After a week of camping in the Wisconsin Northwoods, we have one massive pile of laundry and four filthy individuals needing some bathing, but before we got to any of that, we were all itching for a peek at the garden. We had asked a neighbor to water while we were gone if it didn't rain, and I was a little concerned with what we would find. What we actually found was dinner...and then some. My garden literally exploded! Tonight's cardboard pizza quickly turned into the most local dinner I can put on the table. Here is a photo of my garden gleanings.
I have a bucket full of pickling cucumbers which are past pickle prime, but are oh-so delicious for eating out of hand. I found a monster zucchini along with three smaller sized ones. Abigail was beyond excited to see the bean bushes were full of green beans. She immediately began munching away like a little bunny. I also pulled a few beets, lettuce, and a few baby carrots- real baby carrots, not the processed pretend baby carrots we can buy at the grocery store. Sadly my tomatoes are not doing very well- they appear to have a blossom end rot, and I can only hope that all my plants are not affected. But the rest of the garden looks fantastic and really was the best thing we could have come home to. (Well, almost, ideally we would also have had a message announcing the arrival of a new nephew...any day now!)
The salad was easy and showcased sweet beets in a way I've never eaten them before. I washed the greens and sliced the cucumbers and placed them in a bowl. I boiled the beets to slip their tender skins and sliced them on top of those. For a finishing touch a few cubes of forgotten Irish Cheddar and a simple red wine vinaigrette.The pasta was just as simple.
Garden Fresh Pasta Primavera
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, cut into coins
5 baby carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup tender green beans, stems removed, snapped to bite size
1/2 pound whole wheat pasta, cooked to al dente
salt and pepper to taste
basil leaves, torn
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Heat olive oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic, zucchini, carrots, and green beans. Saute for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cooked pasta, salt, pepper, and basil. Serve immediately, topped with Parmesan cheese.
4 comments:
Now that's 'local' -- I started to say that 'supper almost made itself' and then realized that before supper, you'd tilled the ground, planted and fertilized and watered and weeded and lined up someone to water while you were away and -- so many more tasks, yes?!
It all looks beautiful, especially, the beets! :-)
yummy! now i really want fresh-from-the-garden veggies. *sigh*
You have all that already! I'm jealous.
Alanna, meals like that are certainly well worth the work involved! And the beets were fantastic!
Rachel, I've had huge success this year with peppers and tomatoes in pots...you could try that sometime and see how it takes if you have a sun facing patio.
Jeanna, I planted early this year. I was waiting and waiting to be past frost danger and decided to just plant it all and if it froze I would re-seed. I planted at least two weeks early and it worked great this year. I'm beginning to contemplate a fall planting now.
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