PM

(P07-55-26) Prevent Youth Type 2 Diabetes: An Updated Systematic Review With Implications for the School Nurse and Registered Dietitian

Presenting Author: Diana P. Wind, MS, RDN (she/her/hers) – Clinical RDN Inspira Health; Adjunct Professor, Rowan University

Globally, 464 million people (9.1%) have impaired glucose tolerance, which by 2045 is predicted to increase to 638 million.¹

Unprecedented, rising rates of prediabetes in children and adolescents ² is alarming parents, school nurses and dietitians. Adolescents have now reached the adult rate: one in three adolescents have prediabetes!³

Minority youth and youth with obesity have greater risk for prediabetes.² Indicators of prediabetes are insulin resistance, impaired fasting glucose, impaired glucose tolerance and/or abnormal hemoglobin (Hb)A1c.

Diet and lifestyle are key modifiable risk factors.

This systematic review has two aims: 1) to update previous 2015 research by Brackney and Cutshall⁴ to identify currently used strategies for the prevention of youth-onset type 2 diabetes with implications not just for the school nurse but also the registered dietitian.

And 2) to evaluate whether combined lifestyle interventions will reduce HbA1c in adolescents with obesity and prediabetes compared to adolescents with obesity and prediabetes who do not participate in CLI.

My review was guided by expertise and feedback from the University of New England’s graduate program in applied nutrition capstone advisory board: Ellie Dodge, PhD, RD and Elizabeth Falls, PhD, RD.

I'm looking forward to attending and presenting!

References

1)     Mary R. Rooney, Michael Fang, Katherine Ogurtsova, Bige Ozkan, Justin B. Echouffo-Tcheugui, Edward J. Boyko, Dianna J. Magliano, Elizabeth Selvin; Global Prevalence of Prediabetes. Diabetes Care 1 July 2023; 46 (7): 1388–1394. https://doi.org/10.2337/dc22-2376
2)     International Diabetes Federation. Type 2 Diabetes. Accessed March 2, 2024. https://idf.org/about-diabetes/type-2-diabetes/
3)     American Diabetes Association. Prediabetes Doubles in Adolescents. Accessed February 24, 2024. https://diabetes.org/about-diabetes/prediabetes/adolescents-prediabetes-health-risk
4)     Brackney DE, Cutshall M. Prevention of type 2 diabetes among youth: a systematic review, implications for the school nurse. J Sch Nurs. 2015;31(1):6-21. doi:10.1177/1059840514535445

Fried Red Jersey Tomatoes

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Mon, 6 Jul 2026 14:25:53 -0400

Fried Red Jersey Tomatoes

Did you know that tomatoes don't have to be green to be fried? We love and enjoy red Jersey Fresh tomatoes fried. All you will need is one large red tomato to serve 2 people. Two slices per person is perfect for a side dish. To complete the meal, serve fried tomatoes along with a protein, such as meat, chicken, tempeh or fish, and a starch, such as Jersey Corn.

This is a GardenCuizine freestyle recipe - meaning that you can use how ever much you want of any of the ingredients used.

Ingredients

1 large Jersey Fresh tomato about 3 1/2 inches, sliced thick
Seasoned salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Peanut oil
Stone ground yellow corn meal

Putting it all together

Rinse your tomato(s), air dry, then slice into thick slices.
Sprinkle with seasoned salt, black pepper and garlic powder.
Heat oil in skillet. We use a stainless steel skillet.
Dredge the tomato slices in corn meal just before frying.
Carefully add tomato slices to the hot oil in the pan and sprinkle additional corn meal on the top of the slices. Cook until golden brown.
Turn and cook the other side.
Serve immediately.

- Enjoy!

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data: 2 thick slices tomato uncooked: Vitamin C, good source: 7.4mg (10% DV); Fiber 0.6g (3% DV); Potassium 128mg 5% DV); Vitamin A (3% DV) and other vitamins and minerals.

Best Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 11:20:06 -0400

Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars

Every year Trinity Episcopal Church in Moorestown, NJ hosts their popular Blueberry Festival. Members in the congregation share in baking homemade desserts to be served. Admission includes enjoying desserts, fresh blueberries, of course, vanilla ice cream, BBQ foods, tossed salad with berries and blueberry vinaigrette; lemonade and games, music and fun activities for children and families.

