Usually around Christmas, we hear people say: “Tis the Season” which means it’s time for Christmas. But I think the phrase, ’tis the season’, can also mean it’s time for certain types of food.
In other words, different seasons bring different foods. This means seasonal eating!
For example,
- Spring foods usually include berries, leeks, onions, potatoes, rhubarb, carrots, artichokes and some greens
- Summer foods usually include melons, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, corn, okra, beets, peaches, plums, cucumbers, beans, peas, peppers, and kale
- Fall foods usually include, root veggies, broccoli, cauliflower, pumpkins, mushrooms, peppers, and lettuces
- Winter foods usually include mustard greens, collard greens, citrus such as oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit and some root veggies
On my recent trip to the Farmer’s Market last weekend, there were still some late Spring season foods such as strawberries, blackberries, onions, carrots and greens.
There were also some early Summer season foods such as tomatoes, purple hull peas, peaches, beets, kale and zucchini.
I ended up buying these zucchini and purple carrots…or I thought they were purple. More on that a bit later.
I also bought a loaf of french bread, pint of strawberries, kale and these beautiful little gifts of Summer time love…tiny tomatoes!. I really like these little cuties. They pop and burst in your mouth and are so colorful…like a rainbow. Love!
My mom was in town visiting me so I cooked a Sunday Supper for her. I made zucchini boats with the zucchini and glazed carrots with the carrots. The zucchini boats were so easy! Please promise me you will try to make these! Please? Promise? Okay, thank you!
This is how you do it:
Wash and cut in half, lengthwise. Then using a spoon, scrape out the middle and chop it up into small pieces and place into a mixing bowl. Don’t worry about the seeds, they are super tiny and delicious.
Chop up your favorite herb and add it to the bowl. I used basil because I love it so very much and I happen to have it growing in my herb container garden. 
See? I’m growing chives, mint and parsley too. Herbs are easy to grow, you should try to grow some. Grow it and then you can cook with it!
Next I added some panko bread crumbs (any bread crumbs will do, I just prefer panko because they are a bit crunchier and have no chemicals or dyes added.)
Then an egg and some salt.
Lastly, I added some fresh feta cheese (that’s the white stuff in the picture above), stirred everything together and spooned it back into the zucchini which now kind of remind me of a little boat.
I put the stuffed zucchini in a baking dish and popped them into the oven under the broiler. I broiled them for a few minutes, about 6-8 minutes, until they were a little browned on top. You have to watch them carefully so they don’t brown too quickly. Otherwise you’ll have burned zucchini boats and your ship will have sunk.
Oh and back to the purple carrots. I sliced the carrots in half, roasted them and then cooked them for a minute or two in a little olive oil in a hot skillet. I sprinkled a little brown sugar on them, stirred it around and removed from the heat. But that’s not why I mentioned the carrots.
This is why I mentioned the purple carrots…
When I cut them, I discovered they were orange on the inside! How cool is that?! So I’m not sure if they are purple carrots or orange carrots. Maybe we can call them purporange carrots? What do you think?
Tis the Season to Cook, Learn, Grow!
Happy Cooking 🙂
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