Round Zucchini?!

Jay doesn't like to get bored. So, instead of just planting "normal" vegetables, he seeks out strange shapes and colors of typical vegetables. That's how we end up with purple and pink potatoes; purple, orange and yellow tomatoes; and zucchini of every shape and size.

One zucchini that many customers have asked about this year is the round ones. Eight ball, cue ball, and one ball zucchini are all round zucchini, with the same great zucchini taste but with a fun round shape. I usually have multiple customers asking, "What do you do with those?!"

You can prepare the round zucchini in the same manner that you would prepare the long, cylinder zucchini. One of our favorites is grilling them, but saute is also tasty.

For the Fourth of July, we decided to get creative and make a new recipe to share with you all:

Zucchini-Tomato Napoleon

3 one-ball, cue-ball, or eight-ball zucchini
3 large tomatoes
1 package of fresh mozzarella cheese
3-4 leaves of fresh basil
extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
 

Slice the zucchini into 1/4" to 1/3" slices.  Brush both sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Grill on a preheated grill at medium heat for 4 minutes per side.

Meanwhile, wash the tomatoes and slice into 1/4" to 1/3" slices. Also slice the mozzarella into 1/4" slices. Dice the basil. (If using dried basil, mix 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil with 1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil.)

Now it's time to assemble. On each plate, put down one slice of zucchini, then one slice of mozzarella, next one slice of tomato, and finally another slice of zucchini. 

Sprinkle with basil and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Enjoy!

And, like most meals in my house, I like to re-purpose the leftovers. As an encore, I diced the leftover stacks and sauted them for a few minutes, until the cheese was melted. Then I stirred in some cooked angel hair pasta. Voila! Second meal with hardly any effort.

Round Zucchini?!

Got Carrots?

Well it is January 25th and we are still winter harvesting away. I had several people ask for some carrots at school, so I decided I would dig a tub and fill their orders. Then I took the rest to sell at school. These carrots are simply delicious. The plants don't look the best, but hey they have pulled through -11 degrees and are still around to let us eat them!



We have started to eat a lot of carrots. I would say we include carrots in our meals 4 or more times a week. The best recipe was a Cream Cheese filled Carrot Bundt Cake YUM! Sorry no pictures, we ate the whole thing.

Cream Cheese Filled Carrot Bundt Cake

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1 8-oz package Philadelphia Brand - cream cheese -softened
(you can also substitute light Neufchatel cheese for the cream cheese)
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
******************
2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup chopped nuts(I like pecans!)
Powdered sugar for dusting, if preferred
How to make it

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Combine cream cheese, sugar and egg, mixing until well blended.
Set aside
Combine dry ingredients
Add combined oil, eggs and vanilla. mixing just until moistened
Fold in carrots and nuts.
Reserve 2 cups batter; pour remaining batter into greased & floured 9-inch bundt pan
Pour cream cheese mixture over batter; carefully spoon reserved batter over creamed cheese mixture, spreading to cover.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 55 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan.
Cool thoroughly.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
Yummy!

I sure will miss them when they are gone, but we are getting ready to plant the spring ones this weekend!

Got Carrots?

Definitely Tomato Time

Last week, the cherry tomatoes came on full-force. Jay picked 90 pints of cherry tomatoes to sell for Saturday's market, and that doesn't include the baskets picked and sold for Wednesday's markets. Don't they look lovely, all lined up? Almost good enough to eat!

Varieties shown here include (top to bottom) Black Cherry, Snow White, Isis Candy, Sweet Gold, Sungold, Golden Sweet, Yellow Pear, Red Pearl, Tumbling Tom, Red Pear, Tomato Berry, and Sweet Million.

Definitely Tomato Time

All the pretty colors

When you ask people what color a tomato is many will respond, "Red". Well our food system has developed a stereotype that all vegetables have only one color and one choice. At our house, if you ask our kids what color a tomato is you would probably hear, " yellow, black, purple, orange, white, bicolor, green and finally red". As far as shapes, we also have cherry, grape, pear, roma or big tomatoes. Alot of what we do is about exposing others to all the different choices available. Here is a short list of the colors of vegetables we are growing.

Tomatoes: Red, Orange, Yellow, Black/Purple, White, Bicolor and Green
Peppers: Red, Orange, Yellow, Lilac, Purple, White, Chocolate
Carrots: Red, Orange, Purple and Yellow
Cauliflower: White, Green, Purple, and Orange
Zucchini: Green and Yellow, but we have round and ribbed ones too!
Lettuce: Red, Green, and Red and Green
Bok Choy: Red and Green
Radishes: Red, Red and White, Pink and White
Potatoes: Yellow, Red, Purple and White

Here is a picture of some of our lettuce. I think it is very colorful and beautiful and very TASTY!

All the pretty colors