Summer Garden Recipes               

Summer gardens produce veggies that taste great on the dinner table. Try some of these recipes for your family and I think you will agree.

COLE SLAW

We picked cabbages and my kitchen is full of them.  There are cabbages everywhere! Bob helped me turn some of the largest ones into Sauerkraut. Bless him for that!

Dinner tonight will include a lot of cole slaw. I am developing homemade salad dressings. The grocery store prices just keep going up. It is ridiculous!!!  One of my projects this summer is to invent homemade dressings that taste good, are good for you, and not expensive. Try this one and let me know how you like it. I am always open for feedback.

Sarah’s dressing for cole slaw:

• 1 cup low fat mayonnaise
• 1/8 cup Red wine vinegar
• ¼ cup sugar or honey
• 2 teaspoon onion powder
• 2 teaspoon mustard
• 1 teaspoon garlic pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt

Mix together and set aside.

Cole Slaw from my garden:

• 1 quart shredded cabbage
• 1 green pepper—chopped
• ½ large onion - chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley
• 8 cherry tomatoes

Mix first four ingredients together, toss with dressing and top with parsley and cherry tomatoes.  Chill in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.

Salad Dressing  - My Favorite

I have been making gorgeous summer salads out of an assortment of green things and fresh herbs. In another month, I will be able to add fresh tomatoes and green peppers to my salads. Right now, all I have to work with are the greens.

I use three kinds of fresh lettuce, Swiss chard, blue Kale, green onions, and cucumbers.  The herbs that are mixed with this are fresh basil, parsley, chives, and cilantro. I like croutons and grated Swiss cheese on my salad too.

What makes this salad soooo good is the dressing.  Bottled grocery store salad dressings  are expensive. Many of them contain unhealthy ingredients. My dressing is inexpensive to make and contains good things.

Combine in a jar:

• 3 Tablespoons mustard
• 3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
• 5 Tablespoons  extra virginolive oil
• 2 Tb. honey, maple syrup or sugar
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon garlic pepper

Put a tight lid on the jar and shake. Pour over your green salad and enjoy!

PUMPKIN CUSTARD

Having prolific pumpkin plants, resulting in a bumper pumpkin crop, the question is, “What do I do with all these pumpkins? “ At the same moment in time, my chickens are blessing me with eggs and more eggs! The result of these two happening is my new recipe for “Pumpkin Custard”. We enjoy pumpkin pie, but I do not always have time to make a crust. The custard solves that problem by not requiring a crust.

There a big difference between the taste of store bought pumpkin in a can and pumpkin from the garden. The easy way to harvest your pumpkin is to set the whole pumpkin on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 1 to 2 hours. Let it cool before working with it. Cut it in half and remove the seeds and pulp. Scrape the meat off the skin with a spoon.

8 cups cooked pumpkin
6 fresh eggs
2 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 can low fat milk (condensed)
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice

Mix all ingredients until smooth. Pour into an oiled baking dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 300 degrees and bake 30 minutes or until a knife inserted at the edge of the custard comes out clean. Cool on a rack and serve with whipped cream.

A TOUCH OF ITALY

My summer garden is filled with ripening tomatoes, beautiful purple eggplants, and fragrant herbs. My favorite herbs are Basil and Rosemary. Keeping this in mind, I created a tasty Italian dish that fills the kitchen with the wonderful aroma of Italy.

Put three quarts of quartered ripe tomatoes in blender or food processor (leave skins on). Blend just enough to remain chunky and put into a large sauce pan. Add 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of garlic pepper and 1 tablespoon sugar. Cook over medium heat for 1 hour.

Sauté 4 tablespoons chopped garlic and ½ cup fresh chopped Rosemary in 2 teaspoons olive oil and set aside.

Slice one large ripe eggplant or a zucchini squash into ½ inch slices leaving skin on. Sauté in 2 tablespoons olive oil on both sides. Cook about 3 minutes a side. Drain on paper towels.

Cook one pound of spaghetti noodles and drain.

Add the garlic and rosemary to the tomato sauce. Place noodles in the bottom of a baking dish, toss with 1 cup of parmesan cheese, make a layer of eggplant, and cover with three cups of the tomatoes sauce. Sprinkle 1 cup fresh basil leaves and 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese on top of the tomato sauce.

When ready to serve, warm in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or until heated through.

I serve this with slices of fresh green peppers and toasted garlic bread. My kitchen smells like Italy!

Cold Cucumber Soup – from India

My garden is growing an abundance of beautiful cucumbers. My plan for them includes lots of pickles. We will have Dill pickles, English Pickles, Bread and Butter Pickles, and Freezer pickles and more. 

I discovered something new to do with my cucumbers. It is a favorite soup served in India and it is served cold! After modifying the recipe from my Indian cook book, this is what I came up with. It will be our new family favorite, especially on a hot day.

• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 medium large cucumber-grated
• 1 cup low fat yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons finely chopped fresh mint leaves (you can also use 3 teaspoons of dried mint)
• 1 small fresh hot green Chile pepper (seeded and finely chopped)
•  ½ teaspoon garam masala (This is a wonderful spice and is available at Indian food stores)
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon pepper
• Several whole mint leaves for garnish

Combine cucumber and yogurt in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients except for the whole mint leave and stir well. Chill in the refrig until ready to serve. Garnish with whole mint leaves.

Zucchini Pasta w/ Crisp Fried Basil

What to do with all the Zucchini seems to always be an issue by mid July. There is a lot of Zucchini and it gets boring after a while. Here is my latest “real good” way to fix it.

