I love cucumbers with lemon juice & cayenne. I got that from a chef I used to work with. He was from Mexico, and used to just peel a whole cuke and squeeze the lemon juice and sprinkle with cayenne as he took huge, juicy bites. He made it look so good that I tried it myself (though I sliced mine).

Here is a recipe from India:

Stir Fried Baby Cucumbers

1 lb baby cucumbers (or regular cukes, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch sticks)
1 T veg oil
1 t cumin seed
1 t ajwain (bishops weed...if you don't have any, I've used celery seed)
1/4 c dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped
2 T sugar
1 t ground cumin
1/2 t salt
1/2 t tumeric
1/2 t cayenne
1 c water
2 T cilantro, finely chopped. (I have also made this with other fresh herbs)

Trim off 1/4 inch from each end of the cukes. Cut each lengthwise.

Heat oil over med-high heat and sizzle the cumin seed, ajwain & peanuts for about 30 seconds.

Add cukes and other ingredients except for water & cilantro, and stir fry for 2 minutes.

Stir in water, reduce heat, cover and simmer 8 to 10 minutes until cukes are crisp-tender. Serve sprinkled with cilantro.

From Thailand:

Cucumber Salad

1 lb cucumbers
6 garlic cloves, minced
Serrano chilis, seeded & chopped fine....to taste.
6 T tamarind juice
1/4 c fish sauce
2 T sugar
6 cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters.

Peel & seed the cukes. Cut into matchsticks & combine with the tomatoes. Mix the other ingredients together and toss with the cukes & tomatoes.

If you don't have a source for tamarind juice, you can use lemon or lime juice.

I like to grate zucchini and yellow squash to use in various ways. The other night I made zucchini "pancakes" with grated zucchini, Bisquick, Parmesan cheese, an egg, etc. I recently found a recipe for mushroom and zucchini enchiladas that was quite good and I often fix zucchini quesadillas in the summer when the squash is plentiful.

Grated squash should be squeezed really well in a clean kitchen linen towel to remove as much extra moisture as possible. The grated squash can also be frozen in zip bags after squeezing dry.

Here are the pancake and quesadilla recipes with a link to the enchiladas:

Zucchini Pancakes

5 TB Bisquick
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups grated and squeezed dry zucchini

butter for frying

Mix all, drop by heaping TBs full into a hot skillet with a little melted butter in it. Cook on one side 2-3 minutes until golden brown then turn and cook on the other side.
Serve immediately.

Zucchini and Cheese Quesadilla

3 small zucchini, grate and sprinkle with 1/2 t. salt
12 flour tortillas
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
3 TB finely chopped red onion
2 TB canned diced green chilies
1 TB finely chopped cilantro

Put the grated and salted zucchini in a colander and drain 5 minutes or more. Squeeze dry in a clean towel.

Heat oven to 500F. Spray a baking sheet with Pam. Top 6 tortillas with zucchini, cheese, onion, chilies on each. Place a second tortilla on each layered quesadilla pressing down on the top tortilla. Brush with oil if desired. Bake for 5-7 minutes. Cut each in wedges and serve with salsa.

note: I like to use Pepper Jack cheese alone or blended with the mozzarella for a little bit of a spicy kick.

Here is a link that might be useful: Zucchini and Mushroom Enchiladas from the Jalapeno Cafe

I like fat lengthwise slices of zucchini grilled...I just brush with EVOO, sprinklew ith garlic powder, salt and pepper and maybe some dried oregano or thyme and grill.
I also make zucchini "glop" which is a fry pan, lightly oiled and filled with layers of sliced onion, zucchini, reppers, red or green yellow or whatever, then tomatoes....salt and pepper each layer, perhaps a little garlic, cover and cook until; the juices begin to run, uncover and continue until they reach your ideal of doneness.
If you have the oven going for something else, they will also do well in the oven.
How's your husband?
Linda C

I shred zucchini and summer squash and freeze it. No blanching needed. I slip these into all kinds of things: winter soups, baked goods, casseroles, and spaghetti (don't do like my husband did and boil the shredded squash with the spaghetti noodles. They will disappear and go down the drain with the spaghetti water. Add to the spaghetti, still frozen, AFTER draining. The heat of the spaghetti will thaw it. Then add your meat and spaghetti sauce. It will be a little "soupy" at first but if you let it rest for a little while the noodles will soak a lot of it up.)