This year I decided to bake off some Blueberry Crumble Cheesecake Bars. I selected a recipe from Delish.com to try. Funny thing is that I never got to taste them! It was a favorite and they went fast!

I followed the Delish recipe for the most part with only a few changes. We didn't have a 9x9 baking dish so I used a 7x11 baking dish. I omitted the extra sugar and salt in the graham cracker crust as from baking graham crusts in the past, the graham crackers have enough flavor and taste without it. Below is my take on this recipe.

Ingredients

Crust:

Cooking spray
15 graham crackers
1 large egg, separated
5 tblsp melted butter (I melt butter in small cast iron skillet on low heat. Save the skillet or whatever you use to melt the butter, for the next batch of melted butter in the streusel.)

Filling:

2 pkg cream cheese, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and any stems removed
1/4 cup of your favorite blueberry jam

Streusel topping

3/4 cup all purpose flour
5 tblsp melted butter
3 tblsp brown sugar
zest of one lemon
1/4 tsp salt

Putting it all together

Preheat oven to 325 deg F

Crust:

Spray your baking dish and line it with parchment allowing for 2 inch overhang on two opposite sides.
Pulse the graham crackers in a food processor. Add the egg white and mix until blended.
Blend in the melted butter.
Spread evenly in your baking dish and firmly press. I use a stainless steel measuring cup to tamp the crumbs down. Set aside.

Filling

In your mixing bowl (I used our kitchen-aide mixer) using the whisk attachment; mix the cream cheese until light and fluffy; about 1-2 minutes on medium speed.
Add the sugar, mix again.
Add in the egg, mix again
Finally, add in the yolk and vanilla and blend together. You may need to stop a few times to scrape down the sides to combine everything well.
Spread evenly over the top of the crust layer. I used a rubber spatula first to scoop it out of the mixing bowl then spread it out using an icing spatula. It reminded me of spreading cream cheese frosting on carrot cake!
Set aside.

In a separate bowl add the blueberries; using a potato masher, gently mash everything leaving some visible berry chunks.
Stir in the jam.
Set aside and make the streusel topping.

Streusel topping

I washed out our mixing bowl and used it again for the streusel topping.
Add the flour, brown sugar and salt. Whisk until blended.
Whisk in the melted butter, lemon zest blending until desired texture. It should have somewhat of a chunky texture; don't over mix.

Final steps

Spread the blueberry mixture over top of the cheesecake layer.
Sprinkle the streusel topping over the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, check it to see if the crumb top is golden, if not, bake another 5 min check again; repeat until satisfied with how it looks. Mine took about 40 minutes in our oven. The center will be slightly jiggly and will firm up when cools.
Allow to cool, then refrigerate until cold at least 2 hours.
Lift it all out of the baking dish onto a cutting board and cut into small square bars.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Lentils

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Fri, 5 Jun 2026 11:02:39 -0400

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Lentils

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

2-4 Bell Peppers- we used 2 red

1 cup green lentils

bell pepper tops, chopped

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

1 cup cooked quinoa

shredded cheese

olive oil

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

pinch salt & pepper

chopped parsley or cilantro - optional

This recipe was inspired by our Dome air fryer cookbook. We kept the stuffed peppers vegetarian, but you could combine lentils with cooked ground turkey or beef; we combined the lentils with cooked quinoa. It was really delicious and good enough for company. We will make this again for sure!

This is a GardenCuizine freestyle recipe, meaning the amount of quinoa, lentils and chopped veggies and spices that you add is up to you; use whatever amount that you want or have available.

Lentils are a sustainable food, meaning they are environment and climate-friendly.
Lentils are affordable: only 15 to 30 cents per serving!
Lentils are a nutritious source of protein.

