Zucchini-a-rama: 9 summer zucchini recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Just in time for national Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day on August 8, check out these nine delicious recipes for summer zucchini.

Yep, it's another week of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue for 2014, in which you tell me each week what produce from your CSA share (or garden or farmers' market) has you in a recipe rut, and I shower you with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays. This week, we're talking zucchini!

If you have ever grown zucchini, which seems to produce endlessly, you undoubtedly understand the awesomeness of national Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day, fast approaching on August 8. Mark your calendars NOW, peeps!

If you can't wait until August 8, just do what The Ninj did this year to unload my surplus: I put a giant box of zucchini in front of my mailbox with a sign that said "FREE VEGGIES." Gone by the end of the day. Because people love free shit.

If you're looking for more ideas on how to use up enjoy this ubiquitous squash, take a gander at these nine yummy recipes for some delicious inspiration.

Easy cabbage tabbouleh

Add some healthy whole grains to your summer meal salads with this easy, no-cook recipe for cabbage tabbouleh, a riff on the traditional Middle Eastern favorite.

With the onset of the summer heat, we all start looking for cool, no-cook dinner recipes, don't we? You bet we do: Just take a look at your favorite food boards on Pinterest and you'll see what I mean.

Yet "no-cook" often turns into shorthand for "salad." So we end up eating lots of salads, which, let's face it, can get pretty boring. I like to incorporate more filling meal salads like this cabbage tabbouleh into my summertime repertoire.

Tabbouleh is an traditional Middle Eastern dish, composed largely of tomatoes, parsley, mint and onion, often with a grain mixed in, and finished with a lemony oil dressing. To be honest, I don't really like traditional tabbouleh. Something about the amount of parsley in it is just a bit overwhelming for me.  A little too earthy, too tart ... oh, I don't know, a little too something.

But I do like the idea of tabbouleh -- a simple, easy grain and veg salad, cool and quick to prepare.

Since I've been expanding my whole grain horizons (I no longer immediately think of the rhyme "bulgur is vulgar" when I see a bag of it), I decided to give tabbouleh another chance when I came across this recipe that substitutes cabbage for all that too-something-something parsley. Heck yeah!

9 craveable corn recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Enjoy these nine delicious recipes for fresh, sweet corn. In soups, salads, pastas, sides and even ice cream, corn is the sunny summer vegetable that everyone craves.

We're about halfway through the 2014 edition of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, in which you get weekly seasonal produce recipes by request all summer long. Heck yeah! Just tell me each week what produce from your CSA share (or garden or farmers' market) is giving you fits, and I talk you down from the ledge with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays.

This week, we're talking sweet, fresh corn. Nothing says summer quite like just-picked corn, does it?  But if you're wearying of the usual boiled corn-on-the-cob with a pat of butter, check out these nine delicious ways to enjoy this sunny summer favorite.

Quinoa salad with fresh corn and tomatoes

A true summer salad -- fresh corn and tomatoes, tossed with warm quinoa, protein-packed edamame and a tangy lime vinaigrette. Enjoy it as a side or mix in grilled chicken for an easy meal.

Now this is a summer salad, peeps. Because what comes to mind almost instantly when you think of summer veg? Corn and tomatoes, am I right?

Oh, summer tomatoes: how I love thee. How I love thee for tasting like tomatoes rather than cardboard.

And summer corn: what is there to say? Eight bajillion ears for a couple of bucks and you don't even have to cook it. That's my kind of vegetable. 

Now, toss those seasonal beauties with warm, slightly crunchy quinoa, some protein-packed edamame and a tangy lime vinaigrette.

Summer in a bowl.

I generally make this salad as a side to accompany grilled meat: steaks, chicken, ribs, whatevs. But it's extra-awesome leftover for lunch the next day, with some grilled chicken mixed right into it to make it a meal salad.

9 cool cucumber recipes (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Need new ideas for cucumbers from your garden, CSA share or farmers' market? Enjoy these nine delicious recipes using cool, crisp cucumbers.

Hopefully by now I don't need to remind you how CSA Share Ninja Rescue works -- but I guess I will anyway. You tell me what veg you received (or will be receiving) in your CSA share box or found at the farmers' market that you don't know what to do with, and The Ninj rescues you each Tuesday with a whole bunch of recipe ideas from me and my favorite fellow food bloggers.

Nearly two months into The Rescue (now in its fourth year!), this week we're tackling one of everyone's favorites: cucumbers! Seriously: Do you know anyone who doesn't like cucumbers? (Don't answer that because, if you do, that's just freakin' cray cray and I don't want to meet him or her.)

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (gluten-free)

It's easy to whip up a batch of these gluten-free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, even if you only have 20 minutes!

I think these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are my new go-to cookie recipe. Mr. Ninj says they taste like a smooshed, baked peanut butter cup.

Awwwwwwwww yeah.

I firmly believe that everyone needs a quick and easy, go-to cookie recipe, whether for whipping up a late-day treat for yourself or baking some last-minute goodies for the school party your kid forgot to mention until the night before -- and every other situation in between.

The key is that the cookies have to be wicked good but also wicked easy. These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are both (I mean, come on: "smooshed, baked peanut butter cup" -- you know it's gonna be good).

I can't tell you how many times I have already made this recipe over the past few months. It's a cray cray number and yet we're still not sick of them. Now that's a good cookie!

Oh yeah, and did I mention they're gluten-free? And not in a substitute-gluten-free-flour-for-regular-flour way -- they are truly grain-free, so you don't even have to worry about the recipient's gluten sensitivity if you gift them to someone.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue on vacation

Even ninjas take a day off sometimes.

But don't worry, CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014 will be back next week.

Until then, check out the Rescue Archives from the past three years for all kinds of fresh, seasonal produce recipe ideas.

7 ways to eat yer beets (CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2014)

Seven unique and delicious recipes for gorgeous summer beets: enjoy them roasted, pickled or even baked into muffins!

Hey now -- welcome to Week 6 of the CSA Share Ninja Rescue for 2014. You know the drill: You tell me each week what produce from your CSA share (or garden or farmers' market) is giving you fits, and I talk you down from the ledge with a list of delicious, healthy recipes on Tuesdays.

For Week 6, we're talkin' beets. Love me some beets! They are especially delicious roasted but I'm partial to pickling them as well. But have you also considered them for salads? How about burgers? And, best yet, beet muffins?

Behold: Seven unique and delicious recipes for eating gorgeous beets -- all from me and my favorite fellow food bloggers.