Garden Veggies with Balsamic Vinaigrette

My garden will be producing plenty of tomatoes, zucchini, onions and yellow squash, and I’ll soon be running out of room in my refrigerator drawers! It will be an ideal time to cook dishes like the following recipe, incorporating some of those garden fresh veggies.

FRESH FARM VEGETABLES WITH BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

3 medium tomatoes, diced in bite sized pieces
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, diced in bite sized pieces
½ onion, sliced in slivers
¼ cup white balsamic vinegar, gently boiled until reduced by half
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 small garlic clove, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 slices bacon, cooked, drained and chopped for garnish

Blanch squash in salted boiling water for 2 minutes. Drain. Combine squash, tomatoes and onion in medium bowl. In a small bowl combine remaining ingredients except olive oil and bacon. Whisk oil in slowly. Drizzle vinaigrette over vegetables and toss. Garnish with bacon. Serves 4.

Don't Fear the Freezer

Easy things get a bad rap. It’s as if to say, if you haven’t sweated and toiled and sacrificed for something, you haven’t earned it. “Don’t take the easy way out” — How many times have we heard that?

In the world of food, sometimes a healthy skepticism toward easiness makes sense. If you’re hungry for a snack, few things are easier to get your nosh on than a bag of potato chips or Cheetos. Here, though, what you’re saving in terms of convenience you’re more than giving up in nutrition.

There are “easy” foods that can be good for you. For snacking, an apple with peanut butter is a great combination that can be prepared in literally one minute. (While peanut butter is considered healthy as-is, you can up the health quotient even more by buying natural brands, which use less sugar.) In fact, nuts in general are an excellent, easy snack food, when eaten in reasonable amounts. Or if that sounds boring, try the spiced varieties available in bulk at your grocery store.

When it comes to cooking though, one of the easiest ways to find healthy, inexpensive ingredients is to visit the frozen-foods aisle. I repeat: Frozen foods — fruits, vegetables, fish — are your friend.

It’s curious how frozen food seems to get short shrift when compared to canned food. Maybe it’s because canned food has been available to consumers longer than frozen food. Or maybe it’s because freezers are relatively new conveniences (freezers weren’t mass produced until the end of World War II). Shoot, maybe people just don’t have enough room in their freezers because they seldom clean them. Who knows?

Whatever the reason, it’s a shame, because frozen food can be an economical, convenient, and healthy component in people’s kitchens, especially during the off-season for various types of produce. Before they are frozen, fruits and vegetables are picked at the height of ripeness, when they are most nutrient-rich and flavorful. In freezing, produce retains more of those nutrients than the fruits and vegetables that were canned.

Sometimes I’ll even use frozen vegetables instead of fresh. For instance, if I want to make a black bean and corn salad, I’ll usually use frozen organic sweet corn over fresh corn because it’s available year-round. I don’t buy fresh corn on the cob in January because I know it’s been shipped from who knows where (and who knows how long it was kept refrigerated). Frozen corn, on the other hand, is picked when it’s ripe — it’s the next best thing to eating seasonally.

Canned food has its place, but in most situations frozen is better for nutritional content, and it’s still relatively cheap, especially compared to fresh produce that’s out of season. Oh, and another frozen-food convenience: It’s typically already prepped and ready to go! Try it, and take the easy way out.