spaghetti squash salad with tomato and basil

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time (or if you know me in "real" life and you have been hearing me whine), you won't be surprised to know that sometimes I get overwhelmed by a particular vegetable in the Abundant Harvest box.

Last year I vaguely remember having a period where there was a ton of broccoli... and this summer there was most definitely a zucchini surplus.

It's not that it is a yucky vegetable. Or that I don't know how to prepare it. It is just that sometimes I just don't know what to do with so much of it. At points I felt like I might turn into broccoli from eating it so often.

This week, it is spaghetti squash. Up until now, the only way I have ever prepared it is to turn it into a spaghetti-like dish (with red sauce and meat). I did that last week. And this week, I was rewarded with two new, large, spaghetti squash. I can serve it one more time as a main dish, but any more than that? My husband and kids would be rightly justified in walking out on me. For good.

So, enter creativity mode!

Hey, if spaghetti squash takes the place of spaghetti, why shouldn't it take the place of other pastas Like...say... couscous?


I made a sort of spaghetti-squash, semi-caprese, semi pasta-salad salad.

Spaghetti Squash Salad with tomato and basil
(plan ahead to cook the squash and let it completely cool before assembling the salad)

1 spaghetti squash
3 small tomatoes, chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
2 small yellow squash, chopped (about 1 cup)
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and pulp. Place face down into a pan filled with about 1 inch of water.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the shell of the squash is browned and the insides are very soft.

Let it cool completely. Once it is cool, you will be able to easily scrape the flesh out into spaghetti-like strands.

Mix together the squash, feta and vegetables. Add olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.

Like many pasta salads, this tastes even better after being refrigerated for a few hours, so go ahead and make it the morning before you need it!

Served in a half of an avocado, it makes and especially filling, healthy, delicious lunch!

Roast Vegetable and Hummus Tart

I will admit that all week long  most days  once in a while I look at a recipe, and instead of thinking to myself That looks delicious! I think to myself That uses up a ton of veggies!


Such was the case when I saw a picture of this tart on Pinterest. It involves several different species currently living in the biosphere that is my crisper drawer. And that was good enough for me.

As it turns out, though, this baby is delicious! I plan to make it many more times... and it can be adapted to use whatever vegetables are in season, so I imagine it will become a semi-regular part of the rotation around here. Plus, it is meatless, so it can be a part of the Monday routine. Although I served it as a main course, it is presented cut into smaller pieces and served as an appetizer. Look out Book Club... it's coming your way soon!

Without any further ado, I present to you Roasted Vegetable and Hummus Tart.

Thanks to Soma at eCurry. You have no idea how much this recipe means to me.

The recipe that Soma has on her blog allows for making the crust, the hummus, and the veggie topping separately and then combining them. I happened to have some hummus on hand already, so I used pre-made hummus. If you want this hummus recipe, head on over and check it out. It's not hard at all, although it requires some ingredients you may not have around (chickpeas, tahini).

I used her recipe for the crust (so delicious! And flaky! And without any butter!) She uses somewhat odd and very precise amounts of ingredients for the crust, but don't doubt her. She clearly knows what she is doing. She topped her tart with onions, zucchini, eggplant and tomatoes. I (of course) used the veggies that came in my box this week... summer squash, bell pepper, tomatoes, and potatoes.

To make the Crust:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup + 2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tablespoons very cold club soda
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
optional -- any herbs you like. I added some fresh thyme, since that was in my box this week

The trick is to handle this crust as little as possible. It isn't hard at all, so handling it very little is easy to do.

In a bowl, combine flour, salt, pepper and herbs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil and club soda for a couple of minutes, until it is almost creamy-looking.

Pour water-oil mixture into the flour mixture, and combine with a fork just until there is no dry flour left. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball.

Divide the dough into two pieces and roll each one separately. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll in only one direction (not back and forth). I rolled mine into rectangles like Soma did, by rolling out a more or less rectangular shape and cutting the edges. I was tempted to leave it as a sort of loose oval, because it looked rustic and charming. You can make it whatever shape you like.

Remove the top parchment paper, cut the edges if you wish, and pierce with a fork.

Bake the crusts on the parchment paper at 400 degrees, for about 12 minutes, or until golden.


To prepare the veggies:

Again, use whatever vegetables you prefer, or whatever you happen to have around.

2 summer squash, sliced into rounds
2 tomatoes, sliced
2 potatoes, sliced
2 red bell peppers, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper
olive oil
herbs, to taste (again, I used the thyme from my box, plus some sage and rosemary)

Lay all of the vegetable slices out on parchment paper. Combine the oil with the herbs and salt and pepper. Drizzle over the vegetables.

Roast at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Turn once, about halfway through.

To Assemble the Tart:


2 tart crusts
1/2-1 cup of hummus
roasted vegetables
sea salt
olive oil

Let the crusts cool after baking. Spread 1/4-1/2 cup of hummus on each one. Layer the vegetables on top. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, to warm it all up.

Summer Vegetable Tian

Ahhhh. I am content.

We are back in a routine.  School, girl scouts and boy scouts, karate and piano lessons. Dad gets home at dinner time, kids are in bed at 8:00. It's lovely.

