Zucchini And Snow Pea Salad With Fresh Apricots, (and a small garden tour!)

I love picking meals directly from our garden. We have been having salads from our lettuces for quite a while now, but other vegetables are just now becoming big enough to harvest. Maybe not cause for a big celebration to most, but in my world, it is kinda exciting. I guess I am a garden geek, but nothing tastes better than freshly picked produce, from seeds that you planted yourself. Pulling a pea off the vine and munching while I am weeding is one of life’s simple pleasures, and I am still sometimes surprised at how simple and rewarding gardening can be.

Tonight’s dinner contained a lot of first harvests. I thinned a few rows of beets (I always wait to thin my beets until they are of a usable size, see the picture below) and roasted the beets I pulled in a bit of coconut oil on the BBQ. We sautéed the beet tops in some butter and served them with a squeeze of lemon. The salad recipe included in this post  has our first zucchini, and our first big enough harvest of peas to do something with other than just snacking on. The salmon steaks were marinated in butter, lemon and fresh herbs picked from the herb garden.

Zucchini And Snow Pea Salad With Fresh Apricots

1 medium zucchini

¾ tsp Herbamare

1 pint snow peas (1 ½ cups ish), trimmed

4 fresh apricots

2 Tbsp black sesame seeds (I like the Organic Traditions ones)

1 cup pea sprouts

Dressing:

3 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sesame oil

2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tsp honey

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Slice the zucchini into very thin round slices, a mandolin is very helpful for this! Toss it in a bowl with the Herbamare, and set aside for 20 minutes or so to “sweat”.

While the zucchini is sweating, blanch the snow peas. Drop them into a pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, and immediately remove them into a bowl of very cold water to stop the cooking process. When they are cold to the touch, drain well. Set aside.

Mix together the dressing ingredients and set aside.

Toast your sesame seeds in a cast iron pan over medium heat until they just start to pop. Remove from hot pan to a plate to cool. Set aside.

Remove the pit from your apricots and cut up into pieces. Set aside.

Gently squeeze the zucchini to release any excess moisture and drain any liquid away.

To assemble the salad:

In a medium salad bowl, mix the zucchini, snow peas, and apricots together gently until well mixed. Add the dressing to the bowl and stir to distribute.

I always over-plant my beets, and start thinning
when they get about this big, they are amazing
when they are roasted!

Just before serving, toss in the pea sprouts and the black sesame seeds.  Gently toss and serve.

Main Vegetable Bed

Herb Garden
and Sunflowers

Tomatoes, Garlic
 and Rhubarb
(and Ryley the Poodle!)

Grain Free Apricot Coconut Muffins with a Honey Lime Drizzle

 Fresh apricots, to me, always taste like sunshine. Probably because they arrive at the height of summer, and their colour is so brightly perfect for the season. I love the fresh and tangy- sweet tartness when they are fresh, but baking them takes these little darlings to a whole new level.  I brought home a bag from work this week, and had planned to make some kind of apricot upside down cake with them. But, being as I ended up wide awake and in a baking mood bright and early on Sunday morning, they ended up in a muffin instead, because I just couldn't justify having cake for breakfast!

The honey lime drizzle is optional, but tasty. Leave it off if you wish, but it really is the proverbial “icing on the cake” , or in this case, muffin!
**recipe is updated, it was meant to say baking SODA, not powder!

Grain Free Apricot Coconut Muffins with a Honey Lime Drizzle

Muffin base:

6 eggs, preferably pastured

¾ cup coconut flour

2/3 cup kefir or yogurt

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder  SODA! **

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla

¼ cup melted coconut oil

Add ins:

1 cup diced fresh apricots (approx 4-5 apricots, depending on the size)

½ cup shredded coconut

Drizzle:

In a small bowl, mix together:

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp lime juice

2 tsp hot water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Whiz the base ingredients together in a mixing bowl with a stick blender until well blended. Let stand for a few minutes for the coconut flour to thicken up. Mix in the apricots and coconut with a wooden spoon until well incorporated.

Spoon evenly into muffin tins lined with papers, mine made 12.

Bake in preheated oven for 22-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Remove from oven, and while muffins are still in the pan and hot, drizzle with the honey lime mixture. Let hang out in the pan for about 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool.

Keep them in the fridge after the first day, or freeze. (if they last that long!)