CHOCOLATE GINGER ZUCCHINI BREAD

1 C flour
1 t cinnamon
¼ t salt
¾ t baking soda
3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ C canola oil
½ C sugar
¼ C brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
¼ C sour cream
1½ C grated zucchini
½ C mini chocolate chips
zest from one orange
1 tsp ginger
1 Tbsp minced candied ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a large 9″ bread pan and set aside. Mix topping ingredients and set aside.Whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder in a small bowl until combined. Set aside. In a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, beat together sugars, oil, and eggs for about 1-2 minutes until slightly fluffy. Add vanilla and sour cream.Fold in the grated zucchini, zest and gingers. Add the remaining dry flour ingredients. Stir to combine and lastly fold in the chocolate chips. Pour into prepared 9″ bread pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes. I set a time for 45 minutes and mine was done at that time. Oven temperatures vary, so just make sure a toothpick entered in the center comes clean. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and remove from pan. Delicious served a little warm – with vanilla ice cream!


Chenoa's Delicious Not-Apple (Zucchini) Pie!

One of our youngest crew members, Chenoa, who is just 15, surprised us for lunch last week with this terrific pie she made with sliced zucchini. She wisely did not tell the crew it wasn't an apple pie until after they all tasted and LOVED it! Of course, our crew is pretty used to eating squash for lunch, but not for dessert. Sarah, another young crew member, says squash sautees are her favorite lunches of the year. What a great group!

6 cups zucchini and/or summer squash, peeled and seeds removed if they are big, sliced like apples
1-½ teaspoon Cream Of Tartar
Dash Of Salt
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1-¼ cup Sugar (or Less)
Dash Of Nutmeg
1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Butter
1 9-inch Unbaked Pie Shell Preparation Peel zucchini, cut lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Slice to resemble apple slices.

Cook zucchini 10 minutes in a small amount of water and drain. Mix cream of tartar, salt, flour, lemon juice, sugar and spices with zucchini.  Pour into unbaked pie shell and dot with butter. Top with crumb topping.

CRUMB TOPPING:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar

Mix together until crumbly and distribute evenly over pie filling. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

SCALLION PANCAKE
This isn't what you typically think of a pancake, and it isn't really even a recipe, but just an idea for how we've been using the wonderful, huge Japanese scallions. It is a super light, healthy version of a Chinese Spring Onion Pancake (you can see recipes for these on our Farmer Kriss Pinterest Page). We heat up our skillet, add three drops of sesame oil and a little drop of olive oil and wipe around. Then add sliced summer squash and sliced scallions - the whole thing. Put lid on and saute on medium high until slightly softened. Shake salt and pepper. Then we add three eggs whisked with about two tablespoons of water. Allow to cook until set. Cut into pie slices and serve garnished with lots of cilantro and sprinkled with soy sauce. Breakfast!

We love veggie hashes here at Circle M. In fact, we have them for breakfast every day (except for winter when we have fermented oatmeal with dried fruit or chopped apples). The wonderful thing about hashes is you never get sick of them because they are different every day, except for the egg we always poach on top. However, the best hashes are the tomato-squash variety we get to enjoy this time of year. Here, we first sauteed some onion in a tiny swipe of olive oil in our cast iron skillet. Then we put sliced zucchini and summer squash on top, and covered to steam while we cut up some tomatoes and basil. Then we threw those in for a few minutes, and also covered. Finally, when everything was slightly softened (we don't care for soggy squash!), we cracked eggs on top, covered again, and let cook until the eggs were just done enough to have firm whites but lots of delicious juice for the veggies. Heaven and health on a plate!

This recipe was recommended to us by farm member Lisa on facebook, and comes to us from rosiescountrybaking.blogspot.com. She apparently adapted it from Southern Living.

1 homemade or store bought deep dish pie crust
3 large heirloom tomatoes -assorted varieties, thinly sliced
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt, divided
1/2 vidalia onion, chopped
1 1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper, divided
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 Tbsp chopped herbs - basil and parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Gruyere cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiana cheese
1/4 cup good mayonnaise

Place tomatoes in a single layer on paper towels, sprinkle with 1 tsp of the salt, let stand 10 mins, this will remove excess liquid from the tomatoes to prevent a watery pie.  Meanwhile, saute onion and 1/4 tsp each salt and pepper in hot oil over med heat about 3 mins or until onion is tender.  Pat tomatoes dry with a paper towel.  Layer tomatoes, onion, and herbs onto crust, seasoning each layer with pepper.  Stir together the cheeses and mayo then spread over pie.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and bubbly.  Can be served hot, warm or at room temp.

