‘You might have gotten in over your head this time, Vanessa’ noted my closest (in proximity – I roll my chair into her a few of times a day) coworker.

I had just explained how I have a few Sweet Dumpling squash gracing my windowsill and I am determined to turn them into something just as beautiful, but substantially more edible, than they are in their raw state. The problem is that an uncooked squash is not only very unappetizing but also very difficult to work with – hard to cut, slice, dice, etc. But a fully baked squash has too much of a Dali-esque melting-clock quality that’s visually unappealing and structurally unsound. Hence my coworker’s trepidation.

My solution is to cook the squash until tender but not totally soft. The final cooking is done on the stovetop, giving the squash pieces a chance to get golden at the edges and to mingle with the other ingredients. So simple, so easy to impress your coworkers with.

I used small Sweet Dumpling squash, about the size of a softball, but I see no reason why you couldn’t use any round squash – a buttercup, kabocha, or a pumpkin (see photos of some common squash varieties here) – to make a very large and lovely centerpiece for your dining table. Just be sure to add enough other veggies and rice to the filling so that you can pile it up to overflow the top, which, besides looking really great, gives that feeling of abundance of harvest that’s just so appropriate right now.

Time: 1 1⁄4 hours
Serves: 2 very hungry people, or 3 people as a really awesome side dish

Sweet Dumpling Squash Stuffed with Pablanos and Wild Rice

3 small Sweet Dumpling squash
6 pablano peppers (a mix of green and red is nice)
1 1/4 cup uncooked wild rice/brown rice mix
veggie broth
1 small onion, minced
olive oil or butter
salt and pepper

Bake whole squash until tender-firm to touch, but not totally soft, about 40 - 45 minutes. Set aside to let cool.

Cook the wild rice/brown rice mix with veggie broth instead of water.

Blacken the pablanos either under the broiler or by holding over a direct flame on the stovetop. Get them evenly charred all over and close them up in a plastic bag to steam and cool for about 20 minutes. The skins should easily peel off. Remove the stem and seeds and cut the pablanos into strips.

Once the squash has cooled, slice off the top in one piece and scoop out any seeds and strings. Cut around the sides and top of the squash to remove the flesh, taking care not to scrape too close to the sides of the squash so it remains intact. Dice the flesh.

Add some oil or butter to a skillet and sauté the onion. Add the squash pieces and sauté until tender all the way through, 5 - 10 minutes. Add the pablanos and rice and cook for a few minutes together until the flavors mix a bit together. Adjust salt and pepper.

Add the rice mixture back into the hollowed-out squash, heaping the stuffing out of the opening. Place the “lid” back on the squash at a jaunty angle over the rice if you’re into that sort of thing.

Get out to your local farmer’s market.
Bring your favorite vendor a cup of coffee. Thank him for his hard work (his really hard work) and dedication to harvesting from the earth in a way that makes our soil better, our rivers cleaner, and our bodies a little more glowy.

Buy as many late summer tomatoes as you can possibly eat. Take them home a serve them simply - a slice of mozzarella, a touch of vinaigrette, or just sliced with sprinkle of salt and pepper.

I just got back from a volunteer “vacation” at Pennypack Farm in Horsham, Pennsylvania. It was a perfect taste of summer, sun-drenched veggies and just enough sweaty, back-breaking work to make me want to keep my day job. Thank you to everyone - Susan, Gail, Andy, Molly, Katie, Mark and Harm. You inspire me.

It’s tomato time!

I had a proverbial stroke of genius upon visualizing that the free range eggs from my CSA share would fit perfectly into one of the glossy show-offy beefsteak tomatoes that are at their peak here in New York. I used the tomato “guts” to make a zippy sauce so as not to waste any tomato goodness.

When I’m not stuffing them with farm-fresh eggs or popping them straight into my mouth, this is what I’m doing these days with my farmer’s market tomatoes:

I’m ravishing these jewel-like tomato salads like this one from Kalyn of Kayln’s Kitchen, or this simple-is-best heirloom salad from Catherine at Albion Cooks.

I can never get enough of salsa, and this one from Elise at Simply Recipes is a classic.

And if you have an over abundance of tomatoes (lucky you!) these recipes sound fab:

A fantastic-looking Tomato Pickle from Indira from Mahanandi.
Sexy Romesco Sauce from Ann at a A Chicken in Every Granny Cart.
Ultra-minimal Tomato Ginger Jam from Alanna at A Veggie Venture.

And don’t forget these favorite Vanesscipes that feature red-ripe tomatoes:

Spicy Chilled Tomato, Corn, and Herb Soup
Farmers Market Fresh Tomato Pasta
Corn Pudding with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic Toast

Serves: 5
Time: 1 hour

Baked Eggs in Tomatoes
with a Zippy Tomato-Corn Sauce

13 large beefsteak tomatoes (10 for stuffing, 3 for sauce)
salt and pepper
12 large eggs
8 cloves garlic, sliced
olive oil
1/4 cup capers (one full 2 1/4 oz jar)
kernels from 4 cobs of corn
3/4 of a day-old baguette (6 - 8 cups of cubed bread)
2 cups gruyere cheese, grated (optional)
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450F.

