Please join me for a different summer memory.
I promised God one summer that if He would bless my garden, I would do my best to make use of every bit of fruit and vegetables without wasting. It sounded simple enough for a small garden measuring approximately 18 x 20 ft. with our short growing season.
When harvesting began, I started each summer day at a good clip which continued into the afternoon. My propensity for acting out the saying “out of sight, out of mind” determined that I had to create dishes for each of these products still fresh from the garden. Otherwise they would be discovered several weeks later, decomposing in my refrigerator’s vegetable bin.
My promise became a challenge to produce various salads, side dishes, or desserts to prevent wasting God’s bounty and so began a time of creativity unknown in former summers. Cucumber salads varied with sweet creamy dressing for my mother’s tastes, to pungent vinegar baths for my husband. Broccoli ended up a favorite material for salads, mixed with dried cranberries and nuts which even my grandson requested. Strangely enough, he snubbed the very same vegetable when it was served by its more common identity as a side dish, steamed with cheddar cheese topping.
Zucchini possesses a natural camouflaging ability to keep itself hidden in the garden until tipping the scales at two or three pounds, much too large to be tender. I discovered enough of them to create Italian or Mexican-styled side dishes to accompany spaghetti or enchiladas. A smaller spear occasionally found its way into a soup or a salad. Who has heard of a summer without tons of zucchini bread?
Zillions of cherry tomatoes inundated me towards summer’s end, which was great, but presented a creative quandary. Bruchetta pizza worked as a new dish but picking the tomatoes was difficult. I couldn’t find them within a lattice of tightly woven vines. Pop, pop, pop sounds accompanied my less than graceful balancing act while I squashed them while tiptoeing through the tomatoes.
All in all, I think I kept my part of the bargain with my Maker and did not waste much of the plentiful produce He provided. My family and friends were also enriched with healthier eating from our summer bounty.
Broccoli Delight Salad
Mix together:
4-5 c. fresh broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup dried cranberries
¼ c. red onion, diced
10 strips bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup sunflower seeds
Dressing:
3 T. sugar, 1 T. vinegar, ½ cup mayonnaise or creamy dressing
Dianna
Sharing the Fruit of Maturity
