Roasted Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Parm and Garlic

A fast-to-fix, colorful, and flavorful side dish, this recipe combines bright green zucchini and sunny yellow summer squash roasted with garlic and topped with parmesan cheese.

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Sometimes all I can think about are the sides to a meal, and sometimes the sides are an afterthought. In the summertime, when the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share box brings copious amounts of fresh produce into my house on a weekly basis, the sides are the Main Event. Sure, I throw in a protein here and there--but my goal is to incorporate as many farm share vegetables into our meals (and get them out of my crisper) as possible.

I'm not trying to use All The Vegetables for health reasons, it's really more of a decluttering issue, but the end result is that we eat more plant-based foods and that's always a Good Thing. Remember the movie Bull Durham? If you build it, they will come. I'm finding with my kids that if I serve it, they (eventually) will eat it. The more I prepare vegetable side dishes, the more vegetables end up on my kids' plates, and the more my family eats vegetables. The key is to actually prepare the side dishes, not just think that I ought to make a side dish.

Since my day job is a prep cook, I'm pretty efficient at chopping up a mess of vegetables. I find myself starting the prep work without knowing where the dish is going. Often with the abundant summer zucchini, my prep steps involve shredding and freezing bags of squash for Zucchini Pancakes or Zucchini and Refried Bean Enchiladas. Other times I'll grill a mess of squash--for Grilled Zucchini with Feta, or to use on a Grilled Vegetable Ciabatta Pizza. It's rare that I roast zucchini, primarily because I live in an old house and if I'm using my oven, my bedroom gets pretty darn uncomfortable for sleeping. But that shouldn't deter me from providing more options to my readers, so today I'm sharing a roasted vegetable side dish recipe.

Grilled Vegetable Enchiladas

These vegetarian enchiladas are stuffed with eggplant, peppers, and summer squash. Make dinner prep quick by using prepared sauce and previously grilled vegetables. While it's baking you can toss a salad and a healthy dinner is done.

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It's all about balance. Last week I shared a recipe for Salsa Verde Pork Tacos. Today I'm going to swing over to the other end of the Foucault pendulum and share a vegetarian recipe for grilled vegetable enchiladas. If I were an organized, Type A, person I'd keep track of the meals our family actually eats [vs a meal plan which I may or may not keep up with . . . . squirrel!]. I would bet that our meals these days are close to 60-40 in favor of vegetarian meals. With a spouse who will only eat meat if it's from small, local farms, it's easier to prepare one or two large batches of meat-containing meals (soup/stew, casserole, or meatballs & spaghetti sauce) and let the kids eat leftovers when they aren't interested in the vegetarian option.

I feel compelled to use the beginning of a new paragraph to point out that this meal is not finished on the grill. It starts on the grill to be sure, but one of my 5 tips & tricks for feeding my family from the farm share is to put up the abundance during the season. Grilling and freezing vegetables is one way I feed my family locally-grown foods year round, and if you've got the freezer space it's another tool in your kitchen repertoire.

You know I couldn't let the run up to Cinco de Mayo go by without an enchilada recipe. I first tried homemade enchiladas at a baby shower in Illinois when I was new to the Air Force, and that opened my eyes to the realization that enchiladas are NOT just for restaurants. Once I got into making them, I realized that enchiladas are a terrific way to incorporate vegetables into my family's meals. I've got a Clickable Collage of Enchilada Recipes here.

Sausage Pasty Meat Pie

A savory meat pie stuffed with seasoned pork sausage and vegetables.

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With Pi day (March 14, or 3.14) coming up, how about a meat pie? Meat pies make a wonderful dinner and a great leftover lunch. You can combine Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share vegetables with meat into a simple and satisfying vehicle for nourishment.

I did not grow up eating meat pies. My spouse did--in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where the pasty reigns supreme. Last summer we took the kids on a Lake Michigan Loop (up one side and down the other). We ate pasties in multiple places. Each was different (pasty sliders?!) and nearly all were amazing. [At one tourist place I had a merely 'good' pasty, but the brown gravy served alongside it was a new twist for me, so I considered that visit not a total loss.

This pasty uses pork sausage. It was inspired by my visit to the Runyan family of Oak View Farm Meats where I received a basket of pork products to play with at home, including the pound of pork sage sausage I used in this recipe, and loads of ideas on how to use them. You can take a virtual tour of Oak View Farm Meats with me here. I wanted to make a colorful filling to stand out from the paleness of the sausage, so I grabbed what I had handy--some potatoes from the basement Strategic Winter Squash Reserve--and a package of marked down chopped vegetables from the store. The key is to use finely chopped vegetables so that you have a cohesive filling.

