Teresa Shaw | Contributor

Just because the garden is done and the herbs are all wilted doesn't mean you can't still enjoy some fresh greens. Even in the dead of winter, many herbs and other edibles can be grown indoors. One of my favorites to grow inside is sprouts. Not only are they easy and fairly quick to grow, they make a nice indoor project for the kids. All you need is a Mason or other jar, cheesecloth, seeds (select seeds specifically for sprouting), water, and a few days.

To sprout your own seeds, add 2 tablespoons of seeds to a jar and cover with about 2 inches of cold water, then cover the lid with a piece of cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band. Place the jar in a spot that will not receive any direct or indirect sunlight. Rinse the seeds twice a day with cool water: just add clean, fresh water to the jar, then shake and pour out the excess water. Keep rinsing twice a day and, after a few days, the seeds will start to sprout. When you see leaves growing on the sprouts, pour the sprouts out into a large bowl and rinse with cool water, skimming off the hulls that have risen to the top. Put the rinsed sprouts back in the jar and keep rinsing twice a day.

After about a week, the sprouts are ready to eat. Keep the jar of sprouts in the refrigerator, and use within a couple of days for the best taste. Try them plain or use them to add crunch and a fresh burst of flavor to salads, sandwiches, stir frys, or omelets.

Note: Unfortunately, everything seems to come with a warning label these days, especially in light of a recent salmonella outbreak tied to alfalfa sprouts. The CDC Web site reports that: Sprouts may be contaminated during seed production, germination, sprout processing, or consumer handling and preparation (5,6). On the farm, sprouts seeds may become contaminated through the use of untreated agricultural water, improperly composted manure as fertilizer, excretion from domestic or wild animals, runoff from domesticated animal production facilities, or improperly cleaned harvesting or processing machines (5,6). The association of specific seed lots with illness suggests that seeds are the most likely source for this and most other sprout-related outbreaks (4). Conditions suitable for seed sprouting also are ideal for increasing pathogenic bacterial counts by several logs. (Source: CDC)

Thus, pregnant women and young children should probably take caution and talk to their doctor before consuming sprouts.

Teresa Shaw lives and writes in Ann Arbor. Contact her at teresawrites (at) yahoo (dot) com or visit her blog, Think Inside the Icebox.