Don't get me wrong. I do love summer, what with the sleeping in, running off to the beach on a whim, eating dinner any time between 4:00 and 9:00 pm, and going days at a time without looking at a clock. Now that I think about it, I am not sure why I feel so happy to be back at school.

But it's true. After a couple of months of relaxing, we are ready to get back to normal. I get tired of running a 24-hour diner, and there are only so many times I can ask "Who left the __________ (legos, books, dirty clothes, dirty dishes, towel, shoes, crayons, athletic supporter) on the ____________ (living room floor, dining table, stairway, hallway, entryway, doorway, kitchen counter)?" before I go insane. It's nice that the kids get away from each other and from me for a few hours a day.

Last week, I left some green beans roasting in my oven when we went to karate class. I had it all planned out so that the food would cook while we were gone and I could do the last minute glazing and tossing when we got back. I forgot, though, to set the oven timer. Oops. So the green beans were a little bit shriveled and dry. There are worse things, right? Like... the house could have burned down, and it didn't. So there.

If the kids continue to be as involved in after-school activities as they are now, I see a lot of crock-pot cooking in my future. Crock-pot cooking seems so autumn-ish, that I think I'll wait a while yet.

Anyway, part of the new routine is Meatless Mondays, and here is a roast vegetable dish that I managed not to overcook. Although it is probably considered to be a side dish, I served it as the starring attraction, along with some crusty bread and a green salad.

Summer Vegetable Tian
(I got this recipe here.)

1 sweet onion, cut in half and then sliced
2 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 potatoes, un-peeled
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
4 roma tomatoes
salt and pepper, to taste
dried thyme, to taste
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese

Preheat oven to 375. Coat a round baking dish with cooking spray.

In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil. When hot, add the onions and saute for about 9-10 minutes, until translucent. Add the garlic and continue to saute for about another minute.

Transfer the onion mixture to the baking dish.

Slice the potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. Stand them upright in a spiral in the baking dish, alternating the vegetables. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, and thyme on top, and drizzle the remaining olive oil over it all.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake until the potatoes are tender (about 40 minutes). Uncover, and sprinkle the cheese over it all. Bake another 25 minutes, until the dish is browned.

Spring Rolls

After driving halfway up California's Great Central Valley, and visiting Peterson Family Farm, we arrived at our campground.

AAAAHHHHH.

I love camping. I was trying to figure out why it seems so relaxing, when in reality many things are more difficult while camping. For example, washing dishes:

At home, I load the dishwasher (theoretically I do this as I create dirty dishes), pop in the detergent, and press "start."

While camping, I walk to the water spout to fill a dishpan. Then I walk back to fill a large pot. I place the pot onto the stove to heat the water. Once it boils, I divide the cold water and the hot water so that I end up with two pans of very warm water. One gets soap, the other is for rinsing. Then, I scrub each item in the first pan, transfer it to the rinse pan, and then place it into a drying rack. When they are all done, I have to throw the water out, place the dish rack into one pan, and invert the other pan over it all, in order to keep it dust-free.

Really, being at home is much easier, right?

Well, except.

At a campground, I have no floors to sweep, mop, or vaccuum. I have no beds to make (unless you count throwing the sleeping bag back to it's proper side of the tent). I have no washing machine or dryer to run. I have no windows to wash, furniture to dust, or showers to scrub. I also have no appointments to keep, errands to run, or practices and classes to shuttle kids to and from.

It's lovely.

As I mentioned, eons ago, we grabbed our Abundant Harvest box on the way to the campground. Meaning that there were all sorts of yummy fruits and veggies to consume during the week. Fortunately, we also had friends and family there to share in the harvest.

One fun use for many veggies was spring rolls. This was actually my mom's idea, and she got my kids and their friends involved right alongside the adults, in making this delicious appetizer.

They are super nutritious (all sorts of raw vegetables) and easy to make (very little actual cooking). Once the chopping was done, the kids pretty much took over, and the adults got busy eating the spring rolls as quickly as the kids could build them.

Spring Rolls

First, you need to buy spring roll wrappers. I have only seen them at Asian Markets.

It is an extra errand to run, but as you can see, they are certainly reasonably priced! This package didn't say how many it contains, and they were being eaten faster than I can count. However, I'd be willing to bet that for $1.49, we made at least 80 spring rolls.

Spring roll wrappers are made out of rice flour, water and salt. They are rolled out to be extremely thin, and then dried on bamboo mats.

They are almost transparent and completely dry (almost fragile) when you take them out of the package. After dipping them into warm water for a half-minute or so, they become pliable.

The other specialty ingredient is rice noodles. These can probably be found in any supermarket, but you will find them for a ridiculously low price if you get them at the Asian Market while you are picking up your spring roll wrappers. Cook the noodles according to the directions on the package. (Pretty much like cooking any pasta, but way faster). This is the only cooking you have to do.

Now, chop up your veggies. They should be chopped into match sticks. I used (of course) the stuff I had on hand, but any combo is bound to be good. I had carrots, basil, bell peppers (red and yellow), summer squash, lettuce, and cilantro. You could add almost anything. Some things that come to mind are bean sprouts, cucumber, celery, mushrooms, or radishes.

