Zucchini in the Garden, in the Kitchen and on the Doorstep - Watch Out!

If you've ever planted zucchini you might recall right about this time of year you're searching for recipes to use it in, neighbors to give it to or doorsteps to leave it on. This year my neighbor planted zucchini and cucumbers and we planted acorn squash and tomatoes – so we could trade.

As I was coming out of the garden with the front of my shirt loaded down with tomatoes my neighbor flagged me down to see if I wanted any cucumbers and zucchini so we swapped – her husband had a big smile on his face when he saw me leaving with 2 cukes and 2 zucchini – probably happy he didn't have to have zucchini AGAIN.

I really like zucchini; a medium zucchini has about 33 calories and essentially no fat or cholesterol. It has vitamin A, C and B-6, magnesium and a little calcium. I like how it absorbs the flavors of the ingredients it's paired with – it's very versatile. And if you've seen any of my spiralized recipes they're great for spiralizing to use in place of pasta you really can't go wrong.

I have a favorite zucchini recipe, which I look forward to making every year at this time. It has zucchini (of course), caramelized onions, tomatoes, feta and fresh basil. It's a little putzy but the flavor combination is well worth the effort.  I've been making and tweaking this recipe for a long time so I'm not sure where or what the original recipe was, but a couple years ago I adapted it to use Pampered Chef tools for a show so here goes:

Zucchini and Tomato Bake

2 medium zucchini

3 - 4 Roma tomatoes (this time I used one large beefsteak and 4 romas)

2 medium red onions

10 basil leaves (or more)

2 - 3  garlic cloves - more or less depends on how much you like garlic

Feta cheese - I don't measure I just grab a chunk (remember, cooking is not science it's cooking :-)

Salt

Pepper

Olive oil

Using the PC simple slicer, thinly slice onions on setting 1. Place in pan with olive oil and cook on medium heat until caramelized.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Again using the simple slicer, slice zucchini on setting 2, place on paper towels, salt, cover with another paper towel and let sit 30 minutes. This is to extract as much moisture out of it as possible.

With a very sharp knife, thinly slice tomatoes, pat with paper towels to remove excess moisture.

To assemble: place one layer of zucchini slightly overlapping on bottom of the PC Rockcrok. Top with caramelized onions, then a layer of tomatoes. Add another layer of zucchini and finally the last layer of tomatoes. Sometimes I do 3 layers with 2 layers of carmelized onions - it depends on what I have in the fridge.

  

Using the garlic peeler, remove the skins and then place the garlic cloves in the garlic slicer.  Slice garlic on top of tomatoes.

Crumble feta and sprinkle on top of final layer of tomatoes. Chiffonade basil and sprinkle on top.  Cover and bake at 375 for approx 20 - 25 minutes or until zucchini is soft. Turn oven on broil, remove Rockcrok cover and place under broiler until feta is slightly browned.

I served this with fresh baked 10-grain bread and a green salad – it was worth the wait.  One thing to note, even when you salt and drain the tomatoes and zucchini you still get water in the bottom of the dish, I usually drain it with a turkey baster ½ way through cooking.

Thanks for stopping by - and watch out for neighbors who seem to be slinking away from your doorstep - you could be the victim of a zucchini drop.

From the Garden with Yum

For those of you wondering, yes I did finish Harper Lee's new book; Go Set a Watchman. If you read and liked To Kill a Mockingbird (her only other book) you should read this it's just as good and powerful.

It's been hot here lately – very hot. Today it was close to 90 and the humidity was high. Mind you I don't want to be one of those people who complain when it's cold and then complains when it's hot. I'd like to think of myself as a fall person – I love the warm days and cool nights, the beautiful trees of red and gold and the smells; apple pie, hot cider, bonfires – it's wonderful.

Until that comes however, I'm happy to say that we've been eating out of the garden – a lot. The hot weather has put the grape tomato and the early girl tomato in full production and the sugar snap peas, green beans and herbs are begging to be used.