One of our youngest crew members, Chenoa, who is just 15, surprised us for lunch last week with this terrific pie she made with sliced zucchini. She wisely did not tell the crew it wasn't an apple pie until after they all tasted and LOVED it! Of course, our crew is pretty used to eating squash for lunch, but not for dessert. Sarah, another young crew member, says squash sautees are her favorite lunches of the year. What a great group!

6 cups ucchini and/or summer squash, peeled and seeds removed if they are big, sliced like apples
1-½ teaspoon Cream Of Tartar
Dash Of Salt
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1-¼ cup Sugar (or Less)
Dash Of Nutmeg
1-½ teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Butter
1 9-inch Unbaked Pie Shell Preparation Peel zucchini, cut lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Slice to resemble apple slices.

Cook zucchini 10 minutes in a small amount of water and drain. Mix cream of tartar, salt, flour, lemon juice, sugar and spices with zucchini.  Pour into unbaked pie shell and dot with butter. Top with crumb topping.

CRUMB TOPPING:
1/2 c. butter
1 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar

Mix together until crumbly and distribute evenly over pie filling. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

One of the main reasons we wanted to pack squash blossoms for you again is because we've been enjoying them so much in quiches with our bed and breakfast guests. This is a truly delicious, and gorgeous dish. Here, its waiting to go into the over. When it comes out, the blossoms will be slightly browned and the result will be delicious. Use your own piecrust recipe, or scroll down to the Fruit of the Forest Pie and use our savory buckwheat crust.

For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
generous pinch sea salt or kosher salt
1 stick (115gr) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes
1/4 cup ice cold water, or enough to just hold together the pastry
1 egg wash - yolk, pinch salt, splash water, blended together


For the filling:
3 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
 4 to 8 squash blossoms

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a plastic blade, pulse together the flour and salt. Add the cold butter all at once. Pulse until the flour is the size of tiny peas. Drizzle the ice water through the mouth of the food processor, while pulsing. Stop just when the pastry begins to come together. Empty the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disk using your hands. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. This can be done up to 2-3 days in advance. You can of course, do the whole thing by hand. Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll crust out on a lightly floured surface, to about 1/4" thickness. Bake crust for 10 minutes, protecting the edge with foil. Remove and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a food processor, pulse together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper and basil leaves until the basil gives the filling a light green color. By hand, nutmeg and feta. Do not pulse but stir them in with a spoon. Pour at the bottom of the refrigerated pie crust and top with the squash blossoms in a circle all around the filling. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour until the quiche is golden brown. Let cool slightly before eating.

QUICK SPANISH TORTILLA

4-5 medium potatoes, sliced in rounds
1 small onion, roughly chopped
1⁄2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
6 eggs, whisked
1 TBSP snipped chives
Pepper and/or paprika

Preheat oven to 375F. In an ovenproof skillet or cast iron pan, gently bring to heat a 1⁄2 cup of olive oil on the stovetop. Once the oil has been brought to heat, add the sliced potatoes and onion. Stir until mixed. Cover and sweat the vegetables for 10 minutes. You'll want the potatoes and onions to be softened and not too browned.  Once softened, turn off the heat. In a large bowl, whisk together the 6 large eggs. Pour the eggs over the potato and onion mixture, and mix through.  Sprinkle with chives. Place the skillet or cast iron pan into the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through. Season with freshly ground pepper and paprika. Serve in pizza-shaped slices.

Swiss Chard Gratin

1 large bunch chard, washed
1 cups fresh breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Salt, pepper to taste
2 teaspoons flour
1/2 cup half and half
Freshly grated nutmeg
Freshly grated hard cheese, such as parmesan, asiago or Evalon

Melt butter in a 10-inch cast iron skillet. Add onion and saute til translucent. Add sliced garlic. Cook on medium low. Thinly slice the chard stems, add to the skillet, and cook for 2 minutes or so while ribboning the leaves. Add the leaves and continue cooking until tender, about 3-4 minutes longer. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper roughly to taste. Toast breadcrumbs lightly in oven on a baking tray, for about 5 minutes. Stir flour into half-and-half, grate in nutmeg to taste. Pour milk mixture over chard. Sprinkle breadcrumbs then cheese on top. Place mixture in oven and cook until cheese is melted and slightly browned. Allow to cool slightly before serving.