Recipe: Zucchini Relish

After a 7 mile walk around Lake Union with my sisters in Seattle we were starving for lunch. My mom spread out all the lunch fixings and I was in heaven.

The spread:

Large wraps
nut hummus
turkey
provolone
avocado
tomato
peppers
zucchini
lettuce
salsa
s&p
zucchini relish

I wanted to share the zucchini relish recipe I got from my mom. I loved it!!! It would be very versatile; wraps, sandwiches, salads, dipped with chips, tacos, etc.

Zucchini Relish

Yield, about 4 half-pints

2 cups chopped zucchini (about 3 medium)
1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium)
½ cup chopped sweet green pepper (about 1 small)
½ cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 small)
2 Tbs. salt
1 ¾ cups sugar
2 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. mustard seed
1 cup cider vinegar
Combine zucchini, onion, green and red peppers; sprinkle with salt; cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly. Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Add vegetables; simmer 10 minutes. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

Do: Garden

Kenmore, WA

I was home for the weekend and summer was alive in Seattle. I was so glad I could see and eat the fruits of my parent's garden.

What's in the garden:
blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, kiwi, fig, and apple
tomatoes, carrots, beets, kale, chard, three kinds of squash and green onions
beans, peas, lettuce, rosemary, mint, and peppers.

In my mom's words: "I love knowing how my food has been fertilized and how the pests have been dealt with. I love being outside, in the fresh air, and working hard. I love running outside to find something I can use for dinner, breakfast, a smoothie, or whatever. I enjoy the things I freeze and can all year long. I feel productive and useful too."

A wish and a prayer that I can be a gardener like her when I have a home.

Try: KIND bars

I went camping in the Uintas this weekend. It was so green. It made my northwest veins pulse harder. Before I left on the trip I stopped at Whole Foods to get my sustenance and bought bread, apples, trail mix, honey roasted peanut butter, thin pretzels and a KIND bar. Have you ever eaten a KIND bar? They are super. I love that they are made with real ingredients that you can actually see in the bar: nuts, seeds, fruits. It's just the kind of snacking I like.

"KIND was founded on the principle of holistic kindness, and we pride ourselves on creating new paths that avoid false compromises. Instead of "Or" we say "And". We choose healthy and tasty, convenient and wholesome, economically sustainable and socially impactful."

Well said KIND. Well said.

Todd Selby x Alice Waters

Edible Selby x Alice Waters to celebrate 40 years of Chez Panisse restaurant and raise money for Edible Schoolyard.

I blogged about Edible Schoolyard last week and just spotted Todd Selby's images and synopsis at NY Times. (Todd Selby is now doing Edible Selby with the NY Times. It's brilliant, he rules at photographing people in their places and has an eye for good food by inspiring people.)

I wanted to share some cool things that Alice Waters said.

"(edible schoolyard) is a way of bringing children into a new relationship to food...to an interactive experience in the garden, in the kitchen, and at the children."

"We discovered that when kids grow food and when they cook it themselves they eat it, and they love it, and they love to eat with their friends"

"We have to bring them into a positive relationship with food"

true words.

Product: "A Delicious Revolution"

Levi's Edible Schoolyard $30

These are my favorite shirts out of the The Edible Schoolyard x Levi partnership. The Edible Schoolyard is a revolution for the kind of food students eat and the food education they receive. These t-shirts are limited edition and proceeds go to The Edible Schoolyard foundation. This really excites me because it is the 2 things I am post passionate about: Education and Real Foods. My day job is teaching 23 cute first graders. My other passion is real foods, especially local, that's good and good for you.

The 5 shirts are designed by the coolest as they come people. One of which is Alice Waters the restaurant owner of Chez Panisse located in Berkeley, CA. Anyone up for a San Franciso trip? I have got to go eat there.

Go support and wear a cool shirt!

via Oh Happy Day on Babble

Product: Reusable bags

Do you use a reusable bag when you go grocery shopping? I often forget and I go through phases of being really good at it. There really is not excuse because I have plenty in my closet and I go shopping on Saturdays. I guess I just haven't figured out the perfect system of bringing my groceries in the house to unload and then remembering to take my bags back out to my car. But maybe if I had cooler bags I'd be really good at the system?! What I like about the bags below are their color, the material, the neat little purse friendly size, and the prices.

flip & tumble $10 for 24/7 bag and $11 for 5 produce bags

ChicoBag $11.99 each

ChicoBag $11.99 each

Baggu $8 each

What reusable bags do you use? I feel so good when I use a bag I brought from home, it just makes so much sense for the environment. Looking at these bags makes me want to go shop for some fresh produce and cook up something wonderful.

Read: Food Rules

My friend Gloria gave me Food Rules for my birthday. (I think gifting books is so great and particularly one's with handwritten notes inside) I have pulled it out during pool time this summer and in between other reads. This book reads as bullet points almost which makes it easy to pick up when you have a second. I have loved reading it so much. Michael Pollan has a way of putting things so simply and direct that it's easy to walk away with a little rule to follow.

Some of my favorite rules so far:

8

Avoid food products that make health claims ("Don't take the silence of the yams as a sign they have nothing valuable to say about your health")

10

Avoid food that are pretending to be something they are not (aka imitation butter)

13

Eat only foods that will eventually rot

25
Eat your colors

27
Eat animals that have themselves eat well

Oh man, what am I saying? Every rule is amazing. You should get the book and get inspired!