Junque Yard: What's happening at the Micro-Mini Ranch

It was such a pretty morning the other day that I had to snap a shot. 

My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen. My beans, pumpkins, melons, and zucchinis finally have blossoms.

Harvest is going to be late this summer, but I will have something to show for our efforts.

I think the excessive heat this year caused the cycle to slow down. I have lots of green leaves everywhere, and I made a point to water more than I normally do, which was good because we've had a drier than normal summer.  But everything is growing, and for that, I'm thankful.

Now, I'm trying to figure out what fall crops I want. Definitely spinach, carrots, and I'm thinking broccoli, maybe cauliflower. 

I hope those things take well to growing in containers, because the pumpkins, zukes, and melons are taking up all the space in what we refer to as the "back 40." 

That's inches folks, I don't call it the micro-mini ranch for nuthin'.

Junque Food - Yummy Mom's Mo' Relish

Isn't this gorgeous?

This relish is bounty of nature's goodness. We used to call it Moe's Relish, after a family friend who made it for my mom several years ago. Since we haven't had it in awhile, and my Mom made this yesterday, I decided to switch it up and call it Mom's Mo' Relish.

It is totally worth the extra apostrophes, I promise.

The beauty of this relish is that it's very versatile. This particular relish was make with zucchini, yellow squash, red and yellow bell peppers, celery, carrots, onion, and a few tomatoes. All finely chopped. A wee bit of olive oil, and your choice of vinegar.  This one has apple cider vinegar, but I believe it was originally made with Balsamic vinegar.  Spices are simple: basil, salt, pepper, maybe a little garlic. If you need to cut the bite of the vinegar, a tiny bit of honey or stevia will help it out.

See what I mean? You can totally use whatever you have on hand to make Mom's Mo' Relish. You can mix it up if you want, adding cucumbers, or get a little wild, and dice up a hot pepper or two. Change the spices to ones that you enjoy. It is literally a universe of veggie goodness in a bowl for your culinary pleasure.


What what do you do with it when you've made up a bowl of this garden goodness?

I am so glad you asked that question... (heh)

Mo's original relish was a condiment used for sandwich wraps. A tortilla, your choice of lunch meat, and a little cheese, then slather the relish on, wrap it up, and YUM!


But what if I'm attempting to do the Paleo Diet thing, Mrs. Junque? I can't have the tortilla, the lunch meat has nitrates in it, and the cheese is right out!!!

Well, yes, that's true. And we did pause for a bit, thinking about all the things we could put this relish on. We finally decided there wasn't much you couldn't put Mom's Mo Relish on.  I mean, really. Think about it!

Last night we had it on top of baked fish. Totally. Nummy.

This morning we are going to put it in an omelet.  For realz!

Grilled chicken?  You betcha!

So, if you can't find anything to put Mom's Mo Relish on, then you aren't thinking very hard.

This stuff is the cat's meow, y'all.....give it a try!

Junque Food part 2 - how to use up a GIANT zucchini

Yesterday I got I wild hair to use up a GIANT zucchini that has been sitting in the kitchen for awhile. We'd already used one to make a tomato sauce based casserole (great vegetarian meal, BTW), but after having enchiladas the night before, I was looking for something different.

I turned to my trusty Good Housekeeping recipe book. It's the one we all have, with the red plaid cover. I'd gotten it ages ago as a wedding present, and have used the heck out of it. I already knew that this zuke was big enough for more than one dish, so I was planning on using half of it to make zucchini bread. I figured I'd freeze it for Thanksgiving. So that left me to find a casserole type dish that wasn't tomato based for dinner.

And the GH doesn't fail me.  Cheesy Artichoke Casserole, right there in the index. I tried to look up the same recipe on GH's website, but they didn't have it online. So here goes:

1 can of artichoke hearts
2 small zukes (I used half of one large one, seeded and cut into thin ribbons)
1 cup fresh mushrooms (I actually had some in my fridge), but a can of sliced 'shrooms would work well, thrown into the casserole just before baking)
1 small onion diced (I used 1/2 a large onion left over from yesterday's enchiladas)
1 8oz container of sour cream
2 tablespoons flour
salt
pepper
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (I used shredded Mozzarella)
1 package of refrigerated crescent rolls (I used bread crumbs instead)
Parmesan cheese

If you are using frozen artichoke hearts, cook as package directs. Canned 'chokes, I just drained and sliced into quarters, then set aside.

Place zukes, shrooms, and onion in a steamer basket, cover and steam over boiling water (about 2 inches) for 8 mins until crisp/tender.

While they are steaming mx sour cream, flour, salt, pepper together. Stir in milk. Drain veggies, and stir the veggies, including the chokes and the shredded cheese together in a casserole dish (I had to use an extra large lasagna pan to fit it all). Place the crescent rolls or bread crumbs and parm cheese on top of casserole and bake for 20-25 minutes in a 375 degree oven.

It was super good. Next time I might cover the casserole for most of the cooking time, and then take off the cover to let the bread crumbs toast more. I will probably add some more cheese, too.  'cause that's how I roll.