Your talking about making your own baby food brought me back to when my grandsons were little. My daughter was a single mom and she wasn't really "into" motherhood, so I had the boys a lot. I had started gathering the pears that fell to the ground at one of our neighbor's houses. They did not want me to pick any pears off the tree but I was doing them a service cleaning up what fell to the ground. I would cut out the bruised and rotten parts and can the pieces. The tree was large so I always got quite a few quarts this way. When I would have the boys, I would open up a jar and they'd chow down on those pears like a couple of little pigs. It hurts my heart to see children be hungry, I always did my best to see that they weren't but I know they were sometimes when they were and I wasn't able to get my hands on them. They always loved pureed squash, too, but that was because I put brown sugar in it. I don't recommend putting sugar or salt in baby food anymore, though. Kids get introduced to sugar soon enough and it's better if they learn to like things the way they were meant to be eaten. Things that are naturally sour can be mixed with applesauce or pureed pears, though.

I commend you for the way you are gathering produce that will otherwise be left to spoil. We Americans are so wasteful, as a whole. It's said we throw out enough food to feed an entire country. You are wise to be introducing foods such as you are to your children while they are little. They will grow up enjoying a wide variety of foods. Do also eat some peanut butter while you are pregnant, as I read somewhere that mothers who eat peanut butter cut the risk of their children being allergic to peanuts. And you need to be drinking orange juice, too. Taking good care of mommy is the first step to having healthy children.

My parents didn't have baby food when I was a baby, back in 1947. My first foods were things like mashed potatoes and gravy. As I grew teeth, I was introduced to other things. My mother told me that they loved giving me a tomato because I would bite a little hole in it and get every ounce of juice out of it. There is a window of opportunity for learning to like certain foods.

I saw an interview with Jennifer Seinfeld on Oprah a couple weeks ago. She uses vegetable and fruit purees in lots of ways. I've attached the link to her book. According to the reviews, there is a similar book by a different author that is better, but this will put you on the right track. There are two schools of thought on her methods. One is, any way you can get veggies into the kids is good. The other is, camoflaging veggies and making them taste like fast food is not a good thing long-term. But maybe you can find something that's useful in the book.

Hope this helps! --Ilene

Here is a link that might be useful: Jennifer Seinfeld's book on Amazon.com

Make Ratatouille. You can freeze it, or so my gardening friend told me.

Ratattouille - serves 8
1/2 cup olive oil
2 med. onions, sliced thinly
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 med. green pepper, thinly sliced
2 med. zuchinni, sliced
1 med. eggplant, unpeeled, cut into one inch cubes (can salt and sweat it for 1/2 hour or not, I've done it both ways)
5 med. tomatoes, cored, peeled and chopped
3 TBLSP finely chopped parsley
2 tsp. fresh snipped basil or 1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Grated parmesean for topping

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup of oil, cook onion, garlic and green pepper until onion is translucent--set aside. Add remaining oil--saute zuchinni and eggplant. Add reserved onion mix and tomatoes and seasoning. Cover, simmer 20 min., stir occasionally. Uncover and cook 10 min. longer until liquid evaporates. Sprinkle with cheese. Can serve hot or room temp. or cold.

Notes: If there are some vegetables in this mix you don't like or can't get, feel free to omit and either sub more of the ingredients you do like or sub other veggies like potatoes, carrots or the like. What makes this dish is the fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs and olive oil. I often don't separate out the veggies, just chop them all up and saute and simmer together.

Bulgarian Salad - from "Enchanted Broccoli" Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen - serves 4-6

4 med. tomatoes
1/2 cup thinly sliced mild red onion (can sub 1/4 cup minced scallions)
1 small bell pepper sliced in thin strips
1 small (6 in) cucumber--sliced
1 1/2 - 2 tsp. freshly minced marjoram or oregano leaves (1/2 - 1 tsp. dried)
1 1/2 - 2 tsp. freshly minced mint leaves
1 cup greek olives, pitted
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup wine vinegar
fresh grated black pepper
1/2 lb. crumbled feta cheese
1 clove garlic (optional)

Combine togther and let meld for 1/2 - 1 hour.

