The Garden is Humming, Now What?

Time in the kitchen is an important part of our daily lives, both B and I enjoy cooking and the kids have also shown interest in making their own recipes.  Never is our time in the kitchen so intense as come August.  Until now we have one crop at a time coming in that we eat and preserve; rhubarb, raspberries, peas, each coming in their own window.  Right now begins the onslaught.  Every spare moment will involve cutting, blanching, roasting, baking, and the hiss, hiss, hiss sound as the pressure caner works overtime.  

It can be easy to get lost in getting everything put up, so we also make an added effort to cook out of the garden daily.  This can be to the kids chagrin as they have decided that we do not grow the good vegetables.  Ha!  I challenge you to name a vegetable we do not grow, or like corn can get so easily grown locally.  Kids! :)  A favorite they do agree on is zucchini bread.  I baked six loaves yesterday, a great start on my freezer stock.  It is a go to weekend breakfast treat during the winter.

We were about 50/50 kid approval wise of what we made this week.   They liked the jalapeno poppers and the Indian Spiced Corn Soup that I made last night.  I got a neutral on the Late Summer Minestrone soup that I got from this months Living Magazine, which was great by the way.  They were less than thrilled with the Borscht.  They both love beets, but I guess they just want them roasted, not in the form of a pink soup.

Zucchini Bread

3 C Flour
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Baking Powder
3 tsp. Cinnamon
3 Eggs
2 C Sugar
3 tsp. Vanilla
1 C Vegetable Oil
3 C Shredded Zucchini

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl combine dry ingredients, mix together, and set aside.  In a stand mixer beat eggs, add sugar, vanilla, and vegetable oil and mix until well combined.  Add shredded zucchini (you can use any summer squash, I suggest squeezing the surplus liquid from it before adding to the batter).  Mix until well combined, then add dry ingredients and mix.  Split batter between two loaf pans and bake for 1 hour or until a tooth pick comes out clean.  You can also add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts to the batter before splitting into pans, but I tend to leave them out in case I want to take a loaf to a party or give as a gift, I do not have to worry about nut allergies.  Enjoy.