Zucchini Pickles
August 10, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Jams, Pickles, and Preserves
When we have a glut of a particular fruit or vegetable, we try to find creative ways to use it up or preserve it for later, and making these zucchini pickles is our favorite way to preserve extra summer zucchini. These refrigerator pickles require no processing, you just pack the prepared zucchini slices and onions into jars and add the slightly warm brine. After just 24 hours in the refrigerator, they are ready to enjoy, it could hardly be easier. Because they aren’t cooked, these zucchini pickles retain their crispy crunch, and the simple brine adds lots of flavor. For Michael it took just one taste and he announced that he was forever ruined and would never truly enjoy pickles from the store again. Read more
Weekend Gardening: The Mixed Bed
Our garden beds all have a mix of things in them, but this has to be the most mixed up of them all.
This bed is the scene of the The Great Zucchini Squash Disaster of 2009, and we took some measures to improve conditions and hopefully avert problems with the dreaded squash vine borer. Read more
Moroccan Chicken Soup
February 1, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Poultry, Soups & Stews
I had one last butternut squash in the kitchen waiting to be used and this soup had been calling my name for a while. The flavor is warm and inviting, perfect for a cold wintry day, and the soup is easy to put together and easy on the budget using widely available ingredients. The recipe comes from one of my favorite everyday cookbooks, The Essential EatingWell Cookbook, which is full of healthy and mostly easy-to-prepare meals. Read more
Mexican Spiced Butternut Squash Soup with Beans and Corn
January 21, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Soups & Stews
Michael isn’t a huge fan of butternut squash, but if you browse my archives you’ll see that I have quite a few butternut squash recipes. You might even think I am torturing my poor husband with all the butternut squash, but really I’m not. The sweetness of butternut squash just doesn’t appeal to him, so I try to find ways to spice it up and make it savory. Every once in a while another of my butternut squash soup experiments catches him by surprise and he’ll say he likes it and asks me to make it again. This soup is one those. Read more
Zucchini Risotto
September 10, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Grow Your Own, Italian foods, Vegetables
Zucchini season will soon come to an end, but there’s still time to enjoy this icon of the summer garden. We’ve made salads, pasta, bread, gratins, and all sorts of things with zucchini, even though it was a sad zucchini year for us after losing all our zucchini plants to garden pests.
Risotto is comfort food for me anytime of the year no matter what I put into it, and this one with zucchini and our fresh homegrown basil and garlic does not disappoint. The Grana Padano cheese adds a slightly nutty yet delicate flavor that is worth the search, but you can also substitute Parmigiano Reggiano if you can’t find Grana Padano. The recipe is adapted from My Italian Garden, by Viana La Place (in my personal collection), a lovely little book Read more
Zucchini Soba Salad
August 28, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Asian, Grow Your Own, Pasta, Salads
My introduction to soba noodles was actually on a plane flying from Tokyo to Honolulu, admittedly not the best place to get good food. The flight attendants came around with breakfast and asked if I wanted the Japanese or the American breakfast, and I chose the Japanese because I could see the noodles that someone else already had on their tray. I swirled them in the sauce and enjoyed the slippery sensation and flavor while the American woman next to me eyed them with a look that said, “I can’t believe you are eating that.” I just smiled and enjoyed my breakfast. Read more
