Garden Vegetable Rose Sauce

Last week was so sunny and warm here, considering it's October! Noah and I headed out to do some yard clean-up...and stumbled upon MANY great finds in our garden still! Take a look...there was even a handful of strawberries...those just didn't last long enough with Noah around to be in the picture!



The rest of the day kinda got away on us...and all of a sudden it was 6:30pm and I found myself realizing I had planned nothing for dinner! That is not like me....I usually am thinking about dinner before I eat breakfast!! So...the boys had already eaten and were about ready for bed...it was only Jay and I that I needed to worry about. Moments like this I usually resort to Black Bean Quesadillas...that's kinda our "go-to" meal...but we were missing a few key ingredients. I took a quick look at this beautiful assortment of veggies and realized they needed to be enjoyed! This is what I came up with!



Eliminate the last step of stirring in the spoonful of cream cheese...and don't garnish your bowl with parmesan...and you've got a beautiful vegan supper!

Garden Vegetable Rose Sauce with Brown Rice Pasta

2 cloves of garlic, minced
Handfuls of fresh tomatoes coarsely chopped...canned would work too
1 large zucchini, sliced
1 large bag of spinach
1 heaping spoonful of cream cheese
handful of fresh basil...or dried basil works too
salt and pepper if desired

Heat up saucepan with a drop or two of olive oil. Add garlic and let cook for a minute or so. Add zucchini and let cook for another minute or two. Add tomatoes until well heated. Add spinach and basil. Cover pan and let spinach cook down. Stir in cream cheese...voila you have rose sauce, minus the heavy cream!

Cook Brown Rice Pasta as directed on bag...spoon over top and add a little parmesan..ENJOY!...oh...and of course it always tastes better with a lovely glass of red wine:)

A very affordable, FAST dinner that you could add some chicken breasts to if desired...and even use for entertaining!

Zucchini...3 Ways

Well this rainy Sunday afternoon left me finding three different great ways to use up that ginormous zucchini you saw back on Thursdays post!

Garden Vegetable Salsa (a.k.a Jen's Salsa) was the first use! A first time recipe for me...and the results found my family and I VERY satisfied!! The first picture is closer to the beginning of the process...don't you just love all the colours! The second picture is the finished product displayed lovely in my kitchen!






Figured I better attach this recipe...it's a keeper...thanks Jen!

Garden Vegetable Salsa

15 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups shredded onion
4 cups chopped red/green/orange peppers
7 Tbsp salt
2 cups vinegar
5 large cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup cilantro
2 Tbsp cumin
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp dried mustard
15 cups chopped tomatoes
4-10 jalapenos
3 cups corn (optional...but very tasty)

Combine the first 4 ingredients. Let set for 2 hours. Drain of liquid, rinse, drain again.
Combine all other ingredients. Boil 35-40 minutes. Pour into jars.

*Right before I added the jalapenos, I divided the salsa into two separate pots. We LOVE hot food, but not everyone else does, so I put only 3 jalapenos into the one pot (for when we have company and for when I give jars away), and about 8 jalapenos into the other pot.

Enjoy!! Your house will smell AMAZING!


The second use was delectable Chocolate Zucchini Muffins...one of those amazing recipes that you bake over and over. Normally I bake this same recipe in a bundt pan, which results in a fancy dessert for when company's coming! Today I decided, because of the abundance of the zucchini, to bake them into muffins to stock our freezer...always a good thing to have on hand!



Thought you might be interested in this recipe as well!!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2 ½ cups spelt flour
½ cup cocoa
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon


½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup agave, maple syrup, cane sugar
3 eggs


2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups zucchini, coarsely grated
½ cup milk (I use almond milk)

1 cup dark chocolate chips (or nuts)

Combine all wet ingredients in the first section. Whip together the middle 3 ingredients, then add to the wet mixture...this won't mix together very well. Stir in the vanilla, zucchini and milk. Mix well. Stir in dark chocolate chips. Pour into a greased bundt pan. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Start watching after 45 min.

*Baking as muffins usually takes 18-20 minutes.
*Be careful not to over-bake....they can easily dry out!


And the third and final use for zucchini today in the Wiebe house was to just simply freeze it, already shredded, premeasured, for future baking!

Abundance

Thought I'd share a picture of the pickin's from our garden this evening!! Doesn't that look amazing?! Four different varieties of Organic - Heirloom - Non-GMO Tomatoes!



I couldn't help but include this photo...we were away for the weekend and it looks like our zucchini plant experienced a little growth!



Based on this abundance...it looks like it's Salsa Day - Part 2 at our house tomorrow! A great opportunity to try out the Zucchini & Tomato Salsa recipe that my sister-in-law shared with me!!