Deciding what to grow

The first challenge I am having is thinking about what I actually want to try to grow. It’s easy to think of plants and foods that I love, but it may not be practical to grow those, or they might look pretty but may not be foods I would actually eat a lot. With the goal of trying to at a minimum cut my grocery expenses in half over the summer, I have to think carefully about what I actually will eat, and then go backwards from there to figure out what I should grow.

To get me to this first objective, I am gathering some recipes that I don’t think will get old any time soon. Here is what I have come up with so far. Do you have any suggestions?

“Paleo Tacos” – A different kind of take on your favorite food, the gist here is that you put all of your fillings into a cup of lettuce instead of into a shell. I could grow the lettuce and tomato of course, and I could work in growing pinto beans perhaps so that I could make my own refried beans instead of buying the can. Olives would probably have to be purchased but that’s ok.

Farfalle with Cauliflower and Bread Crumbs: This recipe sounds pretty amazing. I would grow the cauliflower and maybe sometimes replace the pasta with zoodles. Speaking of…

Zoodles: I got big time into making zoodles (zucchini noodles) last year, to the point where I actually got pretty sick of them. However, this makes growing my own zucchini a major goal. Zoodles are surprisingly tasty, but I need to learn how to dry them out a little.

Polenta with Chard and Mushrooms: I make this recipe quite a lot. I am not sure about growing mushrooms but I would certainly love to grow the chard.

I of course won’t bore you with any salad “recipes” but of course spinach, carrots, and cherry tomatoes would be good.

So far, then, it looks like my growing goals would include:

Spinach

Lettuce

Lots of tomatoes

Zucchini

Carrots

Herbs – I love having fresh herbs, especially mint, basil, garlic, and rosemary.

Chard

Pinto Beans (?)

Green beans in the summer are always great as well, especially with fresh corn on the cob (which will have to come from somewhere else)

So what do you think so far? Any suggestions? Any additions? I’d love to hear from you!