You may notice a bit more water than usual in the bins today – the sky was sharing lots and lots of it with us! The very first of the fresh garlic is in there too. It is best kept in the fridge and used up asap. Many of the veggies will be familiarish by now. There is a big bunch of spicy greens that would be yummy diluted in a green (or cabbage) salad or added to a snow pea-ginger-sesame stir-fry. Since we had a lettuce surplus, you do too.  If you are getting a touch tired of salads, spicy lettuce loaf is a hit around here (see recipe below). And horray for broccoli! Don’t forget to soak it in a bowl of salty water before eating/cooking it – unless you need extra protein in your diet.

The summer squash plants LOVED the heat wave and are booming. The pattypans are nice additions to salads, but can also be roasted/bbqed/fried like their cousins the costata romanesco and zéphyr (my personal favourite – for appearance and texture). I was perusing a vegetarian cookbook this week and stumbled on a tasty looking zucchini soup recipe (also below).

On a sad note, you almost got another container or red or black raspberries, but mold got most of them. We don’t know if it’s because of our flaky fridge or the berries being damp when picked or maybe crushed when closing the containers, either which way, they didn’t make it. *sigh* However, we are quite grateful for the birds helping plant these beautiful black raspberry bushes all over the place – mostly under trees and along the cedar hedge. We are happily under slow invasion….

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

 

SPICY LETTUCE LOAF

Just went through my recipe box to no avail. So here is a fairly similar cake recipe http://bakingbites.com/2009/05/spiced-lettuce-cake-bars/

In the loaf I make, the cardamom and ginger are the dominant flavours. And if you shred the lettuce finely (very very finely for kiddies who inspect food for signs of greens) you’d never guess you had lettuce in there. I’ve made it with all kinds of different lettuce varieties, even kale (not just iceberg as mentioned in that cake recipe).

 

CREAM OF ZUCCHINI SOUP

(adapted – serves 4 to 6)

3 Tablespoons olive oil or butter

a bunch of green onions, roughly chopped

2 lbs zucchini, sliced

1 tsp dried oregano

2-3 cups vegetable stock

1 cup light cream

4 oz dolcelatte or gorgonzola cheese (or old cheddar)

Salt and pepper

Heat oil/butter and sauté onions a few minutes. Add zucchini, oregano and salt. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Pour in stock and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 25 minutes. Stir in cheese. Process soup in a blender. Add cream and stir over low heat until hot, but not boiling. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with extra oregano and cheese.