The farmers in the dell are at it, again! Today’s haul is some squash – an accidental purchase at the seed store. I had looked at some green beans and grabbed what I thought was a little starter plant. My starter plant was actually crookneck squash. Meh. A vegetable is a vegetable, right?!? Well… it is when you’re farmers in the dell. It really doesn’t matter what’s coming up out of the ground – we’re going to find a fun way to consume it, no matter what it is.

Let’s face it – this stuff is growing in spite of our lack of gardening experience, but what we lack in the growing end we make up for in the consuming end. The fun is seeing it and coming up with the recipe – very Iron Chef without the time clock. I really want to harvest a couple of squash blossoms at some point. I may not be the best gardener in the world but I know how to stuff a squash blossom with goat cheese and fresh herbs… lightly sauteed in a bit of olive oil…

But I digress…

Tonight was about showcasing the newest arrivals to the garden in a way that Nonna would eat it. She’s not a squash fan, so I thought maybe mixing them in with some tortellini might sway her. She ate around them. Oh well. We both thought it was pretty darn good and cleaned our plates.

I just cut the squash and sauteed it in olive oil with red onion and garlic. I mixed in some fresh herbs from the garden – basil, oregano, rosemary, parsley – and then mixed in the cooked cheese tortellini.

Topped with slices of grilled chicken breast.

We have more than a couple eggplants growing right now, as well. I’m thinking I may have to can some caponata. That would be something fun to break out on Thanksgiving! Nonna no longer cares for eggplant, either. I’m envisioning a lot of dinners in the next few months with multiple components. Oh well. It is what it is. She will definitely go for the tomatoes. She’s a tomato salad fan.

And there are lots of tomato plants out there. And peppers – lots and lots of different hot and sweet peppers.

This is fun stuff!