When the garden gives you weird veggies...

Let's face it, homegrown is not always perfect. The sweet peppers have thin walls and are shaped like aliens; the carrots are not always straight and sweet. You don't want to throw out good nutrition so that's where pureed veggies are a blessing. In the '70s (yes, I remember the '70s) Moosewood put out a cookbook that had a spaghetti sauce recipe that incorporated everything in the garden into one smooth sauce. It's one of those things you can't get wrong so I make my version of the sauce with whatever we happen to have. So for my daughter, who loves pasta and is sick with the H1N1 virus - I pureed the alien peppers and crooked carrots, added those to my regular tomato sauce with onions and garlic. (You can sneak in mushrooms and spinach as well, but I didn't have any on hand.) It's a great way to sneak veggies to kids and the pureed veggies add a pleasant sweetness to the sauce.

In the garden, we're planting more garlic - there can never be too much - and the broccoli and cauliflower are looking healthy. Carrot, daikon and leafy greens appreciated the rain. The kaki persimmons are turning orange on the trees and some are already ripe. I should be doing something outdoors but it is so sticky outside...I think I'll make the muffins.