Making Use of Your Summer Produce

By now, many of you gardeners have tired of summer produce and are ready for autumn edibles. The urge for tomatoes and basil have weakened, and you may have gotten tired of eating pepper after pepper. Wait right there! We have several ideas for you to spice up you summer produce to keep the desire for them alive. After reading this article, we hope to keep you pumped up for summer harvests and to use every last drop of them, whether you cook with them or use them for other purposes rather than letting them go to waste!

Tomatoes

• Make chunky, red salsa
• Add them to your homemade smoothies/juices
• Toss them in a salad
• Oven-roasted tomatoes
• Sun-dried tomatoes!
• Add 'em to a quiche
• One word: bruschetta!
• What about caprese salad? Mmm
• Slice 'em and drizzle on olive oil and balsamic vinegar
• Make your own marinara for spaghetti or homemade pizza
• Massage raw tomatoes on your face for a beautiful glow and as an anti-aging product (They also help with acne, sunburns, oily skin, and help to open up your pores)!
• Burger for dinner from the drive-thru? Ask for no tomatoes and add your own instead (Real garden tomatoes without the chemicals taste MUCH better).

Peppers

• Salsa verde!
• Add them to your favorite chili recipe
• Yummy topping for taco night
• Pickle 'em
• Put them in a stir-fry
• Add them to a soup
• Love spicy peppers but too hot? Dip them in sour cream or Greek yogurt!
• Roast them
• Homemade hot pepper sauce (Harissa)
• Add them to your scrambled eggs for a little spice
• Serve some fajitas for dinner with your prized peppers as the main ingredient
• Add them to your guacamole 
• Bell peppers stuffed with meat! Yum
• Delicious touch to your favorite pasta
• Make jalapeno poppers (stuffed with cheddar or cream cheese)

Basil

• Can't forget pesto, of course!
• Use sweet varieties for teas (cinnamon or holy, for example)
• Freeze your basil into ice cubes for a beautiful, summer flare 
• Great addition to your pasta
• Add them to your grilled chicken, especially with a drizzle of lemon!
• Basil and watermelon salad - A refreshing combo
• Lovely stir-fry ingredient
• Great to add to your ramen noodles
• Make potpourri!
• Yummy in vinaigrette
• Add it to your honey!
• Even put them it in your baked cookies (Basil cookies are yummy)
• Toss them in your homemade jelly
• And our favorite, add them to your lemonade!

Squash & Zucchini

• Zucchini/squash bread (or muffins!)
• Summer squash salad, anybody?
• Stuff your pattypan squash!
• Zucchini fries - A healthier twist
• Add zucchini to your pasta
• Make zucchini latkes!
• Try them in quesadillas!
• Zucchini oven chips
• Squash soup
• Squash makes a great pizza topping!
• Spaghetti squash

Cucumbers

• Cucumber sandwiches with cream cheese! (Either add them to a sandwich, or use cucumber slices as the bread)
• Slice 'em to add to your water
• Cucumbers in your lemonade?! Extra yum!
• It's no secret that cucumbers are great to reduce inflammation. Puffy eyes? Place cucumber slices on them!
• Add them to your bath
• Make a face mask!
• Create your own cucumber toner
• Great for homemade tzatziki sauce
• Cucumber bread, in case you don't have squash to use