Last night was movie night – yeah! We tried to keep turning on the oven to minimum so we decided on a simple spinach, mushroom and onion frittata and a salad of green beans, sugar snap peas, snow peas and grape tomatoes with a mustard dressing. There was also cantaloupe and fresh bread with rosemary (yep from the garden) and to top it off baby smores cupcakes (which I purchased).

The recipe for the green beans is here. Since we were having eggs as the entrée I opted to not put them on the beans. I also substituted dill for the tarragon and added some grape tomatoes and then I totally forgot to put the lentils on (which I had dutifully cooked Anne Lapkin)– it turned out just find tho I liked the combination of the beans with the mustard sauce and dill and the tomatoes provided  the color. 

We also spent some time at the farmers market yesterday – it seems odd I know, especially since we have a garden full of veggies but I wanted some patty pan squash and then I found these beautiful pea shoots that I'm planning to sauté for dinner tomorrow night with a little soy sauce and some spices. Also bought some onions, and eggplant for baingan bharta – which Dan is planning to make for a potluck at work tomorrow – lucky coworkers, is all I can say.

Whether you're at home, at the lake, in the city or in the country –Enjoy!

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes ... Squash

It's becoming one of my favorite garden times; the tomatoes are starting to ripen and that means toasted tomato and mayo sandwiches – not bacon, lettuce and tomato; not bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado; not lettuce and tomato but toasted tomato and mayo sandwiches end of story.

We had a lot of excitement in the neighborhood last weekend. A nasty storm blew through and we lost power on Saturday morning about 2am and didn't get it back until Sunday evening at about 6pm. It's amazing how much we rely on electricity; for coffee, hot water, microwave, cooking, cleaning, and of course those electronic devices that seem to have taken over our lives.

I'd like think I'm a pretty good sport when it comes to adversity; knowing that camping is not my thing (and yes I have tried it – but it doesn't seem to stick) I was in pretty good spirits on Saturday but when I woke up on Sunday and we still had no power I began to get irritated and cranky and yes a little snappy with the hubby.  But we made it through and now that the power is back I'm a happy camper again!

But I digress so back to sandwiches – toasted tomato and mayo sandwiches. You need to start out with dense grain bread with seeds, lots of seeds. We were at Costco a while ago and found a hearty grain bread with seeds so we purchased a couple of loaves and tossed them in freezer knowing tomato season would soon be upon us.

Tonight we toasted that delicious bread until it was crispy and brown then added mayo (not Miracle Whip), and thinly sliced tomatoes a couple grinds of sea salt and it was heaven. The simplicity of the sandwich was amazing you could taste every individual savory flavor. If you've never had a simple tomato and mayo sandwich you should give it a try, you'll wonder why you'd never tried it before.

On a side note – I've informed Dan that we are going to be "those people" the kind that leave squash on their neighbors step or wander around looking for cars with open windows to drop off a squash.

I planted 4 acorn squash plants and just came in from the garden and the official count for squash larger than 3 inches is 10 with about 15 – 20 smaller squash coming right behind them. Sometimes those new veggies work out better than you would expect - woot woot!

The rest of the garden is going well; harvested a large batch of sugar snap peas, some corn salad and leaf lettuce (just about done tho) the bok choy and swiss chard are close behind. The basil is coming along quite nicely and the carrots even though the *&^%$# bunny ate the fluffy green tops the veggie continues to get bigger so they'll definitely be fresh carrots.

My one disappointment is the green beans; the crazy rabbit got in there one too many times and helped him/herself to the flowers so our harvest has been pretty small.  Sigh – perhaps next year.

Thanks everyone for the comments, likes and personal notes – if you have a recipe to share please leave it in the comments!

Enjoy!

Gardening, Cooking and Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day! Yesterday was the 4^th of July; a day filled with fireworks, parties and celebrations.  Dan has been under the weather lately so we decided to forgo our regular bike ride to Deephaven and just hang out around the house.

