Green Things

Sugar snap peas, green beans, snow peas and zucchini have soldiered on in the garden in spite of the heavy presence of various varmints (including gophers, squirrels and rabbits) that have leveled some pretty significant devastation to the crops. And of course, the UFIs (Unidentified Flying Insects) did some damage of their own.

I take quite a bit of satisfaction in having fresh, handpicked and homegrown vegetables. Especially when I have been able to wrest them from the grip of a squirrel. Nothing like getting your hands dirty!

These male squash flowers had just fallen from their stems, so I brought them into the house.

Waste not, want not. That's my motto. Which is why you should never leave peanut M&Ms unattended, as I always have to make sure they don't go to waste, which is how they end up in my stomach shortly thereafter. So I obviously couldn't very well let these beautiful squash blossoms go to waste.

So what's a girl to do when she doesn't know what to do with an ingredient? She makes a quesadilla! Okay, that might not always be true, but it is in this case. A simple quesadilla is just what the doctor ordered. You'll need:

• Tortillas (the small, flour kind is preferred in this household, though any kind should do).
• Mild cheese (Monterey Jack works quite well).
• The twins, aka salt & pepper.
• A couple of squash blossoms (if you don't have any plants to harvest these from, don't despair, you can probably find them at your local Farmers' Market).

Now, grate up a bunch of that cheese. Mmmmmmm, cheese.


Spread some of that cheese out onto your tortilla. Please pay no attention to the hand in the picture. I swear, the camera adds 10 pounds. Just to my hand alone.

Okay, now chop up your zucchini blossoms. I just use the top part of the petals and add the bottom half to the compost pile.


Add the chopped zucchini flowers to your quesadilla. I should have used the rest of the flower here, maybe even more, but hindsight is always 20/20. (Wow, my cliché dictionary is really coming in handy today.)

Then add some more cheese. Is it possible to have too much cheese? Oh, and grind some salt and pepper on there.

I actually like using a sea salt that I have in a grinder, but it's not as pretty as the one above, so I didn't use it for these pictures. But I much prefer fresh ground salt, and most certainly pepper, as that powdery stuff that is sold pre-ground is what I call "why bother"?

I put the quesadilla in the toaster oven for about 5 minutes, as I just wanted a quick snack that I could fix prior to dinner. But if you really want to do it right, you'll make the quesadilla in a cast iron skillet (which I don't have). You will get a nice browning on the tortilla that way.

Fold your tortilla in half. You could also make open-faced quesadillas, if you so desired.

And then go ahead and serve! See the pretty flowers inside the quesadilla? They add a nice sweetness that balances nicely with the saltiness of the cheese. The flavor is pretty subtle though, so be sure to use a mild cheese.

Even if you couldn't taste the flower, you'd still have a quesadilla to enjoy. And trust me, you can't go wrong when there is cheese involved.