Oh, the bounty . . . so much bounty, in fact, that it can feel bit like mutiny.
This week, I have harvested roma tomatoes and our first “big boy.” I’ve culled a few cups of green beans and several heads of cabbage. Plus, I made some squash muffins from our few yellow squash. When I pulled weeds, I accidentally harvested several onions. Cucumbers keep tucking under leaves as if playing hide and seek. Then, the zucchini came in – three huge mamajamas and two smaller ones.
So what do to with all of this glorious food? Well, one option is to carry it to a friend’s house and then forget to give it to her. I did that one – it doesn’t result in less food.
You could send a grocery bag full of cucumbers, zucchini, and onions with your fiance to work as a remedy for having forgotten to give said bag to friends. This food is given in the “take a cucumber, leave a . . . ” Nope, really, please don’t leave anything.
Then, there is also the option of baking – my preferred way of handling any of life’s challenges. I have made a dozen of the aforementioned squash muffins, three loves of zucchini bread, a big vat of cucumbers and vinegar, and a batch of tomato sauce. I have also blanched and frozen a half-gallon of green beans.
There’s nothing like freezing spaghetti sauce, muffins, beans, and loaves of bread after they had threatened to take over your kitchen.
Now, next week, the half-acre of sweet corn comes in at Dad’s. Here’s to freezing at least 100 ears to roast at the wedding, packing TONS of kernels and creamed corn, and eating my weight in this golden glory raw.
This is the good stuff, folks. This is the good stuff.
What’s your favorite way to manage the bounty of the garden?