We have been so fortunate in the Ozarks to have a nice balance of rain and sunshine this summer. The temperature so far has also been fairly mild. While I am not an expert, these conditions seem to be perfect for growing produce. I am greeted at the farmers market with a rainbow of fruits and vegetables. Home gardens are also starting to overflow with cucumbers, squash and tomatoes. The excess is showing up in office break rooms and being gladly shared with neighbors. This boon brings about the enviable question….
What do I do with all these vegetables?
You can of course make a big green salad with dinner every night but that can get old quickly and besides, where is the adventure in that? When you have things like bok choy, mustard greens and spaghetti squash that look so amazing it should inspire you! It should make you want to get creative in the kitchen and try something new. I understand free style cooking can be a little scary so I’m here to help. I’ve got tried and true sources for veggie recipes that will leave your whole family asking for more.
- How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
Before Mark Bittman was known for his Vegan/Flexitarian ways, he released a basic primer for those new to the kitchen. I had a first edition of this cookbook and it helped me become less scared of the kitchen. While not every recipe is healthy, it does explain basic cooking terms and lets you browse by food. The chapter on vegetables and fruit will help you create healthy sides or you can explore other chapters for ideas. The sauce chapter will help you out with your bumper crop of tomatoes or the condiment chapter can help you use up those peppers. - The Eat Clean Diet Vegetarian Cookbook by Tosca Reno
Of course you would expect a vegetarian cookbook to be a good source for vegetable recipes. Just because a vegetarian cookbook, however, doesn’t make it automatically a healthy cookbook. This is the best of both worlds – plant based and clean whole foods. She does include a seafood chapter just in case you’re more flexitarian than vegetarian. - The Complete Guide to Vegan Food Substitutions by Celine Steen and Joni Mari Newman
Vegan cooking can provide you with great recipe ideas for mushrooms (burgers and fajitas), butternut squash (for vegan cream sauces) and filling veggie/grain/bean salads. It’s a handy reference too for gluten free recipes. - Vegetarian Times Website
Forget Pinterest for vegetables recipes. The pictures are pretty but unfortunately the results are inconsistent at best. The Vegetarian Times web site has a huge recipe database that you can search by ingredient. The recipes are from past issues of the print publication and many have reader reviews. Type in “eggplant” and you’ll get recipes way beyond Parmesan.
What do you have a bumper crop of this year? How do get creative with the surplus?
