Summer Squash

It happens every year. I plant far too many summer squash plants. No matter how many times I remind myself that two or three plants is enough, I can't help myself.

They just look so small...

But before you know it, they grow ...

And begin producing a ridiculous amount of squash....

Just a bit of a gardening note before I proceed: squash should not be planted this close together - it encourages diseases like powdery mildew and decreases the amount of squash produced. Nor should squash be allowed to grow this large. Harvest them when they are small for the best flavor.

I love summer squash, but I'm not a fan of freezing it. I'd much rather cook delicious winter squash than frozen or out-of-season summer squash. So it was becoming a dilemma, what to do with all this excess produce (it is inevitable that your friends and neighbors will also be inundated by their own plentiful harvests and hence will not want any of yours). Last summer I was all about jam. This summer it has been pickles. I have learned that summer squash make delicious pickles. There are a variety of recipes for canning squash pickles and I have had success with every one I have tried. This is a particularly good and easy one...

Zucchini Pickles  

(recipe from a newspaper clipping from Food Day in the Oregonian, August 2010)

Makes 1 quart or 2 pints

• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/4 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 large pinches crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 pound summer squash cut into spears
• 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp coarse salt
• 1 TBS granulated sugar

Place the garlic, mustard seed, coriander seeds, and red peppers in the jar. Pack squash spears into the jar. They will shrink after the brine is added, so pack as tightly as you can without smashing them.
In a saucepan, bring the vinegar, water, salt, and sugar to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour over the squash. Attach lids, let cool, and refrigerate.
The pickles will be ready by the next day. However, they are better if allowed to pickle for a week. These are definitely a perfect addition to a fall BBQ or your lunchtime sandwich. You might not use all of the pickling brine. Don't throw it away! It will keep for about 2 weeks in your fridge for use as a salad dressing or marinade.

This is a recipe I make weekly during the summer. I have no idea where this recipe came from, but I can not claim credit for it. These muffins are a perfect breakfast served with some fresh fruit. They are so moist I never add any butter or jam to them. My daughter absolutely loves them and regularly asks to have one for a snack. I usually make a full batch of batter but freeze or refrigerate half for later (this is particularly useful if you have guests in town and want a nice breakfast without any work). Feel free to experiment with the amount of sugar and oil.

Squash Bran Muffins

Makes 24 large muffins

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 TBS baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBS cinammon
• 2 cups wheat bran
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/4 molasses
• 3 cups finely grated summer squash (or carrots)
• 1 cup raisins

Sift together the flour, baking soda and powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the bran.
Beat the eggs. Add the oil, sugar, and molasses.
Add the grated squash and raisins. Add to the flour mixture, stirring just enough to combine.
Bake at 350-degrees for 25 minutes.

Of course my absolute favorite squash recipe is to simply slice them, coat with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and throw them on the BBQ. I actually just pulled several of our squash plants yesterday to make room for some fall crops of salad greens, onions, garlic, and carrots. I have had my fill of squash for the year, but I know that it won't be long before I am looking forward to BBQ summer squash and squash bran muffins.

A Few Deliciously Simple Meals

I generally am not one to take shortcuts in the kitchen - I just enjoy cooking from scratch too much. But some shortcuts are just too good not to use. I had discovered a great shortcut for making ravioli a few years back, but had forgotten about it until recently. The Asian rice paper wrappers you can find at just about any grocery store are great for making ravioli and dumplings. The fillings are limited only by your imagination. We made a deliciously sweet filling of butternut squash. Just roast a butternut squash, mash it, and season to taste with cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, Parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper. Moisten a wrapper with water, place about a tsp of filling in the center, fold and press the edges, and set aside on a lightly floured plate. Gently boil a few ravioli at a time in a large pot of salted water for a few minutes (they float when done) and enjoy immediately with a sauce of your choice. We melted some butter with garlic and fresh rosemary from the garden. Fabulous!

With all the greens, scallions, and mushrooms available at the Farmers' Markets, I plan on making some more Asian flavored dumplings soon.

