It's that time of the year when I try to plan my dinners around whatever comes in from the garden. Tonight was one of those dinners, and was it ever good!
Dinner began with a large salad of lettuce, picked fresh yesterday and crisped in the refrigerator. I added shredded cheese, sliced olives, a bit of diced sweet onion and ranch dressing.
Freshly picked basil, oregano, parsley, garlic, and a tiny bell pepper (the only one), along with the sweet onion I brought in yesterday, were combined with crushed home canned tomatoes from last year's garden and some crumbled and browned sweet Italian sausage for a deliciously fresh tasting spaghetti sauce.
The first picking of bush beans, a perfect amount for two servings. Steamed until tender-crisp and tossed with a bit of butter, they were excellent. Nothing is quite as good as fresh young beans.
Not from the garden, but what's spaghetti without a fresh home baked loaf of Italian bread? I didn't even slice it, we just tore off chunks of it to sop up the delicious sauce. There's plenty left for French toast for breakfast!
The raspberry harvest is winding down, so we'll enjoy as many fresh berries as we can in the coming week. Last night we had rhubarb pie, so tonight we had raspberries.What are you serving for your garden dinners?
Yummy! Our salad, mashed potatoes, steamed chard and the berries for our cobbler came from the garden...isn't it fun to shop just out the door from the kitchen?
ReplyDeleteLynda, it sure is! I love garden dinners. Lately I've only been eating a small portion of meat, if any at all. With big salads, and now beans and carrots and beets, and the berries, who needs more?
ReplyDeleteCan I come to place place for dinner? I promise to do the dishes hehehe
ReplyDeleteKimmie, if you'll mop up the kitchen too, you've got a deal!
ReplyDeleteI think you should design restaurant menu's. You're making me hungry just reading about it! Yum!!!
ReplyDelete(again-I must remind MR. GRANNY how lucky he is!!!)
Tease. ; )
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious! Right now we're doing lots of tomato sauce stuff - we're getting enough to make sauce or stewed tomatoes for a dinner at a time, but not enough to warrant canning yet :)
ReplyDeleteYes, summer garden dinners are wonderful. The other night I made a shrimp stir fry with 5 lovely finger length zucchini as one of the ingredients. Yummy! We've been enjoying green beans too and will have more of those tonight steamed or stir fried.
ReplyDeleteWe always have a salad ready in the fridge and have been using our fresh lettuce, up to last week. Now we are getting a few squash which we love raw or cooked with onion and peppers.
ReplyDeleteI essentially do the same thing but my weekend meals are more substantial and time consuming as that is when I have more time to do multiple things. During the weekdays I often do a garden stir fry which is always fast to prep and makes good use of all the latest goodness from the garden.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, dinner fixings look fabulous and the menu sounded even better. :D
Tis the season of bounty, that makes me happy for fertile soil, a warm sun and gentle rains. OR, cracked clay, scorching heat, and torrential downpours. In any event ,your garden dinner looks perfect!
ReplyDeleteTomatoes :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not serving anything from the garden for dinner:o(
ReplyDeleteI won't complain, I've been doing pretty good getting the spices into containers on the patio to keep me from having to venture into the yard come winter. I guess all my things will be ready at the same time and work me to death.
LOL, Sue, after nearly fifty years of spoiling Mr. Granny, he kind of takes it for granted that he'll be well fed.
ReplyDelete********
Kelly, can you smell that fresh baked bread? Or was it the spaghetti sauce? I have leftovers ;-)
********
Erin, I'm waiting for my next little Bloody Butcher to ripen, maybe tomorrow. They're the only ones that are even close, except for the Sun sugar, which has one tiny tomato turning yellow.
********
Marcia, that sounds sooooo good! As you probably know, it will be a long time before I have any summer squash or zucchini. It's too bad the snap peas can't produce all summer!
********
M, I have the onions, but no squash or peppers yet. I also keep a lot of lettuce cleaned and crisping in the refrigerator, for us and the pet rabbit. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can keep it growing all summer without bolting or turning bitter.
********
Kitsap, stir fry is still my favorite. I never tire of eating it, and it's such an easy meal for these warm (yes, I said warm!) summer evenings. I think you're getting another cold spell coming through this week :-(
********
David, I guess we'll be happy to take our gardens any way we can get them, huh? Even a small "bounty" is better than no harvest at all.
********
Robin, you're just a big meanie. It's a good thing I love you, or I'd give you away! I wonder if Ginny would take you. ;-)
********
Ginny, Robin is being mean. Take her away with you, OK?
LOL, don't we have some fun times?
Robin, Annie's Granny is a real workhorse , I'll take her anyday and twice on Sunday :o)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely dinner Granny!! Looks fabulous!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a lovely harvest. You have inspired me to put a better dinner on the table.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Holly.
ReplyDelete********
Eleanor, that's a good thing! I was inspired by another blogger to make menus for the week (thanks, Zentmrs). I was getting into a meal rut, and needed to work a bit harder on using the vegetables from the garden, as well as what I have in the pantry and freezer. It's nice that we can all inspire each other to do better.