Happy Harvest

Today will be a few more ideas for those wonderful garden harvests or those great finds from farm markets or straight from the farmer.

PEPPERS
BELL PEPPERS - are so sweet and yummy.  I often chop and freeze them for the winter months.  Many I chop in small pieces for soups and chili.  I lay them on a sheet pan and flash freeze then place in baggies.  I can take out and use exactly what I need.  Others I chop in larger pieces, as I use them in my 'stuffed pepper skillet' dinner.  It is just all the ingredients used in stuffed peppers except you fix it on the stove top not the oven.
You can also dehydrate them
Here is my one tip for dehydrating them!!!!
Place one sliced or chopped pepper per tray or per half of tray.  After they have dried completely - measure how much ONE pepper is!!  It may measure a half cup - a quarter cup - etc..  I suggest this as dehydrated 'anything' is so small and you may OVER add to recipe.
I do this with squash as well.  One small/medium squash sliced per tray.  Bag accordingly.  That way I get the right amount of veggie per recipe!

Think about stuffing your bell peppers with whatever you like (ground meat, rice, tomato sauce, cheese, etc.) and freeze them.  They are ready to thaw and pop in the oven for a great dinner treat this winter.

JALAPENO PEPPERS

I like to stuff these with cream cheese mixed with shredded cheddar and some garlic powder.  Then I bread in a combo of egg wash and bread crumbs/cornmeal and bake.  POPPERS!!!!  These are so good.  You can stuff and bread and flash freeze as well.  Place in bags until you are ready to bake them in the winter!  Take out what you need - do not thaw - bake.

LETTUCE

Lettuce is pretty much done in our area for the moment.  It has been so hot - that it seeded and became bitter.  It can be grown again for fall months as well.  Great in salads and you can dehydrate as well and grind into a powder for a healthy additive to add to smoothies.

Here is a recipe for my favorite way to eat lettuce!!!!  Oh my so good!

ZUCCHINI

Think about dehydrating for use later in soups and stews.  It works great.  Like I said above - make sure you  measure them out and know what you have so you don't over add to your cooking.

These are also good if dehydrated and add a bit of onion salt or garlic salt before hand and eat as 'chips'.  I have eaten plenty like that as a good healthy snack.

Don't forget zucchini boats!  Oh yum.  Kind of like stuffed peppers.  Fill with whatever stuffing is your favorite and bake.  First cut in half lengthwise, scoop out all seeds and stringy stuff and fill.  I like to stick a fork or knife in a couple locations before filling - it just seems to help the squash cook better.

You can also cut in half, de-seed and place plain in baggies in the freezer to fix later on in the year.  I usually use smaller or medium size squash for this and I place one squash (2 halves) per bag and vacuum seal.  They taste fresh in the middle of winter.

Hope this gives you some ideas on ways to extend that summer harvest for those dreaded days of no yummy fresh garden produce.  Veggies bought at most grocery stores in the off months tastes nothing like fresh.  You also have no idea if it is really fresh or not or how it was grown.

Extend you harvest and have good and yummy eating all year long.

HAPPY HARVEST