Putting it all together

Prep the peppers: rinse the peppers and cut off the tops; remove the stem, chop the rest. Scoop out the seeds; set aside.
Cook the lentils: rinse them first in a handheld strainer; put in a pot with 3 cups of water add a few bay leaves. I used 4 bay leaves since we have so many dried bay leaves from our potted bay laurel tree. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook until tender, but not overcooked soft; about 15 minutes. Remove cover, take off the heat and set aside.
Cook quinoa: you don't need much; we used leftovers since it stores well in the refrigerator. No set amount, just enough to combine with your lentils; about 1 cup.
Sauté the filling: add small amount of olive oil to your skillet and sauté the onion until lightly brown and transparent, stir in the garlic and seasonings of your choice. Harry used smoked paprika, ground cumin, salt and pepper.
Stir in the chopped tomatoes; using a slotted spoon add a spoons of cooked lentils. Add some quinoa; combine everything together then fill your peppers.
Top with shredded cheese. Note if your peppers are tall they may not fit in an air fryer. We had to cut off the top third of our peppers after they were filled! Topped with cheese and it worked!
Cook: bake or roast at 375 deg. in preheated air fryer 12-15 minutes or until the peppers are tender and the cheese is golden brown.
Serve warm with a sprinkle of fresh parsley or cilantro.

Enjoy!

Related Links

Climate-friendly Lentils

Lentil Recipes, Health and Nutrition

Sustainable Aquaponics!

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 31 May 2026 22:17:09 -0400

Sustainable Aquaponics!

Aquaponics and Hydroponics was first introduced to me by a guest speaker at the New Jersey Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. The speaker was from Drop the Beet Farm. Over the years I have witnessed his business grow and thrive. His company designs Aquaponic units in public schools and elsewhere. In the schools it engages the students to learn about math and science. It is no surprise that it has made its way into Universities, like Rowan too. All ages can learn and participate in aquaponics and hydroponics.

It was exciting for me to host Steve Ordog, a science professor at Rowan University, to speak to my Contemporary Issues in Nutrition class. My class learned so much on how the system works to be sustainable. Rowan has Koi fish and large mouth bass. Other fish can be used too, such as tilapia or shellfish.

Aquaponic farm agriculture cultivation is soil free; it is a re-circulation ecosystem of plants and is sustainable. The fish waste turns into food for the plants to grow. In the nitrogen cycle, plants absorb nitrates and remove it from the water.

Here is a great video to learn more about the Aquaponics system that Professor Steven Ordog leads at Rowan:

Related links

Drop the Beet

Italian Gluten-free Pignoli (Pinoli) Holiday Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 14:01:00 -0400

Gluten-free Pignoli (Pinoli) Holiday Cookies

Amaretti con Pignoli for Easter or Christmas

Gluten-free - Salt-free

Italian pignoli (pinoli) cookies are enjoyed at Christmas and Easter time. They can be made anytime of year and make wonderful homemade gifts. Pignoli cookies are quick and easy to bake. The cookies feature pignoli nuts, which are nutritious and also known as pine nuts.

Pine nut Nutrition: 3 Tablespoons contain: 0g trans fat, 10g polyunsaturated fat, 5g monounsaturated fat, 1g dietary fiber, 4g protein, 1.5 mg (8% DV) iron, 170 mg (4% DV) potassium, and several other micro-nutrients including zinc and manganese.

For this recipe, I first looked online since these cookies are a very popular Italian cookie and baked by millions of people around the world. My mother never mentioned her mother or grandmother making these cookies. Mom's family was from Sicily; these cookies originated there. My first online choice for the recipe inspiration came from a beloved and excellent Italian chef, Chef Lidia Bastianich.

Celebrity Chefs

At a high profile press dinner at The Supper Club in Manhattan, New York back in 2003, is where I met several celebrity chefs including, Chef Lidia. The show was designed to highlight 11 restaurants slated to open at the new Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. I was still in culinary school and will forever remember briefly meeting and greeting Chef Lidia in person.

To be among the few students selected by the Academy of Culinary Arts was an honor. We traveled by limo to the "Borgata, the Event" in New York. It was so exciting to be among so many great chefs like Lidia, Bobby Flay, Susanna Foo, Aaron Sanchez and Wolfgang Puck. I remember bringing my culinary tool box with me and being on stage representing chefs of the future.

Gluten-free Pignoli Cookie Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F
Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment or foil. Apply light non-stick spray

Yield will vary depending on your scoop size, your mixing technique, type of sugar used and the amount of egg whites used. Lidia does not use confectioners sugar, but I decided to use it to make the cookies have less spread. I probably over mixed my first batch. Over mixing warms the almond paste dough and the cookies will spread more. Also, like in Lidia's recipe, I did not add any vanilla or almond extract, or salt, as seen in some recipes; the almond paste provides plenty of good flavor.

