Got lots of squash and tomatoes?
 

With apologies to MugCanDoIt, if you've got tomatoes and squash in your garden, I found this great recipe on Allrecipes.com that even my squash-hating DH enjoyed.

Summerly Squash (6 servings)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil [I used 1 Tbl of olive oil]
1 small onion, sliced
2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 small zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch slices [I just used yellow]
2 small yellow summer squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried basil [I used fresh since I have lots of that, too]

DIRECTIONS
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir the onion about 5 minutes, until tender. Mix in the tomatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook and stir about 5 minutes. Mix in the zucchini, yellow squash, bay leaf, and basil. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove bay leaf before serving.

As written, it's 67 calories (4.8 fat, 5.9 carb, 1.9 fiber, 1.4 protein). By using 1 Tbl. of oil, I got it down to 45 calories, using calorie-count.com. If you haven't used that to figure out nutritional information for recipes, I highly recommend it. I used cherry tomatoes since my tomatoes are still recovering from blossom end rot. We changed the watering schedule, and now we're slowly getting good tomatoes. Yay!

If anyone else has some good recipes for using up those great garden veggies we're enjoying now (I have lots of green beans, too!), please share!

Sheila, that sounds absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing it.

Green beans is an absolute favorite around here. The whole family adores them. We go through pounds of it a week.

I simply roast them, but they taste almost decadent.

I spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Lay the green beans on the pan. I then chop up tons of fresh garlic, add some more cooking spray. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Place in the oven at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes, turning a couple of times throughout. I cook them til they start to get wrinkled and almost brown. Absolutely delicious. Better then french fries.

I make about the same squash/tomato recipe, without the oil though. I then serve it over brown rice as a main dish! I LOVE that stuff!!

I also freeze fresh whole tomatos. I just wash and dry them and throw them into a ziploc bag and into the deep freeze. That way in the winter time I have that home grown tomato to use in my recipes. Beats canning those buggers!!

Oh yeah, I do that! One teaspoon of parmesion cheese goes a long way flavor wise!!:D

I freeze my excess tomatoes whole too. I dip them in boiling water to loosen the skins and freeze them on a cookie sheet, so they aren't all stuck together, then into a ziploc until I need one to throw into soup or stew.

Are you talking about fresh green beans? This sounds wonderful!

I mix zucchini and tomatoes often. Since my tomato garden kind of fizzled along with my squash garden (leaving them for a week in the middle of the hottest week in summer and moving kind of did them in), I generally buy zucchini and yellow squash cheap at the grocery store and mix with a can of diced tomatoes.

The other day I also made an eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash medley (garlic, onions, a little olive oil, diced eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash all sauteed). I thought about throwing some tomatoes in as well but decided not to.

Yes, fresh green beans. And they are waaaay better then they sound.

Rockin Robin, just made the greenbeans the way you said, they were FANTASTIC!!! This is a keeper. I will be making this again asap.
Thanks for a great recipe.
cheryl

Wow I want to try that with the beans too. Sounds much better than my traditional cook in a pot with mushrooms and onions and top with bacon... I love green beans.

I have discovered that even veggies I didn't think I liked - I LOVE when they are grilled. Grilled asparagus is the best thing in the world. Grilled zucchini is like a weekly thing in my house in the summer too. And grilled corn on the cob. Mmmm... vegetables. Can't wait to see what's fresh at the Farmers Market this weekend.

We are having garden vegetables every day and night right now -- we've made a very good zucchini lasagna 2x, we make ratatouille fairly often, also roast the eggplant with olive oil for sandwiches, lots of sauteed squash/zucchini, etc. And tomatoes - tomato sandwiches, bruschetta, salsa!

Here's my question -- it's about the GARLIC. I add it to squash when I saute it, to the salsa and bruschetta I make, and to just about all veggies. I am dying to try those green beans with loads of garlic and sea salt - exactly as Robin described. But I have gone through the summer with the nickname "Garlique" (said in fondness by my DH), but I teach, and school starts Tuesday.

I don't like being around someone who smells garlicky, and I just don't want to be all garlic-breathed when i am around a lot of people.

Anyone know a solution to this? We have a weird French teacher at our school who is rumored to be an alcoholic, and well, she is just super odd. She also is a 'close talker' and she always REEKS of garlic. I want to avoid getting that reputation myself.

So, aside from just adding garlic to my recipes on weekends when I won't see anyone, does anyone know of a way to prevent the GARLIC SMELL??? It tastes so good and is so good for you, I don't want to stop eating it!

Thanks!!!

Hi, Robin,

I must add my thanks to you for your green bean recipe!! We're drowning in them at the moment, so I'm always looking for new ways to prepare them. I made dinner for a bunch of friends last night, tried your recipe, and the green beans were a huge hit. :cp: I didn't mention that I'd gotten the recipe from a weight loss support forum -- or that the entire dinner they were eating was a low-fat, low calorie feast. :censored:

Thank you again -- I'll be making these often (well, till the garden poops out, anyway)!

Rae