I started the day at the Farmers Market with some friends followed by coffee and then a quick dash to the grocery store to get a few final ingredients; I felt like cooking.

I recall when I was a young girl my mom would marinade cucumbers and onions with oil, vinegar and spices it was one of my favorite dishes. My dill is in full bloom and I love the smell and taste of it so I took my trusty herb scissors and a bowl out to the garden for some dill and while I was at it I harvested another batch of greens; lettuce, corn salad, bok choy, arugula and cilantro.

I thinly sliced one onion (smallest slice on the Pampered Chef simple slicer) and the chopped 2 med cucumbers and 3 large tomatoes put all in a bowl, added ½ cup rice wine vinegar, ¼ cup olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh dill and agave to taste. Poured it all in the bowl and marinated for 2 hours.

On Friday evening a friend of mine posted a picture of a beautiful pie decorated for the 4^th with lots of stars for the top crust. I was inspired to create something similar and I have lots of rhubarb in the freezer so a strawberry rhubarb pie it was. I used this recipe by Smitten kitten and substituted cornstarch for the tapioca (not a fan).  

Next time I would brush the entire crust with the egg mixture first and then cut out the stars so they wouldn't shift around but I do like how it turned out and it got good reviews :-)

My final dish was a seed and carrot loaf, from Trinity's kitchen the recipe is here no substitutions and it was delicious. 

Tonight is leftover night and I can't wait!

26 Weeks of Meat Independance

It's the last week of June and July is just around the corner which means summer is half over – yikes where has the time gone. It's also been 26 weeks since I started this vegetarian adventure and I'm still committed to at least 26 more weeks.

So far there are only 2 things I miss; a nice turkey, onion and garlic burger on the grill and Dan's specialty almond coconut crusted tilapia – other than that I'm good. In all of this I've learned a couple things; first, in the days before no meat I ate things that I didn't really love (because if I did I'd be craving them right). And second - it's a good think I like to cook because eating healthy takes more planning and prepping than before - but I feel so much better that it's worth it.

Anyway, I was rummaging around in the fridge and came upon the last package of tofu (remember the great deal from a while ago?) so I decided it was time for a spicy baked tofu to go on top one of our large salads. The hubby said the last batch of spicy tofu could have been spicier so I took him seriously and I think I hit on just the right flavor.

I started by putting the block of tofu on a plate and placing paper towels below and on top of the tofu, then I took the heavy Panini press from my Pampered Chef grill pan and put it on top. I  checked on it and drained the plate and swapped out the paper towels at 2 – 30 minute intervals.

While I was getting the water out of the tofu I mixed up the spicy marinade which consisted of; 3 Tbsp. of Siracha, 2 Tbsp. of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp. of rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp. of sesame oil, 3 cloves of garlic minced and 1" of grated ginger.

When the tofu was drained I sliced it and put it in a container and poured the marinade over it and let it set for an hour in the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 350 and place the marinated tofu on a metal cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes turning twice.

The salad consisted of; arugula, green leaf, bok choy, cilantro and mint from the garden. To that I added, mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, avocado, radishes, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, kalamata olives and goat cheese. 

Topped the salad with the spicy tofu and served with a slice of multigrain bread – a delicious summer meal indeed.

The 4^th of July usually signals bbq – I'm definitely thinking the cauliflower "potato" salad will be on the menu and baked beans (of course) – if you've got any favorite vegetarian bbq recipes please send me the link.

Happy Independence Day!

No Rest for those who Eat Zucchini Pesto

It's summer – our garden is in full bloom. On a daily basis I'm harvesting bok choy, lettuce, and arugula and the beans, sugar snap peas and carrots are close behind.  Our tomatoes are growing tall and have some good-sized tomatoes and I have 6 acorn squash growing with many flowers!  Tis my favorite time of year.

This weekend we have two events; today we celebrated Dan's daughter's college graduation – we're so proud of both of them and excited to see them experience their next life adventure.

