Update on Seedlings

I transferred my seedlings last week to my raised bed so they can grow to a size where I can plant them in my garden. They have taken off and are growing like crazy.

I planted the purple poll beans as well as bush beans and two different types of eggplant. These have all come up and are doing great. I can't wait to see the purple poll beans and the eggplant, I've never planted these before. The little round eggplants are so cute. All of my lettuces are doing great. The red romaine and the strawberry cabbage lettuce and the mixed greens have been producing wonderfully.

I have some watermelon seeds I want to try but I haven't got them in the ground yet. I need to do that soon or forget about it until next year.

Just love, love, love working in the garden and seeing all the flowers and veggies growing. The only down side is staying on top of the weeds. :(

My roses have been absolutely beautiful this year. The leaves are an emerald green and they look so healthy. I attribute it totally to the banana peels. I think it has really made a difference. My roses have never looked this beautiful.

Pictures of my herb garden and lettuces and my oak leaf hydrangea.

Zucchini Recipes

These are wonderful ways to use zucchini. Again, in the summer I get overrun with zucchini and these recipes are versatile. The zucchini pancakes and the crispy zucchini and potatoes pancakes are great as a side for a lot of different things as well as appetizers. I make both of these pancakes into bite size appetizers. The zucchini pancakes (appetizers) I make a Ranch dipping sauce. I use the Hidden Valley Ranch dry mix (the buttermilk recipe) as the dipping sauce and it is wonderful. The crispy zucchini and potatoes pancakes has a dollop of seasoned mascarpone with a few fresh rosemary leaves.

Zucchini Pancakes

2 medium or 4 small Zucchini (about 3/4 pound)
2 tablespoons of grated red onion
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
6 to 8 tablespoons of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
salt and pepper to taste
Unsalted butter and olive oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Grate the zucchini into a bowl using the large grating side of a box grater. Immediately stir in the onion and eggs. Stir in 6 tablespoons of flour, the baking powder, salt and pepper. (If the batter gets too thin from the liquid in the zucchini, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour.)

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter and 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil together in the pan. When the butter has melted and is hot, lower the heat to medium low and drop heaping soup spoons of batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes about 2-3 minutes on each side, until browned. Place the pancakes on a sheet pan and keep warm in the oven. Wipe out the pan with a dry paper towel, add more butter and olive oil to the pan, and continue to fry the pancakes until all the batter is used. The pancakes can stay warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Serve hot.

I have also added 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese to this recipe and it is very good.


Crispy Zucchini and Potato Pancakes

Vegetable cooking spray
2 pounds of russet potatoes, peeled and grated
2 medium zucchini, grated
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus leaves for garnish
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1 tablespoon
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 cups mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Spray a baking sheet, liberally, with vegetable cooking spray and set aside.

Lay the potatoes and zucchini on 2 kitchen towels. Bring the corners of the towels together and squeeze out the moisture from the vegetables. Place the vegetables in a large bowl. Add the garlic, chopped rosemary, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, egg whites, salt and pepper. Mix well until all ingredients are combined. In a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the vegetable mixture to the pan. Using a spatula, press the mixture evenly into the pan. Drizzle the top with olive oil and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Cook for 8 minutes or until the edges of the mixture begin to brown. Slide the pancake, cooked side down, onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top of the pancake starts to brown and the edges are crispy.

In a small bowl, beat the mascarpone until smooth and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cut in wedges or into 1 1/2 inch squares (for appetizers). Spoon the seasoned mascarpone on top and garnish with a few leaves of fresh rosemary.


Zucchini Chocolate Cake

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup coco
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1-6 ounce package chocolate chips
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 cups grated, zucchini

Mix flour, coco, baking soda and salt together and set aside. Cream together butter, oil and sugar until it is light and fluffy at medium speed. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in vanilla and dry ingredients and buttermilk, alternating to cream mixture. Then stir in zucchini. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts.

Bake at 325 degrees for 55 minutes or until cake is done.

You'll love this cake .....it is very moist and you won't be able to eat just one piece! :)

Lemon-Rosemary Spritzer

This is a refreshing drink for the summer!

4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
6 lemons, thinly sliced
2 rosemary sprigs
4 1/2 cups sparkling water, chilled

Make a simple syrup by bringing the water and sugar to a boil. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add lemons and rosemary. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 20 minutes. Return to pan and boil until reduced by half about 5 minutes. Let cool completely. Fill 6 glasses with a 3/4 cup of sparkling water and stir in 1/4 cup of the simple syrup.

