Squash Pickles

Yesterday, I was fortunate to once again cook at my CSA, Blooming Glen Farm.  I've done this for a number of years--making some tasty recipes from the great produce that the folks are picking up.  It's always fun to talk food with people who really appreciate it!

I'll be there again on August 8.  Looking forward to it!

I promised that I'd post the recipes that I made, so that's what I'm doing.  Here's the first. 

SUMMER SQUASH PICKLES
These tangy pickles--slightly sweet and spicy--are a great addition to any picnic!

INGREDIENTS
4 cups zucchini and/or yellow squash, cut in 1/8" slices
1 cup sweet onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp mustard seed
3/4 tsp kosher salt

• Combine squash, onion and garlic in a large bowl or in jars.
• Combine rest of ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Pour hot liquid over veggies, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.  It's that simple!

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

In an effort to stem our seemingly never-ending squash overpopulation problem, Mary Beth made some really delicious Chocolate Zucchini Muffins the other day.  She got the recipe from my sister, Stef (not sure where she got it).  The recipe is for loaf bread, but MB made it into muffins with no change to the recipe except the baking time (see the recipe for that change).  She did use half all-purpose flour and half whole-wheat flour to make them a little more healthy.

CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD

INGREDIENTS
2 c flour
3/4 c cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
2 c sugar
3/4 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 c grated zucchini
1 c chopped nuts (optional)
1 c chocolate chips

• Combine first 4 ingredients and set aside.
• Beat eggs; add sugar, oil & vanilla.  Mix well.
• Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix well.
• Add zucchini, nuts (if using) and chips.  Once again, mix well.
• Pour into greased pans (makes 3 8x4 or 2 9x5 loaves or about 18-20 muffins)
• Bake 45-60 minutes for loaves, 20-25 minutes for muffins or until bread or muffins spring back when pressed with your finger.  Don't over bake or they'll dry out.  It's better to err on the side of underdone than overdone.

Down on the Farm, Part II

Back at the end of May, we planted our garden.  You may remember my previous post about it.  Well, not much more than a month later, things are looking pretty good!  In fact, it's the best our garden has done in a long time--maybe ever!

A mix of nice garden weather--hot and humid--and our using mushroom soil this year are the causes of our green success.  Already, we've picked more zucchini and squash than we can use--there are about 7 or 8 in our fridge and we've made muffins and fried & grilled squash.  Gotta be creative.  Our tomatoes aren't getting red yet, but they will.  We've had a nice dinner with our beans and there are eggplants, peppers and watermelons starting.  And there will be loads of ground cherries.  If I only knew what to do with them.  Hello, Google!

As you can see from the pictures, the plants are growing like gangbusters--almost growing too much.  The squash plants that ate Blooming Glen!  I'm worried that the plants in the middle won't get enough sun, but I'm sure they'll be OK.

Mary Beth deserves pretty much all of the credit for our gardening success.  She's the one who spent so much time pulling weeds and getting the beds ready.  The least I can do it make her some dinner.  Something with squash, perhaps.

Have a great holiday weekend!