Sticky dough Yields: 28, 3-inch cookies
Firmer dough Yields: 3 dozen 2-inch cookies

Ingredients

1 lb (454g) container almond paste (I used California Almonds: Mandelin Premium Almond Paste)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
3 large egg whites, room temperature
8 oz (227g) pignoli nuts in a pie plate or large dish (you will have some leftover)

Putting it all together

Add the almond paste to your food processor or mixer. I used our KitchenAid and used the whisk; pulse to break up the almond paste. It is sort of like play dough; you may need to stop the mixer and push the dough back in if it starts to work its way to the top.
Gradually add in both sugars, mix and pulse off and on until well blended. At first it will look like clumps of candied ginger. Mix until it looks more like coarse sand.
Add the egg whites. Mix until well blended and smooth.
If the dough is too sticky to hold, it can be refrigerated to slightly firm.

If your dough is too sticky to hold, use a small scoop, spoon dough onto baking sheet; Top with pignoli nuts; gently spread them around on each cookie.
If your dough is firm enough to hold, pinch off some and form into small 1" ball and roll in pine nuts leaving a spot for the bottom without nuts; place onto baking sheet.
For Easter cookies, sprinkle colorful decorator sugar atop the pine nuts - optional.

Bake about 17 minutes or until golden
Allow to cool before removing from baking sheets

Serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar - optional

Enjoy! Happy Easter!

Related Links

Lidia's Pine Nut Cookies recipe

Harvesting Pine Nuts

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 13:33:00 -0400

Harvesting Pine Nuts

Using Pignoli nuts, aka Pinoli, Pine Nuts, in recipes such as pesto or Italian cookies got me wondering and asking myself, "Where do pine nuts come from?" Apparently, pine nuts are truly a labor of love. The nutrient dense seeds have fed native Americans, birds and wildlife for centuries.

Pine nuts actually do come from what you think - pine cones. The pine trees are a special variety that yields large seeds and grow in places like America, China, Korea and Russia, with most pine nut imports coming to the US from Mongolia.(1) Pine nuts have a dark brown outer shell that gets removed to yield the tender, cream color, edible seed.

People can harvest the seeds by hand, one-by-one, which is one reason why pine nuts cost so much. However, the most likely reason they cost so much is the limited supply for the growing demand. The food industry has developed pine nut farming and harvesting techniques that speeds up volume production.

Check out these videos to learn more about pine nut, piñón harvest.

Reference

1) The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC). Pine Nuts Shelled in US. Accessed April, 6, 2026. https://oec.world/en/profile/bilateral-product/pine-nuts-shelled/reporter/usa

Pine Nut Picking in Nevada!

The Flour Required for Gluten-free Easter Bread

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 5 Apr 2026 11:15:00 -0400

Easter Flowers by Diana Wind for Trinity Episcopal Church, Moorestown, NJ

Happy Easter!

This Easter morning as we celebrate Easter at home without any company, I was going to experiment and try making my favorite Easter Bread in a gluten-free version. However, the King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour 1-1 is for baking YEAST FREE recipes and not recommended for bread. Oh well... so if you want to try making Gluten-free Easter Bread, you would need to order their King Arthur Gluten-Free BREAD Flour. Watch for GardenCuizine's recipe next year.

Easter Bread Gluten-free Recipe to come in 2027

Ingredients

King Arthur Gluten-free BREAD flour

Putting it all together

Philadelphia Flower Show Photography Second Place!

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 12:27:00 -0400

ROOTED at the Philadelphia Flower Show

Welcome to GardenCuizine's 2026 Philadelphia Flower Show (PHS) post. I'm proud to announce that my Bee Seated photograph tied for a second place ribbon at this years flower show!

This year's PHS theme celebrated garden history of "Rooted Origins of American Gardening". The many designers and teams put together a stunningly beautiful "magical forest" show entrance and exhibits throughout the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Harry and I both especially loved Temple University's award winning exhibit, which featured urban landscape architecture celebrating the Delaware Valley's rich botanical and cultural heritage.

