The garden has been producing beans and peas like crazy. We have been able to keep up so far, but posting here has lagged with the work I’ve been doing. This post comes courtesy of a Denver to Salt Lake City flight. I’m headed out to Utah to meet my new boss, pick up a car from Caroline’s Grandpa (he can’t drive anymore) and then driving right back.

The squash and zucchini production has been steady: one or two per day, medium sized. Here’s what we did with them early last week. It’s a variation on cottage pie. I’m not sure what the dividing line is between cottage pie and a generic casarole, so perhaps this is more casarole than pie. Either way it was a huge hit.

Garden Fresh Cottage Pie with Summer Squash and Zucchini

There are four layers to this dish.

Ingredients

Layer 1 came straight from the garden

• 2 medium Turnips, diced
• 1 small summer squash, sliced
• 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced
• 1/2 cup shelled peas
• 1 cup green beans, chopped in 1/2 inch lengths

Layer 2

• 1.5 cups Browned ground beef or turkey

Layer 3

The potatoes were flakes, the rest from the garden

• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 cup spinach
• 4 cups mashed potatoes (we used flakes, real would’ve been better)

Layer 4

• 1/2 cup grated provolone cheese
• 4 or 5 Crushed saltine crackers

Instructions

Dice the turnips and steam them in the microwave for about 10 minutes. I put them in a bowl with some water and covered it with plastic wrap.
Slice the zucchini and summer squash into very thin slices. They should bend when held horizontally.
Mix and spread all of the layer 1 vegetables across the bottom of the pan.
Spread a layer of ground beef or turkey across the vegetables

Chop the spinach and cilantro. Cook the mashed potatoes with the spinach and cilantro. and spread it over the other two layers.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. This should be enough time to soften the vegetables on layer one and add a slight crust to the potatoes.

Crush the crackers and sprinkle across the potatoes and the proavalone cheese on top of that. Put the dish in the oven on low broil for about 5 minutes. When you pull it out, it should look something like this.

Serve and Enjoy!