Hot and Spicy Zucchini Pickles

Use that zucchini or summer squash in a delicious new way. These spicy pickles are a terrific accompaniment to bratwurst, and bring a feeling of summer all year long.

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When I mention that I've been canning something, people respond 'oh, I'd like to learn how to can . . .'  like I say I'd like to learn how to weld. As if canning is something that requires schooling, apprenticeships, or anything more involved that just boiling water.

Really. The mystique needs to be swept away. I'll be teaching a salsa making class at my local community center in September (when all of those tomatoes and peppers are overflowing the markets) to do my part to dispel the illusions. I hope this recipe will help nudge you into canning if you're uncertain. It makes a small amount--just 2 pints--and that fits easily in a tall pasta pot if you've got one.

I decided to try this recipe because, as with all gardeners, hope springs eternal. Despite my previous squash pickle failure (which resulted in my Pickled Pork Sliders . . . salvaging a canning failure into a decent meal) I wanted to try again. Between my volunteer squash and those in my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share I was awash in squash.


I hit up my local library for cookbooks. Who says Summer Reading Programs need to be limited to novels? In the Better Homes and Gardens Can It! Cookbook  (Amazon affiliate link) I found the inspiring recipe. I modified it based on what I had on hand while keeping the key elements (acidity of final product and length of processing time) intact.

The recipe notes suggest eating these alongside bratwurst. While my cousin Jim would probably disagree (he thought mustard on my bun was heresy), I thought the spicy slices were a nice addition to a brat. I'm also glad to find a way to use the abundant garden volunteers that pop up throughout the yard.

For more recipes using zucchini, please see my Zucchini Recipes Collection. I've also got a Summer Squash Recipes Collection if you're waffling on what to call the squash in question (those bicolor ones can be tricky). These collections are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

Roasted Potatoes with Squash, Peppers and Kielbasa

Roasted potatoes, peppers, yellow squash and zucchini with kielbasa. Fresh ingredients simply seasoned for a simple dinner when you don't have a plan in mind.

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You walk in the door after a busy day with no clear plan for dinner in mind.

The dogs rush to greet you, and you give everyone some love. [Did you know that dogs get a Happy Hormone rush when they are petted? Their greetings are just a way to get their fix, not some sort of altruistic 'let me lower your blood pressure' reason.]

Hit the kitchen, crank on the oven, and start washing some potatoes. No matter what else will be for dinner, you've got a giant pile of potatoes from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share so you may as well start with them.

Survey the fridge. Notice that the yellow squash, zucchini and peppers did not get the memo that Fall is nearly here and it's time to make room for the acorn and butternut squashes. Find a package of kielbasa and a bottle of beer and realize that dinner will come together just fine.

Open the bottle, have a healthy sip, grab a knife, and get busy.

For other recipes using potatoes, please see my Potato Recipes Collection. For other recipes using summer squash, please see my Summer Squash Recipes Collection. These are part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, and bountiful gardens. For other ways to make the most of the farm share, please see my How to Make The Most of the Farm Share board on Pinterest. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Slow-roasted Tomato Pizza with Late Summer Vegetables

This pizza is a vegetarian's mid Late Summer Dream. Squash, peppers, olives and slow-roasted tomatoes covered with cheese.

My strawberry patch is growing summer squash/zucchini volunteers, not strawberries. I didn't really expect strawberries to grow at the end of summer, but squash? Eh, I'll run with it. 

It may seem like I am on a roll with pizzas. No pun needed there--if you saw my photo collages in my Pizza Primer post you'd know I don't use a rolling pin to make pizza. No need [the fingers hovered over k-n-e-a-d . . .] as I just use my hands to push/pull the dough into the shape it wants to be.

Perhaps that's what comes with having teenagers? I know that I can still help guide them a bit, but ultimately they are in charge of their final shape, not me.

I continue to help guide my readers in ways to use and put up seasonal produce. This week our Community Supported Agriculture farm share farmers canned 100 pounds of tomatoes outside over a fire. That's 37 quarts, people, and a mere one time energy outlay in return for a year of shelf stability. Canning tomatoes is awesome.

You know another excellent way to put up tomatoes? Slow-roasting them. With cooler evenings, this time of year is more tolerable in the kitchen than the height of summer. Alanna's tutorial on slow-roasting tomatoes is my guide. I'm here with suggestions on how to use that bounty, and since it's a Friday that means pizza.

