An August sentiment: Where did these gigantic zucchini come from?

For those of you who keep vegetable gardens, you'll be able to appreciate this August sentiment -- each mammoth zucchini seems to be larger than the last. Wednesday, I thought I had "caught up" on all of the zucchini. Then Thursday afternoon I was picking tomatoes for dinner and found yet another mammoth zucchini hiding under the leaves. So, what's a cook to do?

Besides zucchini bread, relish, and veggie medleys, here's something really delicious that will use one very large zucchini in one blow -- baked, stuffed zucchini.

Here's the size of one from a couple of weeks ago. I put a banana next to it to give you an indication of size.

To stuff:
I used a melon baller to scoop out the center of each half. (Those scoops of zucchini flesh were then later chopped and added to vegetable soup.)
I stuffed mine with a mixture of cooked, chopped chicken breast, bread crumbs, herbs, garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. After filling, I topped with additional Parmesan.
On an oiled baking sheet, I baked the stuffed halves for about 35 minutes, at about 350 degrees, until the cheese was browned on top. The zucchini part was crisp-tender.

You can also stuff with loose Italian sausage, or bread crumbs, herbs and cheese. Since you want the zucchini part to cook well, keep your fillings dense. So, if just doing bread crumbs with cheese, add a bit of milk, beaten egg, or just water to the crumb mixture. This way the filling and the zucchini will cook to about the same doneness.

Bumps in the transition from one cook to many cooks

When there was just one person in the home procuring, managing, and cooking all of the food, staying on top of all of the supplies was fairly straightforward. I knew what I had prepared, what was leftover, and what needed using up. Now, we have multiple cooks in the house, but still one person doing the procuring and managing of supplies. It's not readily known by the rest of the crew what we have in abundance or what needs using ASAP. Asking me what they can use is a regular occurrence. Not that this is bad, but it does put me in the position of saying, "don't use that" or "I'm saving that." Those kinds of statements make me sound like an ogre, when in fact all I'm really doing is trying to manage our stock until the next month rolls around, so that we can all enjoy the foods in the house.

My solution has been to create a weekly list of what we have in abundance and should be used. It's a simple list, kept on the refrigerator. I preface the list with a statement reflecting that the first items in each category are ones that should be used first. I also indicate that not everything is in ready-to-use condition, and may need harvesting. This week, in produce we have apples that need using, and in protein sources, we have lots of eggs. I've also included items that are saved for specific recipes, so those won't be used indiscriminately. Hopefully, this makes me seem less like an ogre about food.

My list focuses on produce and protein sources, as those are the items most frequently asked about. The produce is significant because we have items that won't keep terribly long. And the protein is asked about because it is not self-evident. Meat/eggs may be stored in the freezer, the fridge, or even pantry (canned meat). To complicate matters more, we have 3 freezers, 2 refrigerators, and multiple cabinets in the kitchen, along with 2 pantries. Everyone seems to figure out the grains and dairy products on their own. The bonus to making this list is the act of reading the list, by the cook on duty, stimulates thoughts on what to make. Since sometimes food is just food, reading a list that says we need to use eggs, zucchini, and apples may make a cook whose feeling less-than-inspired to simply scramble some eggs, steam zucchini, chop apples, and serve with bread. Just food, but it gets the job done.

We're seeing the financial benefit, as well, and wasting less fresh produce, which is super important right now as the garden is in high production. Just thought I'd share what is working for us.

Taking a vacation when there is not enough time or money for a full-fledged one

This past year has been busy and expensive, leaving little time or money to get away. So, how do we do a summer vacation under those circumstances? We take a one-day vacation. We choose a nearby tourist location, about 1 hour away from us. Then we get up with the birds and drive to that destination, staying as long as we feel like it. By the time we leave to come home, we often do feel like we've been on a vacation.

Because we don't have a hotel or even a campground stay, and our vacation is just one long day, we can afford a few luxuries which we would otherwise forgo. For example, we bring coffee, milk, and fresh fruit with us, but make our first stop of the day at a local bakery or donut shop, where everyone makes their selection. Then, we take our breakfast to a public park, preferably one with a nice view. The day before our mini-trip, we make a stop at the grocery store to buy snacks. I may spend as much as $15 on snacks for one day. But that cost is less than what we'd spend for one stop at a restaurant for snacks for all of us, let alone multiple stops. We also pack a picnic cooler full of lunch items, ice water, and juice, then find a nice park in which to picnic. In the late afternoon, when we're hot and tired, we stop in an ice cream shop for a cone, each. As a result of keeping our costs so low, we also treat ourselves to a souvenir or two, or splurge on admission tickets to some sort of entertainment, or a nice dinner out.

Why am I telling you all of this? This is the week that we're taking our one-day vacation. We've been planning this all summer, and now the time has arrived. Yep, I'm pretty excited to go away for a day.

We're going to a small tourist town by the name of Poulsbo. It's a 30-minute ferry ride, plus 30 minutes or so in driving from our house. It's on a bay, has a large public park on the waterfront, second-hand shops, tourist-type shops, art galleries, an aquarium, an historical museum, a church tower with bells ringing every hour, a Scandinavian bakery, lots of restaurants, a walking trail along the water's edge of the bay, and sometimes live entertainment outdoors.

If you had to choose one spot, about an hour-drive away from where you live, with lots to do to fill one day, where would you go?

