In our house, we love vegetables. Curtis even more than me. Every meal has to have at least a couple of vegetables. More and more, we're finding that the highest quality and freshest produce (vegetables and fruit) come from local growers and are in-season. I'm constantly also trying to mix it up, try new things, add more vegetables and fruit to our diet.

When McCormick Gourmet approached me for a project to work with them to highlight the goodness of farm-to-table ingredients, I jumped on board. They believe that when you cook with fresh, high quality produce, you should be using the highest-quality spices, like the McCormick Gourmet line. This project has been great – even though no CSA boxes are available for delivery in my area, I am able to get fresh produce from my local farmers market, and it has encouraged me to reevaluate how I source fresh produce, how to prolong the life of that fresh produce as well as use these ingredients in different ways.

First, learning about what's in season in my local area was eye-opening. A little searching via the internet helped me figure out what I wanted to look for when I visited my local farmer's markets as well as produce markets. Using these ingredients along with high quality spices brings dishes to another level.

Second, thinking about different ways all of us can add more vegetables to our every day cooking for me, went hand in hand with trying to prolong the life of the produce I use. I feel extreme guilt that we waste so much produce in our house. My eyes are bigger than my stomach or my calendar permits sometimes and sometimes produce goes to waste. That's how this guide on how to freeze vegetables was born. You can easily freeze fresh in-season produce for use later on, no more waste!

I love Brussels sprouts so much! I didn't always love them though, a couple of years ago at a potluck, I had these  Crispy Brussels Sprouts made by my friend, Suzanne. It was love at first bite and over from there.

Brussels sprouts are really trendy right now and tons of restaurants have them on their menu. I wash and trim the ends and slice in half and put them into a zippered plastic bag and place them in the freezer. Super easy.

I love to roast them with a little kick. I mix the Brussels sprouts with a little bit of McCormick Gourmet Ground Cayenne Red Pepper along with salt, freshly squeezed lemon juice and olive oil. Roast in the oven on a baking sheet for 17 to 18 minutes on 400 degrees F.

Other Brussels Sprouts recipes:
Fontina and White Cheddar Skillet Brussels Bacon Mac
Fried Brussels Sprouts with Smoky Honey Aioli

I love avocados! There are so many possibilities with avocados from smoothies to salads to even fried avocado.

These are easy to freeze too for smoothies and other drinks, just peel and slice and portion out to zippered plastic bags how you would use them.

Other Avocado recipes to try:

Bacon Avocado Tomato Pasta Salad with Avocado Ranch Dressing
Mini Guacamole & Olive Cups

We love yellow squash in our house. We can't get enough of it. Super easy to freeze, I slice it up and place on a cookie sheet that's lined with parchment paper. Stick in the freezer.

Once they are frozen, put them into a plastic zippered bag. Don't forget to label the bags with the date, what the produce is and how much is in there, if you measured it out.

I pre-freeze it this way (for some of the cut of vegetables) so they don't stick together like they would if I just put them all into the plastic zippered bag initially and froze them. This way, you can you handle them easily for recipes and it's more versatile.

A new dish we're addicted to is this Roasted Squash with Cheese. Kind of a casserole but more like an amazing side squash dish that's part smoky because of the McCormick Gourmet Smoked Paprika that I use and part salty and cheesy from the sharp cheddar cheese that I use. I used my previously frozen yellow squash and in layers, sprinkled the smoked paprika, add small cubes of unsalted butter (2 Tablespoons total) and cheese. I did two total layers and baked it in the oven at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Perfection!

Other yellow squash recipes to try:

Roasted Yellow Squash
Summer Squash Soup
Zucchini & Yellow Squash Soup

Another squash that I love is zucchini. I love it in soup and I love it with tons of cheese.

Since I love it in my chicken tortilla soup in chunks, that's how I froze it. I put dice it up and place it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and stick it in the freezer.

Once it's frozen, I measure it out into 1.5 cup portions and put them into zippered plastic bags.

