Even though the past summer wasn't the best in terms of garden output, we're still eating pretty good around here. On my latest trip down into the cellar I brought up one of the last two fresh zucchinis. By purposely letting the last few zukes of the summer grow to club-size, they'll store, unrefrigerated, for a few more months. The skin has turned almost completely golden, but the flesh is still firm.
The black-eyed peas from New Year's Day are gone. I've been cooking up crockpot full of a different dried legume regularly - adding no seasoning at the time so I can then incorporate them into different recipes during the week. This week's legume is garbanzo beans. Using some of them, along with part of the zucchini, home-canned tomato sauce, storage onions, garlic, and carrots, frozen bell peppers, spinach, and pesto, I made up a minestrone-inspired stew (I put quinoa in it instead of pasta - thickening it into stew consistency, plus adding protein). Chopped fresh tomatoes (can't compare to summer tomatoes, but the last of my paste tomatoes, harvested green, eventually do turn red in storage) made a nice garnish on top at serving time.
This afternoon, we had a potluck/brainstorming session at work. Everyone brought munchies and snacks, so I put together a dried fruit platter from my pantry. Clockwise from the top, there are sliced nectarines, plum halves, raisins,
pumpkin pie leather (actually, from a big pink banana squash - even better), and pie cherries, all home-grown.
The black-eyed peas from New Year's Day are gone. I've been cooking up crockpot full of a different dried legume regularly - adding no seasoning at the time so I can then incorporate them into different recipes during the week. This week's legume is garbanzo beans. Using some of them, along with part of the zucchini, home-canned tomato sauce, storage onions, garlic, and carrots, frozen bell peppers, spinach, and pesto, I made up a minestrone-inspired stew (I put quinoa in it instead of pasta - thickening it into stew consistency, plus adding protein). Chopped fresh tomatoes (can't compare to summer tomatoes, but the last of my paste tomatoes, harvested green, eventually do turn red in storage) made a nice garnish on top at serving time.
This afternoon, we had a potluck/brainstorming session at work. Everyone brought munchies and snacks, so I put together a dried fruit platter from my pantry. Clockwise from the top, there are sliced nectarines, plum halves, raisins, pumpkin pie leather (actually, from a big pink banana squash - even better), and pie cherries, all home-grown.
What a lovely dried fruit plate!!
ReplyDeleteThe stew sounds good, too :-)
I had leftover cornbread, black eyed peas, and scalloped cheesy potatoes for dinner~ tres yummy!
I love the dried fruit plate! Hoping this year to have a lot of dried produce in storage, but we'll see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteThe soup sounds delicious! Do you have any other recipes for zucchini? It happens to be a favorite of mine, but DH is NOT a fan. *wink* Any new ideas would be most welcome!
The Girl in the Pink Dress
I'm enjoying your blog. I read an article you wrote on dehydrating food, and followed your link here. We live in Carson City too, on an acre, at the south end. It's fun to read what you're doing, knowing you're a 'neighbor!' I'm planning to build a solar dehydrator for this summer, and minimize the canning I have to do.
ReplyDeleteoooh looks lovely! I adore dried mango!
ReplyDeleteThat is so awesome that you're still eating out of the garden!
ReplyDelete