Now this is summer to me -- fresh basil pesto

Another specialty food I like to make in summer is pesto. You can buy cheap pesto in the supermarket, the kind that comes in jars, priced around $3 for 6-8 ounces. But if you check the label, the ingredient list contains ingredients other than the basic basil leaves, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, salt and pepper that you find in a recipe for this condiment. And if you read the reviews you'll find that the flavor can be very "off" on some of the jarred brands. You can also buy "fresh" pesto, the kind that comes in a plastic tub and must be kept refrigerated. Those are good, and in checking the ingredient list, the manufacturers stick to the basic pesto recipe. But they cost about $5 for a 6-oz plastic tub.

Pesto is super easy to make, and if you grow your own basil, and shop carefully for the other ingredients you can make a batch for about half of the supermarket price, in about 5 minutes (including washing the basil leaves), using a food processor.

How I buy the ingredients economically:

pine nuts -- I use about half the recommended amount because I don't like a super strong pine nut flavor. I like to just barely detect the pine nuts. You can buy pine nuts in bulk bins at some stores, for around $20/lb. That sounds like highway robbery, I know. If you go light on the pine nuts (like I do), you can get by with about a dollar's worth to make a batch of pesto. The the price does not seem so terrible, for the authentic pine nut pesto.  (You can also buy pine nuts through Amazon in an 8-oz packet for about $10. Pine nuts freeze very well, and since their flavor is so distinct, in our house, at least, they're not likely to get snacked on.) For more frugal pesto, almonds and/or walnuts are also good a choice and about 1/3 of the price of pine nuts. In fact, almonds are my "usual" nut for pesto.

olive oil --most recipes call for extra virgin olive oil. I use a blend of 3 parts olive oil to 1 part regular vegetable oil. I do this so that the pesto remains spreadable when refrigerated. But it also holds the cost down a bit. In addition, I use about 2/3 the amount of oil in the recipe, for a less oily condiment, and that also brings my cost down. I've been buying olive oil in the bulk section of WinCo. They have dispensers for a few liquid items, such as honey, olive oil, and agave syrup. It's a good price and I can buy however much I need.

Parmesan cheese -- I wait until I find a good sale, buy from bulk bins at WinCo, or I buy a large bag at Cash & Carry. The bulk bin kind of Parmesan is the powdery kind and not as good, IMO, as the fresh shreds. Fred Meyer had a coupon last week for 50 cents off Kroger brand Parmesan. The coupon combined with my Senior discount made the price reasonable-enough. I have also subbed some mozzarella for about half of the Parmesan, before, and still had a very delicious result.

basil -- if I didn't grown my own basil, I wouldn't buy fresh basil for the purpose of making pesto. There are alternative greens which can be used, but the basil flavor will not be there. I know someone who makes pesto with a variety of greens, and they enjoy it immensely. I do have basil in large pots on my deck, and there are more leaves that we can eat, unless I make pesto.

garlic -- for ease and price, I use dried garlic granules, bought in a bag in the Hispanic section. It's good, and super easy to use.

So, all totaled, the batch of authentic pesto that I made the other day (loosely following Ina Garten's recipe) using about half of the pine nuts, and no walnuts (allergy), not the full amount of oil, and in a 3:1 olive oil (from WinCo)/ vegetable oil ratio, Parmesan shreds bought on sale, with coupon, and with discount, garden basil, garlic granules, and some salt, I figured my 6-oz batch cost about $2.50, or about half the price of commercial fresh pesto.

A tip for keeping fresh pesto -- basil leaves oxidize and turn a very un-pretty brownish green. After each use, shake the contents down to level the top surface, then drizzle with a bit of oil and tilt the jar around a bit to coat the entire top surface of the pesto. When you use it again, stir the oil into the pesto first. Then after use, top with a bit of oil, again, as before. Kept refrigerated, pesto will last about a week. It can be frozen for about four months.

When is buying fruit for making preserves the frugal thing?

There are two kinds of jam that I think is frugal to make. 1) jam with any kind of free fruit. This would include fruit from our bushes and trees, foraged fruit, and any fresh fruit that is going soft and I would enjoy in jam. 2) The second kind of jam that I like to make does use purchased fruit. However, it is frugal if the only commercial versions of this flavor of jam are an expensive brand, such as cherry preserves or blueberry jam. Both of those flavors are only available in "gourmet" brands of jam, in my area.

A week ago I posted a photo of some Bonne Maman preserves jars.
This is a très expensive brand of jam. For some flavors, this is the only brand available in regular supermarkets.

I love blueberry jam. The 13-oz jars of Bonne Maman Blueberry Preserves are $4.99 at Fred Meyer or $4.69 at WinCo.

By making my own blueberry jam with purchased, fresh blueberries, I can make about 3 of those jars-worth of blueberry preserves for about $3.80, including berries, sugar, lemon juice, pectin, and new lids for the previously-used jars, for almost one-quarter of the cost. That's $1.27 for 13 ounces of homemade blueberry preserves. I use several sizes of jars in one batch, so some jars can be for our consumption, while others make perfect gifts.

   

While it may not be very frugal to make many types of jam with purchased fruit, it can be frugal to buy fruit to make specialty preserves. And, well, sometimes I'm just a "specialty" kind of gal. (Not that I'm high maintenance! ha ha)