- Jul 7, 2021
- 3 min read

Garden Supper 🍅🥔

It’s July in Oklahoma and that generally means gardens are in full bounty. Also it means that it’s hot.

We have been blessed with a lot of rain this year, so that’s a bonus. Except that it makes the mosquitoes g i n o r m o u s.

My Nana taught me this easy peasy stovetop, summertime, garden-bounty supper. She used squash, zucchini, and tomatoes from my Grandad’s garden. I am using squash and tomatoes from my dad’s garden. I also am using home grown beef that my dad raises for his family.

One of the beautiful things about this supper is that it is easily adaptable to whatever size of gathering you are needing to serve! ☺️ Oh! I also fried up some garden okra for this supper too! Man, fresh okra is special 😄

(I didn’t use the zucchini pictured, I chose to save them for later! I also just ate the cherry tomatoes because, yum!)

Garden Skillet Supper

🍅 1lb ground beef; seasoned, browned, and drained. (Adjust all amounts to suit your needs!)

🍅 3-4 squash; washed & sliced

🍅 2 garden tomatoes; diced, big chunks

Season your ground beef while it’s browning. My favorite is Cavendar’s, and some thyme and oregano. While the ground beef is cooking, start melting about 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat in a skillet that you can fit a lid on. Place your sliced up squash in the butter and season lightly with garlic salt. (I also have been liking Kinder’s Buttery Steakhouse seasoning)

Place lid on the skillet and allow squash to sauté and steam. Stir it occasionally. When the squash is tender, you’ll know it’s done. When the beef is all cooked and drained, return it to the skillet, add the diced up tomatoes. Season lightly with a little salt and pepper for the tomatoes. Place a lid on the skillet and allow to steam-cook the tomatoes on med-low heat. This takes about 10-15 minutes.

Add the squash to the ground beef-tomatoes when the squash is done. Stir it all together and allow to steam a little longer, about 5-10 minutes. The tomatoes make quite a bit of liquid so this is good to put on rice. I made baked potatoes to put it on.

Fried Okra

🥄 3 cups washed and sliced fresh okra

🥄 1/2 cup buttermilk

🥄 1 cup cornmeal

🥄 1/4 cup flour

🥄 1 Tbsp salt

🥄 1/4 tsp pepper

🥄 vegetable oil for frying

If you do not have buttermilk on hand, you can make some. 1/2 c milk, 1 Tbsp white vinegar; mix together and let sit 5 minutes. Mix cornmeal, flour, salt, & pepper in a bowl. Heat oil in a cast iron skillet. (About a 1/4 of the way up on your skillet)

In a large bowl, place sliced okra and add your buttermilk. Mix it up and allow the okra to sit in the buttermilk. Strain it in a colander, don’t rinse it though. Gently add okra to the dry ingredients a little at a time, turning gently to coat well. When the oil is hot (test it by dropping a tiny bit of cornmeal into the oil and if it starts to sizzle, oil is ready). Shake off the extra cornmeal from okra and add to the oil in the skillet. Don’t overcrowd the skillet. Cook approximately 10-12 minutes each batch over medium heat, until starting to brown. Remove from oil with slotted spoon and place on paper towels to drain; sprinkle lightly with sea salt.