To market, to market: Zucchini

Have well-meaning neighbors and relatives been passing along sacks of zucchini to you lately? That seems to happen quite often around here near the end of summer. Even if you don’t have a garden of you own, you may find yourself with more zucchini than you know what to do with!

On several occasions in the past, I’ve shared recipes on my blog for ways to use zucchini, but a few more zucchini recipes could never hurt anyone, right?

Tips for selecting and storing zucchini:

Remember, it’s best to pick or buy zucchini when it’s still only about 6-8 inches long to get the minimal amount of seeds inside. However, if someone gifts you with a 14-inch long zucchini, don’t toss it! You can still use it!

For a very large zucchini, just cut it in half longways, then cut each half in half again. This way you can stand each piece on end and slice off the seeds inside. You can use the remainder of the zucchini just like you would a smaller one.

Freezing is a great way to get that pile of zucchini off of your counter top. You can find detailed illustrated instructions HERE on how to do that. I like to freeze grated zucchini in quart freezer bags to make yummy zucchini bread in the middle of the winter. You can also freeze the zucchini in slices to saute up in the colder months. Yum!

Favorite recipes for zucchini:

Have you ever tried seeded and cubed or sliced zucchini on a fresh salad? It adds a tasty crunch, kind of like a cucumber. We have been eating more raw zucchini this way and it is delicious.

Summer Squash Saute

From The Green Thumb Cookbook. This is a delicious side dish with flavors of rosemary and cardamom. We love it with our own lamb chops, which is how I served it this weekend. Yum!

Ingredients:

1 clove garlic, minced

3 TBS. butter or olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced

6 fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 tsp. dried rosemary

1/4 dried cardamom

4-5 cups yellow squash or zucchini, thinly sliced on a slant

2 TBS plain yogurt or sour cream

1/8 tsp black pepper

salt to taste

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, gently simmer garlic in butter until yellow. Add onion and mushrooms; cook on low heat for 5 minutes.

2. Add rosemary, cardamom and squash to skillet; stir and cook another 5 minutes, then cover and cook gently for 8 minutes.

3. Add yogurt or sour cream, pepper and salt to taste. Cover, turn off heat, and let stand 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings. 

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Zucchini Chocolate Cake

A favorite our family that we look forward to having all year! If the idea of spices in your chocolate cake grosses you out, I urge you to at least give it a try. Delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. oil (I use coconut oil)

1 3/4 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. sour cream

2 c. shredded zucchini

2 1/2 c. flour

4 TBS. cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

Directions:

1. Mix butter, oil and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, sour cream and zucchini. Mix well.

2. Add dry ingredients and mix.

3. Pour into greased 9″x13″ cake pan

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

5. After removing from the oven, while the cake is still hot, frost with the following:

Frosting Recipe:

2 TBS. butter

6 TBS. milk

1 TBS. cocoa

1 box powdered sugar

1 c. nuts, chopped

Boil the first three ingredients. Remove from heat and add the others. Pour onto hot cake.

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Zucchini Bruschetta

This is a recipe from a good friend of mine, Mary Ledy, who makes the most delicious recipes ever! This is a wonderful fresh bruschetta that is best served cool with wedges of crisp pita bread or crusty garlic bread.

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini, minced

1 medium yellow squash, minced

1 medium tomato, seeded and diced

4 green onions, sliced

4-6 cloves garlic, minced

2 TBS. fresh basil, sliced

2 TBS. olive oil

2 TBS. lemon juice

1/2 c. feta cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients and chill for several hours to allow flavors to blend.

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Other zucchini recipes I’ve blogged about in the past that we love:

Summer Cobbler

Zucchini Cheese Chowder

Zucchini Bread

Vegetables Italiano

Zucchini Pie (dessert)

Zucchini Pie (main dish)

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

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For past “To Market, To Market” posts, click HERE.

To market, To market: Tomatoes

It’s tomato season!

If you’re like me, now is the only time of the year to eat fresh tomatoes because only in August do tomatoes taste like tomatoes!

If you’re trying to eat in season from your farmer’s market, you don’t want to pass up those luscious red beauties piled high on the market table. Besides putting them on fresh salads or eating them sprinkled with salt, how else can you use these delicious fruits in your meal planning?

I’d like to share a few things I’ve learned about tomatoes, as well as some of my family’s favorite recipes.

How to store tomatoes:

Do not put your tomatoes in the refrigerator!! Storing tomatoes in the refrigerator makes all the taste go out of them quickly.  (When I was first married, I had no idea that any food should be stored outside of the refrigerator and wondered why my tomatoes tasted so bland soon after I bought them!) The best way to store them is with the stem right side up on your counter top. Do not place them in any type of bag.

