About this time each year, I deal with a delicious dilemma. Any gardener of vegetables understands. Near the end of summer, at least one variety explodes in productivity. Usually it’s the zucchini doubling in size overnight (really!). For me, 2020 is the year of the cucumber, loads and loads of cucumbers. How do I handle this (over) abundance of a bountiful harvest?
Don’t get me wrong, I love cucumbers. But you can only make so many pickles and jars of relish. They do make great gifts for birthdays, Christmas and ‘just about anytime’. Even so, I think my family and friends are more than a bit tired of presents from the garden. Only my brother-in-law still acts excited about receiving another jar of my relish.
With this in mind, I had to come up with another solution. After giving away as many cucumbers as humanly possible, I scoured Pinterest for suggestions. To my surprise, there are numerous recipes for ground cucumbers. They’re used to make bread, cakes, and cookies, just like zucchini. I imagine cucumber could be substituted for zucchini in most recipes. What a great idea!
So, I took to task with my Kitchen Aid mixer to grind my abundance of cucumbers. The attachments I bought with this appliance are my best purchase ever. Between the juicer and the grinder, they make my life much easier with the garden produce. Not sure what I’d do without them.
Most of the ground cucumber (and a few bags of zucchini) went into the freezer for use this winter. But I left some out to try a couple new creations I saved to my Pinterest recipe board. The sugar glazed cucumber bread and the lemon blueberry zucchini cake were amazing. Click on their name to link to the recipes so you can make them yourself.
Warning. Even though these baked goods contain vegetables, they’re not sugar free. Maybe the process of planting, weeding, harvesting and processing the veggies burn some of the calories ingested. We can only dream!
Nevertheless, I do hope that you enjoy this little change from my recent posts. This year has been tough for many of us, myself included. Often times, I tend to focus on my lack, instead of my plenty. In truth, most of my life is filled with blessings even though there are periods overshadowed with sorrow. Today I celebrate abundance, a bountiful harvest, not just in my garden but all around my world. Won’t you celebrate with me?
Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.
the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians 4:11-13 The Message Bible
