Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Garden Bounty


Our gardens are beginning to yield quite the bounty! I picked all of this last night and this morning.

Here's what I'll be doing in the next few days:

--Freezing green beans.

--Baking zucchini bread.

--Making Garlic-Dill Pickles. I've wanted to try my hand at these since trying something similar at the farmer's market a few weeks back. They were delicious!

--Freeze shredded zucchini to use in zucchini bread through the fall and winter. I freeze in 2 cup portions as that is the amount my recipe calls for. Just shred and freeze in a baggie. When ready to use, thaw and pour the contents of the bag, including the liquid because that's part of the zucchini, into the batter. Fresh zucchini bread made with a pureed orange added to the batter makes a delightful Christmas gift!

How are your gardens faring? What fresh foods are you eating now?

12 comments:

Married life said...

Very nice!

My cukes are doing well and so are my tomatoes and carrots. My peas however died for some reason. Maybe they have a pea disease or something *giggles*

Mary Ann said...

Married Life--

Some of my peas didn't do sow ell either, especially once it got warm. Pea disease--that's funny!!!!:-)

Thanks for sharing!

--Mary Ann

Wendi said...

Everthing looks wonderful! I have tons of small green tomatos. I noticed that there are some tiny cucumbers this evening and I should have green beans soon. My mom called tonight to say she picked her first mess. I think mine are about two weeks behind hers. I can't wait for fresh green beans!

Enjoy your wonderful bounty!

Mary Ann said...

Hi Wendi!
We just enjoyed our first green beans of the season last night. Delicious! We have lots of green tomatoes on, too as well as purple peppers!

After I tool that picture, I went out to check my cucumber plants. I found 3 cucumbers that were ready. I had seen the one, but the other two were hiding.:-)

Thanks for commenting!

Monica Wilkinson said...

Great job!

We have green beans, potatoes, onions and peppers right now. Corn is coming in nicely it seems and tomatoes are starting to ripen. My squash and cucumbers did absolutely nothing for the fourth year in a row.

Enjoy your goodies!
Monica

Mary Ann said...

I'm sorry that you haven't had much success with squash and cucumbers. But I know you're enjoying the bounty you do have from your garden!

Thanks for stopping by today, Monica!
--Mary Ann

gail said...

i can't believe how early your zuke and cukes come! over here we have to wait til july or august for those. all of it looks yummy.

Mary Ann said...

I know! I'm from the Pacific Northwest and you usually don't have much produce other than lettuce and cooler weather stuff before July 4th. My parents were just here and really enjoyed the fresh squash and cucumbers since there's aren't nearly ready yet!

--Mary Ann

The Pleasures of Homemaking said...

Look at all that! Everything looks so wonderful! My cukes got zapped by the heat and just shriveled up!

Manuela

Arlene said...

Have you ever had chocolate zucchini bread? This recipe is really good if you want to give it a try. :o)

Arlene said...

Oh, but I DID NOT use as much sugar as the recipe calls for, lol!

Mary Ann said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe! Looks great!
--Mary Ann