The recipes below reflect the colorful vegetables you see at the Farmers’ Market and supermarket. I have not included fruits, since I prefer to enjoy them out-of-hand. However, watermelon is delicious now as the simplest of snacks or desserts. So, please add fresh, colorful fruits to your end-of-summer menus. You can also go back to my fruit recipes in the previous June posting of Sun-Kissed Foods.

Gazpacho

This chilled soup recipe is based on one from my cookbook, The Whole Foods Experience. Click on Products and Services and scroll back to July 2006 to learn how to order a copy for yourself.

Ingredients (Organic whenever possible)
1/2 cup tomato juice or tomato-based veggie juice
1/2 cucumber, peeled and cut into chunks
2-3 chopped tomatoes
1/4 tsp. fresh oregano
1/4 tsp. fresh thyme
salt & pepper to taste
2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped coarsely
Garnishes: sliced scallions, chopped parsley or dill, diced cucumber

Directions
1. Place all the ingredients, except for garnishes, into the blender and puree until smooth.
2. Chill in the ‘frig. When serving, add garnishes of your choice, any or all.

This ABCD soup made from avocados, basil leaves, cucumbers, and dill leaves.

Ingredients
2 small avocados (I used Haas), washed & peeled, pit removed
one medium to large cucumber, washed & peeled, seeds removed (optional)
approximately 10-12 basil leaves
approximately 1/2 cup water*
dash of sea salt
one tsp. ground cumin
pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions
1. Take peeled and pitted avocado and cut into chunks. Place in blender
2. Take peeled (and seeded) cucumber and cut into chunks and add to avocado.
3. Add water and blend. (If you don’t remove the cucumber seeds, you may need less water.)
4. Add fresh herbs and puree again, until soup is smooth. Serve chilled, garnished with a small tomato and some extra dill leaves.

Tri-Colored Pasta with (Purple) Pesto

This summer I grew purple basil and regular basil on my patio. Either will do in this recipe.

Ingredients
One 10 oz. pkg. tri-colored pasta
1/2 cup virgin olive oil (approximate amount)
2-3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
one cup basil leaves, washed with stems removed
dash of sea salt
1/4 cup pine nuts, smashed with a rolling pin (Put nuts in plastic bag first.)
tiny tomatoes and/or sliced black olives

Directions
1. Cook pasta according to package directions.
2. While pasta is cooking, place olive oil in the base of the blender or food processor. Add garlic, basil leaves and sea salt to the blender and puree until smooth.
3. Add smashed pine nuts. (If your food processor has strong action, this may not be necessary.) Pulse for a few seconds so pine nuts will blend into the rest of the ingredients.
4. Drain pasta, rinse with cool water. Then toss with pesto. Add olives and/or tomatoes as a garnish and serve. Can also be serve chilled.

Savory Sweet Potato Salad

I was able to use many of my patio garden herbs in this recipe, which features sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes, although either will work.

Ingredients
2-3 medium-sized sweet potatoes or yams
3-4 Tbl. olive oil or other oil of your choice (I mixed walnut with olive oil.)
2-3 Tbl. mixed savory herbs, washed and stems removed. (I used tarragon, rosemary, and sweet marjoram.)

Directions
1. Scrub sweet potatoes and peel. Cut into bite-sized chunks.
2. Toss with olive oil and herbs. Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender, but not mushy. Check every few minutes, if necessary, by poking a fork into potato chunks.
3. Remove potatoes and place in an attractive bowl garnished with sprouts or lettuce leaves. Can be served right from the oven or chilled and served the next day at room temperature. (Olive oil tends to congeal, so you need to remove the potato salad a few minutes before serving.)
Note: If you are using dried herbs, you need half as much as the recipe calls for. Also, for a more pungent salad, you can use oregano, garlic, thyme, and parsley instead of the savory herbs above. These herbs may work better with white or tiny red new potatoes, which need not be peeled, especially if they are organic.

Summer Squash Stir-Fry

Summer squashes, which include green zucchini and yellow squash, are totally edible, skin and all. The summer squashes
are unlike winter squashes such as acorn, so please buy organic summer squashes without pesticide residues on the skins.

