It’s the peak of June, the garden is about to burst, and I’m inspired! There are so many flowers about to turn into hearty plump little veggies. Tomatoes, peppers, peas, and the biggest baddest mama jamas: the squash. Have you guys ever planted squash? They are prehistoric behemoths, some showing off leaves as big as bike tires. They take over your garden if you let them, but they’re kind of magical to watch grow. They barely need any special attention (aside from wrangling the viney varieties to make sure they don’t take over). You plop some seeds in a hole and a month or two later, you start to see big gorgeous orange blossoms. – see my post on how to garden squash if you’re a first timer.
Spaghetti squash trailing along my wooden fence, happily thriving above the rose bushes
So if you’ve already got squash a plenty, you may find yourself in an abundance of squash blossoms. I find that no matter how many squash I actually plant, some seeds from the previous year somehow make their way into my fresh spring garden beds, and what’s a girl to do? I don’t like to kill things, even plants. What can I say, I’m a sucker. So then I have a million squash plants all over the place crawling over my hydrangea bushes and crowding out my hyssup flowers, but I never ask them to leave. Anyway, I digress. I’m left with hundreds of squash blossoms, many of which turn into big beautiful zucchinis, kabocha, or acorn squash, but many of which simply fall off waiting to be collected. Also, once a squash is fertilized and starts to grow a few inches, you can pluck that little orange miracle right off for your own evil pleasures. Hint: Farmers markets sell baby zucchinis with the blossoms still on if you’re lucky enough to find them seasonally.
So pluck your orange beauties and bring them to the kitchen where the magic happens. You’ll want to assemble the following ingredients:
1/3 cup cooked chickpeas
2 table spoons breadcrumbs
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp olive oil (I used garlic & herb infused)
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/4 cup raw crumbled walnuts
1/4 cup crumbled vegan feta (I used Violife)
In a small bowl, mix all of your ingredients and stuff into the largest squash blossoms. This amount of mixture should stuff 4-6 large blossoms. I also had a bunch of blossoms too tiny to stuff – save this and mix into your remaining stuffing. Take the 4-6 big flowers you’ve stuffed, and place in a heated frying pan with 2 tablespoons of oil. Put a lid on your pan and let these crisp up for about 7-10 minutes. You can try flipping them to brown both sides, but the stuffing may fall out so, this step isn’t crucial. These are a great side, and the leftover salad is awesome cold on top of a bed of spinach. If you make this, I’d love to see your creations in the comments!
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