If you want to save that fresh summer tomato taste for the fall and winter months where nary a tomato-ey tasting tomato can be found, you’ll need to freeze or can them plain or in other recipes. In addition to canning plain tomatoes for use in soup, chili and other recipes later, you can also preserve your tomatoes in salsa, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, bruschetta, or vegetable soup bases.

A wonderful website that shows you how to can and freeze tomatoes with clear instructions and lots of pictures is HERE. I won’t try and do a better job with my own photos when it’s already been done so well.

Remember, you don’t need a high-pressure canner to can tomatoes. All you need is a large stock pot like the one you cook your spaghetti noodles in. So, you can’t use that excuse.

How to skin tomatoes for canning or using in a recipe:

Step 1: Bring a pot of water to boiling. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, fill either a large bowl or your sink with very cold water and add a bunch of ice cubes to make it even colder.

Step 2: Gently drop 3 or 4 tomatoes into the water and boil for 1 minute. You can do more tomatoes than this at a time if you have an assembly line of children helping you peel them like I do. However, if it’s just you doing this job, you only want as many as you can peel quickly before the skin cools off too much and sticks back to the tomato.

Step 3: After one minute, remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and drop them into the ice cold water. The skin will immediately split and you can slip it off easily.

That’s it! Your tomatoes are now ready for some recipes.

My favorite fresh tomato recipes:

Cream of Tomato Soup

Adapted from the More-With-Less Cookbook

A delicious soup that’s perfect for those cooler late summer evenings that have you dreaming of fall…

Ingredients:

6 TBS. butter

6 TBS. onion, chopped

6 TBS. flour

2 TBS. sugar

1 TBS. salt

1/4-1/2 tsp. pepper

2 dashes EACH of: garlic, basil, oregano, thyme

6 cups tomato puree or tomato juice

4 cups milk

4 TBS. cornstarch or arrowroot powder

Directions:

1. Prepare your tomato puree/juice. My family loves the thicker consistency that tomato puree creates. To make the puree, first, skin the tomatoes and then puree them for a few seconds in the blender to get the consistency you want.

2. In a heavy saucepan/stockpot, saute the onion in the 6 TBS. butter until tender

3. Blend the flour and spices into the onion mixture

4. Gradually stir in the tomato puree/juice

5. Bring to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute.

6. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk and the cornstarch together

7. Add the milk mixture to the hot tomato mixture. Heat and stir until thickened.

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Over-the-Coals Veggies

From the Out of the Sugar Rut cookbook

This is one of our favorite summer recipes. We have cooked it both ways – over charcoal and over a gas grill – and it tastes great either way. This is a good dish for company because you can make it up in advance and just throw it on the grill when it’s time to eat. The flavors get more of a chance to blend that way, too.

Ingredients:

2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

2 zucchini, sliced

1 onion, sliced

3 TBS butter

1 TBS. honey

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. crushed fennel seed

1/8 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Cut an 18″ square of heavy duty aluminum foil

2. In a large bowl, toss all of the ingredients to mix well

3. Spoon the mixture into the center of the square of soil

4. Wrap loosely and seal securely to prevent leakage

5. Grill 5″ from the coals. Turn occasionally and cook for 20 minutes.

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Vegetables Italiano

From The Green Thumb Cookbook

This dish is a wonderful compliment to many meals, including grilled meats, pasta dishes and quiche.

3 cups zucchini and/or summer squash slices
1 cup onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon oregano, crushed
Parmesan cheese.

1. Saute zucchini/squash, onion and garlic in butter for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and seasonings, and continue cooking over low heat 5 minutes more.

2. Remove from heat. Sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

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My favorite tomato recipes to can:

Bruschetta Preserve

From the Simply in Season cookbook

It is so wonderful to pull a jar of this bruschetta out in the dead of winter and enjoy the fresh summer flavor on some crusty bread!

Ingredients:

5-7 cloves garlic, minced

1 c. white wine vinegar

1 c. dry white wine or white grape juice

1/2 water

2 TBS. balsamic vinegar

2 TBS. sugar

2 TBS. dried basil

2 TBS. dried oregano

9 c. tomatoes, peeled, chopped and drained

Directions:

1. Combine everything except the tomatoes in a large saucepan. Bring to a full boil, then reduce heat and boil gently uncovered for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. Pack the tomatoes into hot sterilized half-pint jars to within 3/4 inch of the top. Add hot liquid to cover tomatoes. Seal with sterilized lids and process full jars in boiling water bath for 20 minutes.

3. To serve, spoon over thick slices of crusty bread that has been toasted and lightly brushed with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic salt and grated Parmesan or mozzarella cheese, then broil until cheese melts.

