My top 5 flexible "whatever is in the garden" recipes

My cooking has changed drastically since I’ve begun growing our own food – my garden gives what it wants on its own time and doesn’t follow any recipe book. It’s very rare that what’s available matches up exactly to what is needed to follow a recipe to the letter. Over time I have developed a list of go-to, very flexible dishes that are easy to adapt to whatever is in season, in whatever quantity is available. I thought I would share these while we are in the season of abundance. Here are five of my most flexible “whatever is in the garden” type dishes for the summer season. For each dish, a list of example ingredients is given – you don’t need all of these – I just pick from them depending on what is available.

Pizza

Pizza is an easy one. I usually keep a few cheese pizzas from Costco in the freezer, or some uncooked pizza dough (Pillsbury for example). We just throw whatever is available on top of it and cook it on the barbecue.
Examples of toppings:

• Cherry tomatoes or larger tomatoes
• Green onions or onions
• Kale (crisps up great and gives nice texture!)
• Sweet or hot pepper
• Eggplant slices
• Spinach

Spring rolls

Spring rolls are another go-to for early summer, when greens are in abundance and other items start coming in gradually. I keep rice wrappers, vermicelli (optional) on hand, and either pre-made dipping sauce or make some with a peanut butter base. The wrappers get dipped in a saucer of lukewarm water to soften them and then you wrap the ingredients burrito-style. I usually do two layers of wrappers. This is a great dish on a hot day since you don’t need the oven.
Example ingredients:

• Greens – salad, arugula, spinach, swiss chard, salad greens
• Radishes
• Cucumber
• Carrot
• Daikon
• Sweet pepper
• Green onions

​Pad thai inspired noodle dish

I keep pad thai sauce and rice noodles to make pad thai inspired noodles. For a little extra protein my go-tos are tofu, smoked tofu, breaded fish or vegetarian breaded “fish” or “chicken”, which I cook in the pad thai sauce. I also often add some peanuts or sesame on top. I cook the protein, noodles and toppings separately then combine everything before serving.
Example ingredients:

• Pepper
• Green beans
• Soy beans
• Eggplant
• Cherry tomatos
• Celery

​Power bowl

These bowls are made on a base of greens, couscous or rice (or a mix of these). I cook the various ingredients separately and put them in little clumps on top of the base. Sometimes I add a hard boiled egg or tofu cubes. Super easy and can be made in various versions
Example ingredients:

• Swiss chard and/or kale sautéed in garlic butter
• Kale “chips”
• Green beans sautéed in garlic butter
• Cherry tomatoes
• Pickled or fermented veggies from last year (sunchokes etc)
• Roasted beet cubes (I use my air fryer to avoid heating the house)
• Soy beans
• Radish
• Cucumber
• Eggplant slices
• Marinated onions (red onions slices in lime juice, garlic and olive oil)
• Celery cubes

Fruit crisp

A great desert that can be adapted to whatever berries or fruits are in season. I use it with honeyberries, cherries, apples, pears, and mixed of all these. Recipe here.