Other Zucchini recipes to try:

Herbed Vegetable Ribbons
Baked Parmesan Zucchini Sticks
Easy Zucchini Lasagna with Lemony Ricotta
Italian Vegetable Beef Soup

Okra, oh how I love okra. Not everyone loves okra but I don't understand! It's good fried and in soups.

I freeze it the same way I do the zucchini, I cut it up and place on a baking sheet that's lined with parchment paper and pre-freeze before putting them into a zippered plastic bag. These will be perfect the next time I make a vegetable soup…and the next try I fry up some okra with cornmeal, I'm going to add a little bit of McCormick Gourmet Ground Cayenne Red Pepper!

Okra recipes to try:

Fried Okra
Okra Soup
Spicy Sweet Potato Avocado Tostadas with Okra

I hope you found my guide helpful. You can certainly apply these to many different types of vegetables, of course ones that I didn't even mention here. I would love to hear what you like to make with the high quality McCormick Gourmet spices and herbs and what tips you have to incorporate more vegetables in cooking! Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

And now for a giveaway!

The prize is:

• (10 winners) Each winner will receive a small collection of amazing herbs & spices from McCormick Gourmet

Please use the form below to enter in the giveaway. Good luck!

This giveaway has ended.
Congrats to the following people who won! Karen T, Shaina W, Shirley C, Robin S, Sue P, Kelly N, Sandra B, Andrew P, Linda G and Laura K!

Disclosure: This post and giveaway are sponsored by McCormick Gourmet. I'm thrilled to be working with them, I always share with you my own words and opinions and only work with brands that I love.

The post How to Freeze Vegetables & a Giveaway appeared first on The Little Kitchen.

Summer’s here and I’m so happy! I love the long nights and the bright days. It can get a little hot down here in Florida, but I try not to complain too much.

Here’s another recipe for Land O'Lakes Kitchen Conversations Panel. We’re making summery recipes that highlight the simple goodness of fresh, seasonal ingredients. It’s the perfect time of year to start using ingredients from your garden, local farmer’s market or grocery store. Cooking your favorite seasonal veggies (squash, tomatoes, asparagus!!!) with Land O Lakes® Butter takes those fresh summer flavors to a whole other level.

I’m making a summery vegetable pasta. What’s awesome about this recipe? It’s super easy and you can use whatever vegetables you want in your dish. Just make sure you have Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt Half Sticks, white wine and a fresh lemon on hand.

It’s basically summer in a bowl—it’s flavorful with the butter sauce, but light enough for a summer lunch or dinner. And even better, it takes only 30 minutes to put together!

Last week, I flew to Minneapolis to visit a dairy farm and the Land O'Lakes headquarters! What a fun trip it was filled with eating, learning, eating and baking!

First thing we did was go to dinner at Pizzeria Lola. This place was amazing…seriously super inventive pizza pies that are baked in a wood fired oven. We had potato pizza, Korean short rib pizza (pictured above and my favorite!) and Kimchi pizza! Seriously, it was amazing. Next time I'm in Minneapolis, I will have to stop by and see Ann and her crew again! By the way, Lola is their dog's name. What's not to love?

The next day, we visited Sadie and her family on their dairy farm. Sadie is a wife, mother, blogger and a dairy farmer! Her and her husband run their farm and work long hours but hearing them speak about the cows and their farm, you can hear the passion in their voice. It was truly an honor to visit her farm and meet her family!

And there's Ree photographing one of Sadie and Glen's cows…she's a cow whisperer! She sat down in the cow pasture and mooed and Misty the cow walked right up to her!

The following day, we headed over the Land O'Lakes headquarters. This was so fun! Every. single. employee we met was so excited about their job, what they do and where they work. It was completely inspiring.

You know what I'm talking about, we all have worked jobs where our heart isn't all there. That's not true for the employees I met at LOL HQ. It was beautiful! And the amount of quality control and work they put into developing and testing products, it's awesome. They have 22 full-time taste testers that are fully trained…umm, raise your hand if you want that job?

