Fresh summer tomato recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Eleven easy recipes -- some traditional, some unusual, all healthy and delicious -- for making the most of prolific, fresh, sun-ripened tomatoes.

I almost can't believe it -- time flies! -- but we're nearing the end of the 2014 edition of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, in which you can get weekly seasonal produce recipes by request all summer long (Memorial Day to Labor Day). Hopefully you've been playing along, telling me each week what produce from your CSA share, garden or farmers' market has left you stumped for ideas, and I help un-stump you with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays.

I think this is my absolute favorite time of year, veg- and CSA-wise, because the most prolific veggie right now almost everywhere around the country is the tomato. From the most petite cherry to the giant slicers, fresh tomatoes taste to me like nothing else on earth. And while I'm happiest eating them plain, topped with a little crunchy sea salt, I've pulled together 11 delicious recipes that call for fresh summer tomatoes from my favorite food bloggers.

Asian-inspired chicken and broccoli salad

Asian-inspired sweet-and-tangy chicken and broccoli salad, topped with apricots and cashews. A quick and easy recipe, perfect for weeknight dinners.

Hey, hiya! The Ninj's move to Kentucky is complete.

Well, let me clarify. Things completed are the the physical moving of goods from Vermont to Kentucky in a big-ass tractor trailer and my arriving in Kentucky by pulling off a spectacular pre-murder OJ Simpson run in high-heeled flip-flops through three concourses of the Charlotte airport to avoid (just barely) missing my flight, which had been dramatically re-routed out of my way by the good folks (kidding, really, they're asshats) at American Airlines who bumped me from my original flight to Louisville from Chicago in order to give my seat to a standby "medallion" passenger (oh no, I'm not bitter -- I love being treated like baggage by people who refuse to look you in the eye or answer your questions directly), thus arriving in Kentucky -- sweaty, stressed and sans luggage -- about 20 minutes ahead of my movers.

But I made it. And then so did our stuff (oy, the stuff -- so much stuff, even after giving so much of it away before we left Vermont). So, I am currently knee-deep in cardboard moving boxes and endless reams of packing paper on this end.

More than knee-deep, actually.  Let me show you my new kitchen.

The bourbony adventures of The Ninj continue

After four years in Vermont, The Ninj is on the move -- this time, back to the South.

I know it's not a very seasonal photo, but that's the custom post-and-beam barn we built on our farmette in Vermont. The farmette I've been writing about here for four years, ever since The Ninj became The Ninj. The same farmette that gave me such fodder as ugly fruit, too many zucchini and way, way, WAY too many deer  -- although the deer inspired a great venison jerky recipe, so I can't complain too much.

Well, it was our farmette, until yesterday.

If you only know The Ninj through this blog, you probably don't know that Mr. Ninj and I tend to move. A lot. About every five years or so (no joke). Work relocation, so it's always good, but still a lot of moving.

(If you need helpful tips like how to rip packing tape the way the professionals do and the benefits of box-hoarding, I'm your gal.)

So, after living in Vermont for four years, we're on the move again. The farmette is in the hands of some lucky, lucky new stewards, and we're returning to the South from whence we came but to a fun, new-to-us location: Louisville, Kentucky (a place where I can continue to say "y'all" and not be looked at judgingly and strangely).

Even if you only know The Ninj through this blog, you're probably clapping or hooting your ass off, because you just realized that the why-not-throw-a-little-bourbon-in-it Ninj is moving to bourbon country.

Zucchini-a-rama: 9 summer zucchini recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Just in time for national Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day on August 8, check out these nine delicious recipes for summer zucchini.

Yep, it's another week of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue for 2014, in which you tell me each week what produce from your CSA share (or garden or farmers' market) has you in a recipe rut, and I shower you with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays. This week, we're talking zucchini!

If you have ever grown zucchini, which seems to produce endlessly, you undoubtedly understand the awesomeness of national Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day, fast approaching on August 8. Mark your calendars NOW, peeps!

If you can't wait until August 8, just do what The Ninj did this year to unload my surplus: I put a giant box of zucchini in front of my mailbox with a sign that said "FREE VEGGIES." Gone by the end of the day. Because people love free shit.

If you're looking for more ideas on how to use up enjoy this ubiquitous squash, take a gander at these nine yummy recipes for some delicious inspiration.

Easy cabbage tabbouleh

Add some healthy whole grains to your summer meal salads with this easy, no-cook recipe for cabbage tabbouleh, a riff on the traditional Middle Eastern favorite.

With the onset of the summer heat, we all start looking for cool, no-cook dinner recipes, don't we? You bet we do: Just take a look at your favorite food boards on Pinterest and you'll see what I mean.