Slice off tops of tomatoes and scoop out seeds and pulp, leaving a half inch around the sides and bottom so they don’t collapse — a lot like carving a pumpkin. A good tip is to cut a thin slice from the bottom of the tomato so they are more stable. Reserve the pulp and the tomato tops for the sauce (never discard vitamins!) Put the tomato shells on a baking tray and sprinkle the insides lightly with salt.

Break one egg inside each tomato. Top with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper. Bake 20 minutes for softer yolks, 25 minutes for hard yolks.

Chop the reserved tomato pulp and tops. Dice the three reserved tomatoes.

While the eggs are in the oven, start the sauce by sauteing the garlic slices over low heat for about 5 minutes, until barely turn golden. Add the pulp from the stuffed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and capers. Turn the heat up to medium and simmer until starting to get thick, about 20 minutes. Add the corn, and when heated through add the diced bread. Salt and pepper to taste.

Assemble one or two stuffed tomatoes on a plate and ladle the sauce over. Sprinkle with cheese, if desired. Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

I’m not sure if frugality and penny-pinching is genetic but for better or worse I’ve inherited my family’s Midwestern “waste not, want not” mantra. I get phone calls like “Hey Vanessa, I’m about to throw away some bubble wrap, a yard of astroturf, and a silver ice bucket with my initials on it… I just thought you might, you know, want to do something with it before it goes into trash.” You see, I hate wasting anything.

I buy a bunch of bananas, for instance, and if the sisters and I can’t eat them all before they start to go spotty I throw the brown ones in the freezer, skins and all, to be later incarnated as banana bread or my favorite smoothie: banana-peanutbutter-cocoa.

So when challenged by a recipe development class at the Institute of Culinary Education to create a variation on the classic chocolate-chip cookie, I thought it would be fine time to clear the freezer of bananas and put them to use in a cookie version of my favorite smoothie. Effervescent instructor Sarah Copeland, recipe tester for the Food Network, used her encyclopedic baking knowledge to help turn my smoothie concept into real (and vegan!) cookies. My classmates shared inspired ideas and comments, including Myra Kornfield’s vegan baking tip to use coconut oil in the cookies for richness. The weekend class somehow flew by even though my stomach was quite heavily bogged down with test cookies.

So here they are, the results of my smoothie-to-cookie experiment - Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookies, or Vanana Cookies for short. The bananas, peanut butter, and cocoa combine to create a rich brownie-like cookie with bursts of creamy banana and chunky peanut. Truly scrumptious, vegan, and a great way to reclaim a few overly ripe bananas.

Preparation = 20 minutes
Cooking = 10 minutes
Yield = 16 large cookies

Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookies

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder, preferably organic
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 very ripe bananas*
1 1/4 cup natural chunky peanut butter, at room temperature
1⁄4 cup coconut oil (not virgin), at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 firm-ripe bananas, cut into large dice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.

In another bowl, cream together the ripe bananas, peanut butter, coconut oil, light brown sugar and vanilla extract until all ingredients are completely incorporated, about 3 minutes.

Slowly add the chocolate mixture to the ripe banana mixture, stirring to combine. Mixture should be very thick. Fold in diced banana with a rubber spatula.

Drop on an ungreased cookie sheet in large, 3 tablespoon-sized scoops, spaced one inch apart.

Bake until the outside of the cookie lightens, starts to develop deep cracks, and the banana bits start to brown, about 8 - 11 minutes.

Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack.

*Can be frozen and rethawed

To be perfectly honest, I created this pizza merely as a vehicle — a platform of sorts to showcase one of my favorite veggies: hot chili peppers. I love the taste, the tang, and of course the heat.

My quest for a hot pepper pizza took on a life of its own and ended up a very pleasing combination of chewy crust, zesty hot peppers, tangy sauce, and refreshing herbs.

I served two 14″ pizzas to four people and there ended up being one slice left… only because we were all too polite to lay claim to the last piece.

Active time: 35 minutes
Baking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4

2 12-14 inch pizza crusts – homemade (see below) or purchased
16 oz frozen tofu
1 small bottle of Asian Sweet and Sour or Peanut Sauce
1 red onion, diced
3 banana peppers, sliced
2 yellow bell peppers, diced
3 red bird chili peppers, sliced finely
salt, pepper
handful fresh basil, chopped
handful fresh mint, chopped
handful fresh cilantro, chopped
sesame oil

Preheat oven to 425.

Crumble the tofu in a bowl and add about 2 Tbsp of sweet and sour or peanut sauce to flavor the tofu. Mix.

Make (or unpackage) your pizza crust and roll out to the size of your pizza pans or cookie sheets. I use this wheat crust from Allrecipes.

Brush the dough with enough sauce to coat.

Sprinkle a layer of tofu over the pizza.

Top with the onions, banana peppers, yellow bell peppers, and red bird chili peppers.

Season the pizzas with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until crust is golden.

Top with the fresh basil, mint, cilantro and a drizzle of sesame oil.