Kitchen Garden Day in Bethel, Ohio, USA

After lengthy planning and hurried planting, our kitchen garden has been providing a plethora of vegetables. On Kitchen Garden Day we enjoyed our produce for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Breakfast consisted of a frittata containing vegetables we harvested the day before (in Capital letters in the following recipe.)

Vegetable Frittata (325 degree oven)

In 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil saute 1 large ZUCCHINI,diced (or 1/2 a behemoth zucchini, seeded, peeled and diced), 1 onion, halved, then sliced, 1 large diced red TOMATO, 1 diced green BELL PEPPER, 4 sliced medium button mushrooms, 1 sliced red (ripe) JALAPENO, and 1 sliced green JALAPENO, for ten minutes, until onions are translucent and veggies are tender. Remove from heat.

While vegetables cool for ten minutes, spray an 8" x 8" glass casserole dish with olive oil, grate 8 ounces of cheddar, and break 6 eggs (for three servings) or 8 eggs (for four servings) into a medium-sized bowl. Whisk the eggs until well blended.  Spread vegetable mixture in the casserole dish, then pour eggs over them.

Place in 325 degree oven for 30 minutes (or until eggs are set). Remove from oven and sprinkle the cheese on top then return to oven for additional ten minutes, until cheese is melted. Remove from oven, let cool for five minutes then cut into portions.

Lunch consisted of a simple Vegetable Soup:

In 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, saute 1 large halved then sliced onion, 1 large diced ZUCCHINI, and 1 diced green BELL PEPPER until tender, about ten minutes.  Add four cups of water, a teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper. Let simmer while you peel, seed and dice two large ripe TOMATOES. Add the diced tomatoes, 6 sliced OKRA, 12 halved yellow CHERRY TOMATOES, and a cup of GREEN BEANS to the pot and let simmer for an hour to blend flavors.  Adjust seasonings to taste.

We had planned to stuff EGGPLANT for dinner and have a salad of mixed LETTUCE, TOMATO and CUCUMBER but were invited to dinner at a neighbor's home.  We still enjoyed some of our produce, because their salad contained CUCUMBERS we had given them earlier in the week.  So it was the best of both worlds - food from our fresh garden produce at our home and shared with friends at theirs.

Next year, we hope to have grown all the vegetables and use fresh eggs from our own flock of hens.