Garden Update & Recipes
Our garden has done very well this year, and we are pleased with the progress from last year. We have been hauling in the zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and peppers. All this brings a lot of cooking from the garden and preservation.
We froze the last of our carrots after the tops started looking like bad. We also froze an overflowing gallon freezer bag of green beans, not to mention all of the green beans we have eaten this summer. They look like they are slowing down in their production now, but I am so pleased with them this year–our first year to do a bush bean.
And oh the zucchini. I think we only planted four or six plants… and did I mention that we don’t just love zucchini anyway? I have found some great ways too cook it. My favorite (of the moment) is chocolate zucchini bread or just plain old zucchini bread. They are so moist that I don’t use any oil, just applesauce and no one seems to notice that it is whole wheat flour. I also have added them to pastas, veggie pie and all sorts of things.
We canned 12 pints of dill pickles last weekend from cucumbers we harvested. We also canned eight pints of tomatoes on Sunday and another 10 tonight.
One of my favorite easy meals lately with the garden produce is below. I got the idea from an episode of KAMU Down Home or whatever the name of the Saturday afternoon public television show is here.
Veggie Pasta
1 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
4-6 Roma tomatoes, chopped (or a can of diced tomatoes)
half a zucchini, chopped, or more if you love zucchini
fresh herbs–I use basil, rosemary and oregano, but just basil should be fine
leftover chicken or grilled chicken, if you have it
about 8 ounces of whole wheat pasta, cooked
1/2 cup chicken or veggie broth broth
fresh spinach or swiss chard
cheese–mozzarella, feta, whatever you have on hand
Heat a skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. Add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and coat your pan. Toss in the onions and garlic and cook about two minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook until they are nice and soft and making a sauce. Add your zucchini and broth and cook until zucchini is crisp/tender, stirring. Add your herbs and chicken, and cook a few more minutes. Toss in the pasta and the fresh greens. Cook until greens are soft but not mushy. Add your cheese. That’s it!
Oh sweet friends, you are welcome to send any unwanted zucchini our way! I love it and am slowly converting Kevin with my mom’s stuffed zucchini recipe –
4 large zucchini, cut in half & steamed
1-ish lb.ground meat
chopped tomatoes
chopped onions
stock or water
shredded cheddar cheese
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Brown ground beef and drain, then add onions and cook til tender. Add tomatoes and stock/water to make the mixture moist. Simmer for a few mins.
3. Spoon out the seeds of the zucchini (they should come out very easily after steaming but will be hot!) and then place the zucchini “boats” in a 9×13 dish.
4. Fill the boats with the meat-tomato-onion mixture and then top with cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cheese melts. Yum.
I wish I had a picture to show you of this; Kevin loves it and so do our kids. It’s become my absolute favorite dish, especially with fresh zucchini.
Thank you, Jenna! Thomas was telling me how good Kevin’s lunch looked last week. I’m going to try it this week since we have all of those ingredients. And if our plants continue to produce at this rate, I’ll send you some more.