Every now and then, we visit other websites in search of promising recipes containing sage. Right now zucchini and other summer squash are plentiful in home gardens. Culinary Sage also flourishes in the August garden ready for a starring role in any number of dishes. Put them together and what have you got?

If you are vegetarian food writer Claire Adas of the Out of the Ordinary website, you create a savory pasta sauce by sauteing zucchini, caramelized onions, white beans, toasted walnuts, and basil while listening to the mighty Aretha Franklin singing.

Then you add white wine, mix in a vegetable broth infused with sage and bay leaves and blend everything “till it’s nice and smooth.” There are additional ingredients and steps, but you get the idea: It sounds tasty.

Similar to her recipe, Adas is an interesting mixture -- cook, writer, gardener, artist, filmmaker, tired-but-loving mother and the kind of person who enjoys imagining friendly spirits in her garden.

The last trait explains the following quote from Adas: “If there was a spirit in our back yard, I imagine it would eat the sage in our vegetable garden, because sage is good spirit food.” We agree.

Click here to read about the many kinds of Culinary Sage that we enjoy growing and cooking with at Flowers by the Sea. Send us a note if you would like to share a recipe containing sage, the spirit food.