Hi everyone, Jess here to recap this week’s delicious pile of produce! I hope you had a wonderful week. We are still globetrotting on the weekends, just returning from a weekend camping trip to Maine, the 5th state we’ve camped in and the 8th state we’ve driven through since picking up our camper this year. Our goal is to camp over in all 48 states by the time the kids are grown, thus awarding us a family trip to Alaska and Hawaii. I suppose that’s a whole other blog, so let’s get back to the yummies!
Aside from some baking, the cooking this week was pretty simple, lots of steaming and slicing as-is. When the veggies are rolling in quickly and at their peak flavors, simple preparation is the way to go!
- butter and sugar corn
- lightly boiled, cut from the cobs for rice bowls
- green beans
- blanched for rice bowls and again to serve with teriyaki steak and buckwheat noodles
- salad cukes (a few extra from the swap box)
- sliced for rice bowls
- refrigerator pickles
- classic carrots
- shredded for rice bowls
- carrot top tea
- zucchini (a few extra from the swap box)
- zucchini bisque
- blueberry zucchini muffins
- zucchini brownies (same as kale brownies but subbed zucchini- there are many zucchini brownie recipes out there that include a fudge frosting as well, you can’t go wrong!)
- zucchini bars (from fellow Springdellian Mira G’s family recipe- the recipe is coming soon!!!)
- zucchini bread and muffins (I only had one open bread pan, so made muffins)
- blueberries
- on rice bowls
- in blueberry zucchini muffins (adapted from this recipe)
- kale
- blanched and in rice bowls
- power smoothies for the road to Maine (kale, kefir, frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, banana, protein powder,carrrot top tea)
- rainbow chard
- given to my mother this week, she steamed it up
- blueberries
- left on the counter, most of these were enjoyed as-is and in Monday’s rice bowls
- left on the counter, most of these were enjoyed as-is and in Monday’s rice bowls
- rainbow chard
- steamed with the full share bunch
- cauliflower leaves
- sliced into noodles and sautéed with lemon, olive oil, garlic, tossed with Jordan Brother’s shrimp for scampi
- eggs
- in lots of baked goods
- sliced into noodles and sautéed with lemon, olive oil, garlic, tossed with Jordan Brother’s shrimp for scampi
All veggie scraps composted unless otherwise noted.
When I first got home with the CSA box on Monday I separated the carrots from their tops, soaked and rinsed them well, and started a carrot top tea brewing. Some of these were from the community garden as well.
Speaking of the community garden, everything is looking great! I only had time to get there once this week, and I’m hoping that this lovely head of broccoli is still waiting and not sprouting flowers (and also that the weeds haven’t taken completely over to annoy my neighbors). Fingers crossed!
I might be doing these rice bowls again if this veggie combo is still in season. It was so simple and a total hit.
My backlog of cukes was sliced with an onion and set into their pickling brine to be left on the counter. The next morning, a tub of delicious pickles awaited.
If you’re looking for Patty Pan squash uses, some of us in the Anderson household have been enjoying these Patty Pan pizzas. Simply slice, top with what you want, and bake on a cookie sheet at 400 degrees. You can quickly broil at the end to get a browner more “takeout” look to the cheese. The five year-old is still not convinced, but so far the only way I can get squash into him is sneaking it into a muffin or brownie. Work in progress…
I’m back to the drawing board after testing this Zucchini Bisque recipe that uses blended tofu in place of the cream. All you could really taste was the tofu and the other flavors were lost. Thank you for the suggestions on the Facebook page this week to improve this one! Hopefully I’ll get one more attempt in this season.
I just love seafood Wednesdays. The Jordan Brothers truck never disappoints, I got there a little late and missed out on the salmon and haddock, so I grabbed a piece of cod and the last few shrimp. My oldest son loves fish, and I love how quick and easy it can be to prepare it!
Meanwhile, the cauliflower leaf noodles were a satisfying substitute for the linguini in this shrimp scampi. If you have a pasta cutter, try putting the leaves (without the stems) through your cutter. I have the Kitchen Aid pasta attachments, and prefer the angel hair setting for collard greens. I was in a rush when making the pictured noodles and just sliced them thickly on my cutting board, but wished I went a little thinner for a more noodley mouthfeel. Nonetheless, the flavors were fresh and delicious!
During one of the rainstorms this week, I set the kids up in front of the Kitchen aid grater, and had them push our entire pile of zucchini through. I figured this would motivate me to keep baking until the pile was gone, which I did, till about 1 am. As I binge watched old favorites on TV, I stirred the zucchini into brownie mix, blueberry muffins, breads, and zucchini bars.
My favorite part about binge baking is that you only have to dirty the kitchen once.
Mira G’s zucchini bars were a total hit! My other half loves them, and I’ve had to hide some in the freezer just so the whole plate didn’t disappear at once!
I mean, that glossy and flavorful cinnamon glaze on top? COME ON!!! I can’t wait to make these again (because not only were they delicious, but I was so tired by the time I got to them, I was wondering if I accidentally put eggs in the mixture twice).
After the bake-stravaganza, the baked goods that didn’t travel with us were popped in the house freezer and left for the house sitters. Then, it was off to camping! Springdell bacon on the camp stove and Muddy Water coffee in the French press are some of my favorite camping smells.
Remember to save your bacon fat, it is wonderful in a variety of uses!
I had a bit of leftover teriyaki marinade from something I made in the last couple of weeks (I can’t remember now what it was, can you? Anyway…) I brought it camping along with the remaining green beans and a package of Springdell beef kabobs. I cut the kabobs into bite-sized slices and browned them up on the camp stove. The green beans had a quick blanch before I removed them from the water and tossed in the buckwheat noodles. Five minutes later, dinner was served!
I did stop by the local fish monger and brought this amazing lobster roll back to the camper. My kids didn’t want to try the lobster, and that was a-ok with me! I think it was the best lobster roll I have ever had. When in Maine…
That’s about it on this end! I’m going to get Mira’s Zucchini Bars recipe up here as soon as I can and I’ll add the links in. Meanwhile, the kids are getting rambunctious so I’ll sign off for now. Thanks so much for tuning in, and see you back here in a few short hours!