It’s that time of the year when I have too many zucchinis in my fridge, my kids are looking forward to back-to-school and we’re all reallyyyy tired of the hot, humid weather (which feels like living in a sauna). As I type this it’s almost pitch black outside at 5pm, thundering every 10 seconds and I’m crossing my fingers we do NOT get hail with this storm. I like my roof the way it is.
Anyways, I can’t do much about the weather or five weeks left until the school year, but the zucchini can be dealt with. We are growing a heap of different things in our gardens this year. While some of it hasn’t been so successful–sorry, jalapeño peppers that were shaded out by the tomatoes–much of it is thriving.
If you’re looking for some veggie-heavy recipes to use up excessive garden produce, I hope you find these ideas helpful! We don’t can, so nothing on this list involves an afternoon spent next to the hot stove with a mess of glass jars and lids.
How We Use & Preserve Our Garden Produce
Basil
- Cut into ribbons & used to top pasta and pizza
- For the freezer: basil walnut pesto
Butternut Squash
Hard squashes are great because they last weeks on the shelf without any extra preserving. My favorite things to make with butternut squash are:
- Butternut squash soup (so many good recipes out there)
- Butternut squash blender pancakes
- Banana butternut squash blender muffins
Carrots
- Carrot sticks! Raw carrots are my favorite vegetable 🙂
- Perfect roasted carrots
Cucumbers
- Used to top salads or dipped in hummus
- My mom’s cucumber yogurt soup (I need to post this recipe sometime)
- Quick pickled cucumbers
Green beans
Steamed and tossed with a little butter–nothing else needed! You can also blanch and freeze beans if you have too many to eat at one time, as my family used to do.
Kale
- Sauteed garlic kale
- For the freezer: washed and chopped, for easy adding to soothing red lentil soup
Lettuce
Eric picks a handful or two every day to make a salad while it’s in season. Once it gets too hot and starts to bolt, it goes bitter, so we pull it and plant more beans or radishes (plants that mature quickly).
Mint
We like mint fresh or dehydrated in mint tea. The main purpose of the mint in our garden is to attract bees.
Spaghetti squash
- Use as a low-carb substitute in your favorite pasta dish
- My all-time favorite spaghetti squash recipe: spaghetti squash lasagna with Italian chicken sausage
Strawberries
- Have children… they’ll eat all your berries straight off of the plants
- We made strawberry crisp after berry picking on a farm this year–it is INSANELY good!
- Wash, chop and freeze extra berries for smoothies or baking
Tomatoes
- On salads, in tacos/burrito bowls, in scrambled eggs, eaten straight. Fresh tomatoes are so versatile!
- For the freezer: burst cherry tomato sauce
Zucchini
I love zucchini parmesan, but you need to pick the zucchini when they’re quite small for the best taste. And I am usually not on top of life enough to do that 😛 All of these baked goods are great fresh from the oven and they also freeze well.
- The best gluten-free zucchini bread
- Zucchini bread baked oatmeal
- Chocolate chip zucchini muffins (GF)
How Does Your Garden Grow?
We’ve had a lot of fun with our garden year despite the inevitable rabbit invasions, a few disappointing moldy tomatoes and the toddler meltdowns over not being able to eat unripened strawberries. (C’est la vie, kids.)
How is your garden doing this year? A few pots on the patio is a garden, too–that’s what we had in California!
xx Claire