Once you have assembled your supplies (wrappers, cooked noodles, chopped veggies), you can begin rolling.

Take a wrapper, and submerge it in warm water until it is soft enough to fold without cracking (20-30 seconds). Lay it out and begin piling ingredients onto one side of it. Remember that it is small and needs to roll up, so go easy on the filling! A couple of pieces of each veggie, and bit of noodles is all it takes.

This one is filled very generously!

Once you have gotten all the good stuff on there, roll it and tuck the ends in as you go. (Like a burrito).

Since we had a whole group of rollers (ranging in age from 7 to... shall we say... adults?), we ended up with a whole range of rolling styles. Some were perfectly done.

Others looked a little more... creative.

But all of them were delicious!

Ordinarily, I would love to artfully display a platter-ful.
This time, though, I had to snap quickly. These hungry
campers weren't waiting to eat them! I don't think we ever had
more than four on the plate at any one time.

Once they are rolled, dip them in the most delicious dipping sauce ever. 

1 cup hoisin sauce

1 Tablespoon peanut butter

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Mix together hoisin sauce, peanut butter and vinegar. If it seems too thick, you can stir in a little water. Top with chopped peanuts.

veggie fries

while you are reading this, I am camping far far away from my computer. I am off where cell signal doesn't exist, and if there is wifi, I don't want to know about it. I may come down from the mountain once or twice during the week to check in with the housesitter, but I may not. Hopefully I am cooking up lots of great meals and even greater memories that I will share with you when I get back.

In my quest to make room in the fridge for the food I was prepping for the camping trip, I found I needed to get rid of a fair amount of vegetable matter. Which should come as no surprise to you.

I have recently become addicted to pinterest, where I find that I am pinning all sorts of recipe ideas. Which should come as no surprise to you.

One of the recipes I pinned (actually twice without realizing it) was for zucchini fries. Ohhhhh my. 

I started working on making the fries (with yellow squash instead, since that is what I have right now), but in order to get to the yellow squash I had to shove my way past some green beans. Hmmm, I thought. Green bean fries? Why the heck not? Why the heck not, indeed. I actually liked the green bean fries better than the squash fries. But I like green beans better than zucchini or yellow squash, so there you go.

I am happy to report that this recipe works well for both yellow squash and green beans. Which means that soon I will be trying it with.... butternut squash, sweet potatoes, asparagus, onion.... everything I can't figure out how to otherwise use up!

Veggie Fries

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs

2 cups panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon dried parsley

veggies (I used 2 small yellow squash and a large handful of green beans)

Preheat the oven to 425.

Place the flour into a large ziploc bag and set aside.

Whisk the eggs with about 2 tablespoons of water in a shallow bowl.

Combine the bread crumbs and seasonings in another bowl.

Cut up the veggies (just trim the ends of the green beans, and cut the zucchini into 1/2 inch diameter sticks).

Toss all of the veggies in the bag of flour, until they are coated. Dip each into the egg mixture, and then into the crumb mixture.

Lay them out on a baking sheet (I recommend covering it in foil or parchment first).

Bake for about 18-20 minutes, until they are golden brown. These are best eaten warm and fresh, dipped into some sort of aioli or yogurt-based dip.

Cheesy.

In my ranting and raving the other day about how my kids don't eat their veggies, and about how I have tried all the tricks there are with varying degrees of   mild   no   very little bits of success, I forgot my number one way of getting them to eat the veggies.

Cheese. Smother the junk in cheese.

Last night, I made a zucchini casserole (that I found here), and all three kids ate it. I wish I had taken pictures of it to show you, but really it isn't that beautiful. It is, however, tasty and quite serviceable when trying to make zucchini magically disappear off of plates and reappear in bellies. It turns out almost like a lasagna without the noodles. I served it alongside grilled sausages and sliced peaches, and I think that we got much closer to having half of the plate filled with produce items.

Of course, an hour later all three kids wanted a grilled cheese sandwich. They totally ruined the ratio, but oh well. For an hour there I felt good about it all.

Zucchini and tomato casserole

2 large zucchini, yellow squash, or a combination
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. Italian seasoning (or a combination of thyme, rosemary, basil and parsley)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 onion, minced
3 large tomatoes
2 cups cheese -- a combination of mozzarella and parmesan

First, slice the zucchini into 1/4 inch slices, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onions for about 3 minutes, until they are starting to soften. Add the garlic and Italian seasoning, and cook for another minute or two, until it is very fragrant. Cut the tomatoes into 6 pieces or so, and add them. Cook over medium heat, until it cooks down to about a cup. It should be thick but not dry.

Arrange a layer of  the slices of zucchini into a 8x8 pan. Cover with 1/3 of the tomato mixture (it won't spread perfectly evenly, but that's okay). Cover this with 1/3 of the cheese. Layer again with zucchini, tomato, cheese. Layer again the zucchini and tomato, but leave off the last layer of cheese for now.

Bake it at 400 for 20 minutes. Then, add the last layer of cheese, reduce the heat to 375, and bake another 20 minutes.