As I’ve watched our first garden veggies grow on their plants, I have eagerly awaited that first dish of summer veggies that I could make. Today was the day! I sliced up those first precious zucchini and squash, gladly letting the Littles snack on them as I went. I thought back to my growing up days as a little kid like them, and though I wasn’t a picky eater and enjoyed all kinds of foods, squash was not one of them! I was very pleased that Esther, Knox and Natalie kept coming back for another slice of raw squash or zucchini, a tasty snack to them!
Knox loves to help and jumped at the opportunity to accompany me to the herb garden where we picked several different kinds of herbs to include in our dish. I told him what each herb was as I placed them in his little hands, and as we prepared the herbs inside, I quizzed him on their different names. Pretty soon, I won’t have to go to the herb garden with him. I can just send him out to get some basil or dill or oregano, and he’ll know what to do. Teaching is like that – it takes a little extra time to begin with, but soon you will save much more time when you can delegate a task to someone else who can take it on. Update – After writing this post a couple of days ago, I was already making this dish again when I realized that I’d forgotten to pick the kale from the garden. Knox volunteered to go, and I gave him the task of picking me five kale leaves which he accomplished happily.
We layered the squash with pepper, onion, salt, herbs, curly kale, olive oil and nutritional yeast in a casserole dish and baked it in the oven for an hour or so. Oh, the goodness! The satisfaction of knowing so much of it was fresh from the garden along with the delightful flavors was a treat to enjoy. I plan to make this super easy dish throughout the summer and am including the recipe below for you to try too! It’s one of those dishes that can take some of this and some of that and might be a little different every time. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Go grab some veggies, some dried or fresh herbs, some salt and not much else, and make something delicious and nutritious!
Gratefully,
Hannah
Summer Veggie Dish
Ingredients –
Squash (sliced)
Zucchini (sliced)
Onion (diced)
Bell Pepper (diced)
Jalapeño or other hot pepper (diced – optional)
Herbs (basil, oregano, dill, sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, etc.)
Olive oil (optional)
Salt
Curly kale (optional for topping)
Nutritional yeast (optional for topping)
Directions –
Layer veggies, herbs (any of the above) and salt in a greased casserole dish. Add a second layer of veggies and salt. Then top with curly kale, olive oil (optional) and nutritional yeast. Bake at 375 degrees F for about an hour, depending on the size of the dish and how cooked you prefer your veggies. Serve yourself a large helping and enjoy!
