"What I really eat" are my Iron Chef meals. My pantry meals. Shit, my fridge is empty meals. The things that come out of necessity and lack of time. The ingredient list will usually be small and the execution usually simple. Something that is less of a recipe and more of a guideline. If something exceptionally awesome comes out of my Sunday night scramble, it will get posted as a “What I Really Eat” and probably be accompanied with a not-my-best photo.

A less inspired person might look in their fridge and on their counter and see but a single languishing green squash and some dying baby heirloom tomatoes. But me? I saw dinner.

Summer, at times, forces me to become a partaker of the clean out the fridge meal. And typically I emerge a champion on the other side, with a quick dinner and extras for the freezer to boot.

What started as a cross-my-fingers-hope-this-tastes-good endeavor became one of my favorite summer dinners to date. And my boyfriend deemed it one of the meals that defines my cooking style --- homey, comforting, saucy and made of out nothing. He stirred it into some freshly scrambled eggs as he said this. I opted to plop it into some brown rice, and because “treat yo’ self” --- melted a bit of shredded mozzarella on top.

Over the next couple days, most found its way to the freezer for when I’m sad in January and I want a taste of summer. But just so I could show you what I did, I swirled some into brown rice pasta and then had a very good Saturday lunch.

What I Really Eat: Saucy Zucchini & Tomatoes

Ingredients:

olive oil

2 cups zucchini, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 cup chicken stock

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

salt & pepper to taste

a touch of butter

¼ cup parmesan, shredded or grated

Directions:

Splash a bit of olive oil into the bottom of a medium sized pan over medium heat. Add diced zucchini to the pan and stir to coat in olive oil. Let the squash cook for about five minutes on its own, then make a well in the middle of the pan and add the garlic. Stir in garlic and let it become fragrant, about 30 seconds, then add the tomatoes. Stir to combine. Add the tomato paste to the pan and stir to coat all the vegetables. Keep stirring the tomato paste into the vegetables and let it begin to brown on the bottom of the pan for a minute or so. Then add the chicken stock and deglaze the pan, using your cooking utensil to scrape up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the red pepper flakes and season with salt and pepper. Let this mixture simmer until reduced by half and zucchini is nice and soft. Before turning off the heat, stir in a touch of butter and the parmesan cheese to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Stir into all the things.

Makes about 2 cups of saucy vegetables.

It’s safe to assume we all still have squash in our crispers, yes?

And was it yesterday morning, that I sorta, kinda, a little bit, wished I had grabbed a cardigan before leaving the apartment?

OH NO IT’S STARTING!!! Don’t.freak.out.

The drastic change between Saturday’s sweat show and Monday morning’s “where’s my sweater?” weather begs to have a summery twist on a comforting, warm bowl of soup.

I’ve actually been waiting and waiting to share this. I had made this during that time when squash was threatening to overtake my refrigerator. But every week seemed just too early to be like “eat boiling hot liquid for lunch or dinner, whydontcha!”

But it’s time has come. I keep telling myself to be excited for soup and stews and chili.

Here’s how I’ll start.

Zesty Zucchini Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of grass fed butter, or other fat

1 small onion, diced

1 jalapeno, minced

1 clove garlic, minced

2 small-medium green zucchini, sliced into thin rounds

1 small yellow zucchini or yellow squash, sliced into thin rounds

32 oz. (4 cups) chicken broth

½ teaspoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of paprika

cayenne to taste

salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup grass fed heavy cream

Directions:

Get the butter melting in a large pot over a medium heat. Once melted saute onions, jalapeno, and garlic in pan until onions are soft, translucent, and a bit caramelized. About 5 minutes.

Add the squash to the pot and cook until just starting to get tender, another 5 to 10 minutes. (They’ll continue to cook in the broth and get soft.)

Add broth to the pot as well as cumin, paprika, cayenne, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer.

Simmer soup until the squash is soft and tender, approximately another 10 to 15 minutes.

Turn off heat and slowly stir in the heavy cream.

Yield: approximately 2 quarts