Skillet Squash Medley - I got this off of a "Land O Lakes" butter container. Maybe Peyton will like it.

1/4 cup of sweet cream butter
1 1/2 cups cubed 1-inch butternut squash
1 1/2 cups unpeeled, quartered, sliced zuchinni
1 1/2 cups unpeeled, quartered, sliced yellow crookneck squash
1 TBLSP firmly packed brown sugar
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

In a 10 inch skillet, melt butter, stir in all remaining ingredients. Cook over med. heat, stirring occasionallhy, until crisply tender (8-10 min.). Yields 6 servings.

Stacie, I love that your kids are such good eaters.

Ilene, I could be wrong, but I thought that it was best to avoid peanuts and peanut butter during pregnancy. There is some connection to Asthma and peanuts, peanut butter and other nuts as well as causing an allergy to peanuts.

I think there are a number of ways to add vegetables to baked goods, but i don't think it is ever okay to sneak them in and lie about them being in there. If I know someone hates zucchini or carrots, or squash, I would never serve them something with those ingredients with out first telling them.

Here are a couple of recipes to use up some zucchini.

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Adapted from: Krinos Foods

(The original recipe called for a large can of tomatoes and did not include garlic or oregano.)

Green Bean, Zucchini and Potato Stew (Fassolakia Iadera)This is a traditional vegetable mixture that is often eaten cold, accompanied by hunks of country bread and feta cheese

.
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed, halved crosswise
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
8 ounces zucchini, cut into 1-inch-thick slices
8 ounces russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1-inch cubes
3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh oregano chopped (or dried)
1 14 ounce can of Italian-style tomatoes, chopped.
1/2 cup chicken broth
. Heat oil in heavy large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add
onion and saut5 minutes.Add Garlic and green beans and sauté until
onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add zucchini, potatoes, cayenne
pepper, parsley and oregano. Pour tomatoes and their juices over
vegetables. Add chicken broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat. Cover and
simmer until potatoes are tender, stirring frequently, about 45
minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat. Can be prepared
1 day ahead -- cover and refrigerate. Serve warm or at room
temperature. 6 To 8 Servings

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Ann, apparently there are several schools of thought on whether it's safe to eat peanuts while pregnant. I did some Googling and found that some say it's OK as long as people in your family do not have peanut allergies. Others say it's lethal. So I will retract that statement, even though I saw, somewhere, that researchers are finding that children whose mothers eat peanut butter while pregnant are less likely to have an allergy to it. I practically lived on peanut butter while I was pregnant, not knowing that there even were people who were allergic to it. Stil, I wouldn't want to recommend anything that would endanger anybody's baby. --Ilene

Thank you for all the ideas. The temps today through Tuesday are supposed to be 100+ with indexes of 115 degrees, so not much cooking yet.

LindaC

DH is doing much much better. We got a call from the radiologist and his intestines look great, no inflamation or infection, there are still gall stones but the gallbladder is no longer inflamed and the hernia only measures an inch. They have decided since he isn't in pain and the recover and risks of surgery with his dibetes out of whack isn't worth it. Dr. added another med to his list and before his blood sugar was constantly 200 +- 15 and since taking the new medicine it has stayed below 130. I am hoping it will do the trick. He leaves Thursday to go to Sturgis, I went and got him a pretty diabetic med alert bracelet even though he wanted the one that was a necklace and wouldn't attract attention. I told him that was the point in an emergency. So will be home alone with the monsters Thursday through Sunday, will be a long weekend.

Also thanks for the comments about saving food. I hate to see things go to waste and will use what ever I can. I will stop and ask if they are using the fruit if I see a ton already on the ground and offer to help them out. I tell them I will get the fruit out of the trees and ground so it doesn't attract ants and wasps and also so it isn't so hard on the mower blades lol.

Stacie
girlsingardens

Stacie, many of my husband's clients have fruit trees, and my standard offer is one jar of jam or other canned good per batch of fruit/veggies they send home with him for me to can.

I just made enough pickle relish for the winter from some over-producing cukes a client gave him a basket of. These folks are happy to get a jar of home made jam, chutney or pickles in exchange for the fruit or veggies they won't be able to use anyway.