Ingredients
One-two small zucchini, washed & grated
One medium yellow summer squash, washed & grated
One bell pepper, washed, cut in half, seeded and cut into slivers
1-2 tsp. fresh herbs, such as dill, oregano, thyme, etc.
1/2 pkg. firm tofu, cut into bite-sized cubes (optional)
one Tbl. oil (olive, walnut, macadamia, toasted sesame)
Bragg’s Aminos or low-sodium soy sauce/tamari
Water

Directions
1. Pour water into a large fry pan until it reaches about 1/2 inch on the side of the pan. Add sliced red bell pepper, herbs, and tofu, if using. Allow to cook about 5 minutes on a low flame.
2. Add grated squashes and cook another 5 minutes or less, depending on how crunchy you like your veggies. Add water only if needed. The squashes are quite watery and you may not need it.
3. Toss all the veggies with oil and then serve immediately, using a slotted spoon to remove the excess liquid. Garnish with some dill or sesame seeds, if you wish.
Note: The addition of tofu makes this an entrée. Without it, this is a side vegetable dish. Feel free to substitute cooked fish or chicken in place of the tofu.

Photo of Great-Uncle Moishe (He is the small boy on the bench, surrounded by family members, taken in Europe around the turn of the 20th century.)

Synopsis of a A Tale from Tarpiluvka
by Ellen Sue Spicer-Jacobson © 2007
Illustrated by Penny Gaskin

Setting: Who would not be moved by the plight of parents who had to send their children away in order to save them? Why would parents do this? Because in mid-19th century Russia, young Jewish boys were conscripted into the Russian army for 25 years, losing their Jewish identities and also possibly losing their lives.

Plot & Main Characters: To save their sons from a fate they considered unbearable, Benjamin and Sara made the heart-wrenching decision to send their sons, Baruch and Mendel, across the frozen Sanbir River to Tarpiluvka, separating Russia from Galicia (Austria-Hungary), possibly never to see them again. They prayed they would be safe in Galicia. Fortunately, an older Jewish couple, Moishe and Simcha Speiser, with no children of their own, took them in and adopted them, considering the boys a miracle from God. They raised the boys as their own and gave them their name, Speiser.

Theme: A Tale from Tarpiluvka is a fictional version of this true story of my great-great grandparents, told to me by my Great-Uncle Moishe Speiser, not too long before he died. I felt compelled to put this story down on paper as a legacy for my own children. However, after sharing this with Judith Scarani, an artist and a teacher at Perelman Jewish Day School, a private school outside of Philadelphia, a children’s story was born. It is a story of sacrifice and heartache, but also one of hope and renewal. The story is couched in today’s world, when Leah interviews her grandfather about her mother’s family in Europe.

Conflict: A Tale from Tarpiluvka is a heart-warming and heart-rending story that will help children find a deeper meaning about life and will also appeal to parents who read to their children. The conflict is twofold: the first one involves Benjamin’s and Sarah’s joint decision to send their children away to save them. The second one is the mixed feeling the Speisers have about keeping the children as their own.

Major Scenes: The first major scene is the Sabbath, when the children are told they must leave their home. The children are mortified and terrified at the same time, but they follow their parents’ instructions. The other major scene is when the boys cross the river to Tarpiluvka and are being pursued by Russian soldiers looking for runaways. The boys encounter the soldiers not once, but twice, and the quick thinking of Baruch saves their lives.

Sub-Plot: When Mendel and Baruch make it safely to the home of the Speisers, the rest of the story unfolds as they learn to live without their parents and their real parents learn that they are safe with a Jewish family. Because I placed the story at the time of Hanukkah, the subtitle could be Flight to Freedom, since Hanukkah is about religious freedom, as is Tale.

How it Ends: As my great-uncle told me, the boys are adopted by the Speisers, who consider their coming nothing short of a miracle, since Simcha was unable to bear children. They raise the children as their own and never see their real parents again. Sacrifice always brings sadness, but because they were adopted, their lives were saved. So the ending is one of hope, not of despair. Difficult times require difficult decisions, and Sarah’s and Benjamin’s decision to send their sons away is probably the most heart-wrenching sacrifice any parent makes.

Mood/Style/Plot: The plot develops in a way that the tension builds not only during the scene with the Russian soldiers, but also when the Speisers search for the boys’ real parents. The mood is sometimes joyful, but mostly serious, and the style is a mixture of dialogue and description in age-appropriate language that children (ages 7-12) can understand, yet the story is sophisticated enough that an adult will not become bored reading it to younger children. The fact that it is based on a true story should be especially appealing to both younger and older readers.

If you would like a copy of the book, please email me with your request and home address. The book costs $11.70 plus 30 cents for envelope ($12). The cost of postage and handling is $2.25 for the first book, and $1.00 for each additional book. (My Soup to Nuts Coloring Book is also available for $2.50 with $1.00 postage, alone or as a second book.)

To order your book(s), please send a check or money order to:
Ellen Sue (Spicer) Jacobson
50 Belmont Avenue #415
Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004

The book makes a nice gift for children or schools/churches/synagogues or your public library.