local news and recipe roundup

A warm welcome to any visitors from the recent Patriot News article about the garden!  We were so happy to have been featured in such a great article and to have had a chance to meet a wonderful local gardening resource: George Weigel, author of the column "Over the Garden Fence".  I wasn't able to find a copy of the article online for those that missed it, but you can read more of George's great tips on gardening at www.georgeweigel.net .  In the meantime, I've scanned an "old-school" cut and paste copy of the article that you can read here (click for link).

We are deep into the season when tons of produce rolls in, and it's always a lovely sight at the end of the day when we see all of our baskets filled to the brim.  So what do we do with all that produce?  It's been wonderful to have enough extra to easily give some away.  And luckily, we also all love to cook!  We thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite recipes using the abundance of produce that's been coming in daily.  We're also hoping to start taking more pictures of our own dishes to post along with our recipes.  For now, here are a few favorites from online (including many simple, quick recipes for when you don't have a lot of time to cook during a busy week):


For tomatoes:

Tomato Confit  (quick roasted tomatoes w/herbs to add to sandwiches, bruchetta or homemade roasted tomato sauce)

For zucchini:

Zucchini Crab Cakes  (a vegetarian recipe that you can also prepare baked in the oven)

For peppers:

Inside-out stuffed peppers (you can use veggie crumbles in place of the meat and layer the casserole, but this link highlights this a simple way to throw this together)

For eggplant:

a delicious Indian dish called Baingan Bharta

If you have all of the above available (mixed summer veggies):

Roasted french vegetables  (you can use ground fennel in place of the fennel bulb if you don't have one available)

Vegetable stuffed tortillas  (you can saute just about any vegetable and serve it in a whole grain tortilla with beans, tofu, meat or cheese for a healthy meal or snack)

For swiss chard, spinach or other greens:

Swiss chard with tomatoes

Greens fried rice

For green beans

Roasted green beans  (you can prepare just about any veggie this way and it will be delicious)

We've also begun planting some of our fall crops in the last couple of weeks including more beets, carrots, greens and cole crops (cabbage, brussels sprouts and broccoli).  Amazing to feel a little bit chilly this morning in the garden after all of those recent 90 degree temperatures! 


Here are some pictures from this week:

a new bed of beets, carrots and greens

second planting of lettuces, greens and cole crops

~Hope you are having a great time enjoying all of your favorite local veggies, too!

  Marykaye