It looks like you have cucumbers pretty well covered. A couple of things which are perhaps just variations on the recipes you already have are cucumber yogurt soup and raita, two very similar dishes. If you have any trouble finding recipes for them (which I doubt), let me know.

My standard, simple way of cooking zucchini is to cut it up and saute it in olive oil with onions. Then add fresh or canned tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper and cook "until done". You can't go wrong with that combination of flavors.

When my daughter was a baby, we went everywhere and took here with us. We always had a little hand-operated grinder with us and fed her from the table. It was a handy gadget to have as home too. That little grinder is a must have, IMO. My daughter grew up eating all the same things we did and she loves just about any kind of food.

Here is a link that might be useful: Baby Food Grinder

Jim,

I hate to admit it, but I have 5 of those grinders in the basement waiting for the new baby now that Hayden is eating all solids. My mom used one for us and I used it for my other 3 kids. I would take one with us in the diaper bag and then just grind up what ever we were having and I would mix it all up. I have given my sis and sis in law both baby food grinders but I don't think that they use them much. My sil was at our family reunion today and instead of feeding the baby from the great variety of food available to be mooshed or ground, she was feeding him baby food. She goes through 4 jars a day of baby food, I can't fathom the cost. I just got done freezing 2 gallon bags completely full of cubes of pureed apricots for the baby coming in November. Before bed I need to get a roaster full of sour cherries pureed for freezing. I finally got a stick blender and it makes things so much easier, I have a bushel of summer apples on the porch waiting to be made into something. I will probably use them as frozen baby food, I know I will have plenty of apples this year.

Stacie
girlsingardens

BTW I was just pricing some baby food to see costs and the 2.5 ounce plastic containers of pureed peaches cost 1 dollar each. So my sil is probably spending at least 5 dollars a day on baby food.

Here is my favorite cucumber recipe:

Gingered Cucumbers
from Deliciously Low

Dressing:
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp mild soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp frozen apple juice concentrate (if I don't have any, I put in a bit of honey or brown sugar.

Veggies:
1 thin skinned small seed cucumber thinly sliced (the original recipe says "hothouse cucumber" but other varieties like Japanese cucumber work, or 2 regular cucumbers, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced
1 large shredded carrot
3 green onions sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh Italian parsley.

Mix the dressing ingreadients together.

Toss with the veggies

Refrigerate for an hour or two and toss again before serving.

When I use up the cucumbers, I sometimes toss some more in.

Gazpacho is also good for using cucumber, bell pepper and tomato.

Often in the summer we make salads from whatever combo of veggies I have on hand.

Dress it with any bottled dressing you like or create your own.

Vinegary italian types
Sour cream/dill
Ranch
Balsamic/Parmesean cheese
Just a little lemon juice
Coleslaw dressing.

You can chop a bunch of veggies (toss 'em all in ziploc) and just change the dressing for "a different feel" each meal.

Make zucchini boats (kids will love these). Scoop out the seeds of a zuke or two, fill with spaghetti sauce, sprinkle with parm cheese and bake until the squash is slightly tender and sauce is heated (microwave works here since it's 100 degrees!). Then, if you feel like really impressing the kids, pop a couple of tortilla chips on top, standing up like a sail!

Let the kids make itty bitty zucchini pizzas.
Slice a larger (3" diameter size) zuke in about 1/2" thick slices. Dip one side in Panko or bread crumbs and put on a cookie sheet 'bare' side up. Kids can put spaghetti sauce, cheese, veggies on top and then bake for a few minutes until the "toppings" are done.

Peppers can be chopped and frozen for use later.
Shred and freeze the zucchini and other squashes.

All the fruit can be processed later if it gets ahead of you too. Check the link below for safe freezing methods.

Deanna

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP

some one told me you could freeze cukes by cutting them into pieces, soak in a brine, drain and freeze. i tried it and ya know, they were not that bad! they were a little mushy but not as mushy as i thought they would be. and they STILL tasted better then from the store.

i also freeze tomatoes instead of canning. skins on and all. when i drop one in the soup pot, that is when i peel the skin off. it protects from freezer burn.