End of the Summer Meals

I picked up my CSA bag this week—and it was loaded with great things!!! Potatoes, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, squash, onions and broccoli.  It was all very fresh!  Add to that the cauliflower I had purchased and an eggplant from the garden, and I had a ton of produce!  I had to bring a dish for a Boy Scout potluck last night, so it dawned on me that I could throw together a few dishes to bring, and it would serve MANY people.

When I have a variety of vegetables, and not a lot of any in particular, I make a pasta salad.  I start with fun multicolored veggie pasta.  Then I add a homemade dressing made from an Italian dressing packet and balsamic vinegar and a little olive oil.  I add all of my veggies, and maybe a little cheese (chunk or shredded), and voila! A meal for MANY!  My pasta salad always grows in the fridge overnight, so I make it ahead of time, so the flavors can meld.  If I don’t like the way it tastes, I add garlic or any other yummy seasoning I have in the cabinet.

I took the small gold potatoes and added butter and dried onions, and placed them in the microwave.  They were excellent too!  A little garlic is my go to for these potatoes too!  Adding the butter keeps the outside coated and soft.  To cut calories, you could brush spray the outsides with a pan spray, but the little bit of butter mixes with the onions and browns them!

The Cucumbers were a little big, so I cut them in half and scooped out all of the seeds, then chopped them.  This worked well!