Week of August 1, 2021

Summer time brings many delicious vegetables! Some of these veggies from the cucurbit family can become quite prolific if the weather conditions are right. Yellow summer squash and zucchini are in abundant supply right now on Eight Mile Creek Farm, and so I will focus on some easy and creative ways to use them. If you find that you are not using them fast enough, you can slice them, lay them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer and place the cookie sheet in the freezer. Once frozen, place the slices in a ziploc bag and freeze for later use. The large zucchini can be sliced and used to make zucchini parmesan, in a similar manner as you would prepare and make eggplant parmesan. The larger zucchini are also great for zucchini bread. You could also cut them in half longways, scoop out the middle, saute’ with ground beef and rice and place this mixture back onto the center of the zucchini. Place stuffed zucchini in oven and bake until golden and soft. The following recipes use the patty pan squash, but you could also use the zucchini for these recipes.

Stuffed Patty Pan Squash

2 patty pan squash

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup quinoa

1/2 cup beef broth, chicken broth or vegetable broth

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 lb grass fed ground beef

sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. Bring the beef broth to a boil in a saucepan. Add quinoa, reduce heat to low and simmer 12-15 min. or until liquid is absorbed. Allow to cool. Slice the bottom tip off the patty pan squashes so they will lay flat on the baking sheet. Slice the tops off the squash and carefully scoop out most of the inner flesh. Chop the scooped squash. Heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion, garlic and squash in oil about 3 minutes. Add ground beef and cook through. Remove pan from heat and stir in cooked quinoa and cheese and season with salt and pepper. Fill squash to the top with stuffing mixture. Place tops back on squash and drizzle with some olive oil. Cover pan with foil and bake for 30 min. Remove foil and bake another 10 min.

Patty Pan Squash with Eggs

2 Patty Pan squash

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 minced garlic cloves

1 tsp minced fresh thyme

4 eggs

Preheat oven to 375. Cut bottom tip off squash so it will sit nicely on the baking sheet. Cut stem end of squash off and reserve. Scoop out insides of squash and reserve for later use. Brush squash and tops with some of the olive oil. Set on baking sheet and bake until tender, about 15 min. Meanwhile, heat some of the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add onion and sea salt to taste. Cook, stirring until soft. Add garlic and cook 30 sec. Add thyme and cook until combined. Divide onion mixture evenly among squash. Crack 1 egg into each squash. Sprinkle eggs with remaining salt. Bake until eggs are set, 15-20 min. Serve with tops replaced.

Yellow Summer Squash and Zucchini Thai Style

Slice squash into thin rounds. Meanwhile, heat coconut oil in large pan over medium high heat. place squash in pan. Saute’ until tender. Add chopped Thai basil to taste and saute’ until basil is wilted. Enjoy!

News From The Farm

We were blessed to have finished construction of our two new high tunnels last week, in time for fall plantings. They are more like hybrid greenhouses: we can plant directly in the soil, but they have exhaust fans and will soon have some supplemental heat. As a farmer, we must be eternal optimists; always looking at the problems we have had and trying to make improvements. This is the one form of control we have as Mother Nature can be an extremely discouraging force at times, and her, we have no control over!

Chey’s Corner

Cheyenne has resumed her job of rabbit hunting in and around our vegetable fields. She loves this and takes great pride and enjoyment in being able to jump at least four times as high as her adversaries. She has never as of yet caught a rabbit, but it hasn’t curbed her enthusiasm a bit! Check out our Instagram page: pam.schreiber or our Facebook page: Eight Mile Creek Farm (links are on the home page of this website) for a great video of Chey hunting rabbits!