For other ideas on how to use and put up tomatoes, please see my Tomatoes board on Pinterest and my Red/Yellow Tomato Recipe Collection, part of my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, farmer's market, or garden abundance and rogue volunteer squash in the strawberry patch. For more pizza recipes I've got the Visual Pizza Recipe Index and the Friday Night Pizza Night Pinterest board. Wanna know how to use this blog? Click here.

How to Make My Family's Favorite CSA Vegetable Spaghetti Sauce

Practical advice for how to save ripe summer farm share vegetables--by roasting--for use in a kid-friendly spaghetti sauce all year long.

The purpose and timing of this post reflects my mission for this blog: to provide practical support for local eating. We chose to get a large Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share not because I'm a masochist and like to torture myself with overwhelming quantities of vegetables for the kids and I to eat while my spouse is deployed because it's a good value and I know if I put up the produce properly, I'll be feeding my family from the farm share all year long. With a couple of tried-and-true techniques, including #4 from this post, and a substantial Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient filled with ideas for what's in the box, my goal is to help you feed your people from your farm share as well.

Let's talk fantasy versus reality, especially as it pertains to spaghetti sauce. In a fantasy world, I'd start with ingredients like this and spend a leisurely day chopping and simmering in my spotless kitchen [this is my fantasy, after all]. Tomatoes would always be ripening in m weed-free back yard [no need to watch where you step either], basil would be fresh for the plucking, and I'd have an interesting assortment of eggplant, peppers, fennel and squash to make flavorful sauce. [Oh, and plenty of freezer space while we're talking fantasies].

In reality, this is what the start of my spaghetti sauce often looks like. It's a bit beetier, no? I grab a bag of vegetables and a piece of Parm rind out of the freezer, a jar of tomatoes out of the pantry, and 30 minutes later I've got sauce. Homemade sauce in a half an hour is possible only because I did some prep work in the late summer, as in right about this time of year. Typically I roast my vegetable surplus and freeze it in bags as shown, but this year I'll be throwing the farm share on the grill.
When I have more propane.

Funny, how propane is a necessary ingredient when you have a gas grill. Sunday night I came back from sled hockey camp [my son plays, I'm a hockey mom] planning to Grill All The Things in the crispers. I'd forgotten I was almost out of propane when I made pizza last. I turned on the oven instead. Using my previous little grill, a tank lasted almost 2 years. Now it lasts about 4 months. Just like you need lids and jars when you're ready to get canning, or a fresh roll of bags when you're freezing produce (Amazon affiliate link), you need propane to grill. If you have a gas grill, that is. Lesson learned.

Grilled Zucchini with Feta

Tender chunks of zucchini grilled and tossed with feta cheese for a simple side dish to accompany a variety of meals.

Let's talk about volunteering. I come from volunteers (my extended family calendar even had a theme one year about how we all volunteer). My daughter volunteers with the gardening program of the local historical society and my son volunteers at the library. My spouse volunteers at community clean ups and when someone is deployed. I volunteer on the base, at the school, and in the community.

Volunteering is a value for our family. It boosts our community and ourselves. 

In the garden, squash plants volunteer. They come from our compost. They come from Halloween pumpkins, nibbled by squirrels. They grow in the front yard flower bed, in landscaped areas of the back yard, and in the middle of the patio.

The thing about volunteers is that we need to feel valued. We need to feel our efforts are making a difference in the community, and we want validation for the work we have done.

Zucchini Pancakes for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner

Patties of shredded zucchini topped with buttery spread and cheese. Make these small for hors d'oeuvres or large for a side dish/vegetarian meal. A terrific way to eat an abundant vegetable.

I've been eating zucchini pancakes for over 30 years. Whoa. That's a long time for a staple dish like this. High time I put it on the blog.

Growing up, my folks gradually turned our backyard into an edible space. The old small in-ground pool was filled in and used for rhubarb and other perennials, and I distinctly recall having the responsibility of a hammer (!) to break up the concrete patio that became a strawberry patch. My dad grew up on a farm and with his skills we grew beans, corn, chard, squash and tomatoes. In addition to the strawberries we had cherry and apple trees. Urban homesteading before it was hip.

Although we grew up with a glut of vegetables at different times of the growing season, I don't recall my mom stuffing zucchini into endless loaves of zucchini bread. Perhaps like me she hadn't wanted to turn on the oven. She made these savory pancakes instead. In Mom's curling cookbook, where I found this recipe by Lois Robertson of the City View Curling Club in Ottawa, ON, the title is Zucchini Crepes but we always call them zucchini pancakes. These are similar in preparation/use to my Turnip Fritters and to Meghan's Kohlrabi Fritters. 