Crisp fry 1 cup fresh basil leaves in 3 Tablespoons olive oil until basil is crisp. Drain on paper towels and set aside.

Cook one pound of pasta, I use spaghetti or fettuccine, and drain and return to the pan.

Grate 2 or 3 medium zucchinis and mix together with 4 cloves of chopped garlic. Cook in 2 Tablespoons of olive oil for five minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt.

Pour zucchini mixture over the hot pasta and mix thoroughly. Stir in ½ cup parmesan cheese over the zucchini and pasta.

Crumple the crisp fried Basil leaves on top and serve hot.

This is a good main dish with a fresh Italian salad. It is also an excellent side dish.

Greek Salad From My Garden

• Assorted varieties of lettuce- washed and torn into bite size pieces-( I use Romaine, Deer Tongue, Specked trout Back, Rubin Red lettuces) – Tear up enough to make about 1 and ½ quart of pieces.
• 1 medium size cucumber – sliced
• 2 tomatoes - chopped
• ½ red onion – sliced
• 3 small banana peppers – sliced

Mix together in a serving bowl and set aside. In a small dish, mix well:

• 2 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 ½ Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon dried oregano
• ½ Teaspoon salt
• 1 Teaspoon lemon pepper
• ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese (I use low fat)

Toss dressing over salad mix.

This is a quick and easy salad to put together, especially when the ingredients can be picked from my garden. We enjoy it served with chicken or burgers from the grill.

Our crop of cucumbers is bountiful! As a result, I have been checking out old cook books for pickle recipes. The following recipe is a combination of several recipes, plus my own special “twist”. We like it and several of our visitors to the farm have requested the recipe.

Sarah’s English Pickles

Slice 25 medium cucumbers 1/3 inch thick. Leave peeling on.

Add 6 medium chopped onions. (I like the red onions for this. They look pretty in the jar.)

Add 1 yellow banana pepper, 1 green bell pepper, and 1 red bell pepper. (Chopped)

Cover with ½ cup sea salt and let stand for three to four hours. Drain.

In a large pan, put:

• 5 cups Apple Cider vinegar
• 5 sups sugar or fructose
• 1 cup water
• 1 ½ tsp. turmeric
• 1 teaspoon powder cloves
• 2 tsp. pickling spice

Bring this mixture to a boil and add the pickles. Heat the pickles in the mixture but do not boil. Seal at once. Place canning jars upside down and let sit for 24 hours. The pickles should seal.

Sausage Burgers

There is no pork in these burgers. I use ground beef or ground lamb. We eat the burgers for breakfast with pancakes or French toast. We grill them, too, and serve with baked beans.

Use 1 Tablespoon of this mixture to 1 pound of ground beef or ground lamb.

Mix together and store in a sealed jar.

• 1 Tb. Garlic powder
• 2 Tb. Dried onions or 1 Tb. Onion powder
• I Tb. Brown sugar
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 Tb. dried sage
• 1 Tb dried thyme
• 1 Tb. dried Rosemary
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper (optional)

Sarah’s Rhubarb and Walnut Cake

Mix together:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup fructose (or granulated sugar)
• ½ cup plain low fat yogurt
• 1 cup skim milk
• 2 eggs

Next add:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix in 2 cups chopped rhubarb and 1 cup walnuts. Pour into oiled cake pan or square baking pan. Sprinkle ½ cup sunflower seeds on top

Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60minutes until done.

This is a very sweet cake and requires no icing. Bob likes it with vanilla ice cream.

PICKLED JALEPENO PEPPERS

Wear gloves and chop Jalapeño peppers – 6 cups

Place chopped peppers in sterilized jars

Combine:

• 2 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup sugar or fructose
• 1 cup water
• 1 Tablespoon Canning salt
• 1 Tablespoon turmeric
• 1 Tablespoon Tabasco sauce (more or less according to taste)

Boil mixture for two minutes and pour over peppers and seal with sterilized lids. Cool jars upside down. No canning required.

We use these pickled Jalapeños on our pizza and in our salsa.

BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES (from Judy)

Slice:

• 1 gallon cucumbers
• 5 medium onions

In a pan of ice, layer the cucumbers and onions and add ½ cup of salt

Cover, and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight, then drain

To make syrup;

• 5 cups vinegar
• 5 cups sugar or fructose
• 2 teaspoon mustard seen
• 1 teaspoon celery seed
• 2 teaspoon turmeric
• ¾ teaspoon ground cloves

Add cucumbers and onions and heat slowly until scalded, do not boil

Place in sterile jars, cover with sterile lids to seal.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

Ingredients:

• 3 large green tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cup cornmeal
• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

Combine last 7 ingredients. Coat tomatoes in the mixture.

Fry over preheated cooking oil in a skillet using medium heat until brown.

Drain on paper towels.

RHUBARB CRISP

• 4 cups chopped rhubarb
• 1 1/3 cup sugar or fructose
• 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• 11/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Place rhubarb in a 9x9 oiled baking dish. Mix together other ingredients and sprinkle over the rhubarb

TOPPING:

• ½ cup raw oatmeal
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup sun flour seeds
• 1 cup sugar or fructose
• 1 ½ cup brown sugar

Mix topping together and sprinkle on top of rhubarb.

Bake at 350 degree for one hour –or until done. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

GREENS AND GARLIC

Sauté about 1 Tablespoon of fresh garlic in a small amount of olive oil. Add a pound of Spinach or Swiss chard, or Kale (or a combination of all three) and stir. Cover and lower heat and cook for about 6-7 minutes so the greens wilt. Add fresh ground black pepper and salt to taste. Next, add 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar before serving.