Enjoy Your Summer Produce with these New Recipes

These are two recipes that are really good and what makes them even better is you can make and freeze them and enjoy them long after your summer harvest is over. This first recipe is squash soup. A long time favorite of our family. The first time I made this was for my daughter's 16 birthday party. It was a hit and we have loved it ever since. I don't know about you, but I can get overrun with yellow squash in the summer. I make this recipe and omit the cream and put it in freezer bags into our freezer. Then when the cold winds of winter hit, I unthaw a bag warm it up and add the cream and it is great. We eat this soup in the summer as well as the winter. The other recipe is a newer one which we really love. Again, I have a ton of spinach in the spring and the past 2 years I have started growing Swiss Chard. So when I found this recipe I was excited to see that I could use spinach or Swiss Chard. Again, you can make these up and store them in the freezer. They make great appetizers or wonderful additions to eat with soups, salads, or navy beans.

Squash Soup

1 small onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
3 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 pounds yellow squash, thinly sliced
1-10 3/4 oz. can chicken broth
2/3 cups of water
1/2 -1 cup of half and half
salt & pepper to taste

In a soup pot, saute' onions and garlic in butter. Stir in the squash, chicken broth and water; cover and simmer 15 minutes or until tender. Spoon mixture into a blender and process until smooth. Be careful putting hot mixture in blender. Don't fill to full, do small amounts at a time. Putting hot mixture into your blender and filling it up can blow the top of the blender off and the mixture all over you and your kitchen. Ask me how I know! :) Return to the soup pot; stir in half and half and season to taste. Heat thoroughly and serve.

Makes 5 cups.



Spinach Ball Snacks

2 1/2 cups of cooked and cooled spinach or Swiss chard. (2-10 oz. pkg. frozen spinach)
2 cups seasoned stuffing mix
2 cups Parmesan cheese
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cups butter
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well blended. Roll level teaspoons of mixture into balls the size of walnuts. Arrange on an ungreased sheet pan. Freeze balls, then put them into zip lock freezer bags. To serve, place frozen balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Report on my Seedlings

Two weeks ago I transferred some of my seedlings from a 2 inch pot to a 4 inch pot. I decided yesterday that the larger seedlings I would put in a raised bed until they become bigger and then I will transfer them to the garden spot I have prepared for my tomatoes.

This has really been a learning process for me. The main thing I have learned is next year I will start this process the end of January. I will put more heat under them. I did put heat under them in the beginning but it wasn't enough and they didn't grow that fast. I will also start a osculating fan alot sooner. I had forgotten to that and their stems were not as strong as they could have been. When the seedling gets about an inch tall you need to start using a fan. I was just so excited when the shoots appeared and they started growing I totally forgot about the fan.

It is alot of work and my husband asked me a couple of days ago, if I was going to do this again? I said of course! I think it will get easier as I do it and learn short cuts and more about what is best and what is not so good.

I lost several varieties that I was really wanting to taste and see what they looked liked but I will try them again next year. I still have an abundance of tomatoes.

Until the next report! :)

Memorial Day

As a young girl growing up, every Memorial Day, my mom, grandmother and I would spend most of the day visiting the graves of relatives and friends. It was really a tradition and we did it every year. I will have to say that it is not the tradition to me that it was to them. My husband and I do have several sets of grandparents and our parents graves that we do try to visit.

You can spend quite a bit of money if you have over 2 or 3 people to buy flowers for. So I love garage sales and I am always picking up baskets and flowers and greenery at garage sales. I take the baskets and make arrangements for our family's graves. My husband gets little metal stakes (like those attached to the back of arrangements that you buy) and we bend them in a "u" shape and I leave a small open in the back of the arrangement and we push the "u" shape piece of metal through the bottom of the basket into the ground to hold it firmly in place.

I have some pictures of the ones I have made for this year. I probably have $2 to $3 dollars in each arrangement. The black and white one is for my mom and dad. They are buried in a mausoleum. I found a basket with a flat back and I make their arrangement in that and wire it to piece on the front of their marker that holds a vase. Hope this gives you some ideas of what you can do without spending alot of money.

Thought for the Day

IT IS FOR US TO MAKE THE EFFORT. THE RESULT IS ALWAYS IN GOD'S HANDS.

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Decorating Mantels and Tops of Cabinets and Furniture

Over the years I have established a seasonal decorating pattern. The end of March or the first part of April I put out spring and summer flowers. I also have some little birds and bunnies that I like to decorate with. I also decorate with strawberries (actually all berries), lemons, watermelon, honey bees, things that pertain to spring and summer and new life. The end of August, I replace all of this with everything that pertains to the fall, which is my favorite...... I love the fall! Lots of pumpkins all colors, gourds, fall leaves, squirrels, walnuts, pine cones and or course my pilgrims and my beloved books that tell their story. The fall season never last long enough for me. I'm never ready to take down my fall decorations. But the beginning of December I put up winter decorations. Which are pine cones, ever green, red berries, snow flakes, I still use walnuts too, snow men, old sledges, old mittens, old ice skates. I have some old pictures with winter scenes that I put on easels. You can incorporate your x-mas decorations in with these things and just remove them after x-mas and you still have your home decorated for the winter. I leave up winter decorations until the end of February. I put everything up and leave the house bare for a month while I try and deep clean everything. This is the time when I clean windows (I do this once a year). :( When the house is clean, I start the process all over again.