And once again, we got to taste the Kitchen Conversation recipes! And they were amazing! You need to check them out!!

Above is Bridget's Stone Fruit and Raspberry Cobbler and we also had Joanne's Grilled Peaches with Bourbon Brown Butter Sauce, Jenny's Cheesy Mediterranean Bacon Quesadilla, Brenda's Miso-Butter Grilled Veggies with Basil-Mint Pesto, Maria's Cheese Ravioli with Lemon Basil Butter Sauce, Sommer's Pink Lemonade Cupcakes and Jessica's Pineapple Coconut Bundt Cake.

Check them out and print them and make them!!

We then went into the Land O'Lakes test kitchen! This was so exciting! They have a commercial kitchen that is certified by the Department of Health. Land O'Lakes has a lot of foodservice (think restaurants, hotels, school cafeterias) customers and they wanted to make sure they set up their kitchens just like their customers' set ups and also follow the same protocols their customers have to with the Health Department.

We got to try chocolate chip cookies made with margarine, spreads and butter. My favorite of course were the ones made with butter (in the middle).

And then they told us we were going to bake pie pops in the kitchens set up like home cooks' kitchens. Kitchens like you and I would cook in. And they gave us tons of fun supplies!

I got to bake with these pretty ladies: Maria and Brenda!

And there's me rolling out the pie crust. Seriously, I'm smiling so big because I was in heaven. That silicone baking mat and the rolling pin made it so easy to roll out the pie crust! Someone made a comment, Julie has made pie crust before! And honestly, it was the best pie crust I had rolled out. I can't wait for these goodies to arrive, I will be a pie making fool this summer and during the holidays!

Working it! That's Maria and I putting together these fun pie pops!

We chose strawberries and rhubarb for our pie filling with a little bit of lemon zest. So so good! I can't believe this is my first time trying rhubarb!

Such a fun trip, thrilled I got to experience it and I feel so lucky to get to work with a wonderful company and their people! Back to the recipe…

Bring a big pot of water (with salt) to a boil and start prepping your veggies.

Besides lemons, nothing else says summer like tomatoes. Dice them up and we'll top our pasta with fresh tomatoes.

My mise en place, get all of your ingredients prepped and ready.

Melt the Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt in a pan on medium heat.

Cook the squash and asparagus for 3 to 4 minutes in the butter.

Add spinach, cook for almost 2 minutes, the spinach won't be all the way wilted. Add white wine and cook for longer. Squeeze in the lemon and add pasta and mix.

You can use whatever pasta shape you want, you can use angel hair or spaghetti too! Sub out your favorite vegetables or whatever you can find fresh and you have this easy-peasy pasta dish that has a wonderful flavor from the Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, the white wine and a hint of lemon!

Print

Summer Vegetable Pasta Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 4 to 6

Ingredients

• 1 pound pasta your choice
• 1 Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt Half Stick 4 Tablespoons
• 1/2 pound asparagus trimmed and cut into quarters
• 2 yellow squash chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 cups packed fresh spinach rinsed
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 to mato diced
• grated Parmesan cheese
• Italian parsley chopped

Instructions

• Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Prep the vegetables. Make the pasta and drain it while cooking the rest.
• In a stainless steel pan, add Land O Lakes® butter with olive oil & sea salt. Melt on medium heat. Add asparagus and squash and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Season with pepper. Add spinach and cook for 90 seconds, until partially wilted. Add the white wine, increase heat to medium high and allow to cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Turn off heat and remove pan from heat. Squeeze the half lemon and mix. Add pasta and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.
• Serve on plates topped with chopped tomatoes, Parmesan cheese and parsley.

Disclosure: The Little Kitchen has partnered with Land O’Lakes for an exclusive endorsement of Land O Lakes® Butter for their Kitchen Conversation blogger program. This blog post is sponsored by Land O’Lakes. There's an affiliate link in this post.

The post Summer Vegetable Pasta appeared first on The Little Kitchen.