Overflowing with garden veggies? These 5 simple recipes—and one genius fruit-fly hack—will save your summer haul.
Not sure what to do with all those garden vegetables piling up on your kitchen counter? Your harvest is booming, and you’re wondering what’s next. Too many tomatoes? Don’t miss my 12 tips for perfect tomatoes to help you grow, pick, and preserve them like a pro. After plenty of trial and error—and some inspiration from friends, family, and fellow gardeners—here are five of my favorite recipes for using up fresh, flavorful veggies. Plus, there’s a bonus: an easy fruit fly trap hack that actually works. Enjoy!
Easy recipes using garden produce
I’m very much a “dump cook” meaning I don’t measure for any of these so don’t overthink it. Experiment and have fun. Each of these recipes is incredibly forgiving.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page are affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission—at no additional cost to you—and it helps keep the compost turning at Midwest Garden Gal. 🌱
Homemade veggie broth
- ♻️ Zero-waste way to use veggie scraps
- 🕒 Simmer for an hour or all day
- ❄️ Freezer-friendly and budget-wise
How much broth do you use every year? If you cook often, the answer is probably a lot. Now, think about how many veggie peels — and other parts you don’t typically eat — get thrown away every year. Naturally, these can go into the compost pile, but I encourage you to save them and make veggie broth before they journey to become compost.
Thanks to my dear friend and longtime gardener, Rebecca, for teaching me this easy method for using garden scraps years ago. This has to be one of my all-time favorite gardening (and beyond) hacks.
Directions:
- Keep a gallon zipper bag in your freezer labeled “Broth Scraps <DATE>”.
- Save and add any clean, non-starchy, non-spoiled veggie scraps – things we would not eat, too, like carrot tops, onion skins, celery bottoms, herb trimmings, garlic peels – save it all!
- When the bag is full you have enough to make broth.
- Add the contents of your bag to a big stock pot and fill ¾ full with water or until veggies are completely covered. I recommend using an insert strainer in your pot so you can easily pull out the veggies when done.
- Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for one hour or all day – your choice!
- Strain or remove the insert strainer. Now you can compost those veggies.
- Pour broth into freezer-safe containers, like these amazing reusable BPA-free silicone containers. Recycled containers work well too. Leave ½ inch of headspace at minimum.
- Cool, cover, label with masking tape or freezer labels, and freeze!
By using this method for making veggie broth, you’ll reduce the need to purchase broth at the store and can cook with a healthier alternative than meat-based broth. The best part? It’s 100% free, repurposing scraps that most people throw into the trash.
Trying to stretch your harvest even further? Don’t miss my 5 tips for late season gardening to keep the good stuff coming.
Kale salad
2 bunches kale
½ cup feta cheese (or fresh grated parmesan cheese)
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
⅓ cup lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
1 to 2 T. honey
1 T. soy sauce
- 🥗 Perfect for summer garden kale
- 🍋 Bright, zesty dressing
- 🔄 Easy to customize with your own add-ins
Wash and spin your kale dry or pat dry with a clean towel. Tear or chop washed kale and add cheese. Mix all other ingredients then pour over kale. Blend the mixture with a couple of large spoons or this serving set for approximately two minutes, or until kale is reduced in volume by almost half. Chill. Enjoy!
Customize this salad by adding other ingredients such as pine nuts, nuts, sunflower seed, craisins, diced dried fruits or anything else that sounds good to you.
Crockpot marinara sauce
You won’t believe how easy this is — thanks to my sister and talented gardener, Paula, for teaching me this technique.
How many times are you inundated with a late season supply of tomatoes? Here’s a great way to use them up and give you that taste of summer for months to come.
If you don’t have an immersion blender, I strongly encourage you to get a good one. It makes this recipe a breeze—and comes in handy for lots of kitchen creations.
- 🍅 Uses up a big tomato harvest
- 👩🍳 No peeling or babysitting required
- ❄️ Freezes beautifully for winter meals
Directions:
- Fill a big slow cooker with any kind of tomatoes (even cherry) that have been washed and cored. Half or quarter them if needed. Leave the skins on for less work, better nutrition and the best flavor.
- Add a handful of fresh basil and oregano to taste.
- Add peeled garlic cloves to taste – I use three to four large heads of garlic separated into cloves.
- Cover and cook on low all day (six to eight hours minimum).
- Insert immersion blender and blend until smooth. Then let the sauce cool.
- Pour sauce into freezer-safe containers (recycled containers are perfect). Leave ½ inch of headspace at minimum.
- Cool, cover, label, and freeze!
- Optional: For a thicker sauce, add tomato paste after thawing.
- Use as you would any tomato sauce. I love this on zoodles, noodles and in Italian casseroles.