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Dan’s salsa

Ingredients:

3 large whole tomatoes

1 can (4 oz.) green chiles

1/2 cup hot peppers such as Cyklon or habanero (optional if you want it hot!)

1/2 c. thinly sliced green onions

1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

2-3 TBS. white vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Directions:

1. Chop the tomatoes, chiles, peppers, green onions

2. Mix all ingredients together and wait 12 hours for the flavors to blend before eating for fresh salsa.

3. For canned salsa, heat the salsa to just below boiling and pack into hot jars. Boil in hot water bath for 10 minutes.

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Do you have a favorite way to use tomatoes? Please share below in the comments!

Happy eating!

To market, to market: Butternut squash

Hi everyone!

I’ve had a harder time than I thought I would getting back into posting here. We’ve been so pre-occupied with looking at properties and homes – both on the Internet and in real life, trying to find our “dream” home. The trouble is, our dream property/home doesn’t quite seem to exist in our price range. Isn’t that just how it goes? God will provide what we need, though!

Anyway, I haven’t been to the farmer’s market lately, but if you have, then I’m sure that you’ve seen full baskets of all types of squash for sale. We harvested our squash last week and Dan counted more than 100 squash from the three different varieties we planted (acorn, butternut and Hubbard). They are outside curing right now and soon will find their home in our cool basement for us to enjoy through the winter.

I had a conversation with someone a few weeks ago about butternut squash. She asked me “What exactly do you DO with squash?”  While I smiled and tried to come up with some kind of knowing remark (since I’m just such an expert in this gardening business), I realized that there are really only 2 ways that I prepare butternut squash myself! Those two ways, though, are a MUST for my family, and they look forward to them ALL year.

So, how about this…

I’ll share the 2 ways I prepare butternut squash, and you help me out with some new recipes, OK?

Way #1: Baked butternut squash

What I do:

• Cut squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds.
• Place the halves face down in a glass baking dish and add 1/4 – 1/2 inch of water to the bottom.
• Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake in 400 degree oven for an hour or so until the squash is tender.
• When the squash is tender, take it out of the oven and pour off any excess water. I usually then flip the squash pieces over in the dish and let them cool a bit.
• Once they are cool enough, scrape out the flesh into a bowl and give the skins to your chickens.
• We like the sweet, spicy version of the squash (although you can prepare them in a “savory” way as well), so I add the following to taste – salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and butter.
• This is a favorite side dish that we enjoy all winter long. Eating is just makes me feel all cozy and snug for winter – don’t ask me why!

Way #2: Butternut squash soup – our all time favorite soup! I wrote a tutorial about how make this soup a few years ago. You can read it HERE.

Well, that’s it! Please send your recipes for butternut squash my way! It looks like I’m going to need them this year…

To market, to market: Blueberries

Blueberries are one of the foods that we were blessed to have found already growing strong when we moved to this property. Farmer’s markets are bursting with bluberries in mid-July, too. Blueberries are delicious eaten fresh of course, but when you have an over-abundance, sometimes it’s nice to do a few things with them.  I have yet to make them into jam, although I’m thinking of trying that this year.

Here’s what we do with our blueberries ~~~~

• Freeze them - One of the reasons I love blueberries is that they are exceptionally good fruits to freeze. Because of their enclosed skins, you can just throw them into a freezer bag as they are without worrying about them freezing together into one big lump. Frozen berries can go straight from the freezer into a recipe without thawing. We use them in fruit/yogurt smoothies and to toss into our oatmeal all year round. The children love to eat them straight out of the freezer for a cool snack, too.

• Smoothies (Goat milk, yogurt, ice, blueberries/blackberries/strawberries, bananas, honey, drop of vanilla, protein powder or brewer’s yeast)

• Blueberry Rise-n-Shine Biscuits
  We love these quick and easy biscuits with our scrambled eggs in the summer. I’ve never made the glaze, but it sounds good!

2 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
4 TBS butter
1 c. buttermilk
1 c. blueberries

Mix the dry ingredients. Cut in butter. Add buttermilk and stir gently (don’t overwork the dough). Fold in blueberries. Pat out into 1/2 inch thick circle. Cut with cookie cutter into biscuits shapes.

Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Glaze:

1 c. powdered sugar
2-4 TBS milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

• Blueberry-Rhubarb Crisp
  This recipe from Tammy is so delicious! I serve it with vanilla ice cream.

 

• Berry-Apple Fantasy Pie
  I shared this recipe last year in this post. It is an absolutely delicious favorite in our home. I often either substitute blueberries for the blackberries or use a combination of both.

