Food, The Baboon Congress

Ah, the Produce is In

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Today’s post comes from Barbara in Rivertown

For not getting most our garden in till late June, we are having some luck. I’ve frozen some tomato sauce, and we’ve been keeping up with the zucchini by that old late summer standby, giving some away to our neighbors. I found a chilled cucumber smoothie recipe that has helped use up LOTS of those big honkin’ cukes, and which was delightful on some of those hot days.

But I’m feeling a little overwhelmed this week, as there are cukes AND tomatoes AND zucchini to process in some way. Also some windfall pears we found on a corner a couple of blocks from here, and our friend Walken’s kohlrabi… Knowing how Babooners mostly know these things, I thought I’d ask here for recipes.

Specifically, does anyone have an outstanding Zucchini Bread recipe? (The one I remember is nowhere to be found.)

Anyone have a good recipe for an offbeat tomato-based Salsa?

And how about a cucumber raita, or some other cooling cucumber salad recipe?

Oh, I know I can find these things online if I look, but it seems friendlier to get them from baboons – they taste better somehow – and we haven’t had a recipe day for a while.

What’s your favorite Harvest Recipe, whether you’ve actually made it or not?

85 thoughts on “Ah, the Produce is In”

  3. We have an abundance of eggplant this year, as well as green beans. I froze 25 jars of pesto in the past couple of weeks. Each jar has two cups of firmly packed basil leaves. That was a a lot of basil to pick and clean. Daughter took 4 jars and son took 5 jars. Pesto goes fast at our house

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      1. put it with mayo on a cheese sandwich
        add to eggs in an omlette
        throw it in a veggie soup as a flavor enhancer
        it send potatoes and onions off in that direction ummmm
        i like pesto

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  4. I don’t have any great recipes here at work, but I think I remember Anna talking long ago about grating the zucchini and then freezing it. It’s hard to use it all up at once, but being able to freeze it and use it later would be awesome.

    I saw a meatball recipe (Paleo) that used grated zucchini in the meatball instead of the bread crumbs, which seemed like a great healthy idea. This recipe looks pretty good, and you can even make “spaghetti noodles” out of the zucchini. Pretty sweet …
    http://preventionrd.com/2015/10/baked-turkey-zucchini-meatballs-with-simple-zoodles/

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  5. My favorite cool cucumber salad is my grandmother’s…Slice 2 medium cucumbers paper thin, salt and refrigerate overnight. Rinse and drain. Add 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup ice water. Refrigerate for at least an hour. Add sour cream as your taste dictates. (I sometimes do 1/2 sour cream and 1/2 yoghurt (Greek is especially good as it is thick)…or all yoghurt.

    Ive made it three times in the past month, got more in the fridge to complete later today. :-))))

    I think there is a good cucumber/yoghurt or sour cream/dill cold soup recipe, but I will have to look in case I just made this up in my head.

    Happy Harvesting!

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    2. bar we need to start the baboon cook bok on the site her. you are nominated as the keeper of the recipes. remember when we tried poems? lets try recopes

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        1. it would be good to be able to throw these recipes up there as a reference . maybe be able to break them down into breads and soups and sauces and things like that. maybe even a dessert area?

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    3. curious adding the ice water. Why?
      And I never have sour cream in the house. But I have yogurt. I may try it w/ yogurt only. 🙂

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  7. I may have shared this one before….

    MOM’S BEST ZUCCHINI FRITTERS

    5 tbsp. Bisquick
    1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
    1/2 tsp. salt
    1/8 tsp. pepper
    2 eggs
    2 tbsp. butter
    2 c. zucchini

    Blend the Bisquick, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper; add the eggs. Grate the zucchini and add to the above mixture, making a batter.
    Melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat and pour batter into pan/griddle into pancakes. Fry 3 minutes on each side. Serve while warm. Makes 8-10 fritters.

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    2. Forgot to say that when I made this, I grated the zucchini ahead of time and put it in a cloth produce bag and squeezed the extra moisture out of it, so the bread wouldn’t be too soggy.

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  9. In old B & W movies to give you bad news the dr. Calls you in to sit by his rolltop desk to tell you bad news. Now you get a message to call the nurses at the clinic who tells you that you need to go back in for another MRI and more lab tests because you may have liver or pancreatic cancer. MRI in two weeks.