Although easy to make, the preparation can be a bit time consuming. But you can make enough for several meals and simply freeze the extras. Just place them on a lightly floured sheet pan and freeze until solid. We now have several easy meals ready to go in the freezer. This is definitely going to be one of my new favorite ways to set aside some of our summer garden excess for those rainy winter days.



Here's a great recipe using the lovely spring greens, carrots, and mushrooms now available at the Farmers' Markets. This was super easy and a really light, warming spring meal. Its from one of my new favorite cookbooks....

"Bob's Red Mill Cookbook"

This book is full of really easy, nutritious meals. I highly recommend it.

Mushroom and Barley Soup with Spring Greens

Ingredients:

• 6 cups of stock
• 2 cups of mushroom stock
• 1 large onion, finely diced (or a handful of green onions)
• 2 large carrots, finely diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 lb mushrooms (any combination)
• 2 cups of cooked barley or bulgur
• 2 large bunches of spring greens (bok choy, chard, spinach, or mustard greens), sliced into thin ribbons or bite-size pieces

Directions:

• Bring the stock to a simmer in a large soup pot. Add the onions, carrots, garlic, and bay leaves. Allow to simmer until the carrots start to become tender.
  
• Add the mushrooms and continue to simmer until the vegetables have reached the desired consistency, about 5-15 minutes.
  
• For the last few minutes add the greens, just cooking lightly.
• Spoon the cooked grains into warmed soup bowls and ladle the soup over the top.
  

Expectations

One of my current cooking goals is to make all my family's "convenience food". The snacks, the frozen dinners, the stuff you grab when you need something quick and easy. Making them myself is healthier, cheaper, and one more way for us to stop supporting the industrial food system that makes me cringe.

I figured I'd start with the easy stuff, like crackers and granola bars. Today I made multi-seed crackers from one of my favorite baking books.....

King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

Finding the time and energy to make these delicious snacks has not been the hard part. Its surprising how much of the week's baking you can get done in one short afternoon. What has surprised me is how much my expectations of what food should look and taste like has been shaped by the boxed foods available at the market. I feel like if all my crackers are not a perfectly uniform shape, size, and color, I must have done something wrong.

This is not what crackers from a box look like....


Granted, appearances, taste, and texture will improve with more practice. But really, these crackers are delicious. More and more I am realizing that making your own food from scratch requires a rethinking of what exactly real food is.

PS. My new favorite thing to eat on crackers, toast, sandwiches, right out of the container, is homemade yogurt cheese. Its like a very tangy cream cheese. This is fool-proof.

Yogurt Cheese

1. Start with plain yogurt, either full or low fat works. I haven't tried non-fat, but it probably would work to.
   
2. Scoop the desired amount into a piece of butter muslin or very-fine weave cheese cloth. About 2 cups is usually enough for the week for my family.
3. Tie up the corners and hang the bag with the yogurt over the sink or a bowl for 12-24 hrs.
   
4. Remove from the cheese cloth and enjoy! Refrigerate.
5. Be creative, add any herb combination that strikes your fancy.
   

Baked Kale Chips

Some days you just really need something salty and crunchy. Instead of reaching for a bag of fritos, try these baked kale chips. Kale is a fabulous vegetable, incredibly nutritious and great in all kinds of soups, stews, and salads. Even if you dislike kale, you should try these. Think Lays potato chips - light, crunchy, salty. Eat them as a snack or toss them on some soup instead of croutons. Unlike a bag of chips, these don't keep long, so only make enough for immediate enjoyment. If there happen to be any leftovers, just toss them into your evening salad. Kids love these too!

Baked Kale Chips

1 bunch kale
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 -2 teaspoons salt or seasoned salt

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Pull or cut the kale leaves away from the thick stems, discarding the stems and tearing the leaves into large bite-size pieces
• Toss the leaves with olive oil and salt
• Spread the leaves on a baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes, until the edges of the leaves are browned but not burned and the leaves are crispy

It is easy to use too much oil and salt, so start out conservatively and adjust the recipe each time you make them. Enjoy!