Recipes -- savoury baked goodies with lots of veggies?

[centwise]

Hello friends,

I must have "overbought", because my fridge is way too full of all kinds of fresh veggies and I need to use them up before they spoil. It just so happens that I am out of bread and would normally do a bread baking session tomorrow... but I had an idea! What if -- instead of baking bread this week -- I cook up a bunch of veggies and incorporate them into a dough or batter and bake them? Then I would have some sort of freezable veggie-licious scone or muffin or yeast bread or pancake. Any ideas??

I'm hoping the finished product would:
*be equally good for breakfast and brown-bag lunches
*use up lots of veggies!
*be freezable
*need not be vegetarian (i.e., I could also add ham, cheese etc.)

Any recipe suggestions? Thanks in advance! I'm also open to alternative suggestions for using up and freezing fresh veggies.

[Mtngrl]

What veggies do you have?
Broccoli and cauliflower freeze easily -- cut them into florets, dunk in boiling water for a couple minutes, then in ice water, spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze. Store in bags in freezer and pull out however many florets you want.

Celery -- wrap in foil and it will keep in the refrigerator about 3 weeks.

Carrots and onions keep several weeks in the fridge.

Zucchini -- shred and freeze. Can use later in zucchini bread, stir fries, soup

Greens -- salads, omelets, quiche, smoothies (If you're going to use them in smoothies, you can go ahead and freeze them.)

Peppers -- chop and freeze. Use later in any cooked preparation

Tomatoes -- salads, quiche, pizza. you can freeze them whole and use them in pasta sauce or chili.

Carrots and zucchini are the only things I have ever baked into muffins/cakes.

You could make a bunch of mini quiches (make them in muffin tins) with pie dough for the crust, then layer veggies (saute the veggies first to get rid of some of the water) and ham, cheese, whatever, and the eggs. Bake until set, then freeze and take out one at a time as needed. You could probably even leave out the crusts.

The problem with a lot of veggies in bread is that the veggies release a lot of water when cooked, which can mess up the dough and make it soggy, which is why when you make zucchini bread, it's helpful to shred the zucchini, sprinkle it with sugar and let it set 15 minutes or so, then squeeze out the excess liquid before you stir it into the batter.

[Mtngrl]

Oh, I did think of one other thing -- squash pie. Layer sliced summer squash, onions and tomatoes in a pie shell. Top with cheese and bake. Yum!

[centwise]

Thank you mtngirl! Mini quiches in muffin tins are a great idea. I will play around with that this evening.

What veggies do you have?

You could make a bunch of mini quiches (make them in muffin tins) with pie dough for the crust, then layer veggies (saute the veggies first to get rid of some of the water) and ham, cheese, whatever, and the eggs. Bake until set, then freeze and take out one at a time as needed. You could probably even leave out the crusts.

Thanks also for other tips and good ideas for veggie preservation! I have lots -- tomatoes, celery, carrots, peppers (hot and sweet), cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, zucchini,  yams, mushrooms, and more (beets, potatoes, onions -- they will keep for a while). I also have lettuce and cucumbers which I (obviously?) won't cook, and plant to eat them up first.

The tomatoes especially are about to go moldy, so I think I will also cook up a pasta sauce and put a lot of veggies in that. 

Other ideas and/or recipes are welcome!

[Imma]

If you have eggs, you could make egg muffins and put a lot of those veggies in + some ham if you like. You just fill up your muffin tins swith a mixture of beaten eggs + veggies and put them in the oven until done. You can freeze them and eat them for breakfast. You could also make mini quiches. I don't have a lot of good experience of baking with veggies either, apart from the obvious ones like carrot cake and zucchini bread.

[11ducks]

Mini veg quiches and muffins
Vegetable sausage rolls/pastries- these are delicious and perfect for lunches- chop or grate your veg into bite sized pieces, add an egg or cheese to bind, wrap in puff pastry and bake!
Veg pies
Soup

[AMandM]

Expanded versions of latkes: shred the veggies, drain the juicy ones, mix into a loose batter with some egg and potato and spices, fry in hot oil.

[Free Spirit]

https://www.thespruce.com/korean-pancake-with-scallions-2118966

[centwise]

Thank you thank you all! These are wonderful ideas. I ended up having no time yesterday, but I will try out several of these ideas over the weekend. Will definitely make mini-quiches, and will try some kind of pancake. Using puff pastry to make a pastie-like thing is also a great idea. I hope to try all of these in the future.

