Zucchini. At first we loved stuffed zucchini and grilled slices of Z., but now it's lost its novelty, and I groan when I peek under those big serrated leaves. We've gotten to the midsummer point at which I look for unlocked parked cars to leave a few in. (just joking - you don't have to lock up.)

Our eggplants are the full size type and they are still several weeks from ripe. We are eating lots of salad from a variety of lettuces plus nasturtium and borage petals, and parsley. Stringbeans almost over. We made dilly beans, lots of them. Spinach is definitely over, pulled up, and a succession crop seeded.

The kale has been harvested, although full of cabbage-moth holes. Washed, de-stemmed, chopped, blanched and frozen. For cooler month combos such as kale and cannolini beans with sausage.

I only see my RI garden on weekends. Possibly we'll have ripe tomatoes coming up. I can almost hear them, like "Jaws" music. I still have some ziplocs of last year's cooked-down tomatoes in the freezer. And now I have 12 ziplocs of double portions of stuffed Z, as well.

Don't we reach a time each summer when we hope the squash borers will attack?

Carol

I'd love to have the recipe for raspberry custard; I froze 16 quarts of it this season. My kale has holes, too, but I haven't harvested it yet. Good idea to do that soon! It's so hot that it's hard to make myself go out into the garden. I made a Mediterranean lamb with green beans dish in my pressure cooker the other night, and that was good. Unfortunately my zucchini may be getting zapped by squash vine borers, but I still should have some to freeze and eat fresh. We haven't had the opportunity to get sick of zucchini for a long time, and if I lived near Carol I'd love to be visited by the Zucchini Fairy!

We are still waiting for tomatoes, too. So far only the currant variety is ripening although the others are starting to color up. We love to sauté the long sweet frying peppers in olive oil with garlic and serve them on a roll with provolone cheese, for lunch. The leftover oil is great for cooking stringbeans or just for dipping with a baguette! We've also had lots of peaches, and I've made some cobblers as well as freezing some. The blackberries are just starting to come in and I see little cucumbers hiding under the leaves but they're not ready yet either.

Riverfarm, are you Leslie, the artist? I especially enjoyed your painting of the potager in France.

Carol

Yes, I am. Where do we know each other from?

Riverfarm - Here's the link for the recipe I used. Fast and easy; more like a raspberry bread pudding.

Carol - what about making dilly zukes? I've also seeded, cooked (can throw in bouillon cube), pureed lots of squash and then froze it. The puree makes a good thickener/base for soups.

Here is a link that might be useful: baked raspberry custard

Ali, your raspberry custard reminds me of a claufouti.

Wow - dilly zukes! The only problem these zukes are bats, are giants, killer sharks.

Riverfarm, I merely looked up your website on your GW "My Page". Saw your paintings, read your background. I was in Millville doing a glass residency about 10 years ago.

Carol

Carol, thanks! Interesting that you were in Millville. Are you doing anything with glass now?

I loved that potager in France. It seemed like such a haven for those people and it was so typical of the gardens there, which were everywhere there was a tiny bit of space.

Ali, thanks for the recipe. I had never thought of a custard for berries, but I'm always looking for simple things to do with them because I can't make decent pie crust. Natal, maybe it really IS a claufouti. I'll have to compare ingredients. I've never made one of those either, maybe because the name made it sound rather difficult.

I always thought a claufouti was like a cobbler, but I googled and yep, the recipe is a claufouti. Either way, really easy to make and no pie crusts needed.

It's amusing the first couple of times when you find one of those huge squash. Zucchini sluggers are good for shredding for zuke bread or zuke latkes. Else give 'em to some kids for a whiffle ball game.

Actually I love those zucchini boats. I split 'em and stuff them with ground lamb, pine nuts, and veggies, topped with cheese. Or just do an all-veggie version. Of course if you had a lot it could get old very quickly.

Cool; so I'll actually get to make a clafouti!

I have a pretty modest garden compared to many of you, but here goes -

We've been having squash (yellow and zucchini) sauteed with sliced Vidalia onions, in oil. Everyone likes that. There are going to be lots more squash yet, and I'll probably use those for zucchini bread and freeze it.

We've had nice lettuce and are getting some great cucumbers now, along with peppers and the cherry and larger tomatoes are ripening (an explosion of them expected soon). So we are lucky to have lots of fresh salad veggies.

Other than that, waiting on the green beans, which I season with French tarragon and butter, and the carrots, which we like with butter/brown sugar glaze.

Here's how I stuff those big boat zucchini: cut in half lengthwise, scoop out innards leaving less than 1/2 inch of shell. Parboil those shells (I have to use a roasting pan since they're so long). Meanwhile, boil a lb. of spaghetti, saute the chopped zucchini scoopings and a chopped large onion. Crumble and fry a lb. of ground round. Mix zuch., onion, beef, and about 6 crushed raw garlic cloves, with a double-size can of tomato paste and a cup of grated parmesan cheese. Put the parboiled boats on a cookie sheet and absolutely overfill them with the mixture and lay slices of Provolone cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 30-45 min.

Riverfarm, yes, I work in glass. My website is my name (Carol Cohen); just google me with glass art added . ( Sorry, trying to avoid spambots.)

Carol

Carol, I do something similar with my zucchini except that I put them cut side down in a cookie sheet with a little water in it and roast them in the oven until they're somewhat tender. And we love lamb so we use that.

I just took a look at your website and your work is amazing! It is so original, and such a departure from the usual glass art that one sees. I also really like the way you use representational concepts for your pieces; Fish at Giverny is one of my favorites. Wow!

