Use your garden veggies and herbs for dinner and drinks

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – We've been working hard in our gardens all summer long, so it's time to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

At this point, you might have an abundance of herbs, zucchini, squash, or peppers and you want to use them so they don’t go to waste.

“A great way that you can have a really quick lite lunch because it is hot outside, and sometimes you don’t want to eat so much, is just a really cool peach and tomato salad,” said Jeff Wallitsch of Wallitsch Gardens.

It includes tomatoes, peaches, red onion, mozzarella, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper.

“It really is (delicious). It’s got that sweet and savory to it,” Wallitsch said.

When it's so hot out, the last thing you want to do is turn on the oven in the house. So grab the veggies from the garden, some meat and throw them on the grill.

Wallitsch says for a meatless option, you can also make easy sheet pan dinners.

mocktails — Mocktails with a fresh garnish

“Eggplant is another thing that people aren’t really sure what to do. So we're basically just making an eggplant parm on the grill,” Wallitsch said. “The tomatoes will blister. That's your tomato sauce and then you’re going to add the cheese of your choice to your eggplant parm.”

And don't forget to have a fun drink with your meal.

“I have a simple syrup mixture here. Simply syrups are very simple. It's one part sugar, one part water. A cup of water, a cup of sugar. You boil that down until your sugar dissolves and then you can infuse it with all the different herbs. I have basil and rosemary in here,” Wallitsch said.

You can use it to make into a lemonade or in a bourbon cocktail. Then top it off with a garnish like lemon slices or fresh mint. And cheers to that!

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