I’ve entered a fun stage of gardening: harvesting and eating. Last night I decided to pick something out for dinner from my backyard, and here’s what I came up with.
I’ve read that if you can eat the produce as soon as it’s harvested, you’re getting the best possible nutritional value. So I decided to pick only what I could eat for dinner.
So what exactly did I do with all these beautiful veggies? The carrots and beans I ate raw. A few nights ago we tried grilling them, and the result was terrible. I hated throwing away those beans, but I seriously could not stomach the flavor. Raw, fresh out of the garden seems the best choice. I may try steaming them sometime soon, too.
I also harvested my son’s carrots. He started these by seed as a Sunday school project. We transplanted them to the garden when they got bigger. I thought it was sweet how all along, these carrots had been forming a secret friendship.
The zucchini I decided to turn into a sandwich. First, I sliced it down, lightly coated in olive oil, and added a dash of kosher salt and pepper. I roasted in oven for about 20 minutes.
I LOVE roasted vegetable sandwiches, but unfortunately I didn’t have other vegetables on hand that would’ve worked well with zucchini. So instead I came up with an Italian version – I added about 1/4 cup marinara sauce and free Kraft Italian cheese. I melted it a bit and put it on a hoagie. Simple, cheap, delicious.
I seriously wonder what my life was like before gardening. I love gardening for so many reasons now and see myself doing this for many, many years to come. If you’ve ever thought about starting a garden, I hope I’ve encouraged you to make the leap!
This post is participating in the Tuesday Garden Party!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
The sandwich looks great!
Here’s a few tips:
Do not let your veggies get too big. I just read that a plant’s job is to produce seed and then the plant stops or slows producing. It is best to pick your veggies at their peak.
Green beans – I have more green beans than we can eat and am thinking about freezing them for soups or stir fry.
Saute slice almonds in butter then add fresh green beans. Toss and cook just until done. You can also slice your green beans down the middle and make french green beans that will cook even faster.
Carrots – try steaming them with a little brown sugar in the water. Makes them sweet tasting.
Also try adding a little fresh dill with the carrots for another great taste. If you don’t like dill on your carrots I guess you could add the dill to the water but I haven’t tried that.
Zucchini – I use it in stir fry. I just saw this on Rachel Ray. Zucchini Pizza – Make zucchini patties by shredding zucchini and dip in egg & milk batter then flour. Fry in oil. Top with cheese, sliced cherry tomatoes and your favorites. Can pop in oven long enough to melt cheese. The recipe is probably on her site. I haven’t tried it but sound good. I have made zuchinin patties or pancakes before and they are good with just a little butter, salt and pepper or salsa or whatever you like.
Enjoy your bounty!
Whoo-Hoo, Angela! Another veggie garden convert comes into the fold…I love hearing about your new love of gardening and the rewarding feeling of making a meal with your own produce. This is what I hope to inspire at An Oregon Cottage and it seriously makes me sad when someone links to the Garden Party and declares that they won’t do it anymore because of some setback. So keep sharing and encouraging people and we’ll bring them into the fold, too.
OK, you didn’t like grilled green beans? Kidding? Oh man, we just had some a couple nights ago and they were wonderful! How did you cook them? I coated with olive oil and tossed with garlic and cooked them in one of those grill pans with all the holes (foil would work, too). We let some get a little charred and cooked just until crisp-done. We had guests and there wasn’t a bean left from the huge pile we started with.
Here’s another way I cook beans that has us licking the bowl after: Heat a TB of butter with a couple TB of olive oil in a lg. skillet (depends on amt. of beans you’re using) and add trimmed beans and a couple of tsp. of minced garlic. Toss around a bit, then add about 1/4 c. of water and put a lid on for 3-4 minutes. Remove lid and cook away liquid, stirring over med-high heat, then serve. Green bean heaven…
Thanks for making my day with this encouraging post at the TGP!
We’ve had zucchini lots of different ways, but I’ll have to say, never on a sandwich. Yours looks great!
I’d love for you to join us on Weekend Warriors, and Tuesdays are all about food!
http://itsablogparty.com
I host a different linky party everyday.
Come Party With Us!
~Liz