WIAW - Garden Bounty

What is this What I Ate Wednesday? Check out Peas & Crayons for a full description, but the least of what you need to know is that it is blog link up to share recipes, meal ideas and inspiration! It's food, food, food and fun!

This is our 8th round of WIAW and we're going strong! The theme this month is Summer Staples so read on for more about the bounty of my garden.

Okay...so breakfast is the same as ever...Ezekiel, Blueberry, Banana, Coconut & Almond Milk and some Omegas...healthy and delish. See previous posts for image.

Like Tamar's container gardening adventure our family garden is bringing us treasures galore: zucchini, squash, cucumbers, kale, hot peppers, green beans and herbs such as basil, cilantro, sage, dill, rosemary and mint. Our tomatoes are transitioning from green to light yellow, the pumpkins are following their own circuitous route out into the grass and we're unsure what the sweet peppers have planned for their future, but all in all it is a pleasure to eat our own-grown-food.

I've been using an ample amount of cilantro and now as the basil and tomatoes ready themselves for eating I see a caprese salad or bruschetta nouveau in my near future. So many bloggers are featuring delicious recipes to pair the bounty of the garden that I couldn't help myself- I have to try as many as I can while I have the fresh produce to do so. For lunch today...I did a sort of inside out version of Angela from Oh She Glows Pretty in the Pan Patypan Stuffed Squash recipe. Instead of stuffing it, I just peeled, sliced and tossed it in with the rice, beans and veggies. It was so good...as much as I love my baked goods (e.g. Babycakes) eating fresh and healthy fuels my brain in a really sound way.

For an afternoon snack the kids and I shredded up one of our monster zucchini from the garden and prepared Jenn from Peas and Crayon's Fluffy, Flax, Fruit and Zucchini Bread, it was hands down the best zucchini bread I've ever had and healthy to boot. No added oils, very little sugar and I mixed it up with spelt and oat flour.

For dinner my daughter was having a friend sleep over so I wanted to make something fun and tasty...mini nacho scoops...with fresh from the garden cilantro.

For these I spread the chips out on the pan, put a teaspoonful of black beans in the bottom of each scoop, added a few bits of diced red pepper, some olives, a sprinkling of cheese and some of the cilantro above. Bake until the cheese is melted and voila. I served with sour cream, salsa and avocado (a STAPLE in our house) and heard happy munching and crunching at the kids table.

The perfect bite sized individual nacho...

And for dessert...because when we have guests we have dessert...I whipped up a batch of Oreo cookie cookies. Yes, I did mean to write that twice. It is a cookie with Oreo cookies baked within. WAH? Yeah, that's right. Here's how it goes...

Oreo Cookie Cookies

by Deirdre

Prep Time: 10-15 Minutes

Cook Time: 10-14 Minutes

Keywords: bake dessert cookie

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Ingredients (12 Large)

Dry

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 10 oreos

Wet

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

In one bowl mix dry ingredients well.

Place oreos in a plastic bag, release air, seal, cover with kitchen towel and then roll with a rolling pin until crushed.

Add to dry ingredients.

Mix in wet ingredients.

Dough may be crumbly, but the fun part is forming them into 12 large cookies.

Bake for 10-14 minutes.

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Adapted from http://familycrafts.about.com/od/giftsinajar/a/MnMCookiesJar.htm

And the cool the cool thing is this recipe (and the dry ingredients) were the goodie bag item from a recent birthday party my daughter went to...indulgent? Yes. Plastic things I will end up throwing out soon? No. A fun activity for my kids and I to do together? Yes. Win goes to mom-family genius for coming up with this. Thank you!

Hoping you all have enjoy these dwindling (sob, sniff, sob) days of summer and please do share any tasty garden items you've been growing, cooking and eating.

Bon Appetit,

Deirdre