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      2. Only way I can get in next week is to cancel an apt. Re pain I have waited 3 months for. Otherwise late in the hex week. I have been through an Amazing 2.5 weeks. X-ray showed things in back they needed to see better. MRI says every disc and vertebrae n lumbar is bad. Two pressing on nerves, which is why my legs buckle and why knee and hip joints feeling like they are falling apart. Then turned on Facebook to have one of my special ex students an close friend announce on fb he was dea. He died at work in newspaperoffice. They posted a notice about his death, which was. Ice but startling. Had to miss funeral for next test. MRI showed enlarged lymph node. Sent me t have CT s an. Shows issues I both liver and pancreas, the lymph node site. Then got the call from nurse. Now have the second MRI which is different and they only do in early mornings. Early mornings I need to be with sandy. Need to find a driver. Ordered the reports on MRI and scan. Goblldegooky to the max. Sons oncology close friend says could be benign, could be a few things on Andreas. Liver does not look like an issue. Probably have pancreatitis, which I could have had for a long tome. CT scan slowed bad bo e spur below lumbar spine, which MRI did not reach.
        So it is Probaby benign on pancreas, but the site of it is troubling.
        BUT have two grandkids here, which is nice. Last night we face tmed with 3 year old grandson. He chatted for 30 minutes with them, which was nice.
        Pain levels are over the top. PT says they can only do a few things to ease pain in back and hands for little longer than the time I am there.
        I return you to the regular programming.

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  11. going to the fair today
    have a zuchinni recipe from fil that uses applesauce that is really good he is out of town and actually follows a recioe insead of a glob of thiis and a handgfull of that so we have to wait for hime to get back to his cookbook or google zuchinnn bread with applesuce

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  12. I grate my zucchini and saute it in a smidge of olive oil with salt and pepper, covered. When it has browned on the bottom I flip the mass over in sections and let the other side nearly brown, then shove it aside so I have some bare pan in the middle. I crack an egg over that, cook it over easy, and I have a sort of nest that I scrape onto a plate. Better than hashbrowns.

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  13. Joanne has a good memory – I do shred up excess zucchini for later baking and pop it in the freezer. It doesn’t hold up well for anything other than baking, but having the 3 cup bags pre-shredded means I can have zucchini cake in January with good summer zuke. Below is my (or rather my mom’s) recipe for zucchini cake. I make it in a Bundt pan and use mini chocolate chips in place of the nuts. It helps to lightly coat the chips with a bit of cinnamon and put them into the batter once its in the pan vs. mixing in before you transfer to the pan (sprinkle them over the top of the batter and run a knife through to Mix them in just slightly).

    Mom Bliss’ Zucchini Cake

    3 c flour
    3 c sugar
    1 tsp soda
    1 1/4 tsp salt
    1 tsp cinnamon (I add more)
    3 c grated zucchini
    1 c nuts (I swap these out for chocolate chips)
    1 c oil
    4 eggs

    Mix the whole works together and pour into a greased & floured Bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60-65 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out to continue cooling.

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  15. We roasted and froze 15 large eggplants yesterday. We have that many still out in the garden. I think we have enough eggplant in the freezer to last a couple of years.

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    1. this group is ready to dig the old root cellars. i miss my vegie stacsh in the old house. the current one has now wher to keep potatoes or onions for an extended time

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    2. its okay to pursue stuff like violin and some ways makes it nicer to study knowing you are doing it exclusively for you as life goes on. i just looked up a guiar teacher i ran into a while back that i hope to hook up with and study on a my terms kind of basis. once a month or something like that. just give me a new ditty to work on and check back to celebrae next month. 6 years from day after tomorrow i might be alittle better. i’heard the other day one of my favorite violinists is plau=ying with the fargo mooorhead symphny in january. you gotta love someone who books fargo in january .

      i went to look it up and coulnt find the concert i heard about. i wonder if i was listening to a pre recorded thing form last year or something. chee yun is wh i thought i heard about but the fms desnt have her scheduled. we could all take a road trip to florida and hear her in february.. ill drive if anyone will share the gas cost.

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  17. I am pleased to report that there are 5 pints of tomato sauce sitting on a rack in the kitchen. I am in the process of copying/pasting several of these entries into my Word recipe file…

    Here is the cooling Cucumber Smoothie recipe I mentioned:

    2 large English hothouse cucumbers – peeled and coarsely chopped
    ½ C. fresh lime juice
    ¼ C. packed basil leaves (I have also used mint)
    ¼ C. sugar or agave, etc.
    1 C. yogurt
    Puree in blender.
    Add 1 C. water
    Strain (or not strain 🙂
    Chill and serve.