This may sound pathetic to most of you - but this is my first year growing vegetables and I am in NW Wisc. so its a slow start to harvest, but...........The other day I picked 6 green beans one 5 inch zuke, and a handful of broccoli ! I threw it in a skillet with olive oil and garlic added fresh mint, tarragon, basil & spicy oregano at the last minute and yum ! My first cooked meal from the garden. Eggplant and tomatoes & peppers are looking good, but I will have to wait a while.

Mandolls, congrats on first harvest! We all started with a couple of vegs., then the fenced garden idea took hold and those of us in zones 6 and above are envious of your more restrained growth. Easier to harvest than our panicked rushes into the garden holding trashbags for stringbeans.

This fall, try planting some hardneck garlic too (check out "garlic" in a forum search). It gets mulched, winters over and you get lots of garlic heads (1 new whole head per clove planted) next summer.

I love Wisconsin. I drove through it 2 years ago on a cross-country trip from MA to OR and I was impressed with the native plants, the rolling hills, the almost-Canada feel of it.

Carol

Great idea Carol - I love garlic. I went right over to the garlic forum to read up. Now - If I can get an olive tree going, and press my own oil, I'll be all set.

Yes, most of Wisconsin is beautiful. I have been here 10 years now. I am not acclimated to the 6 month long winters yet, but I dont think any one appreciates Spring more than us Northern gardeners.

I directed seeded zuchini very early under cloches.....only one came through - and so far - not a zuke in sight!!!

I did get sick of them last year - so I didn't want to overplant......oh well! Next year!

Yesterday, I went out and bought some canning jars thinking to make some pickles, caponata, tomato sauce and salsa. (Not all at once, of course.) I had big visions except I've never canned before so for right now, I'll use some of those jars for refrigerator pickles.

Does anyone know of a good book or some good websites with recipes and instructions on canning? Canning would definitely be a bad thing to do wrong.

I also made some fresh salsa last night. My hubby likes it spicy so I added a jalapeno, a cayenne and a hungarian wax. I believe it was the cayenne pepper that had him running to the fridge for a glass of milk. I added a bunch more tomatoes to it to hopefully dilute it. Poor hubby, he did say, "Make it hot this time."

Last night I harvested zuchinni and asian style eggplants. sliced them lengthwise, brushed them with olive oil and grilled them on the weber with a couple of small yellow onions. Then cut them into chunks, tossed them with a little arabic style hot dipping sauce that the BF makes. (tomatoes, lots of garlic, serano peppers all cooked with olive oil) D-lish!

mandolls - That does sound good.

Keep those ideas coming! I found a couple of zucchini whoppers yesterday, I'm going to try the roasted zucchini boat idea with them.

I baked my neighbors some chocolate zucchini bread and offered some asian eggplants with it. He looked at me strangely and had to ask what they were and what you do with them. ha!

We share avocado, peach and any extra with our neighbors, who in turn share their extras. There are also lots of pantries for low income families to share with-- my freezer is only so big and I hate to see food go to waste.

Eggplant idea: peel, and slice into 1/2" thick rounds. Lay in a single layer on an olive oil greased baking sheet. Spray the eggplant rounds heavily with olive oil (comes in a can like PAM). Turn them over, spray again. Sprinkle with your favorite seasoning blend. We like Louisiana style seasonings. Bake in the oven at 425 degrees for about ten minutes. Soo good! I highly recommend the Pung Tung Long eggplant. It is never bitter and absolutely delicious. I have two plants and we cannot keep up with the production.

We've had lots and lots of pole beans, though this heat is finishing them off in a hurry. I prepare them similarly to the eggplant. I toss them whole in a bowl with a little olive oil till they are lightly coated, and sprinkle them with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. I put them in the 425 oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Toss, and sprinkle with just a little bit of brown sugar (about 1 Tablespoon). Back in the oven for ten to fifteen minutes more. You want them to be lightly browned and shrivelled, but not dried out or toast. This is our favorite way to eat snap beans.

The Ball canning jar company publishes a booklet on canning that is absolutely wonderful. Its instructions are clear, concise, and easy to follow. Canning is honest to goodness easy. Don't be afraid to try! (The Ball Blue Book can be downloaded on the web.)

I second the Ball Blue Book. If you're more a visual person get a canning video. Also visit the Harvest forum here for lots of good advice.

Harvest forum

I pulled most of my tomato plants back in June, but left two of the Sun Gold cherries. They started producing again about three weeks ago. I've made a lot of uncooked sauces since then.

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Oh, doesn't that look delish. Great pics, natal!

I bought the Ball canning book and a canner yesterday. I've got a big pot of tomatoes cooking down on the stove now. Keep your fingers crossed.

This morning I went out to the garden with a laundry basket to harvest. By the time I was finished, it weighed 30 lbs - carrots, eggplants, tomatoes and peppers. Grilled turkey sausage from the Farmer's Market and peppers are on the menu tonight!

We are having roasted vegetables a couple of times a week -couldn't be easier and everyone loves it. And you can put whatever veggies are ripe in it.

I've used green peppers, tomatoes, yellow squash, green beans, and zucchini from my garden, and added new potatoes, Vidalia onions, broccoli and mushrooms from the market. Cut all up into chunks about the size of a large cherry tomato, mix all in large bowl with enough olive oil to coat lightly, and spread in roasting pan. Sprinkle with sea salt and roast at 350 degrees for half an hour to 45 minutes, stirring around halfway through.

I find the best way to know if it's done is if the potatoes are tender.

This recipe was passed on to me from a friend who got it from The Barefoot Contessa on PBS.