Centwise

[CogentCap]

If you have a jar of pickles in the fridge, you can slice up some of the cucumbers and/or peppers, shove 'em in the jar with what you already have, and they'll be pickles in about 3 days.

Btw, I did this with some banana peppers that were about to go bad this summer, and banana pepper pickles are DELISH.

Also, the cucumber pickles are so much better from a fresh cucumber!  Really amazing!  And as far as I know, the brine doesn't go bad.  I've been reusing the same pickle brine for months now, and I can't believe how upgraded my pickle life has become. 

Also, the greens you mentioned will freeze well if you are planning to stir-fry them.  I keep baggies of chopped kale, mustard greens, and dandelion in the freezer and it makes it super easy to add some greens to anything I'm cooking.  It saves prep time when I'm in a hurry, too.

[Goldielocks]

Thanks also for other tips and good ideas for veggie preservation! I have lots -- tomatoes, celery, carrots, peppers (hot and sweet), cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, zucchini,  yams, mushrooms, and more (beets, potatoes, onions -- they will keep for a while). I also have lettuce and cucumbers which I (obviously?) won't cook, and plant to eat them up first.

The tomatoes especially are about to go moldy, so I think I will also cook up a pasta sauce and put a lot of veggies in that. 

Other ideas and/or recipes are welcome!

Tomatoes - cook or even can, eat or freeze
Celery - chop, saute with onion and peppers, freeze.,
 Carrots -- keep well (3 wk?) but I also slice and blanch, or grate for muffins, and freeze.
,Peppers (sweet), roast.  freeze in single layer, bag, and use up in winter when you need flavour.  (Soup)
Cabbage -- keeps for up to 2 months.   Don't freeze
Cauliflower - freeze florets, or just keep for 2wks
Bok choy - no takers on this one, I have nada.
Zucchini - grate and freeze.  Muffins, biscuits with cheese, etc
Yams - keeps for 6 weeks, or cook, mash and freeze.  Excellent in pasta
Mushrooms - chop, saute and freeze
Beets - roast and freeze in bite size.   I actually find it easier to cook 10lb of beets at a time, and freeze, then cook as I go.
Potatoes - keep and eat.
Onions - saute with celery / mushrooms, freeze raw after mincing

I also have lettuce and cucumbers which I (obviously?) won't cook, and plant to eat them up first.
Lettuce does work as cooked greens in broth based soups... (Asian style soups).
Cucumber - just eat quickly.  I am too often throwing out.  But, can extend shelf life by slicing, marinating with some vinegar brine / onion and eating it with salad and sandwiches.

Cooked recipes -- for some of these, calzones work well.   Biscuits with veggies in them.  Asian style dumplings or egg rolls (carrot / celery / cabbage / onion,?)   Veggie quiches or savory pies?   Ham and cheese buns but with cooked veggies instead of ham would be great.

[AnnaGrowsAMustache]

Mushrooms don't freeze well uncooked. They go hard and watery. They'll freeze well enough if you fry them off first, though. Everything else will freeze one way or another. Bok Choy just cut into ribbons and freeze - you can use it from frozen in stir frys or stick in a green smoothie.

[Imma]

If you have a jar of pickles in the fridge, you can slice up some of the cucumbers and/or peppers, shove 'em in the jar with what you already have, and they'll be pickles in about 3 days.

Btw, I did this with some banana peppers that were about to go bad this summer, and banana pepper pickles are DELISH.

Also, the cucumber pickles are so much better from a fresh cucumber!  Really amazing!  And as far as I know, the brine doesn't go bad.  I've been reusing the same pickle brine for months now, and I can't believe how upgraded my pickle life has become. 

Also, the greens you mentioned will freeze well if you are planning to stir-fry them.  I keep baggies of chopped kale, mustard greens, and dandelion in the freezer and it makes it super easy to add some greens to anything I'm cooking.  It saves prep time when I'm in a hurry, too.

This is actually the best idea in the world. I'm going to try this soon! I can't believe I didn't think of this earlier. I have been trying to pickle things, but so far it didn't work out because the brine just didn't taste right. Our gherkins end up disgusting. I have used my grandma's handed down canning recipe book so far. I'll figure out a good recipe at some point, but in the mean time I might just need to go to the store and buy a very large jar of pickles.