Terracotta pots overflowed with harvests of sweet potatoes and apples that fit in perfectly with the surrounding native landscape, water streams and blooming plants.

The Temple display also showed canning jars in a cleaver way, creating a wall of glass. Some of the jars were used for dried herbs and corn.

See the link at the bottom of this post for more on the story told in their well-designed exhibit, which also featured a basket of oyster shells. We know oysters are a sustainable food.

Helpful tips were provided on how to repurpose and recycle materials such as plants, lumber and concrete that may be already in your own backyard.

The photography exhibit is another favorite area of ours. The categories were all interesting and well represented.

The category that I entered was Class 197, "Legacy" that featured pollinators. Several photos included bees, two featured hummingbirds, and another showed a grasshopper!

The bee seated on the purple aster is my photo! I took it last September in our front yard with my macro lens. I said on the attached card shown, "Native asters beautify our yard year after year, providing a late season food source to visiting pollinators including bees and butterflies."

As in years past, the timing of the show (March) is perfect, especially this year after the winter that we had. I think we are all ready to get our seeds started and to usher in spring with open arms!

Best wishes for a great gardening season!

Diana Wind

Related Links

Temple at the Philadelphia Flower Show

Rowan Aquaponics Tour

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 18:12:00 -0400

Rowan Aquaponics Tour

Happy National Nutrition Month®! Today my nutrition class celebrated NNM by learning more about sustainable agriculture for growing herbs, edible flowers and vegetables, namely hydroponic and aquaponic farming.

Special thanks to our guest speaker, Stephen Ordog, for speaking to Rowan's Contemporary Issues in Nutrition class! We learned so much! I especially loved the greenhouse tour of Rowan's operation.

Aquaponics involves a self-contained system that includes fish. Rowan uses separate tanks for Large Mouth Bass and Koi fish. They have several tanks for various size fish in different stages of development. One tank has small young fish, another tank features medium size Koi, and two other big tanks hold larger sized fish. Steve said that they started with 40 fish in 2024 and now have 800 fish!

Automatic time-controlled feeding stations are attached to each fish tank. The fish were super excited when the food shot out from the pipe dispenser positioned over top of their tank. A few splashes of water could be felt from the splashes as the fish bolted towards their food!

This growing method is sustainable because of a scientific Nitrogen cycle. 1) Fish waste produces ammonia. 2) Ammonia gets converted to Nitrite by bacteria (Nitrosomonas) living in the water. Another bacteria turns the Nitrite to a safer Nitrate that fertilizes the plants. 3) The nitrate is absorbed and filtered by the plants before going back into the fish tank resulting in healthy fish and healthy plants.

Hydroponics, to quote Steve Ordog, "Is a soil-less cultivation of plants". Hydroponics requires less water than conventional growing methods and does not depend on weather since it is indoors. Steve's focus is to grow plants that can absorb nitrogen well, such as leafy greens and herbs like bok choy, chard, lettuce and basil. He is also growing some edible marigolds and is planning to grow nasturtiums.

Below is a video for more information about Rowan's sustainable agriculture program. The produce that grows is harvested, washed and donated to Rowan's food pantry called The Shop.

Related links:

Drop the Beet Farms

Why Sustainable Agriculture Matters

Experts divided over new US Dietary Guidelines

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 10:45:00 -0500

Really, back to a Food Pyramid?

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Wed, 7 Jan 2026 23:19:00 -0500

Really, back to a Food Pyramid?

Yes, apparently that is the case according to the latest news released today by the USDA on the new dietary guidelines for health in America. Flash back in time for Americans and especially for me to when I had my health food store and restaurant in the 80's.

I find it interesting that Health and Human Services Secretary, RF Kennedy, Jr and the Department of Ag Secretary are back tracking and completely erasing the MyPlate graphic that has been featured in nutrition education for years. It is quite shocking and frankly, insulting to the scientists who provide so much research and study in the development of the DGA, to see the 164 pages of information rolled back to a mere 50-page scientific report and 10-page public guideline. The idea of a very simple guideline for the public is a good one.

The entire Dietary Guidelines for Americans process, public comments and committee (DGAC) were dismissed and replaced with DGA by a new board. The new report states their dislike and therefore dismissal of the former DGAC's use of considerations of health equity in the DGA.

