by Judy | Sep 30, 2025 | CobraHead
Two and a half years ago, I bought a big, beautiful rosemary plant in a gallon-size pot at the Madison Garden Expo. I faithfully watered it once a week by soaking it in the laundry tub and letting it drain. This worked for almost two years, then the plant started dying back, as in practically dead. I probably got a bit careless about my watering routine, and I assumed it was done for. It still had some life in it, so we decided to plant it outside in the garden –...
by Judy | Aug 27, 2025 | CobraHead
Botanas translated from Spanish means snack. It’s more than a snack for us – it’s a main course. This botanas recipe is similar to nachos. I first made it in the early 1970’s. It came from the local newspaper in Wyandotte, MI. Ingredients Base 1 12 oz or 16 oz bag tortilla chips 1 lb. dry beans (pinto or black or your favorite) cooked, seasoned and mashed into refried beans or your favorite canned refried beans, thinned with a little water to make them pourable 1...
by Judy | Jul 30, 2025 | #CobraHeadFolksEat Good, #JudyValdes, Baked Garlic, CobraHead, Garlic Appetizers, Roasted
July is garlic month here at the CobraHead test kitchen and garden. For the past 30-plus years, Noel has planted 100 cloves of garlic at the end of October, and the nice fat bulbs are ready to harvest in mid-July the following year. After harvesting the garlic and knocking off most of the soil, we lay them on tables in the garage to cure. You can also hang them in bunches. After about a week, we transfer them to tables in the basement. The garage can get pretty...
by Judy | Jun 30, 2025 | CobraHead
Our peas are doing quite well this year. Two of the four types of peas we are growing are edible-podded peas which include snow peas and sugar snap peas. The third one is a shelling pea. It’s picked when it plumps out. You can then remove the shell and eat the peas inside. The fourth one is our purple podded capucijner soup pea which we harvest when dry. In this recipe I used snow peas. If you use a fatter sugar snap pea, you may need an extra minute of cooking. 1...
by Judy | May 30, 2025 | #CobraHeadFolksEat Good, #JudyValdes, Anise Hyssop, CobraHead, Herb Salad, Spring Herbs
Anise Hyssop is a perennial herb, an excellent pollinator, and it tastes like licorice. It’s one of my favorite additions to a salad. Adding 4 or 5 licorice-flavored leaves (slivered) to a salad enhances its flavor significantly. While I was ‘foraging’ in our own garden for the anise hyssop I also picked some baby spring plants, including cilantro, mustard, kale, chives, spring onions, broccoli rabe and asparagus. I had such a big picking that I didn’t even...