Use any summer squash you choose--just shred them as fine as your technology allows you and squeeze as much liquid out as you can. You can also freeze shredded squash for out-of-season pancakes. Freezing the squash breaks the cell walls so that when thawed the liquid seeps out and you get a nice dry squash. Since you lose more moisture after thawing, I generally freeze 1½ times the amount of zucchini that I'll want to use after thawing.

For more recipes using zucchini all day long, please see my Zucchini Recipes Collection, part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient. I've also got a Summer Squash Recipes Collection in case you've got a mixed bunch of summer squash and don't know what to do with it. I pin squash recipes of all seasons to my Squash Pinterest board, and share seasonal recipes and round ups from around the web on my FB page. For info on how to use this blog, click here.

Beef and Venison Sloppy Joes with Yellow Squash and Peppers

aka Butch and Bambi Bought the Farm-Fresh Vegetables

Ground beef and ground venison sloppy joes, combined with yellow squash and purple peppers from the farm share, with a kick from Korean hot red pepper paste.

I've bumped the recipe that was scheduled to appear today at the request of my spouse. He told his coworkers I'd have the recipe from last week's sloppy joes luncheon up on the blog, and who am I to refuse him? [Don't answer that one.] It was ugly food, though, and I'm always happy to bump ugly food to a later date in hopes I can remake it and get better photos.

The clever subtitle is also courtesy of my spouse [wish he also edited the photos--it's hard]. Since half of the meat in this recipe came from a cow named Butch and the other half from a deer skillfully obtained by his colleague . . . . the spouse's colleague not the cow's . . . it seemed an appropriate title. Adding some of the fresh vegetables from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share is just bonus. Flavorful bonus.

The basis for my recipe today is Pioneer Woman's Sloppy Joe Recipe. As in my Very Veggie Sloppy Joes for a Crowd I jumped right off in a "use ALL the vegetables" direction. Since I added ground venison, however, I didn't want to get too wild with the seasonings--ketchup and mustard is pretty tame I think. However, instead of all the chili powder and hot sauce I used some gochujang (Korean hot red pepper paste). Once opened, it keeps for a while in the fridge--I've included a photo of it so you know what to look for in the Asian section of the grocery store or an Asian market or here [Amazon Affiliate link].

I tend to throw leftovers at the family for weekend lunches because I usually fix a big breakfast, and my brain is percolating something good for dinner. Such a pain when they want to be fed again in the middle of the day, you know? Before taking the Joes to work for the luncheon, though, my spouse saved out just enough for the 4 of us. I was delighted to realize we could have one of my childhood comfort foods: sloppy joes on a bun with a slice of cheese and mustard, potato chips, apple slices, and milk. Perfection for a Saturday afternoon lunch.

If you're lucky enough to get some venison, please try this recipe. I'll even share my gochujang, since I don't foresee sticking it into waffles or anything . . . though a pizza is in the creative ideas stage, and it's been delicious in grilled recipes and with bok choy.

Want other recipes for ground beef? Here's a round up of 106 of them. Want other recipes using yellow squash? Look here.  Need other ideas for bell peppers--any color? Try this collection.

Summer Squash in Spaghetti Sauce Side Dish

Summer squash simmered with spaghetti sauce and a hunk of parmesan rind--easy, simple, summer side dish and another Fast from the Farm Share idea

In my house, having the dinner table filled with an assortment of side dishes is a rare occurrence saved for Big Meal Events like Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter. I love vegetable side dishes, though, so their absence on the table is entirely due to the hassle factor of preparing multiple courses and having everything ready simultaneously.

In reality, prepping a few more vegetable side dishes doesn't take that much work. It's more my perception of the effort involved, I think, or perhaps the extra dishes that I'll end up washing. I mean, when going to eat at family-style restaurants [I'm thinking Frankenmuth, Michigan and Lancaster, Pennsylvania] I'm presented with an array of 'heat-and-hold' or 'served cold' sides. Granted, there's probably a Hobart in the kitchen and multiple folks chopping and stirring . . .

My friend Felicia's mom was terrific at setting an everyday meal with a bunch of homegrown vegetable sides. I have fond memories of staying for dinner after an afternoon of studying and being treated to such delicious food--especially a stewed tomato and zucchini dish that, wow, more than 20 years later still has the power to make me drool.

