THIS WEEK YOUR BASKET CONTAINS: lettuce, radish, zucchini, onions, SWEET PEPPERS, cucumbers, TOMATOES OR CHERRY TOMATOES and celery.

AUGUST FLOWER SPECIAL:  Polly does not go to the Beaverton Farmers Market in August (her primary outlet for flower bouquets) and so always has a surplus of flowers for the month.  You can sign up for weekly bouquets for the 4 Tuesdays in August ($12/week; $48 total) and we will deliver a gorgeous bouquet with each of your August vegetable baskets.  Simply email to order.  We will bill you in September for the flowers you get in August.

We decided to pick off the earliest sweet peppers this week to give the plants a bit of a boost in terms of setting fruit.  Sometimes, if you let the first ones continue to develop, the plants get “lazy” and put effort into ripening the early set fruit instead of putting energy into more production. It won’t be long until we have a more consistent supply of sweet peppers.

TZADZIKI

WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THOSE CUCUMBERS?  Make tzadziki, of course!  Simply grate whole cucumbers, lightly salt and set aside for 20  minutes.  Drain off the liquid that accumulates, squeeze in a few cloves of garlic and stir in some yogurt and/or sour cream (we find it best to use a 50/50 mix).   Generally, you want to use equal volumes of cucumber and dairy product. Serve with toasted pita bread or crackers.

The recipe below is excellent.  We thought it was even better the next day.

GREEK TAVERNA ZUCCHINI WITH LEMON

4 zucchini

3 garlic cloves

large pinch of salt

large pinch dried oregano

juice of ½ lemon

4 Tbs. olive oil

freshly ground pepper

15 olives

Slice zucchinis in half lengthwise then cut into large chunks.  Bring a pot of salted water to a boil, add zucchini and cook 10-15 minutes or until quite soft.  Drain.  Crush the garlic in a mortar in pestle with the salt, then rub it into the cut surfaces of the zucchini.  Sprinkle with oregano, lemon juice and olive oil.  Season with pepper.  Garnish with the olives and serve at room temperature.  Serves 4.  From The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook vol. 2

It is starting to be zucchini bread season, and the recipe below is bar-none our favorite.

LONNIE’S CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI CAKE

½ cup soft butter

½ cup cooking oil

2 eggs

1 ½ cup sugar (can be reduced)

1 tsp. vanilla

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

½ cup chocolate chips

½ cup buttermilk

4 Tbs. cocoa

2 cups grated zucchini

¼ cup chopped nuts

1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix oil, butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla and milk together.  Add cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Mix well. Add flour and mix well.  Add zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts and mix. Divide the batter into 2 well greased loaf pans or one well greased 13 x 9 in baking dish. Bake at 350⁰ for 45 minutes or until a tooth pick poked into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Now that sweet peppers are starting to appear in your basket it means that hot peppers will not be far behind.  WE ONLY GIVE HOT PEPPERS TO PEOPLE WHO ASK FOR THEM.  If you got them last year, you don’t need to do anything and you will get some as they are ready.  IF YOU WANT TO GET ON THE LIST FOR THE FIRST TIME, JUST EMAIL AND LET US KNOW YOU WANT HOT PEPPERS.  We’ll add you to the list and send them along (usually in the greens bag) as they are available.