Yet "no-cook" often turns into shorthand for "salad." So we end up eating lots of salads, which, let's face it, can get pretty boring. I like to incorporate more filling meal salads like this cabbage tabbouleh into my summertime repertoire.

Tabbouleh is an traditional Middle Eastern dish, composed largely of tomatoes, parsley, mint and onion, often with a grain mixed in, and finished with a lemony oil dressing. To be honest, I don't really like traditional tabbouleh. Something about the amount of parsley in it is just a bit overwhelming for me.  A little too earthy, too tart ... oh, I don't know, a little too something.

But I do like the idea of tabbouleh -- a simple, easy grain and veg salad, cool and quick to prepare.

Since I've been expanding my whole grain horizons (I no longer immediately think of the rhyme "bulgur is vulgar" when I see a bag of it), I decided to give tabbouleh another chance when I came across this recipe that substitutes cabbage for all that too-something-something parsley. Heck yeah!

9 craveable corn recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Enjoy these nine delicious recipes for fresh, sweet corn. In soups, salads, pastas, sides and even ice cream, corn is the sunny summer vegetable that everyone craves.

We're about halfway through the 2014 edition of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, in which you get weekly seasonal produce recipes by request all summer long. Heck yeah! Just tell me each week what produce from your CSA share (or garden or farmers' market) is giving you fits, and I talk you down from the ledge with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays.

This week, we're talking sweet, fresh corn. Nothing says summer quite like just-picked corn, does it?  But if you're wearying of the usual boiled corn-on-the-cob with a pat of butter, check out these nine delicious ways to enjoy this sunny summer favorite.

Quinoa salad with fresh corn and tomatoes

A true summer salad -- fresh corn and tomatoes, tossed with warm quinoa, protein-packed edamame and a tangy lime vinaigrette. Enjoy it as a side or mix in grilled chicken for an easy meal.

Now this is a summer salad, peeps. Because what comes to mind almost instantly when you think of summer veg? Corn and tomatoes, am I right?

Oh, summer tomatoes: how I love thee. How I love thee for tasting like tomatoes rather than cardboard.

And summer corn: what is there to say? Eight bajillion ears for a couple of bucks and you don't even have to cook it. That's my kind of vegetable. 

Now, toss those seasonal beauties with warm, slightly crunchy quinoa, some protein-packed edamame and a tangy lime vinaigrette.

Summer in a bowl.

I generally make this salad as a side to accompany grilled meat: steaks, chicken, ribs, whatevs. But it's extra-awesome leftover for lunch the next day, with some grilled chicken mixed right into it to make it a meal salad.

9 cool cucumber recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Need new ideas for cucumbers from your garden, CSA share or farmers' market? Enjoy these nine delicious recipes using cool, crisp cucumbers.

Hopefully by now I don't need to remind you how CSA Share Ninja Rescue works -- but I guess I will anyway. You tell me what veg you received (or will be receiving) in your CSA share box or found at the farmers' market that you don't know what to do with, and The Ninj rescues you each Tuesday with a whole bunch of recipe ideas from me and my favorite fellow food bloggers.

Nearly two months into The Rescue (now in its fourth year!), this week we're tackling one of everyone's favorites: cucumbers! Seriously: Do you know anyone who doesn't like cucumbers? (Don't answer that because, if you do, that's just freakin' cray cray and I don't want to meet him or her.)

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (gluten-free)

It's easy to whip up a batch of these gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, even if you only have 20 minutes!

I think these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are my new go-to cookie recipe. Mr. Ninj says they taste like a smooshed, baked peanut butter cup.

Awwwwwwwww yeah.

I firmly believe that everyone needs a quick and easy, go-to cookie recipe, whether for whipping up a late-day treat for yourself or baking some last-minute goodies for the school party your kid forgot to mention until the night before -- and every other situation in between.

The key is that the cookies have to be wicked good but also wicked easy. These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are both (I mean, come on: "smooshed, baked peanut butter cup" -- you know it's gonna be good).

I can't tell you how many times I have already made this recipe over the past few months. It's a cray cray number and yet we're still not sick of them. Now that's a good cookie!

Oh yeah, and did I mention they're gluten-free? And not in a substitute-gluten-free-flour-for-regular-flour way -- they are truly grain-free, so you don't even have to worry about the recipient's gluten sensitivity if you gift them to someone.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue on vacation

Even ninjas take a day off sometimes.

But don't worry, CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014 will be back next week.

Until then, check out the Rescue Archives from the past three years for all kinds of fresh, seasonal produce recipe ideas.