The humungous zucchini that they were giving away at our butcher shop last weekend was just screaming for my attention.  So, I brought one home.  We made salsa, zucchini bread, and breaded/fried zucchini "steaks".

Big as a baby...

Day 2
 Start a waterbath (Bring water to a rolling boil) in a large pot to process your salsa once it is in the Mason Jars.


Remove the bowl from the refrigerator.  Rinse and drain the veggies.  Put the veggies in a large pot and add the rest of the ingredients.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

While the salsa is simmering, prepare 2 quart canning jars with caps and rings by washing them with hot soapy water. Fill the jars with the salsa when it is done cooking.

Cap the jars and put them in the waterbath.  Boil for 15 minutes.  Remove jars and let them cool on the counter.  They should seal themselves fairly quickly after being removed from the boiling water.

Enjoy!   Or keeps for up to 1 year on the shelf.

The local bell peppers have finally  shown up at the grocery store and I wasted no time making this classic family favorite.

We have been watching my Mom's mini-farm while she's been on vacation, and guess who got into the carrot patch?! :-D  Don't worry Mom, I left some for you too!

These beauties were quickly made into lacto-fermented ginger carrots because the cucumber version that we made a couple weeks ago were SO good I couldn't help but try another variety (probably several varities when it's all said and done) of veggie using this method of preservation.

AND I used the greens in a cooked vegetarian greens and beans side-dish last night.  Did you know you can eat carrot greens?  YEP!   Don't waste 'em, they're delicious and the feathery part cooks up just like any other cooking green.  I'll be using the stalks as part of my next veggie stock when I get around to it.

Despite all the rain we've been having  lately, we've been grilling outside quite a bit. To go along with the Grilled Eggplant with Tomato and Basil, we tried our hand at making grilled salmon on a cedar plank.  It was quite a treat for us and rounded out our Sunday dinner rather well last weekend.

We ate ours as a side with salmon that we also cooked on the grill.

I was gifted with another LARGE cucumber from Mom's garden the other day, so I decided to try something a little different.  This is another Ur Oma recipe and can best be described as a fresh, not overly sweet relish, OR a shredded cucumber salad.  We love it as a side by itself, on salads, or on sandwiches with coldcuts or with a nice slab of fresh tomato and black pepper.

Ur Oma informed me that when she was growing up, all salads were made in this fashion because there wasn't such a thing as store bought salad dressing... honestly, I'd choose this over store-bought any day.  This is also one of those recipes that isn't exact and is 100% to taste made according to what you have on hand.  I had this HUGE cucumber, and a large sweet onion so I went from there.  I'll include the approximate measurements for how I prefer it this salad to  my own taste preferences.

We had a family get-together at our place last weekend and I decided I wanted to include eggplant in the menu.  Everything else on the menu required space on the grill, so I decided to go ahead and roast the veggies in the oven.  These were great served hot from the oven, and equally great served cold the next day on dinner salads.