I can’t believe it’s near the end of summer already! Tomato plants are heavy with red, yellow and orange fruit, eggplants and peppers are prolific, and zucchini… well let’s just say they are taking over the garden, house and kitchen! In honor of this glorious time I’ve collected some end of summer recipes to use up the bounty that you have available now, plus some surprise recipes to ease the boredom of those veggies…
Tomatoes
Our season this year for tomatoes has been amazing in the Pacific Northwest! This year my friend and I canned tomato sauce since the tomatoes were so cheap from the local farms and SO good. Plus there are so many recipe options for tomatoes – whether you eat them fresh or save them for winter. I even freeze whole tomatoes in ziploc bags and use them sliced up in the winter!
- Water bath Canned Tomato Sauce – if you don’t have room in your fridge to ferment sauce, use water bath to can it in mason jars instead!
- Homemade Tomato Sauce with Beef Bones – here is an amazing take on tomato sauce to add tons of flavor and nutrition!
- Savory Tomato Basil Pie – I make this every year and it tastes SO good. Makes a great summer evening dinner alongside a salad.
- Dehydrated Tomato Chips – perfect for snacking plus many other things such as topping burgers and using in winter soups.
- Local Sustainable Salsa – this fresh salsa is so tasty and it also could be fermented.
- Israeli Cucumber Tomato Salad – this was my favorite salad when I travelled to Israel, and now I make it at home with fresh ingredients!
- Spiced Gazpacho – fresh and cold soup to serve alongside grilled meats or even a grilled cheese sandwich on a hot end of summer afternoon!
Summer Squash
The old joke goes like this – how can you tell the gardeners from the non-gardeners? Because the gardeners are the ones drinking the zucchini margaritas.
If you’re overrun with summer squash, don’t worry you don’t have to make margaritas to use them up (unless you want to), try some of these delicious recipes below!
- Grain-free Zucchini Pancakes (with a video) – finally something really cool and tasty to do with all of those extra zucchini!
- Simple Sauteed Zucchini – sometimes simpler is better – and a quick side dish is easy to make.
- Roasted Delicata Squash – Delicata squash is the first of the winter/fall squashes that are now coming in, and you can eat the skin!
- Spaghetti Squash Goulash – these wonderful hard squashes (squashi?) are just starting to come in… and this is a great recipe, plus I just like saying Spaghetti Squash Goulash over and over… it rhymes.
- Zucchini Stuffed with Tomato and Mozzarella – get to know your squash varieties, and see this wonderful recipe at the bottom of the post!
- Dairy-free Zucchini Lasagna – a new dairy-free take on an old favorite
- Zucchini Pizza – I never thought to do this with zucchini! A good use for the big ones, or for the small ones you could prepare these length-wise… good for a low carb / Paleo diet too!
Eggplant
I never was a big eggplant lover until I learned to cook them correctly. Now I really love them! Try these recipes for a new take on this weird shaped vegetable:
- Eggplant Lasagna – an eggplant take on a popular recipe, love it!
- Eggplant con Chicken Bacon – this is a dish I never would have thought of… and the eggplant and bacon just go together SO well!
- Stewed Summer Vegetables with Chicken – this combines eggplant, tomatoes and summer squash (the end of summer trifecta!!) with chicken to make a great low carb and Paleo tasty dinner.
- Cheesy Eggplant Chips – These are healthy chips! Wow these look good.
- Grilled Ratatouille – what would summer be without a fresh grilled ratatouille? This version looks fabulous!
- Breaded Gluten Free Eggplant – Since I’m gluten free I’m definitely going to try this!
- Babaganoush – I can’t even tell it’s eggplant with this yummy recipe.
Peppers
- Chicken Verde Enchiladas – this is a great way to use up some of those green peppers! Hot or sweet…
- Fermented Hot Pepper Sauce – this fermented sauce is a great alternative to Tabasco or Sriracha.
- Baked Bell Pepper Baskets – I love this ingenious breakfast idea of baking eggs in a bell pepper!
Fruits
It’s hard NOT to love fruit this time of year, and there are so many options! Even the spring fruits are still producing here in Oregon…
- Balsamic Fig Jam – I am going to go rob a fig bush in my neighbor’s yard now! I need to make this!
- Rhubarb Mousse and Compote – I always associate rhubarb with spring, but here in Oregon they are still producing! I love this post because it gives 4 different options for rhubarb all in one page.
- Fruit Scrap Vinegar – I bet you never thought you could make your own vinegar, from fruit scraps and water! Well yes you can… and it’s good too! Maybe not quite as good as pure apple cider vinegar, but still good. AND you use something that you would just throw on the compost pile otherwise.
- How to Make Applesauce – the apples are coming in here in Oregon, even though it’s still summer! Here’s a good way to use them all year round…
- Stewed Strawberries – this simple berry dessert is so classy yet so easy, it’s great for guests or even just the family.
- Peach Cobbler – what would end of summer be without peach cobbler?? This recipe uses sprouted flour for health and ease.
Other Veggies / Herbs
Sing this to the tune of ‘My favorite things’ from Sound of Music – “Basil and carrots and onions in butter. Parsnips and quinoa with roasted bell pepper. Simple beet soup topped with real sour cream. These are a few of my favorite things”…
- How to Make Pesto – what would summer be without pesto? Did you know you can freeze it? You will thank your summer self when you’re consuming fresh pesto in the winter!
- How to Make Super Delicious Onion Butter – WOW… I never thought to make onion butter but this looks delicious.
- Parsnip Cake with Orange Infused Whipped Cream – dessert from a vegetable? YES!!
- Cream of Cauliflower & Potato Soup – I love soup even in summer, and this is a good one!
- Roasted Vegetable and Quinoa Salad – good for a side dish or even a meal just by itself!
- Even a Kid would like this Chard – this is the first greens recipe that my kids actually ate and liked!
- Simple Beet Soup – I never thought I’d love beet soup, but this was really amazing, especially with a dollop of sour cream and some sauerkraut.
- Cream of Mushroom Soup – easier than you think, and so good!