8.9.17 Wisconsin Grown | Part 14

I’m finding it hard to believe that we’ve reached the halfway point of our CSA this week. These past 10 weeks have absolutely flown by, a phenomena I already know to be true about summer, but still seems to catch me off guard nonetheless. Per usual, this week’s box is chock full of all the summer staples - summer squash, tomatoes, peppers, basil, and cucumbers, all of which make me very happy, and also makes it very hard for me to narrow my ideas down for what to cook with it all. Here’s hoping we have enough to cook it all:

The Tomatoes keep coming, and we’ll gladly keep eating them just as fast as they come in. In addition, our garden is contributing to our tomato bounty, so we’re extra happy these days. We’ll marinate this week’s tomatoes with herbs (hello Basil!) and Garlic, then eat it all with crusty bread and creamy baked ricotta.

We’ve got a lot of Zucchini on our hands, but that’s okay by me. Especially since we can layer them up with Garlic, Tomatoes, Basil, and Onions, top it all with breadcrumbs, and have ourselves a lovely Tomato and Summer Squash Gratin. And as a backup plan for any excess summer squash, Smitten Kitchen’s Pasta and Fried Zucchini Salad is looking mighty good.

We’ve also got plenty more Cucumbers, which means some of this refreshing Mango Chile Cucumber Salad is likely in order, which is pretty much the perfect accompaniment to any sort of grilled meat. And these days, I’ll take any excuse to grill.

The first of the Dragon Tongue Beans showed up this week, and I’m torn between keeping things simple with a quick blanch and a toss with some garlicky Basil pesto, or gussying them up a bit, as in Things I Made Today’s Dragon Tongue Beans with Pancetta and Mushrooms.

We’ve been seeing a lot of Carrots this season, something I’m totally fine with, since it seems to be the only vegetable every member of this family (dog included) actually looks forward to eating. Although, I find it’s hard to go wrong with any vegetable that’s been roasted and served with avocado buttermilk ranch dressing.

We’re also seeing plenty of peppers, as in the Green and Jalapeno Peppers from the CSA and the Poblanos and Jalapenos I’m harvesting from the garden. I love to chop them up, saute them and add them to omelets for breakfast. Or if I’m feeling extra fancy, I might go all out and make something like The Leek and the Carrot’s One Skillet Breakfast.