Tanka business manager shares her garden for work lunches
Dawn Sherman, our business manager at Tanka Bar, has a large garden at her home that she tends to with her family.
Over the last few months, Dawn has shared many vegetables from her garden with everyone at our headquarters and supplies them for our weekly healthy meals. Her purple Cherokee tomatoes are a big hit but she also brings in fresh Swiss chard, other tomato varieties like tie-dye, dill, lettuce, peppers, radishes, zucchini, squash and onions.
Dawn and her son work together to harvest and she said she enjoys sharing her garden with her family and friends as well as watching everything grow.
Dawn Sherman with one of her yellow squash from her garden
Recently the team made stuffed zucchini and squash from Dawn's veggies. Below is the recipe our team used, with some variations, and of course doubling the ingredients in order to feed the entire office. The below instructions just serves four people but you can double it if you are serving more.
4 medium zucchini
1 pound ground beef (we used turkey sausage)
1/2 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup marinara or spaghetti sauce
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs (one batch omitted for those with gluten sensitivities)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese, divided
1 cup sliced olives
*Cut zucchini in half lengthwise; cut a thin slice from the bottom of each with a sharp knife to allow zucchini to sit flat. Scoop out pulp, leaving 1/4-in. shells. Set aside.
*In a large skillet, cook beef (or turkey sausage), onion and olives over medium heat until the meat is no longer pink; drain. Remove from the heat; stir in the marinara sauce, egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper and 1/2 cup cheese.
*Stuff each shell with the meat mixture and put in a casserole dish. Pour a very small amount of water in the bottom of the dish and place in the oven to cook at 350 degrees. Cook for about 45 minutes.
*Once done, sprinkle each shell with the remaining cheese or omit for those who don't consume dairy.
Our production manager Tonya Hunter also prepared a fruit salad to eat with our meal. She used cut peaches, strawberries, blueberries and bananas and mixed it all with Greek yogurt.
Tonya Hunter
