*All photography by the talented Janelle Delia
Finally! SPRING. IS. HERE. As I enter into this season after one of wintery rest, I feel refreshed, rejuvenated and ready to greet flowers once more. The bulbs I planted just after my November birthday are beginning to bloom, a true gift for this rookie gardener. What grew overnight? Oh the daily excitement—a dopamine rush with every morning peer out the window. It was a delight to share the daffodils that I grew over the past few months with the participant’s of spring’s gathering.
Below you will find a guide to the flower arranging process we used to created airy and sculptural spring centerpieces, as well as the recipes for our colorful Mediterranean feast.
Centerpiece Ingredients:
curly willow, cherry blossoms, daffodil, hellebore, hyacinth, muscari, photinia, tulip,
Locally sourced from: American Street Flower Farm (Jig-Bee + Laughing Lady Flower Farm), Lunaria Gardens, The ‘Local’ section at Whole Foods
Vegetable + Herb Plant Features:
Beets, Blueberries Broccoli, Oranges, Sweet Potatoes | Chives, Dill, Mint
Sourced from: Whole Foods + my herb garden
The Flowers
Taylor Patterson of Fodder Fox Farm often remarks on how the yellows always come first. I love starting the season off with yellows. The soft and gentle color is a welcome reprieve to the moodier and harsher feelings of winter.
Ingredients
1 Curly Willow sprig
1 Cherry Blossom sprig
5-7 Daffodils
3 Hellebores
1 Hyacinth
2 Muscari
1-2 Photinia branches
6 Tulip varieties
Prep
Once you have gathered and sourced your flowers and placed them in a bucket, select a container or vase and fill it with clean water.
Begin processing your plants by stripping away the leaves while leaving some as you see fit. You do not want any leaves touching the water in your container as it will shorten the vase life of your arrangement.
Give your flowers another snip at the ends before placing them back in your bucket.
***Note about daffodils: Until you are ready to arrange, snip and place the daffodils in their own cold water jar, separate from the rest of the blooms. They are narcissus for a reason!***
My Process… yours might be different and that is okay
Take the photinia, curly willow and flowering branches and establish the height and shape for the centerpiece keeping in mind the rule of thirds. If they do not stay in place right away you can adjust them later once you have added more stems and created a more stabilizing grid in your vase.
Take your hyacinth and place it lower in the arrangement.
Add the hellebores, following the shape of the sculptural branches in a way that extends the color.
Depending on how long or short the tulips, are use them to frame where your daffodils will go. Remember, tulips will continue to grow even when they are in your vase.
The daffodils will serve as your focal flower. Place them in such a way that they form a line of depth and dimension, making sure to extend them out as you place them to create so as to keep your arrangement from appearing flat.
Place the muscari as a texture fluttering piece above the others.
The Feast
When considering the plants for this meal, I started with thinking about the colors I wanted to invite into our bodies. It was not so important to me that the colors went together well, but rather that they were a contrasting compilation of tints, tones and shades. Beets, blueberries, broccoli, oranges and sweet potatoes were the plants I selected and what emerged was a Mediterranean style feast perfect for the lightness of the spring.
Beets are a risky vegetable to include in a meal with multiple people since they err on the side of complete polarization. They are in many ways the black licorice of vegetables— you either love them or hate them. While I cannot say that I love beets, I would consider myself beet curious and am drawn to them for their unique shade of red and taste of the earth. I think when done well they are a nourshing and rich addition to a meal.
Below I have included recipes for the beet salad, roasted broccoli, mint blueberry and orange salad, garlic tahini sauce, sweet potatoes, seared tuna and the Mediterranean desert.
Garlic Dressing
Ingredients
1 Table spoon of Apple Cider Vinnegar
1/4 cup of olive oil
2 Table spoons of dijon mustard
1 tsp of salt
Instructions: Place all ingredients in a jar. Tighten a lid over the jar and shake till all ingredients are mixed. *Store in fridge for up to 7 days
Beet Salad
(serves 7)
Ingredients
4 medium sized beets
1 pint of organic cherry tomatoes
3.5 ounces of pitted dates sliced into thirds
1 Tablespoon of chopped chives
1 Tablespoon of dill
1/4 cup of Pine Nuts
Instructions
Roast the beets. There are many ways to do this but leave yourself at least one hour. You can find the way you prefer by clicking here.
Once your beets are done roasting, let cool then remove the skins. Cut into edible size rectangles. Place them in a medium- large bowl
Cut tomatoes in half and then add them in to the mix
Pour the dijon dressing into the bowl and mix together. If you like less dressing use as a marinade and drain after an hour or so.
Roast pine nuts for 7 minutes at 350 degrees fahrenheit then add in the mix
When you are ready to serve, mix in the scallions, dill and pine nuts
Tahini Sauce (to go with broccoli)
(serves 5-6)
Ingredients
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of tahini
1/4 cup of water
2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 tsp of salt
Instructions
Peel garlic and and press in mortar and pestle
In a jar, mix the tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt with a fork and set aside
Roasted Broccoli
(serves 5-6)
Ingredients
10 oz of broccoli
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit
Chop broccoli into little florets then place in a bowl
Mix broccoli together with olive oil, salt, garlic powder and onion powder
Lay out seasoned broccoli mixture onto baking sheet and place in oven for 16-18 minutes. Once finished, keep warm in the oven at 200 degrees fahrenheit.
When you are ready to serve, pour the tahini sauce generously over the broccoli
Blueberry, Orange and Mint Fruit Salad
(serves 5-6)
Ingredients
3 large oranges
1 pint of organic blueberries
handful of mint
Instructions
Peel oranges and chop down into bite size triangles and place in a bowl
Add blueberries to the bowl and mix
Chop the mint and stir into the bowl
Sweet Potatoes
(serves 5-6)
Ingredients
3 large organic sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of paprika
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit
Cut sweet potatoes into tiny squares
In a bowl, mix olive oil, sweet potatoes, salt, and paprika together then spread on a baking sheet
Place in the oven for 40-45 minutes, taking the sweet potatoes out every 15 minutes for a shake.
*(Once finished, keep warm in the oven at 200 degrees fahrenheit)
Seared Tuna (optional) For Meat Eating Friends
(serves 5-6)
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds of tuna steaks
1 tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
heat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium to high heat
Season the tuna
Place tuna in skillet and sear on each side for 3-4 minutes (or less)
No Bake Baklava
(serves 7)
Ingredients
1 cup of de-shelled pistachios
2 cups of pitted dates
1 1/2 cups of walnuts
3/4 cups of coconut oil
3 tablespoons of honey
1 1/2 cups of almond extract
1 cups of almond flour
1/2 cup of coconut flour
Instructions
Using a food, processor process the pistachios until finely chopped then remove from processor set aside
Pour the dates and walnuts into the food processor and pulse until evenly broken down but not completely mixed.
In a rectangular glass Tupperware container (8 1/2” X 6 3/4” ) spread the date and walnut mixture.
In a pan begin melting coconut oil, then add honey and almond extract.
Slowly add in the almond flour and coconut flour a 1/2 cup at a time. Stir until mixture is thick.
Pour the mixture over the date and walnuts then smooth out with a spatula until even and firm.
Pour the crushed pistachios over the top and drizzle honey over the dessert. Place in the refrigerator for at least an hour, then cut and enjoy.
I hope you enjoyed reading about our spring gathering. If you would like to sign up for the next gathering on July 8th, you can do so by clicking HERE.