The Vegetables are Taking Over...

Our garden has once again produced a bumper crop of vegetables. Jonathon does most of the work outside, and then I have to figure out how to use all of the delicious food he brings in. Every week we get approximately the amount of vegetables shown in the picture below. Sometimes it seems like the vegetables are taking over our house. It is wonderful, but takes some creativity to figure out how to use it all. I thought I would post some of my go-to recipes and also some new ideas that I have tried this year.

*Salsa is the perfect way to use a lot of these delicious vegetables. My family prefers more of pico de gallo style salsa than a spicy salsa, so this recipe is a huge hit. My Mom makes it frequently during the summer, and now I make it whenever I need to use up some veggies. I prefer it nice and mild, but adding the jalapeño will give it a bit more kick.

Mom's Fresh Salsa

4 tomatoes chopped

1/2 Cup finely chopped onions

1/2 Cup finely chopped green peppers

1 TB sugar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp oregano

2 TB oil

1 TB lemon juice

1 TB vinegar

8 oz can tomato juice

1 jalapeño pepper (optional)

Chop all vegetables and combine. Refrigerate overnight. Makes approx. 3 cups. Salsa can be stored for up to one week in the refrigerator. 

I have also done a slight variation on this recipe where I use lime juice instead of lemon and add a couple of tablespoons of cilantro to taste. Both ways are excellent.

*When my parents were visiting a few weeks ago for a family wedding, they brought up several gunny sacks full of fresh corn from my Dad's fields. Freezing corn has long been a family tradition. Every year we would spend a full day mass-producing bags full of corn to be stored in the freezer. We decided to continue the tradition and spent the whole morning shucking, blanching, cutting, and bagging all of the corn. Ben was here, so he helped the boys do all of the shucking. They were awesome and kept us busy in the kitchen. The corn was so delicious that we found ourselves eating it straight off the cutting board before it made it to the bags. Luckily, there was plenty, and we got 30 quart sized bags of freezer corn. We will enjoy it all winter long.

*One of the crops that we had an over-abundance of this year was Roma tomatoes. We have had huge bowls of tomatoes sitting on our counter all summer long. I decided to try my hand at canning. I found this recipe for canned spaghetti sauce, and spent several hours one day getting it all ready. It was a lot of work, but produced 12 lovely jars of sauce that we can use. It also forced me to learn how to can food, so it was a success. Here are some pictures of the process:

*I love getting zucchini from the garden because it is so versatile. We have had grilled zucchini, zucchini fries, zucchini stir-fry, and my personal favorite, zucchini bread. My friend, Michelle, gave me the original zucchini bread recipe, and it is delicious. Unfortunately, it has a lot of calories, and I can seriously eat a whole loaf by myself. I adapted the recipe to be much healthier and in my opinion, even more delicious. I used to make two regular loaves for the boys and two healthy loaves for me. Then I would put them in the freezer, and we would snack on them whenever we felt inclined.

One time when my family came to visit, I performed a blind taste test on them. Every single one of them liked the healthy bread better. The texture is slightly different than a normal bread, but it is so moist and flavorful! That is when I stopped making the regular recipe and now I only make my healthy version. My boys can't get enough, and I feel so much better eating it. My version only has about 100 calories per slice.

Sarah's Healthy Zucchini Bread
(makes 2 loaves-- approx. 24 servings)

6 egg whites
1 Cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 1/2 Cups sugar
2 Cups grated zucchini
2 Cups white flour
1 Cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 TB cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 TB vanilla
2/3 Cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

Beat egg whites, sugar, and applesauce. Add zucchini and then dry ingredients. Bake @ 325 degree for approximately 50 min. in greased loaf pans. Let cool. Makes 2 large loaves or 4 small loaves. Freezes extremely well!

*Jonathon got in on the action as well. We had tons of cucumbers that we didn't know what to do with, so he decided to make homemade dill pickles. I'm not much of a pickle fan, but the fresh pickles were pretty yummy. We took them to share with his family, and they were especially tasty on the pulled pork sandwiches his mom made. It was a great use for the extra cucumbers, and it sounds very impressive that my husband made pickles. He is a pretty great guy!

So there you have it... our garden is lovely and we are thrilled to have so much fresh produce. I hope we can always have a place for a garden because it has been so much fun these last few years. If you have any other great ideas or recipes for fresh vegetables, I would love to hear them.