Summer Squash Recipes

Last month, I shared my love of fresh produce that comes with the rising temperatures.  If you haven’t gone to the Simple Farm, today’s market day.  🙂  Today, I want to share another hidden treasure in our town.

So some of you, like me, may love the idea of gardening and urban farming, but maybe don’t have the spot to do it.  If you are in an apartment or in house with a concrete backyard (like yours truly), it can be challenging.  Or you may have the spot but no know-how.  For the record, I did try and get 2 new plants for the house after my last post.  For the record, they are both dead.  My sweet husband says at least its not one of the kids.  Very funny.

Not only do we have farmer’s markets and a great urban farm, but Scottsdale also has opportunity for you to learn and to tend your own plot of land.  At Scottsdale Community College, you can rent a plot to garden through their Garden Club.  A nominal fee gets you a plot to grow your own garden or join with others to develop several plots.  Right now, 140 people garden here and they are full!  If it is something you might be interested in in the future, though, get on their waiting list.  A dear friend of our family’s has been doing this for years.  As you can imagine, it is fantastic when we can share in his bounty.  This last week, he brought me red and yellow onion, garlic the size of my baby’s head, 5 zucchinis and 3 different scalloped squashes.

I have to admit, zucchini and squash find themselves at the very bottom of my veggie list.  But we will never let food, especially free food, go to waste.  So I turned to one of my recipe friends for help.  Martha Stewart.  She gets a bad wrap for her overly complicated crafts and home oddities, but I find her recipes to be relatively easy, usually quick and always unique.  I knew she could help me turn a icky veggie, delish!  That she did.  I made the following recipes, and they were not just edible, but fantastic!  I also have a little one that is gluten free, so below the pictures, I’ll list the modifications I made to keep the dish safe for everyone.

1) Bacon and Zucchini Quiche

(skip the crust and just use a little olive oil spray to keep it from sticking.  We like ours a little more browned on top. Great with Salsa!)

2) Zucchini Spice Bread

(okay, I am sure some baking experts are going to tell me why this is not a good idea, but this is what I do. I mix together the wet ingredients.  Then I mix two bowls of dry ingredients.  Each with 1/2 the total the recipe calls for.  1/2 regular. 1/2 GF flour.  I then divide the wet ingredients into each bowl, mix and bake separately.  Above, the bread is regular and the mini-muffins are GF.  Don’t forget to use Vientnemese Cinnamon from Penzeys! Yummy)!!

3) And finally, the best! Zucchini and Squash Gratin!

(I used GF bread crumbs instead of panko. I also used the scalloped squash in place of the yellow squash.  They are firmer than other squashes and held up nicely in the oven.  I could eat this every night).

Let me know if you end up trying these!  What are some of your other favorite summer recipes?

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Cate Johnson has been married to her best friend, Sean, for 10 years.  She is the mother to their three Haitian princesses who came home forever in 2008.  They also brought home a son domestically in March.  She is passionate about Jesus, adoption, and attachment.  She also loves coming alongside prospective adoptive parents as well as those struggling through transition and attachment. Cate blogs about all of these topics and more at Gathered From Afar and Attaching Hearts.