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How to make the most of Thursday, July 9, 2026 • • 5

this year's bumper crop of veggies

(BPT) - It happens every sum-
mer: Either your own garden goes
wild with one particular crop, you
get carried away one weekend at
your local farmers market, or a mys-
terious basket of fresh veggies ap-
pears on your porch from a
well-meaning neighbor. While pro-
duce is a wonderful thing to have on
hand, there are only so many salads
and stir fries you can eat while it's
still fresh. Unless you're a complete
canning pro, what can you do with
all those extra veggies?
Here are some creative ways to
use fresh vegetables that you may
not have thought about.
Satisfy your sweet tooth
either pine nuts or another nut sub- muffin tins to use in sauces, stews
You can bake many more sweet
stitute like pistachios or walnuts, and soups later in the year. This is
treats using veggies than you may
you can use a whole host of differ- also an easy way to sneak more
have thought possible. The key is to
ent greens to swap for the traditional veggies into pasta dishes and casse-
know when you may need to reduce
basil. roles for any picky eaters in the
their water content, so your baked
Leafy greens of any kind can be house.
goods don't become overly soggy.
used to make tasty pesto, such as Share the bounty
For example, many recipes in-
volving zucchini recommend gently arugula for a peppery flavor, spin- If you truly have more veggies
ach or kale for a nutrition boost,
squeezing and draining the moisture than you can handle and you'd like
out of the grated veggies before parsley or mustard greens - and to make a positive impact in your
even carrot tops or turnip greens.
adding to batter. Make sure to fol- community, contact local food
low recipes closely to ensure you're While many of these green veggies shelves, community organizations
can be used raw in your food pro-
not sabotaging your efforts with too or houses of worship. While some
cessor to create pesto, greens that
much water. food pantries can't accept fresh pro-
are more fibrous should first be
Trying an online recipe for the duce, many can. And other organi-
cooked in some way for the best
first time? Don't forget to check the zations might be able to benefit
results. For example, collard greens,
"comments" section below the reci- from your kind donation of healthy
kale and chard may need to be sau-
pe to see if anyone who made it veggies.
teed, grilled or blanched before pro-
discovered that this step wasn't en- With these tips, you should be
cessing. To blanche, put veggies
tirely necessary - or that it had been able to make good use of whatever
into rapidly boiling water and leave
accidentally left out. Some recipes garden surplus you have on hand,
them there for just 1-3 minutes or
may take into account the extra helping you enjoy the bounty for
more (the tougher the vegetable, the
moisture vegetables bring with many weeks or more!
longer you should blanche it). Im-
them, reducing the need to squeeze
and drain. mediately put in a large bowl of ice
water to stop the cooking process,
Baked zucchini bread and carrot
cake are obvious choices to try, but then drain when cool.
there are many other baked veggie Freeze herb or veggie cubes
combos that work well. The good Did your kitchen garden explode
news is, there's a wide variety of with oregano, basil, rosemary, mint
baking recipes featuring cauliflow- or chives this summer? You can
er, corn, sweet potato, parsnips, var- save all that flavor easily with the
ious types of squash - and even help of a few extra ice cube trays.
spinach - if your garden had a bum- All you need is some olive oil to
per crop of any of these plants this freeze your chopped-up herbs in,
season. and you'll create an entire set of herb
cubes that you can use all year long
Create homemade pesto
It may come naturally to make to add flavor to soups, casseroles,
sauteed dishes and more. Just make
great-tasting pasta sauce out of a
surplus of tomatoes from your gar- sure to store each type in labeled
bags after they're frozen so you can
den, but don't forget about the very
versatile pesto. As long as you have easily find what you're looking for.
You can use this same technique
plenty of garlic, a hard cheese like
Parmigiano-Reggiano, Pecorino or for a variety of veggies, too - just
blanche before mincing and freeze
Asiago, extra virgin olive oil and
any veggie with olive oil in cubes or

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