Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Recipes, Please!

Okay, I admit it. I’m a mediocre cook. Maybe even worse.

I wasn’t always this way. I used to experiment with all kinds of recipes, and actually came up with some pretty good meals. But I tried to keep them relatively healthy, which didn’t always please my sons. There were certain things they liked, and others they snubbed. Now they’re grown and living on their own anyway, so it’s just my husband and me around. My husband is one wonderful and tolerant guy, so when I take shortcuts in what I serve, he’s fine with it.

But now I’m faced with a dilemma. Some very dear friends have planted a garden in our spacious backyard since they live in a condo with relatively little room for planting. The garden is bearing a lot of great veggies now, but because of some unexpected family issues our friends are traveling at the moment.

Which means that I need to figure out how to serve some of these veggies that are now ripe and won’t survive till their return--although we will give some to other friends, relatives and neighbors. But we want to eat some ourselves, of course.

Help!

If you can point me to recipes you particularly like, whether online or otherwise, I’d really appreciate it. Or post them here in comments. Please!

For what? Well, although there are tomatoes in the garden, I’m definitely not a tomato aficionado so I won’t cook with them or otherwise eat them. I know how to cook the green beans and have done so--and love them. The corn ripened before, and, yes, I knew how to cook it, too.

But what I need is good recipes for peppers (yellow ones that are supposed to turn pink when ripe... although they seem pretty ripe to me). Also, we’ve an abundance of eggplants and are beginning to get some zucchini. The Brussels sprouts aren’t ready yet, and I’m not sure the artichokes will ever be.

One other thing. As you probably figured, I’m really into doing things the easy way these days. The fewer ingredients and steps there are in recipes, the more likely I am to try them.

And, yes, I know there are numerous culinary cozy mystery series that are devoted to cooks, chefs, shops that specialize in certain kinds of edibles (like cheese shops and coffeehouses), and others involved with food who solve murders, too. If I ever got an idea for one of them I’d relive my olden days of enjoying cooking so I could include recipes with my story, as many of these series do.

But as you know, I write my mysteries about pets, not plants or food. The best recipe for dealing with pets is love, not cooking (unless you want to cook your pets’ food, of course).

As a result, any suggestions would be welcome!

So... what’s your favorite recipe for eggplant, zucchinis or peppers?

20 comments:

Liz V. said...

zucchini soups:
http://www.sheistoofondofbooks.com/2011/07/16/weekend-cooking-curried-zucchini-soup/http://www.chefsconsortium.com/chilled-curried-zucchini-soup.html

zucchini lasagna:
http://www.the-farmers-wife.net/2011/07/zucchini-lasagna.html

Italian fried zucchini:
http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/2009/08/cleo-coyles-italian-fried-zucchini_28.html

asparagus & zucchini quiche:
http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/2010/01/long-quiche-goodbye.html

grilled peppers & tomatoes:
http://www.mysteryloverskitchen.com/2010/07/lets-all-veg-out-part-2.html

Jeannette said...

Zucchini makes a great bread. Like banana bread, except with zucchini.
Have you tried checking for recipes online, for instance the Epicurious web site.

Carol S said...

My favorite on-line recipe place is www.allrecipes.com. My husband loves eggplant parmesan but he doesn't have to make it. Try different spices with your squash each time for a little variety. A pinch of cloves is a Rachel Ray trick to spice up any dish.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Thanks, Liz V. I'll check those recipes out!

Linda O. Johnston said...

I was at an event yesterday where food was served including zucchini bread, Jeannette. It tasted great! I'll look at the Epicurious site. Thanks!

Linda O. Johnston said...

Eggplant parmesan sounds delicious, Carol S. I'll check out allrecipes.com. And I'll also try adding cloves!

Jasmina Boulanger said...

Here you go, direct from my blog (just leave out the tomatoes if you don't like them).

http://eastofparis.blogspot.com/2010/03/seasonal-transitions.html

and

http://eastofparis.blogspot.com/2010/09/comfort-food.html

Kathy Bennett said...

Linda;

My help here is minimal. I add green, red, and yellow bell peppers to my spaghetti sauce and meatloaf when I have them available.

Other than that, they're delicious on meatball sandwiches.

Janie Emaus said...

I suggest you open a booth at the local Farmer's Market. Seriously, though, you can roast just about any vegetable and put it in a pasta salad. Yummy!

Katreader said...

My gardening guru, Kevin, has a wonderful blog all about gardening (agardenforthehouse.com), and he provides wonderful recipes as well. He just did one for Classic Zucchini-Jack Casserole: http://www.agardenforthehouse.com/2011/07/classic-zucchini-jack-casserole.html

Linda O. Johnston said...

Both sound good, Jasmina, especially the comfort food. Thanks!

Linda O. Johnston said...

That's making good use of the veggies without much extra effort, Kathy. Thanks!

Linda O. Johnston said...

Hmmm, pasta salad. Sounds good, Janie!

Linda O. Johnston said...

That casserole sounds delicious, Katreader!

Betty Hechtman said...

I knows you said you don't like tomatoes, but have you tasted home grown ones? They are nothing like the store bought version. The ones I got from my garden were sweet and smelled like the sun.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Next time my husband eats one, Betty, he's under orders now to let me taste it thanks to your comment. We've got several varieties in the garden so maybe I'll like at least one.

Monica Ferris said...

I like sweet bell peppers in stir fry (with zucchini and/or crook-neck squash and lots of onions). Garlic and ginger for spices. Made with chicken pieces and served over rice. Fast and easy to prepare.

Liz V. said...

Had to come back w/ a zucchini recipe in today's news:
http://wtop.com/?nid=541&sid=2481298

Jody said...

As someone else said, zucchini makes a great bread. I just cook, mash, and substitute it in a banana bread recipe. Sometimes I just grate the zucchini.
I also cook zucchini & tomatoes together. A couple of weeks ago, we had a neighborhood potluck & BBQ. I chopped up some zucchini, put it in a pot with a can of diced tomatoes, added some fresh tomatoes, chopped up red, yellow, and green peppers & some original Mrs. Dash. I got a lot of compliments on that tasty dish.

Linda O. Johnston said...

Good timing, Liz V! Thanks again.

And thanks to you, too, Jody.