June Forecast and Summer Recipes That Use All Your Vegetables
- Rebecca Hume
- Jun 5
- 6 min read
June is here, and oh my goodness, the farm is just bursting with fresh flavors! We're so excited about the incredible lineup of goodies making their way from our fields to your kitchens. Get ready for juicy tomatoes perfect for slicing, cool cucumbers for crisp salads, versatile zucchini begging to be grilled or baked, and fragrant basil that smells like pure summer. But that's not all! We're also seeing the first appearances of wonderful okra, those trusty onions for all your savory dishes, sweet carrots, the surprisingly versatile Daikon radish, and hearty cabbage. What a lineup!
We recently got a request to share more recipes that featured all (or most) of our current vegetables. This is a great request! By nature, recipes that are studded with a lot of vegetables lend themselves well to batch cooking. It’s feel-good food worthy of multiple meals. Because the goal is to use most of your VRDNT veggies, you’re also just chopping up a lot of volume - meaning enough servings for lunch the next day, and then some.
Use these recipes as mere guides and adapt them to whatever needs using in your fridge. Loosen up, and substitute when needed. Can dense potatoes be swapped with dense daikon radishes instead? Can an eggplant-centric stir fry recipe be just as delicious if made with zucchini instead? Out of radishes, but rich in carrots? Substitute grated carrots for grated radishes on top of your grain bowl or stir fry.
To me, the best part of being a member of a CSA is experimenting in the kitchen. Because your vegetables are supremely fresh (and grown with care), they’re going to taste good. You’ve done the hard work of getting super high-quality produce into your kitchen. Don’t over-complicate the eating part!
Lasagna
I’m using lasagna here as a loose term. What I really mean is layered bits of vegetables, maybe meat, and cheese. Perhaps you use actual lasagna noodles, or maybe you use ribbons of zucchini and eggplant instead. Are you allergic to gluten? Why not use slices of potatoes in place of noodles. Used canned tomatoes (a must-have pantry staple) and add whatever vegetables need using to the sauce - grated carrots, squash, herbs, onions, and peppers. Do you have a haul of green chilis? Steer this “lasagna” in a southwestern direction, and perhaps don’t make a lasagna at all and instead make an enchilada casserole, instead. Reading this in the winter? Here’s where you add huge handfuls of chopped greens. If simmered long enough, virtually any vegetable can melt into a rich tomato sauce adding complexity and nutrition, alike. Making a meaty tomato sauce of some sort? Adding diced eggplant will stretch the sauce, adding a silky, meat-like texture. Cheesy Potato Lasagna Cheesy Eggplant and Mushroom Lasagna (Vegetarian) Zucchini Lasagna (Not Watery) Easy Zucchini Lasagna
Veg-Heavy Shepards Pie
Pastelón (Puerto Rican Lasagna)
*I am throwing these last few in here as a reminder that you can layer pretty much anything vegetable with a bit of cheese, bake it, and it will be delicious.
Pasta Salad, All Week
Last June I was making copious amounts of pasta salad, and the pattern has recently resurfaced. Last June I was on a soba kick, but this summer it’s all about the tricolored, spiralized rotini. I’m always box of pasta, block of feta, and can of sliced olives to my grocery list just so that I’m prepared if the pasta-salad urge hits. Stocking up on green onions when not in season at VRDNT is well worth the 33 cents, and will wake up any otherwise average pasta salad and the crunchy pizazz will make you feel like a true meal-prepper. Here is a link to all the pasta salad recipes you should need to get you started.
My favorite noodle salad of the moment? This Miso Ginger Green Tahini Noodles from Zena’s Kitchen.
Tacos
If you have tortillas and VRDNT veggies, you have a meal. Last night, we roasted some broccoli in a really hot oven with a bit of sumac and salt, and served it on a tortilla with a 5-minute yogurt + avocado crema and fresh pico. Best meal of the week! Leftover roasted veggies make excellent tacos. Bonus points if you have a perfectly ripe avocado on hand. 5 Minute Avocado and Cilantro Dressing
Thai-Style Curries
There’s a reason canned coconut milk is always in my pantry. Thai food is loved by so many, and for good reason. Thai cuisine is renowned for its harmonious blend of sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami flavors. The balance of these tastes in a single dish creates a complex and satisfying experience for the palate.Do yourself a favor, and start making big batches of curry with your VRDNT veggies. Good for summer and winter shares, alike. For more on my favorite curry pastes, read here.
Soup/Stews/Veggies Suspended in Broth
In college, my roommate Cassie once threw a Stone Soup party. If you’re unfamiliar with the story, Stone Soup is a European folk tale in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys. The story is a reminder of the value of sharing, and also a testament to the fact that basically anything can be thrown in a soup pot. The story also reminds me of the Cajun Mardi Gras (Courir de Mardi Gras) tradition of going house to house and begging for ingredients to make a gumbo, except the latter involves jesters, costumes, and usually a lot of alcohol. But I digress.
Either way, soup is the absolute ultimate one-pot dish that will happily absorb any and every vegetable. Perhaps it's blasphemous, but it doesn’t have to be cold outside to enjoy the nourishing and easy qualities of a bowl of soup, and beginning around this time of year, a soup of sorts is on the menu at my house at least every other week. Minestrone Soup
Ribolata Instapot Vegetable Soup Carrot Ginger Soup Okra Soup with Spinach Veg-Heavy Chicken Noodle Soup Hearty Vegetable Stew Lebanese Chickpea Stew Ultimate Hearty Vegetable Stew Vegan Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu Restorative Ginger and Turmeric Noodle Soup Mapo Tofu- and "Wok-Style"-Inspired Ramen Vegetarian Miso Ramen
Stir Fry
A broad term, to be sure, but cooking some type of stir fry - either with rice or noodles - is an excellent way to use any and every vegetable. Often, I make white rice one night with vegetables on top, and then use the leftover rice the following night for a “stir fry”. Stocking up on the right condiments will help you have interesting **
Grain Bowls
Grain bowls are basically just like a pasta salad, except sub the pasta with…well…a grain. Quinoa, farro, bulger, cous cous, farina, freekeh, rice and even lentils are great options. No grain in sight? A can of white beans or chickpeas also serves as a wonderful base for a bowl of vegetables. My favorite bowls contain something creamy (either in the form of a dressing or a cheese like feta), something crunchy (nuts, seeds, fried onions, crackers), and something “meaty” (roasted carrots, cubed sweet potato or squash, olives, canned fish, or leftover chicken). Oh, and lots and lots of fresh herbs.
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