What’s Fresh from the farm in July?
By Farm to School Educator Joia Walker
It’s July, and things are heating up at EarthDance Organic Farm School! Our summer apprentices are in full swing, and the Strength & Honor summer campers are still going strong. Though the weather is hot, we are finding interesting and tasty ways to stay cool.
So What’s Fresh at EarthDance this July? Cherry Tomatoes! The cherry tomato is one of those veggie plants that starts growing and just doesn’t seem to stop. Surprisingly, one indeterminate plant can produce about 300 cherry tomatoes in one season and can get up to 12 feet tall! Cherry tomatoes are a good source of vitamin C and lycopene, an antioxidant found in red fruits. Pick up your Sungold, Black, or Red Cherry tomatoes from our Pay What You Can Farm Stand or the Ferguson Farmers Market, and add these tasty kabobs from It’s a Veg World After All to your next backyard bbq!
Easy Italian Zucchini Kabobs
Equipment
- Skewers
- Oven
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic pressed or minced
- 1 lemon juiced
- ½ teaspoon oregano dried
- ½ teaspoon basil dried
- ½ teaspoon sea salt more to taste
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper more to taste
- 1 zucchini scrubbed and trimmed
- 1 summer squash scrubbed and trimmed
- 1 pound cherry tomatoes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and seasonings.
- Slice the zucchini and summer squash into ½” circles. Rinse the cherry tomatoes.
- Add the vegetables to the olive oil mixture. Mix until all of the veggies are coated.
- Prepare the skewers by sliding a few cherry tomatoes and zucchini and squash circles onto each stick. You can choose to put them together in whatever pattern you would like. The recipe should yield about 10 skewers but might produce slightly more or less.
- Add the skewers to the lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tomatoes start to blister. Remove from oven, and enjoy warm!
Notes
- You can prep the veggies in advance and let them sit in the marinade for 30 minutes to 4 hours (in a bowl or plastic bag in the fridge) before making and cooking the kabobs.
- If using fresh herbs, use roughly 3 times as much as the measurement for dried herbs.
- Grilling instructions: Cook for 10-12 minutes over medium heat (or until the tomatoes blister), turning halfway through to promote even cooking. Use stainless steel skewers if you plan to grill them.
- Nutrition: Please note that each kabob likely has fewer calories than listed, since the nutrition calculations include all of the olive oil in the marinade.
Nutrition
Serving: 1kabob | Calories: 81kcal | Carbohydrates: 4g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 124mg | Potassium: 205mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Vitamin C: 19mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 1mg
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Find Cherry tomatoes and Pay What You Can for them and all of our local, organic produce at the EarthDance Farm Stand and Ferguson Farmers Market booth:
Blackberries (including pick your own)
Kale
Chard
Collards
Cabbage
Garlic
Onions
Leeks
Potatoes
Carrots
Cucumbers
Tomatoes (slicer, green, cherry)
Squash
Eggplant
Beets
Okra
Jalapeños
Lunchbox peppers
Thai chili peppers
Shishito peppers
Herbs (dill, parsley, basil, mint)
Fresh, flower bouquets
We hope you’ll enjoy some of this gorgeous produce this month. Come see us at the farm for a walk, a cooking demo, a volunteer shift, or a visit to the Pay What You Can Farm Stand! Our full calendar of events is always available here. Sign up for our monthly email newsletter to stay up on all things EarthDance!