• Blueberry muffins
  I use this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens with the blueberry variation. Yum!

• Blueberry pancakes
  Dan’s Sunday morning specialty is pancakes. We often have fun guessing what “secret” ingredient he puts in from week to week. In the summer, however, it’s never a secret. It’s blueberry pancakes all July and August!

 

• Blueberry waffles w/fast blueberry sauce
  This is my favorite waffle recipe (even without the blueberries). I make the delicious sauce as a special treat when I have orange juice in the house.

• Blueberry salsa
  I picked this recipe up at the Farmer’s Market last week and I can’t wait to try it when our hot peppers finish growing.

Do you enjoy blueberries? If so, please share a recipe with the rest of us. Thanks!

To market, to market : Beets

Last week we went to a new farmer’s market on opening day. It is held in a small town not too far from where we live. Last year, Dan would stop by the farmer’s market downtown in the city to pick up things now and again, but I never wanted to take the children there. Farmer’s markets are a wonderful way to eat healthy, support local farms (instead of big corporations), and try new foods!

Anyway, this little farmer’s market is only once a week and they have all sorts of things there, including live music, demonstrations, crafts, local producers of maple syrup, honey, goat milk soap, etc, and of course, the regular fresh produce you would expect to find. It is held in a pavilion in a beautiful park/playground where the children can play while I shop and chat with people.

The wonderful thing about a small farmer’s market is that the vendors are more willing to actually talk to you personally. I got into a discussion with the woman selling maple syrup about questions that Dan and I ran across when we tried to do it ourselves this spring and also about apple trees. She was so helpful! Then I learned about a wonderful dairy goat website from the woman selling her homemade goat milk soaps and lotions.

I plan to go there weekly to fill in the gaps of vegetables that we don’t grow ourselves. This week, our sack contained broccoli, beets (ours didn’t come up) and some local syrup (we consumed all of ours!) among other things.

Although I’m not afraid to try new vegetables, sometimes I just don’t know what to do with them. That’s why I wanted to start this weekly theme “To market, to market” that I’ll try to keep up through the summer. I plan to share with you something that I picked up in the market (or from my garden) and how I’ve leaned to prepare it.

I would love for this to be a group effort. If you’ll share your tips and/or recipes regarding the weekly vegetable or fruit, then all of us will have the chance to learn from each other! Remember, these will be foods that I don’t really know much about, so help me out!

This week we’ll focus on beets~

I don’t remember ever once eating a beet growing up, but somehow in my mind I pictured them as being a gross vegetable. When we decided to grow some last year, I took the meager few that made it to full size into my kitchen and just stared at them. I was scared to try them!

I turned out to be pleasantly surprised. I didn’t realize that beets were soooo sweet and good!!  They also have a high sugar content, so kids love to eat them! Beet greens are rich in Vitamin A, calcium and iron and the beets themselves contain calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and vitamins A and C.

Here’s what I learned about preparing beets:

Ready to go into the pot

Selection and preparation:

• Beets are best eaten when they are only several inches in diameter. The ones I got this week were about 3 inches and were still good.
• Remove the leafy stems, leaving 1-2 inches of the stem and root to preserve the nutrients.
• Eat the greens! Young greens are great eaten raw in salads. Older, larger leaves are wonderful steamed or sautéed, just like spinach. I also blanch, chop and freeze them to be used later on in soups and quiches.
• To prepare the red part of the beets, scrub them really well and then drop into boiling water just to cover. Leave the root and stem ends still attached or they will bleed. “Bleeding” is what happens if the beet is disturbed in any way, such as piercing with a fork, peeling or cutting off the root or stem. If this happens, all of the color and nutrients will leach out into the water and they will be pale and tasteless when they’re done cooking.
• Boil for 15-20 minutes and a bit longer if they are very large. Tie them carefully, as you don’t want to have to test them partway through.
• After boiling slip off the skins as soon as they can be handled. They will come off easily.

Slipping off the skin

Storage:

• Store the red part of the beets in the vegetable crisper for up to 2 weeks

How to use:

• I like to serve beets cold - sliced on salads or just plain for snacks. Be careful serving to children, though, because the juice from the beets stains! My kids have really been enjoying the cold slices these past few sweltering days.
• You can serve them warm as a side dish for meat dishes, too. I haven’t tried too many fancy recipes yet, though.
• I read that if you put 1/4 of a beet into a “green” smoothie, it will turn it a nice pink color that is more palatable! I think I’ll be trying some swiss chard smoothies this week.

I haven’t tried pickling them yet, which is the most popular way to preserve them. If our crop does better next year, I’ll probably do that.

So, how do you eat or not eat your beets? I’d love to hear your tips and recipes!