SUMMER VEGETABLES

Summer Vegetables

It’s that time of year, when all the hard work of the spring-time planting season is paying off.  Delicious beans, peas and herbs, soon to be joined on the table by squash, tomatoes and corn.  If you’re like me, the abundance is plentiful, but a little too plentiful at times.  “What are we going to do with all those extra vegetables?”  is the common question around my home.  Well, besides sounding like your mother and telling you to “eat all your vegetables”; there are many avenues to take.  All the extra tomatoes make a wonderful salsa, and remember that salsa isn’t restricted to tomatoes, onions and cilantro.  Many combinations of vegetables can be joined together to make a salsa; the only obstacle in your way is the limits of your imagination. 

Not too many people think about hot soup in the middle of a 100 degree day.  But, what about those cool fall days or the cold dredges of winter?  Do you ever crave summer vegetables then?  Well, why not eat summer vegetables in the middle of December by making a big batch of minestrone soup now, freeze it in small portions, then pull it out as needed.  When freezing vegetable soup, or anything for that matter, the faster you can get it to freeze the better.  Nobody that I know has blast chillers in their home, but you can get a similar effect by using small Tupperware containers and freezing it quickly, that way the integrity of the soup holds up and you lessen the burden on those yummy vegetables.  Certainly canning is an option as well, but I have a slight preference for freezing as it holds the soup in suspended animation, meaning it’s cold and dark – the perfect environment to hold all those vitamins in place.

Vegetables themselves can be frozen as well; certainly not the ideal format for them, but a viable means to extend their life.  The trick though is to cook them first, then freeze them.  Let’s take zucchini.  Slice it up how you desire, sauté it in a hot pan with some oil, season with salt and pepper and finish with fresh herbs as desired, such as thyme and rosemary.  Cook it less than you would want it cooked (remember that you will be eventually reheating this, so essentially cooking it again), chill it and freeze it in Ziploc freezer bags.  It’s that easy.  Once you are ready to use it, pull it from the freezer and reheat as desired.

Now, this isn’t to say that I prefer to freeze vegetables or just throw them in a soup, but when you’ve eaten your 5-9 servings a day already and you still have leftovers, then let’s use them in this way.

Don’t forget about your neighbors!  Not everyone has a garden, so share and be generous.  Large batches of soup and salsa can be canned and distributed around the neighborhood.  But, most of all, eat all your vegetables!