Molly Beverly’s passion for gardening began with the simple desire to grow some food in an urban backyard. She explains, “My husband Gary and I grew up in suburbia, and had never grown anything before. We really wanted to get back in touch with the land, and the best way to do that was to grow our own food”. Years later, they are largely living ‘garden to plate’, and feeding themselves year round with the food they grow on their three-acre organic Chino Valley farm. Molly is a chef, teacher, food activist and Chair of Slow Food Prescott, where she advocates for local growers, heritage foods, and creative food and culinary education. She readily shares her garden and cooking wisdom, and graciously invited YRMC’s Your Healthy Kitchen to walk through her gorgeous gardens, learn some tricks for growing and preserving food, and make her fabulous garden-fresh minestrone soup.
Molly Beverly’s Summer Minestrone Recipe
I brought home a basket of produce, including savory Italian badda beans, crispy black eyed peas, tender red okra, juicy plum tomatoes, and fragrant basil, to make Molly’s minestrone in my own kitchen. You can watch the process here!
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Molly’s recipe was originally published in Edible Phoenix, and is available online at ediblecommunities.com. Edible Communities publishes over ninety independently owned magazines throughout the U.S. and Canada. Each uniquely highlights the local growers, bakers, chefs, brewers, vintners, and others who feed the folks living in their respective communities.
You can learn more about Slow Food, an international organization that works to prevent the disappearance of traditional foods and food cultures at slowfood.com. Slow food teaches millions of people about where their food comes from; explores indigenous tastes and flavors; and shows how our everyday food choices can affect people locally and around the world.
Don’t forget to follow Molly on her Facebook page at facebook.com/mollyscookingclasses/, where she explores home-style cuisine with international flair, using ingredients from her garden and local farms. And remember, as always, to check out all of our delicious and nutritious recipes, plus lots of fun, educational videos at YRMC’s HealthConnect. You can also stop by my kitchen by following me on Facebook at YRMC’s Your Healthy Kitchen, where I post photos and videos about the meals I make for myself and my family, plus interesting links to my favorite food, cooking and gardening destinations on the web.