The new info-graphic is very confusing. For example, having butter appearing equal to grapes. Without all the specific details of the science in the report for the professionals, educators may resort to inaccurate teachings and advice. The DGA were always a strong resource for healthcare professionals and educators who take the detailed and specific information and deliver it to the public.

Personally, I do like teaching about whole foods in the five food groups and encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains. The majority of the people in the world are lactose intolerant(1), so Harvard's eating plate(2) is more realistic, omitting dairy all together and showing water instead. Overall, I think it is a good idea to limit processed foods and promote eating "real foods". The food groups in the former MyPlate were all "real foods".

It is disturbing to see red meat featured at the top of the new guidelines. Eight out of ten on the newly appointed board have ties to the meat and dairy industry.(3,4) It is no surprise then that cheese and milk and a large images of meat and poultry are at the top of this inverted pyramid. Beans are hardly identifiable, illustrated in an unappetizing glob, over rice, near the bottom with peanuts.

Increasing plant-based foods such as beans and lentils was rejected from the DGAC's science-based recommendation. The environment related to global warming is huge concern for food production. At some point Americans must come to the table on the reality of global warming and that red meat from cattle is not the direction for sustainability of our planet and food resources. More transparency and discussion and education on the topic must be provided to the public and anyone involved in food service and nutrition education.

This will be a very timely topic of discussion in my upcoming Contemporary Issues in Nutrition class at Rowan University.

Real food back at the center of health

Health Equity is out

References

1. Catanzaro R, Sciuto M, Marotta F. Lactose intolerance: An update on its pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment. Nutr Res. 2021;89:23–34. doi:10.1016/j.nutres.2021.02.003

2) Harvard Eating Plate. Accessed Jan. 12, 2026. https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/healthy-eating-plate/

3) Should USDA and HHS withdraw the new DGA?

4) HHS, USDA. The Scientific Foundation for the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Accessed Jan. 7, 2025. https://cdn.realfood.gov/Scientific%20Report_1.8.26.pdf

Watch for updates. Updated 1/12/2026

Diana's 3-cheese, Gluten Free, Sicilian Lasagna

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 4 Jan 2026 18:02:00 -0500

Gluten Free Lasagna

As you may have seen in previous posts, we always make lasagna for Christmas dinner! Mom started this family tradition ever since I can remember. We continue it to this day. RIP mom! The past few years we started making a gluten free (GF) version, which is good enough for company. In my opinion, you can't taste any difference. If you have a friend or family member who needs GF options, this recipe is a winner!

This year we used Barilla, no cook, oven ready, gluten free noodles that are made with corn and brown rice flour. The taste was great. The main recipe differences between my regular lasagna and GF lasagna are that no pre-cooking, oven-ready, GF noodles is necessary, oven-ready GF noodles need sauce on both sides of the noodles, and all exposed noodles need to be covered with sauce.

This recipe is different than what is on the Barilla box and very similar to my regular Sicilian Christmas lasagna recipe. We baked the lasagna at 350 deg. F vs 425 deg. F. as suggested on the Barilla package label. Below is my GardenCuizine recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.
Set aside a 13 x 9 x 2-inch Pyrex baking dish

Ingredients

1 box Barilla, no cook, oven ready, gluten-free lasagne

Meat blend

1 lb lean ground beef (Mom used to blend with Italian sausage. For vegetarian, use boca crumbles)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
black pepper
drizzle olive oil

Ricotta blend

1, 32 oz whole milk Ricotta

1 1/2 cups shredded low fat mozzarella

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

2 large eggs, whisked

1 Tblsp. chopped fresh parsley

1/8 tsp. fresh grated or ground nutmeg

1/8 tsp. salt

Sauce

1 large jar pasta sauce or your own homemade sauce
3-4 bay leaves (not edible! remove before serving)
1/2 tsp oregano

Topping

1 cup or so shredded mozzarella cheese
1/8 cup Parmesan cheese
Chopped fresh parsley (believe it or not we still had some growing in a pot on our front porch!)