I channeled those flavors in this side dish--simmered tomatoes, summer squash, and parmesan cheese. This side dish can hang out on a low burner for a good while, ready to grace the table when you're done with everything else. With only 3 ingredients (plus salt, pepper, and oil) it's easy to throw together.  I made it by grilling the squash then combining with the spaghetti sauce on the stove, but sautéing the squash then adding the spaghetti sauce would also work great.  Heck, if you felt like cranking up the oven you could roast the squash then toss it with the spaghetti sauce and bake it in the oven. Easy.

Easy Cheesy Vegetable Rice Enchiladas

Another Fast from the Farm Share meal, combining shredded summer squash, peppers, onions and rice for a vegetarian enchilada that is wonderfully satisfying

If it looks like I'm not going to be able to use the vegetables from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share in a timely manner--I get busy.  Well, my freezer gets busy. For summer squash, and zucchini, I shred and freeze in 2 cup portions. [I've found once thawed and squeezed dry that the bulk of shredded squash is reduced by half, so if I want a cup I freeze double.] For peppers and leeks I chop into small pieces and freeze on a tray before transferring to a bag for storage. This way I've got vegetables handy year round and I reduce the amount of wasted food that our farmers grow. Yes, I do require an additional freezer--it also serves as a microwave stand so everything fits in my little old kitchen.

While I am capable making my own Slow Roasted Tomato Enchilada Sauce, when I want to get dinner in the oven quickly it's nice to grab a can of prepared sauce, some prepped vegetables, and just get going. I had my daughter cooking the tortillas and my son shredding the cheese while I made the filling. These assembled very quickly. Adding cooked rice to the vegetable mixture gives a nice "chew" factor, which I am sure isn't really a thing, but no matter.  These are delicious.

Colorful Greek Chicken Salad Plate

Greek yogurt seasoned with herbs, vegetables, chicken and cheese served alongside a colorful bed of vegetables, hummus, and pita chips for a simple summer salad plate

Eating my colors makes me happy. Combining tasty food with colorful piles of vegetables is a terrific way to eat a variety of colors. I wouldn't normally say that chicken salad is a colorful dish, but when you serve it with gorgeous vegetables, well, even on a white plate this would still be a riot of color.

I've been throwing together some easy summer mixed plates using a variety of cool and warm ingredients lately.  For a glimpse, head to my FB page to check out this photo.

Pepperoni and Yellow Squash Pizza

Overlapping slices of summer squash and pepperoni atop an herbed goat cheese base crust

I have to say it is AWESOME when I've previously scheduled a post to go up and lo and behold, when I pick up my farm share, the featured vegetable for the post is in the box! This week we got a transitional box between Spring and summer produce, with zucchini, yellow squash, turnips, kale, green beans (perfect timing on the Hot French Potato Salad, too) parsley (some went into this pasta and the rest vanished into a food processor full of garlic scape pesto) and carrots.  Probably radishes too--oh and chard as well--our farmers really rock at filling up the boxes each week.  I made Zucchini Carrot Es-kah-pay (it's a Finding Nemo reference and a bastardization of something in a Giada de Laurentis cookbook-stay tuned) dish that we'll eat in an antipasto platter over the weekend, and if it's good you'll find it here.  Eventually. The rest of the carrots and the radishes will be used to scoop up a green garlic hummus I made out of green garbanzo beans and green garlic--so now that I've dealt with the scapes and the green garlic I'm ready to roast and put up the rest of the garlic harvest. But the turnips are looming over my head . . . last weekend I did a simmered & grilled side dish of cubed turnips, potatoes, kohlrabi and radishes that became a very tasty enchilada filling, so I may want to try that with all turnips.  But enough about my stream-of-consciousness for today--on to the real post.

Some of my best meals occur by opening the fridge and seeing what needs to be used up. A bit of cheese and some pretty vegetables can turn into something surprising. I made this pizza sort of on a whim. Often I obsess over and plot out ingredients combinations . . . which I admit seems really weird . . . but this one was purely a 'it's Friday, what's in the fridge' type of pizza.

With all the ways I can shred, cube, or pulverize summer squash and incorporate it in other dishes, I never think to just celebrate the perfection and beauty of a thin circular slice. I see folks making lovely vegetable terrines and tians--and I loved the movie Ratatouille's signature dish presentation--but I never think that I could create such visually stunning food.

I admit I'm pleasantly surprised how well this pizza was received by the kids, and how well the photos turned out, though I have no clue why the crust got so fat--perhaps it was having fun rising in the kitchen while I was slicing away.  I've got a mind to try similar pizzas this summer. I have a desire to try my hand at making herbed cream cheese and herbed goat cheese since my herb garden [except cilantro, which bolted about 10 days after I planted it] is growing gangbusters.