From the Garden: A Recipe Series

Happy Summer,  dear readers.  I can't believe that we've nearly arrived at the 4th of July already!  Dan and I kicked off the summer with a bottle of wine and a quiet night on the evening of the summer solstice. We spent the better part of the spring and the first few days of the summer tending to our little garden.  

I haven't been very good with the regular garden updates on here that I had hoped to do, but things seemed to be moving so slow out there and then all of a sudden- bam! - we have a full blown bounty of plants on our hands! It's incredible, really.  The other day Dan and I shared a high five after we discovered a beast of a zucchini lurking underneath the plant's lush leaves.  The zucchini must measure 2 feet long, I kid you not!  I haven't cut it yet because we are still working our way through a little zucchini and yellow squash harvest from a few days ago.  Which brings me to the point of this post- this week marks the beginning of a regular series I will be running here on the blog from now until the end of the gardening season.  

My From the Garden: A Recipe Series is just that- a seasonal recipe series featuring fruit and vegetables that have, in one way or another, come "farm to table"-  with "farm" being the little raised garden bed that sits just outside our kitchen door, of course.  

Dan and I had container gardened for the last few years when we lived in the city, but we had never reaped so many bountiful rewards as this season promises us (knock on wood, of course!).  It's really quite fascinating- our four tomato plants are heavy with green tomatoes, the zucchini and yellow squash plants have made several attempts to take over the garden full force.  We've cut back some of the large, umbrella like leaves and have given the sunlight back to our yellow, green and red peppers.  Cucumber vines creep their way around the garden, via the fence, despite the cucumber trellis we were training them on.  And the basil- oh, the basil! I have been making weekly batches of pesto- jarring it up and using as we see fit through out the week before another batch must be made.  Honestly, growing this garden may have been one of the best decisions we've made all year!

So, when ever you see the above badge know the featured recipe and the meal we shared with it, is extra special.  What you can expect: fresh pasta sauce (using our plum tomatoes), seasonal salads incorporating a melange of heirloom, cherry and early girl tomatoes, lots of zucchini and squash dishes, peach pie, perhaps? And many, many more.  

Through out the series I will post photo updates of the garden as well as information on how we constructed the raised bed and what varieties we are growing.  If you would like to suggest a favorite recipe of yours, please feel free to do so!  

In the meantime, here is a glance at what the month of June brought us:

From top left, clockwise: Our first red tomato; Figs; Zucchini Blossoms, freshly picked for dinner; Green Bell Peppers; A handful of raspberries- the birds got the rest; and finally- Our first yellow squash with a trio of figs.