Putting it all together

Warm up the sauce in a pot. Stir in bay leaves and oregano. Keep covered on low heat.
In a large skillet, add a drizzle of olive oil and saute the onion add garlic; stir; cook until golden; remove from the skillet to a plate or bowl.
In the same skillet, cook the ground meat, season with black pepper. Remove from heat. Drain any grease.
Stir in the cooked aromatics (onion and garlic).
In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, whisked eggs, nutmeg, salt, set aside.

Prepare your baking dish with a bottom layer of red sauce.
Place a layer of noodles on top of the sauce.
Add a little more sauce on top of the noodles (both sides must have sauce to soften and cook properly).
Scoop small balls of Ricotta, about 3 scoops per noodle. (We use a 2 oz scoop)
Top with a layer of cooked ground meat.

Repeat - sauce - noodles - sauce - ricotta - meat
sauce - noodles - sauce
Top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

Note: if you have leftover ricotta, which we always do, make another small serving to freeze uncooked and cook at a later date.

Cover with aluminum foil, try not to touch the top of the sauce with the foil. Bake at 350 deg F. about 40 minutes. Remove foil and cook uncovered another 15 min or until top is golden brown. Remove from oven. Let sit 5-10 minutes before serving.

Buon Appetito!

Diet Changes Gut Microbiota

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 10:50:00 -0500

What I liked about this video

This informative video by Dr Pradip Jamnadas showcases the importance of eating wholesome foods vs processed foods to provide our guts with important dietary fiber to fuel the bacteria that impact our health. He made mention of how youth in America are becoming more unhealthy related to poor dietary choices that lead to child obesity, prediabetes and diabetes.

Good intro to gut microbiome.
Good explanation of what gut bacteria is for.
Good to encourage fermented foods.
Good clarification on best sources of dietary fiber.
Good questions and answers at the end.

What I disliked about this video

Dr Jamnadas last sentence that he fired his dietitian was cringe-worthy!

Oh my! That comment was unfortunate as it cast a suggestion that you don't need a dietitian. I am a dietitian who makes a difference in the lives of others. I do not focus on teaching calorie counting, but rather, listen and provide medical nutrition therapy to meet individual needs.

Nutrition educators, such as dietitians, help to promote healthy habits and eating of wholesome foods. Just like doctors, dietitians all have different personalities and ways to provide information and education to their clients. If his RD wasn't a good fit for his practice, he could have replaced her with a different healthcare professional to better meet his and his practice's needs.

Registered dietitians are nutrition experts who are instrumental in helping individuals and family's make improvements to their diets and lifestyles.

Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend recipe

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 10:33:00 -0500

Make-your-own

Pumpkin Pie Spice Blend

You may remember the time saving recipe for make-your-own pumpkin pie spice published on Dave's Garden blog many years ago. The pumpkin spice blend I used was inspired by a fellow DG member, Sally. Here it is again for us, in case DG decides to pull it offline as they have done with some of my other articles. I'm glad my pumpkin article has survived the test of time and is still available to readers (see link below).

You will need one empty spice jar.

Putting it all together

Using a small funnel add the following spices directly to your spice jar, cover and shake to mix thoroughly before using.

Pumpkin Spice Recipe

4 Tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 Tablespoons ground ginger

1 Tablespoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Enjoy this pumpkin spice blend in your favorite pumpkin recipes!

Related links

Diana's Dave's Garden blog post

Wiggle, Bounce, and Shake! 💥 | Dance Compilation | Danny Go! Songs for Kids

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sat, 8 Nov 2025 09:29:00 -0500

Our October Garden

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 5 Oct 2025 15:22:00 -0400

Our October Garden

Heavenly Blue morning glory's are blooming! Not exactly an heirloom or the color of Fall, but these blues are among my favorite blooms. Note their swirling buds; just beautiful. Other blooming plants in our October NJ garden include: fushia pink phlox along with pink clerodendrum and some yellow native goldenrod blooms, asters and other miscellaneous native plants and weeds.

Yesterday, I picked a final batch of Chocolate Cherry and Petite Moineau heirloom tomatoes. I sacrificed a few tomatoes to get seeds from to plant next year. I also harvested a few more peppers.

We also have a batch of hot peppers from Pineland's Produce owner, Ms Diane, who sells at the Burlington County Farmers Market. We froze some. I plan to use a bunch of the hot peppers to make hot pepper jelly tomorrow.

