As a mother of four young children, a behavioral optometrist, and a farmer’s wife, you may assume that the last thing Miki Lyn Zilnicki wants to do is plan and cook meal after meal for her family.

However, you may recall from our harvest season feature that Miki Lyn is wildly passionate about cooking nutritious, balanced meals for her family, loaded with in-season, local ingredients — many grown or produced by her husband’s family’s farm, Zilnick Farms.

“Summer represents fresh, simple food,” said Miki Lyn. “Produce from the farm doesn’t need much; a sprinkle of salt on a freshly picked tomato is divine. Corn straight from the field is sweet and delicious. A freshly dug potato tastes like a fluffy cloud of goodness!”

Read on as Miki Lyn shares her favorite go-to summer foods and snacks, and how to get your kids to eat them, plus her own blueberry muffin recipe, just in time to put all of those berries you just picked to good use.

Q: What are your children’s favorite things about being on the farm in summer?

Miki Lyn: The kids love getting to see all the vegetables and fruits grow. They are in it from the beginning, helping us plant in the greenhouse from seed or early starters, and then transitioning to the field. They pretend that some random plant in the field is for sure the one they planted!

However, if you ask my kids, they’d probably tell you that one of their favorite things is to bring daddy dinner in the field on the days John has to work until the sun goes down. We make a full picnic, meet him somewhere, chow down, run around, and usually get a tractor ride! We are so blessed to get to experience the beauty of nature together as a family; there is truly nothing like a North Fork sunset over a farm field.

You can also find us outside 90% of the time, barefoot and finding a mud puddle to jump in, catching fireflies, or picking flowers. We think it is so important for kids to just be kids. No phones (parents either!) and just to connect with nature and build those family summertime memories, being outside, enjoying the simple things.

Q: How do you suggest that families get their kids to try or eat more produce?

Miki Lyn: I think the best way is to have your kids involved in the process. Start a small garden and have them help water, weed, and watch their produce grow. If you aren’t a green thumb, there are so many “U-Pick” options out here; bring them to the farm to pick berries, peas, and more. I can almost guarantee they’ll eat more than what ends up in your quart container.

Also, modeling good eating habits is key. My kids know that I am always snacking on a piece of fruit or adding a vegetable in so it is normal for them to do the same. My best mom hack for those picky eaters is to grate zucchini and/or carrots into meatballs or meatloaf, my tomato sauce, and even my muffins and banana bread (just adds moisture!). It packs extra nutrients without much fuss from the kids.

For those extra picky kids, you can remove the skin of the zucchini so they won’t really see anything.

Q: What are some of your family’s favorite summer meals?

Miki Lyn: John would for sure say his favorite simple summer meal is a tomato sandwich. Treat yourself to a 1610 Sourdough loaf and slice it up with a little mayo, a fresh-sliced heirloom tomato with a sprinkle of sea salt and pepper, and you are in for a treat! I would be remiss if I didn’t add that Zilnicki Farm’s potatoes are the absolute best. Paired with John’s grass-fed beef, homemade French fries with a juicy burger are hard to beat on a summer night.

My kids would say fried zucchini is theirs. Simply slice the zucchini, dip it in egg, then in breadcrumbs, and deep fry for a few minutes. I can barely keep up with them as they usually grab them right off the plate!

For me, I am a sucker for a summer pasta — fresh tomatoes, onion, and zucchini sauteed down with a local white wine (I love Terra Vite’s Sauvignon Blanc), tossed with pasta and topped with fresh grown basil from the garden, a squeeze of lemon and a ton of Locatelli cheese — I am in heaven.

Q: Can you share some of your go-to summer snacks?

Miki Lyn: I try to keep it easy in the summer with grab-and-go options. I usually prep cucumbers and carrots for a quick grab; you will also find local melons cut up with any berry that is in season. For a fun treat, we love experimenting with different smoothies made with all different fruits and Greek yogurts.

I also feel like summer is ice pop season, so we love to experiment with making our own. We love watermelon ice pops (just blend up the melon), sweetened with a little local honey and lime, or a blended-up yogurt and berry popsicle. We also recently picked a bunch of black raspberries in our yard and turned them into the most delicious black raspberry ice cream.”

North Fork bounty at your fingertips

In case you were wondering, you don’t have to be married to a farmer to enjoy local produce on the regular. In addition to visiting the family’s farm stand at 3675 Sound Avenue in Riverhead, Zilnicki Farms offers a fully customizable, weekly CSA with options for local produce, grass-fed and finished beef, and provisions delivered right to your door.

“Our CSA is available to join at any time, and with the option to choose your frequency,” Miki Lyn told us. “What we love about our CSA is two-fold: one, it is completely customizable for what you like — you ‘shop’ for what you want weekly, and we have the option for it to be delivered right to your doorstep. We don’t only offer produce. We also offer meat, dairy, and egg options as well as local goods such as coffee, granola, and honey.”

Miki Lyn’s Blueberry Muffin Recipe

“Baci (John’s mom) has these beautiful organic blueberry bushes in her backyard that produce so many blueberries. She will send home a bucket for the kids, but also with a little nudge for her favorite thing: my blueberry muffins.”

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

½ cup of butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups of all-purpose flour

½ mild

~2.5 cups of blueberries

Pinch of salt

For the topping:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup white sugar (I like to do a mix of white and brown)

1 tsp of ground cinnamon

4-6 tablespoons of melted butter

Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar and beat until fluffy, then add in the eggs.
Add in the vanilla, baking powder, and salt (if using unsalted butter).
Add in ½ the flour, mix, then half the milk, then alternate to finish adding the flour and the milk.
Rinse the berries, dry, and then toss with flour. Fold in gently into the batter (it will be thick!).
Use a large cookie scoop to put into muffin tins, fill about ¾ the way.
Top generously with topping, squeezing together the crumbs to make larger ones.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, depending on your muffin size (large muffins take about 25 minutes).

What a farmer's family eats during the summer season

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