Mid-Summer Produce Check-In
How are we managing *in these bountiful times*?
Things are really kicking off in the veggie world here! It was HOT last week in the Deep North and the plants are happy. I was watering my garden twice daily last week to make sure they made it through the heat wave, making me a more fussy gardener than I’d prefer to be. See last week’s post for proof:
This week, my last true full week of summer break, I spent a lot of time dreaming, planning, letting myself be creative and caving to my whims whether it’s to grab an early afternoon coffee, watch seven episodes of a new show in one day, or make secret Pinterest vision boards. I know it is a great gift and privilege to have a chunk of time off, and I do not take it for granted at all.
I wish that everyone had six weeks to themselves to lazily snack on fresh veg over the sink, take the time to make pickles, and luxuriate in the process of cooking with the new seasonal produce that bursts forth every couple of weeks. Greens and radishes are slowing down, making way for versatile zucchini, crunchy cucumbers, and mushy juicy tomatoes (more on those later). I thought this would be a good time to check-in about summer veggies. It’s been about a month since my post about how to store and eat early summer produce, and there are some new kids on the block now!
Here’s what we got in our CSA box on Thursday: basil, beets, black currants, broccoli, cabbage, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, garlic, green onions, heirloom tomatoes, kale, marjoram, peas, Swiss chard, zucchini. We had Swiss chard and mixed greens left from last week, but because it’s a CSA, it’ll definitely stay fresh longer.
Mid-Summer Produce Storage
Our boxes look completely different than they did even a month ago so here’s your “how to store late July / early August vegetables” below! Remember that I use zip top bags for nearly everything, and a lot of paper towels to keep veggies as fresh as possible.
Beets - Zip top bag in the fridge
Black currants - In a berry container with a paper towel on the bottom, in the fridge
Broccoli - Zip top bag in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture
Cabbage - Zip top bag in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture
Cherry tomatoes - ON THE COUNTER in a produce bowl with space for air flow
Cucumbers - Zip top bag in the fridge
Garlic - This garlic is fresh out of the ground and not yet dried so it’s not “shelf stable.” Keep this in the fridge (loose and rolling around in the produce drawer is usually how it goes at our house)
Green onions - Laid flat in a Zip top bag with a paper towel to absorb moisture
Heirloom tomatoes - Stem down ON THE COUNTER! The tricky thing is that they might “go bad” faster so you will want to use them up quickly - more on that below!
Marjoram - Zip top bag in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture
Peas - Zip top bag in the fridge
Zucchini - Zip top bag in the fridge
Mid-Summer Meal Planning with a CSA
Here’s how we are going to use up all of our vegetables. We get our CSA newsletter on Wednesdays so I plan our meals after we get that. We went out of town this weekend, have National Night Out plans this week, and are also getting more veggies than a month ago so it’ll be a mix of preserving and eating very veg-ful meals when we do eat at home.
Friday lunch: Tomato toast and salad
uses heirloom tomatoes and the rest of the mixed greens from the previous box
Friday dinner-Sunday lunch: Out of town
Sunday dinner: Chicken sausage and sautéed veggies
uses Swiss chard, green onions, garlic
Monday dinner: Crispy rice paper dumplings
uses basil, cabbage, carrots, green onions
Tuesday dinner: National Night Out - hotdogs with neighbors 🌭
Wednesday dinner: Creamy Broccoli Pasta
uses broccoli, marjoram
Aside from these meals, we will snack on the cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and peas throughout the week, plus I’ll make zucchini bread / muffins and black currant scones for breakfast in the coming weeks. I also made the Save the Tomatoes recipe (below) for the heirloom tomatoes immediately to preserve their juicy sweetness for weeks to come, and the beets will be ignored in the fridge until the next share comes in since they’ll keep!
Pro tip is to freeze half of any baked goods you make and then thaw them when life is busy and you need something ready to go.
🍅 Tomato, Tomahhhto 🍅
I have recently come to love tomatoes raw. The family lore is that my grandpa used to eat tomatoes like an apple, which weirded out most of my family members. I wish my grandpa had lived long enough for this time in my life as a Tomato Girlie™ so I could have taught him about tomato toast. He would have loved it and been so smitten over the cute pyramid shaped flaky salt I sprinkle on top.
I’m the main tomato person in our household so the responsibility falls to me to eat them throughout the week, and then whatever I don’t eat needs to be preserved for later use. I make chunky fresh salsas and smooth tangy pasta sauce that I freeze in airtight containers to use throughout the year. But I also love Alison Roman’s Save the Tomatoes recipe to preserve a bunch of tomatoes that I’m not going to eat right away. I weigh the tomatoes I’m going to make in this recipe, and then adjust the rest of the ingredients accordingly by halving or quartering the recipe.
After the tomatoes are thoroughly roasted, I save them a few different ways:
Freeze them whole in their oil in Souper Cubes, which changed the game for me when my friend suggested them in an internet soup group (shoutout Deep North Soup Group! - should we bring it back this fall?)
Peel the tomatoes, blend it all until smooth, then pour in Souper Cubes to freeze for pasta, pizza, etc.
Put it in a jar in the fridge to put on toast or cottage cheese (DREAMS!) or eggs or beans
Best of luck this month managing all the produce. Don’t forget to savor it all!
Things I Like
No links this week! Just wanted to share my faves of the moment.
Looking at color palettes and fonts
Pudding pies - it’s too hot for anything else but a pie that can set in the fridge! 10/10
One piece athletic/athleisure outfits - unitards, onesies, bike short unitards, dresses, etc.
Rice cookers for grains and whole meals too - another summer heat kitchen lifesaver
Breathing in the crisp air off of Lake Superior in the morning
May your week be gentle and may you eat well. 🌲🥣
If given a fresh locally grown tomato that’s ripe, I’ll sprinkle some salt on it and eat it like an apple. Your grandpa had the right idea.