BLOG: Winter Gardening Chore ... Gather Your Recipes?

Of course you’re still looking through those seed catalogs and planning your garden, but now is actually a great time to start thinking of how you’re going to use your upcoming harvest.

According to Ron and Jennifer Kujawski in their book Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardener’s Handbook, the time to gather recipes is NOW. This way you’re not scrambling trying to find new ways to use that prolific zucchini or those yummy ripe tomatoes when you’re overwhelmed at harvest time.

I’d never thought of this before, but it makes perfect sense and I have a couple book recommendations for you.

The first is the All New Square Foot Gardening Cookbook written by Mel Bartholomew. Honestly when I was out in Eden, Utah, at the Square Foot Gardening teacher symposium, the last thing I wanted was a cookbook. There isn’t a recipe you can’t find on the Internet, so why on earth do I need another book cluttering up the house? Then during one of our breaks I started flipping through it and I just HAD to have it! 

The book is arranged, not by the typical categories, appetizer, main dish or dessert ... but by vegetable! At the beginning of each section Mel tells you when to harvest, signs that it is ready, when it is too late, how to harvest and the expected yield. The next page has Tips (storage, eat/don’t eat and companion planting). There’s a Kid’s Corner with a garden/vegetable-related activity and even a Mel says section with a short garden-related topic. After that, of course, are several pages of recipes featuring that section’s vegetable. 

Another of my favorite cookbooks is Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (yes, Jerry’s wife). You may or may not agree with her philosophy of sneaking vegetables into your children’s diet (it works equally well on husbands), but her recipes are one more way to add a nutritious boost to your meals AND it’s another way to USE that harvest.

For instance, she uses carrot and spinach puree in her brownies and beet puree in her pink pancakes and chocolate cake. Her grilled cheese sandwiches features Sweet potato or butternut squash puree, and her ranch dressing ... mashed cooked navy beans. Even her deviled eggs hide cauliflower or carrot puree without being noticeable. 

Purees can be made by cooking the fruits and veggies until soft then using a food processor or blender to make them smooth and free of chunks. You can easily and quickly whip up a batch of fruit or vegetable puree divide them into 1/4- to 1/2-cup portions and either refrigerate if you plan to use in a few days or put them into zippered freezer bags and freeze them. She suggests using a permanent marker to label each bag with the type and amount of puree and the date. For example: 1/2 cup spinach, 9/24/12. She uses plastic storage bins in both the fridge and freezer to hold the bagged purees. I’ve found that clear plastic shoe boxes work very well for this, and they’re available at Wal-Mart for about $1.

Here’s an abridged version of one of the recipes from Deceptively Delicious—Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. To make two sandwiches mix ½ cup shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese, ½ cup sweet potato or butternut squash puree, 1 tablespoon trans-fat-free soft tub margarine spread, ¼ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Spread equal amounts on 2 slices of bread and top with 2 more slices.  Prepare and cook as you would normally fix a grilled cheese sandwich. 

Do you have any cookbooks or recipes that you particularly like that allow you to use A LOT of fresh veggies from your garden? Please share with us.

Both books can be found on amazon.com. The Square Foot Gardening cookbook can also be found at the squarefootgardening.com or sfg4u.com.