Alona will be leaving for Israel in the fall to teach English in a small town outside of Tel Aviv and Mary will start a job with Epic – a health care software company – so many opportunities and adventures.

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Father's Day – Dan and I are lucky to be able to share this day with both our  dads. We'll celebrate with my dad over breakfast and Dan's dad later in the day and we'll celebrate Dan on Tuesday with his daughters at our weekly family dinner. 

And now about pesto!  For the past 5 years Dan and I have planted a garden. We have 4 – 4 X 8 raised beds. One of my favorite herbs is basil. I love the smell of it the taste of it and I love how it finishes off a bruschetta made of tomatoes fresh from our garden. Two summers ago I had a bumper crop and I mean a bumper crop. I ended up with 3-gallon bags of pesto cubes.

As much as I dislike Martha Stewart I have gotten some good ideas from her. The best idea is for storing pesto. If you think about it, a little pesto goes a long way. I make up large batches and freeze it in ice cube trays and when I need some I just take out a couple cubes, thaw and use – it's pretty simple.

I was going through our freezer the other day and came across the final bag of pesto cubes from the massive harvest. I had some zucchini in the fridge so I decided to get the spiralizer out of the closet and make some pesto pasta – can you say delicious.

I started with 2 Tbsp. of olive oil and a chopped onion and sautéed it until it was translucent.  I then added some red pepper flakes (to taste). Then I added the 2 spiralized zucchini and cooked until they were crisp tender. I tossed it with the pesto and some halved cherry tomatoes and heated until the tomatoes were warm

I served it with a large green salad, fresh fruit and some bread with rosemary and garlic – truly a summertime feast. 

Happy Fathers Day to all those loving and dedicated dads tomorrow - if you're lucky enough to still have your Dad around - spend time with him. Go to breakfast, give him a call, send a card or facetime him. 

Summer filled with fruits and veggies – my favorite time of year

I've been remiss about getting my post up the past couple weeks not because I haven't been cooking mind you because we've been keeping it simple lately.

I have a love-hate relationship with summer. I love the long days, the warmth, the smell of lilacs and freshly cut grass. I love getting up early on Sunday morning and heading off to the local farmer's market to see what's fresh and in season. On the flip side, we seem to have too much to do and too many places to go once the weekend comes. And by the time we have a "free" weekend it's the 4^th of July, which in Minnesota means the summer is half over. So as I said love-hate.

One of the things we've been eating a lot of lately is salad. In the before I was a vegetarian days, there would be a brat or a piece of chicken to go with that salad. There are some great vegetarian sausages out there and we really like the Field Roast brand I recommend you give them a try; especially the Italian version.  But lately I've been getting my protein from legumes and quinoa – great sources.

Last week I made a quinoa salad that really hit the spot and then because I could, I made a watermelon salad too.

For the quinoa salad I started with ¾ cup of quinoa and cooked it in vegetable broth according to the package directions. While the quinoa was cooking I chopped a shallot, some cucumber, 1 carrot, a handful of cherry tomatoes, ½ red and ½ orange pepper and put them in a bowl. To that I added ½ of a can of black beans and an avocado (cubed). When the quinoa was cooked and cooled I added it to the veggie mixture and topped it with a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper –poof salad.

As I said I made this watermelon salad too.

Chop watermelon into cubes (approx. 4 cups). In a measuring cup juice 1 lime and add a few shakes of cayenne pepper and a few shakes of salt, mix and then pour over watermelon. The mint in our garden is in full bloom so I picked about 10 leaves, washed, dried and sliced into thin strips and sprinkled on top – poof another salad. If you want to add a bit of feta to this salad eliminate the salt and crumble the feta on top.

If your garden is beginning to produce spinach and other greens (like mine is) a simple salad of greens, thinly sliced shallots or red onion and strawberries topped with a balsamic vinaigrette is always a good choice. And speaking of gardens I'm heading out water mine and pick some more spinach, arugula and leaf lettuce – as I said it's salad season at our house.

Have a good day!