Summer Produce

Hello everyone! I hope everyone is having a wonderful summer. My summer has been fun so far but I have to admit that I am looking forward to the crisp, cool autumn days ahead.

It has been exciting here over the last month. This year I decided to enter a recipe contest. As you know, I create recipes all the time that I share with all of the wonderful 30 Day Gourmet cooks but I have never entered an official recipe contest before now. I am a member of the Ohio Farm Bureau (not that I live on a farm but I garden, can, and I greatly appreciate the local farmers). The Ohio Farm Bureau partnered with Bob Evans to sponsor a recipe contest. The recipe had to use one Bob Evans product and at least one locally grown product. I submitted a recipe for Tuscan White Bean Soup. To my surprise I was selected as a finalist in the contest! I got to go to the Ohio State Fair to find out who had won the contest. I did not win but it is an honor to be first runner-up in my category. Here's a picture of my recipe:

The garden is starting to produce lots of vegetables and I have been freezing and canning. I tried a freezer pizza sauce recipe this year that is good. I have also canned some using my regular pizza sauce recipe. I found blueberries at the local market for $1 a pound so I froze 12 pounds in 1 cup portions for muffins and pancakes. My zucchini patch exploded all at once so I grated some, made some Zucchini Carrot Muffins, and I am testing freezing sliced zucchini for stir fry recipes and soups.

Last month a reader sent me a great email about saving money using seasonal produce.

We are really trying to cut back financially and still eat healthily...not just boxes of hamburger helper and taco box kits, etc..  =)

 

We are going to the Farmer's Market to get fresh fruits and veggies.  It's cheaper and healthier to buy these directly from the farmer when they are "in season."  However, I am quickly running out of ideas on how to use these items and healthy recipes I can use to freeze these for later use when they are no longer "in season" and will cost more to buy.

 

I would love to see a section on your website for "in season" cooking.  Where the recipes are separated out according to the "seasons" so that myself and others can cook and freeze meals according to what fruits and veggies are in season now, at a cheaper price.  So in October I can click on recipes for meals that can be made with October's in season fruits and veggies or like are in season now in July--blueberries and zucchini, for example.  I think lots of people would enjoy it and it would save people lots of money on their food bills.

 

Thanks for the chance to make this request!

Wendi

This is a great idea! I did some research on the subject. The USDA's web site has a general list of produce by season. Click here to view the seasonal lists. Produce availability varies by region so the exact produce that is available in your area may be be different from this this but it is a good place to start. For the state of Ohio, the Ohio Farm Bureau produces a list of what is available. Click here to view this list. Each state has its own web site with this information. An interesting site I found is www.pickyourown.org. This web site has harvest calendars for a majority of the states as well as farms where you can pick your own fruits and vegetables.

Based on the USDA's Summer Produce list, here are some 30 Day Gourmet recipes to make this summer using fresh in season produce.

Apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums

·         Peach Fruit Soup

·         Peach Sorbet

Bananas, kiwi

·         Banana Coconut Loaf

·         Tropical Island Bread

·         Champaign Salad

·         Banana Bread

·         Frozen Bananas

·         Fruit Slush

·         Tropical Fruit Salad

·         Strawberry-Banana Frozen Salad

·         Yogurt Fruit Salad

Beets, radishes, bell peppers, okra, peas

·         Easy Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches

·         Mediterranean Chicken and Rice

·         Mexican Pork Chops

·         Cuban Chicken

·         Slow Cooker Chicken Chili

·         Swiss Steak

·         Slow Poke Fajitas

·         Country Chicken Pot Pie

Blueberries, blackberries, cherries, grapes, raspberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, watermelon

·         Frozen Fruit Salad

·         Frozen Waldorf  Salad

·         Very Berry Fruit Pie

·         Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

·         Strawberry Pretzel Dessert

Corn, Cucumbers, eggplant, garlic

·         Baked Corn Casserole

·         Taco Chili

·         Corn Chowder

·         Gazpacho

·         Spinach Pesto Dip

Green beans, lima beans, mushrooms

·         Italian Meatball Soup

·         Chicken and Dumplings

·         Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms

·         Swiss Steak with Mushrooms

·         Master Beef Cube Mix

Summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes

·         Chocolate Chip Zucchini Loaf

·         Zucchini Carrot Muffins

·         Southwestern Quiche

·         Theresa's Turkey Chili