As for our black-eyed peas, well yours truly did not pick them in time and blew it with the black-eyed peas!! A few weeks ago the seeds all burst out of their dry shells and disappeared into the ground. I was able to salvage a few beans for planting again next year.

Below is a brief video clip of yesterday in the garden. If it does not load, check back, I will post it on YouTube.

All the best for Good Health and Happiness!

Diana

Today in Our NJ Garden

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sun, 17 Aug 2025 11:02:00 -0400

August Monarch - photo by Diana Wind

Today in Our Garden

August 17, 2025

Hello, so sorry for the GardenCuizine blog posting delay! I still love this blog and hope to add more posts soon including a fun snack energy ball recipe that I just made for kids in Vineland. Today's post will focus on what's growing in our garden.

This August has been the best for milkweed and Monarch butterflies! This season has been the worst for us in growing heirloom tomatoes. The main reason why we're struggling with growing vegetables is clearly lack of sunshine. Vegetables need lots of sun. A nearby Kwanzan Cherry tree, that I planted, has grown so big and tall that it is casting too much shade upon the garden. Sigh... even arugula and catmint didn't grow; hopefully, we can have the tree trimmed back at some point.

What is growing well in our backyard garden? Well we do have enough sun to grow a few basil plants, jalapeno peppers, garlic chives, black-eyed peas and Petite Moineau tomatoes. I think our tomatillos are a bust (sorry Leslie!); I must have saved hybrid seeds thinking they were heirlooms. Hybrid seeds can NOT be saved and planted; they will grow, but unfortunately, will not yield any fruit. In my opinion growing heirloom plants are the best - that way you can save free seeds for the next growing season.

Bright yellow, cheery, daily-like blooms surround our huge, bending over cup plants. The patch has grown taller and wider and choked out the sunchokes. Interesting how mother nature works.

We have lots of hummingbird activity now too. The hummers love tubular shaped blooms such as cannas, salvias, Florida shrub and trumpet vine (albeit invasive).

Happy Gardening!

Diana

Black Bean Veggie Patties - Jersey Fresh recipe

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sat, 12 Apr 2025 11:39:00 -0400

Ingredients:

Canned black beans
Green pepper
Onion
Garlic cloves
Egg
Chili powder
Bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Recipe link: https://findjerseyfresh.com/JerseyFresh/recipes/black-bean-veggie-patties

For gluten-free, simply use GF breadcrumbs! Enjoy!

Highlights from the Philadelphia Flower Show 2025

noreply@blogger.com (GardenCuizine.com) — Sat, 15 Mar 2025 15:30:00 -0400

Gardens of Tomorrow

Philadelphia Flower Show 2025

Harry and I enjoyed our visit to the largest flower show in the world - the Philadelphia Flower Show at the Philadelphia Convention Center! The show's theme highlighted hopes for the future, Gardens of Tomorrow. As always, there was so much to see and do; we only experienced a part of the beautiful floral arrangements, exhibits, landscapes and garden designs. Ideally, one would need to attend at least two or more days to get a chance to see everything. For example, I can't believe I missed the aquaponics display by Philadelphia Lankenau school students!

The entrance, Futura Florentia, was bright pink and colorful with hanging glass balls filled with red roses under rainfall. Special effects blue and purple lighting highlighted blooming Okami cheery trees. All the walkways were wide to accommodate the large crowds of people.

Below are a few more of my pictures from the show. We saw lots of orchids and roses!

PHS Color Pop

PHS Rose Rain - Futura Florentia


PHS Orchid Rain

One of our favorite parts of the show has become the photography exhibit! We didn't get in this year, but admired all those who did. The photographs were terrific! This year I especially loved the still life category, and classes: 193 (Rooted - portrait of a tree - winner photo shown below), 195 (Eternal - portrait of a bird - winner photo shown below), and 197 (Contemplate - photo of a reflection in water).

Congratulations to all of the winners!

Another show favorite experience for us was was buying garden seeds at the end in the retail marketplace! We selected lots of flowers and also some heirloom tomatoes and peppers from Hudson Valley Seed Co. This is a great time to start your seeds indoors, which is just what I plan to do this weekend here in New Jersey.

Happy Gardening!