Caprese salad
This salad is simply delicious and couldn’t be easier. If you’ve grown cherry tomatoes, you know how you can become overwhelmed with the supply of these lovely, delicious jewels.
- 🍅 A fast way to use cherry tomatoes
- 🧀 Crowd-pleasing and colorful
- 🌿 Fresh basil gives it a flavor pop
This is a recipe you can truly experiment with. Simply wash your cherry tomatoes, slice in half if they’re too big for bite-size pieces. Toss in a bowl. Add fresh mozzarella pearls (balls), basil leaves and drizzle with balsamic vinegar. Add salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste and serve.
For the basil leaves, use tiny leaves whole. For larger leaves, roll them up like a cigar and slice across creating strips, a technique known as chiffonade. Personally, I usually just tear up the basil leaves with my hands and toss them in.
Options:
This is so easy to customize. You might experiment by adding some olive oil, various seasonings and additional vegetables. You can also use large tomatoes and fresh mozzarella slices. Simply slice and layer the other ingredients on a serving tray.
Basil pesto
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed tightly
¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup pine nuts or walnuts
2 large garlic cloves
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (1 to 2 lemons)
Salt and pepper to taste
- 🌱 Uses up lots of fresh basil
- 🍋 Bright, nutty, garlicky flavor
- 🧊 Freeze in cubes for instant flavor bombs
Wash and dry the basil leaves. Blend everything in a food processor until smooth. If desired, add additional salt and pepper to taste. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. I put a layer of plastic wrap directly on top of the pesto in the container to preserve freshness. For long-term storage, freeze in ice cube trays or other freezer-safe trays. Once frozen you can pop the cubes out into freezer bags if desired.
What to do with pesto? In addition to blending into pasta, use it anywhere you want a savory flavor burst. I love to use it as my base sauce for flatbreads, then layer on garden fresh vegetables, shredded cheese and chopped parsley. Make this your own and put whatever you want on your pizza. You can also drizzle it on your eggs, toss with veggies or use as a sandwich spread. Use your frozen pesto cubes to add a quick flavor boost to soups, stews or sauces.
No basil? Try making this recipe with parsley or celery leaves instead for a different taste adventure!
Fruit fly bait – DIY bonus
Bonus: A pantry-staple fruit fly trap DIY that actually works! As joyous as harvesting and preserving is, there’s one especially irritating visitor that runs in parallel with harvest time. It’s the pesky fruit fly that inevitably ends up in your kitchen, flitting amongst your fresh fruits and veggies or near your compost bucket.
There is no need to buy expensive fruit fly traps and chemical bait. Just follow this simple recipe to catch fruit flies easily and cost-effectively.
Directions:
- In a measuring cup, blend ¼ cup apple cider vinegar with a drop or two of dish soap.
- Pour into a shallow dish and set it near fresh fruit, compost buckets or where fruit flies have been seen. The flies will be attracted to the apple cider vinegar but, thanks to the dish soap, will sink when they attempt to taste. Tip: Shallow dishes work best—the wider the surface area, the more flies it traps.
- Clean the dish and replace your bait regularly. You will be amazed, and slightly grossed out, at how effective this cheap trick is.
🛒 More products that deliver
- Fresh bags – I’ve tried many and these are the bags I love. I have recommended these bags to so many friends and clients for their durability, reusability and performance. I’m always surprised at how much longer my produce keeps by simply slipping my unwashed produce into these bags. Store as usual. Simply wash them out and hang dry between uses. I turn mine inside out, wash, rinse well and hang outside to dry. While the instructions say to just fold the bag over to seal, I like to squeeze as much air out as I can and then twist and clip with these remarkable little clips that have so many uses. Painter’s tape works great for labeling with the date and contents. When ready to clean the bag, the tape peels off clean.
- Oil sprayer set – I love these oil sprayers. I use way less oil and have convenient storage right next to my stove with these. I have olive oil and avocado oil in mine.
- Lemon/Lime Juicer – a must have gadget in my kitchen. I use it at least weekly and toss it in the dishwasher when I’m done.
- My favorite compost bucket – I love this thing. Odor free and attractive. I love the copper-colored one on my counter. It also comes in white and silver. It is the best one I’ve found and I’ve had a few. Don’t forget to grab extra filters and these awesome biodegradable compost bags too. I double my compost bags as the singles are a bit too quick to degrade in the bucket. That does the trick for me and they still compost just fine in the pile.
- The Ultimate Blender, Food-processor, Smoothie Combo – I’ve had this Ninja system for years and love it so much, I bought one for each of my kids when they moved into their first apartments. They love it too!
There are endless more recipes and ideas online to give you ideas for using your garden bounty. Pinterest, a social media platform, is one of my favorite sources for inspiration. Make your own boards to “pin” your finds and make revisiting them easy.
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