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  18. Stromboli (no exact measurements since I made it up along the way)

    I blistered a huge handful of green beans in butter, added a couple cloves of garlic, four/five tomatoes and then about 3 cups of potatoes (already cooked). I used pre-made pizza dough from Kowalskis (you could make from scratch or use dough from a can), rolled it out and spread it with pesto then dumped all the veggies on it. Rolled it up like a cinnamon roll and baked it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

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  20. heere is the zuchinni bread recipe that rocks

    Pineapple Zucchini

    1 cup of unsweeten apple sauce
    3 eggs
    2 cups of sugar
    2 tsp. of vanilla
    2 Cups grated zucchini
    1 Cup of crushed pineapple drained
    3 Cups flour

    1 tsp.. baking soda
    1/2 tsp. baking powder
    1 tsp. salt
    2 tsp. cinneman
    3/4 tsp. nutmeg
    1 Cup of chopped nuts

    Beat unsweetened applesauce,,eggs, sugar and vanilla. Stir in zucchini and pineapple . in a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. gradually add to 1st. mixture. mix well. add nuts, pour into 2 large or 3 med foil. pans . greased. bake 1 hour at 350 deg. you can use 3 med.foil pans sprayed, they are 5 x 9

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  21. Went out to local farm/produce stand that farms as we did in my childhood. Nostalgia trip. Two fun upbeat people, a couple. Fun to talk to and the free range Rhode Island Red chickens. I have not Lost my knack of chicken talking. Only bought flowers. No other produce on hand that we eat. Never seen okra plant before. Lovely flowers.
    AND just discovered an Einstein bagels is opening two blocks from us. Now there is a reason to live.

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    1. okra is an interesting beast. i first ran into in atlanta and it is a cross between zuchinni and grits
      southerners feel it is a delacacy, i think it is because if you fry it in butter and breadcrumbs it tastes like butter and breadcrumbs.
      zuchinni grits tofu okra all taste like whatever you put on them to flavor. put em on wonder bread and you have a tastless sandwich
      in germany i fell in love with the simplist food presentation ever
      bread with a butter paddy smeared on it and a slice of cucumber stuck on top. de;licious in its simplicity

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      1. The best okra I’ve ever had was in Singapore. It was the night before the client was coming and I told my guide Frank (his “English” name”) to take me to a local place. It was off the beaten path and I doubt a white person had ever been in the place based on the looks I got. The menu was in Malay but it did have photos. I asked the driver to come in and eat as well. He didn’t speak English and when he sat down at the table and immediately pulled out a big white handkerchief and laid it next to his plate. No need for a translator to tell me the food would be hot. I have no clue what spices were in the okra dish, but it was delicious. And fairly hot!

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      2. Yeah, we are missing a few lately – PJ, madislandgirl, Holly, Lisa, Occasional Carolline, (Bill, but I know he’s out of town; Krista is probably tied up with Rock Bend…) – WHERE ARE YOU? (Crystal Bay, Jacque, and Crow Girl have been on recently, at least…) I know it’s been slow as far as # of new posts in a week, but I agree with Ben a few days ago – maybe now that summer is winding down they’ll pick up again.

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        1. I’ve been having mounting difficulties with WordPress, as my hardware and software ages. I usually can’t Like things anymore, and sometimes I have to go to the library just to able to read the post or enter a comment.

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      4. 1 qt of brandy with 3 tablespoons of honey and 1 table spooon of lemon juice taken orally between 4 am and 1 pm will make the cold become much less of an issue. it may not heal you but you wont care as much. repeate daily until the cold is gone. it would have been gone then anyway so it just puts a littel twist on the time you are down.

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  23. Hey Kids–

    My cucumbers in the straw bales were late this year. But they’re doing well now and I have a lot more coming. I just slice them and soak in salt water for a few hours. Then rinse and add vinegar and sugar and onions. And they’ve been especially yummy this year it seems.

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  26. Hey all – Dale reinstated Kitchen Congress (above in the Blog Roll) and I have edit rights now. I’ll add stuff from this thread in the next few days!

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        1. i think the post every 5 or 6 days takes the historically stimulating trail and turns in to a comfortable hangout for reflection for those of us who are caught up in the fast pace of an over abundant list of to do’s the timing is perfect. for others it may need to be picked up a notch. i will try to birth a blog a week. if its worth being here i may as well make you all listen to my meandering thoughts about my naval.

          linda and others. i have a new guy on the payrole who is a computer whiz kid and can turn an old tired laptop into a spry fast millenial device. let me know if oyu are interested. send your current specs and for 20,30 50 bucks you can type on greased lightning

          hey ben, you coming to bend

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