Have a garden recipe on your blog or pinterest you want to share? Then make sure to link it up. I love looking up recipes for what is coming from my garden. This will be nice to have it in one place. Make sure in the title to write the title of the yummy recipe.

I know it's not quite the perfect fall stew time of year yet, but it is the too hot to use the oven for me. Right now I love using my crockpot, or one pan meals. Although I don't have an exact recipe for this hopefully you get the idea. I have done this both in a crockpot or on the stove.
First brown some stew meat. If you are making it on the stove brown it in your stew pot, otherwise, brown it in a skillet and throw it in your crockpot. I usually add a can of v8 juice and/or some tomatoes. Then you can add whatever you want.
corn
beans
barley
quinoa
zucchini
squash
potatoes
peppers
green beans
peas
You get the idea...

Ever get tired of making zucchini bread after zucchini bread? I know I do, even though I love it.
I had a friend share her zucchini brownie recipe with me along time ago, and I still make it every year. Here it is:


A friend made this for me several years ago. I will show you her exact recipe. That way those of you that like very exact instructions can follow her recipe. Those of you more comfortable winging it and adjusting can see my variations to follow.

Pasta Primavera
3 carrots, peeled and cut into strips
2 medium zucchini, cut into thin strips
2 yellow squash, cut into thin strips
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 T. dried Italian herbs
1 lb farfalle (bowtie pasta)
15 cherry tomatoes
1/2 C. parmesan cheese
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
Toss all vegetables with oil, salt, pepper, and herbs.
Arrange evenly on a heavy baking sheet. Bake until carrots are tender and vegetables begin to brown. Stirring after about 10 minutes, about 20 minutes total.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water. Cook till al dente, and drain, reserving about 1/2 to 1 cup of cooking liquid.
Toss the pasta with vegetable mixture in a large bowl to combine. Toss with cherry tomatoes and enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with parmesean cheese. Serve immediately.
 Here is my twist on it:
First sometimes I use angel hair pasta instead of bow tie. Then my kids "accidently" eat more vegetable then they realize. Then I like to use my handy julienne knife to cut up the vegetables. You can use carrots, squash, zucchini, bell peppers, or any vegetable you want in any amount or variety. Then I sauté them on the stove, because its too hot to turn on the oven.

It's that yummy time of year where you get the rewards of harvesting a garden. Or maybe you are even luckier by receiving gifts from neighbor's gardens. If you are overwhelmed with garden goods and need more recipes like I always do, I thought I would share. This week I will post some of my family favorite fresh from the garden recipes.
Here are a few of my favorite tips of incorporating garden produce in basic meals or for future meals.

1. Slice and Sauté
My favorite thing to do with usually summer squash or zucchini is to slice it and sauté it. Make sure to season those bad boys with at least salt and pepper. If you watch cooking shows like I do than you know how often they say season everything. I usually use garlic salt and crushed pepper, but you can use any spice combo you like.  Then in a hot sauté pan pour a little extra virgin olive oil and sauté them. I like to pick my squashes when there are still smaller for this easy and healthy side. Some weeks we eat this almost daily.

2. Freeze
I love to cut up vegetables and them freeze them. Just last week red bell peppers were $0.24 each so I price matched them locally and bought several. Then I made fajita's, sliced some for hummus, and froze the rest. I cut them in strips and laid them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. After they had frozen I put them in freezer bags, that way they don't freeze in a huge clump. Then this winter when I want bell peppers for most likely my Tortilla soup, I just add them from the freezer.
You can also grate them and freeze them. Pumpkin and zucchini is what I freeze the most of. I use a food processor to grate them, then I freeze them in 2 cup increments. Why? Most bread or other recipes I use ask for 2 cups.

3. Salads
Part of the reason why I have a garden is to help me eat healthier, and I love salads! The nice thing is you can put anything you want in them. Even if you didn't plant lettuce of some kind, it is usually pretty inexpensive. Then you can add whatever you had from your garden and some light dressing. Try making your own dressing. This is one I got that is suppose to be like Olive Garden's salad dressing. Although I don't think it is, we still really like it!
1 packet Good Seasonings Italian Dressing (Ingredients needed to make dressing; oil, water, vinegar)
½ tsp. dried Italian Seasoning
 ½ tsp. table salt
 ¼ tsp. black pepper
 ½ tsp. sugar
 ¼ tsp. garlic powder
½ tbsp. mayonnaise (no Miracle Whip, please)
¼ cup olive oil 2 tbs. white vinegar
 1 ½ tbsp. water
Come back tomorrow for my husbands favorite pasta dish!