I love changing my mantels but mantels seem to be a difficult area for most people to decorate. When I am working with clients, most want something that will work year round (except for x-mas). When you decorate your mantel remember to add height and variance.

The pictures of my mantels are one from our den and the other from a mantel area at the end of our kitchen. I have also posted pictures of arrangements of the top of my china cabinet, the top of an antique cabinet in our breakfast room, and arrangements around the top of my kitchen.

Strawberry Cake

This is a wonderful light and cool dessert. My daughter saw this recipe on the side of the strawberry cake box and brought the ingredients to make the dessert for dinner today. It was easy and it was really good. I liked it because it was good and it was light. I didn't feel like I had a sugar overload after I ate it.

1 strawberry cake mix
1 vanilla pudding mix (cook and serve) (larger size)
1 small container of cool whip
1 large container of fresh strawberries

Mix cake according to directions and bake. Let cool. Slice strawberries and cover the top of the cake. Mix the vanilla pudding only use 2 cups of milk instead of 3. After the pudding has thickened add 3 cups of cool whip and fold into the pudding and spread over the top of the strawberries. Cover with saran wrap and put in the frig for a couple of hours.

The above directions is the way my daughter made the cake.These are the actual directions that were on the box. Bake the cake. When cake is cool poke holes in cake with a fork and puree strawberries. Pour pureed strawberries over cake and let soak in. Prepare pudding using 2 cups of milk instead of 3 and fold in cool whip.

We both thought it would be good to prepare 1 large container of pudding along with a small one because we felt that 1 large container was not enough. And we also thought the pureed strawberries would be good to soak into the cake and then to slice fresh berries on top of the cake then add the pudding.

This is one of those recipes that is fast and easy and good.

Sorry, no picture. We ate it up before I thought of taking a picture.

Vegetable Beef Soup

I love soup winter or summer and since today is going to be cool.....soup sounds really good to me. My family loves this vegetable soup recipe so I make it quite often in the winter.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 1/2 to 3 pounds beef short ribs
4 quarts of cold water
1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
3 tablespoons of dried parsley
2 tablespoons of beef bouillon granules
1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 cup green beans, fresh or canned
1 cup frozen black eyed peas
1 cup butter beans
1 cup cut okra, frozen or fresh
1 cup corn, fresh or frozen
2 cup diced potatoes
1 cup elbow macaroni
chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Put short ribs in large soup pot and add water, tomatoes, onions, dried parsley, beef bouillon, dried Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt, garlic powder, bay leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover the pot, reduce heat so that the liquid simmers, and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the meat is very tender. Remove the short ribs from the pot and cut the meat from the bones, discard the bones and the fat, and then return the meat to the pot. Add the remaining vegetables and the macaroni and return the soup to a boil, stirring well. Reduce the heat and simmer 45 minutes. Just before serving, check to see if the soup needs more salt and pepper and add fresh chopped parsley.
Sometimes I will buy a small package of stew meat and cook with the short ribs. There is not a lot of meat on the short ribs, so if you want a meaty veggie soup you might consider adding a small package of stew meat and cook the stew meat with the short ribs.

Lemon Basil Butter Cookies - Fruit & Mint Ice Tea

If you want to have friends over in the afternoon for tea and cookies this is a wonderful combo or a nice lite dessert for a summer evening.

Cookies
1 cup fresh basil or lemon-basil leaves
1 3/4 cup sugar, divided
1 pound butter, softened
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 large egg
6 cups flour
Process basil and 1/4 cup sugar in a food processor until blended. Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar, beating well. Add lemon juice and egg, beating until well blended. Gradually add flour and basil mixture, beating until blended. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until edges start to get golden.


Ice Tea
1 quart of boiling water
8 regular size tea bags
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 - (6 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate, undiluted
1 - (6 0z) frozen limeade concentrate, undiluted
3/4 cup orange juice
3 quarts of water
Pour 1 quart of boiling water over tea bags and mint; cover and steep 30 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags. Stir in sugar and next 4 ingredients. Pour tea through a wire-mesh strainer into a large pitcher, discarding mint. Chill and serve over ice.

Spring Primavera

This is a delicious recipe I got out of a magazine while waiting for a friend in the doctors office.

2 large zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 lb. bow-tie pasta
1/2 lb. asparagus, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas
1/4 cup chopped chives
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Heat over to 400 degrees. Toss zucchini and garlic with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Spread mixture evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and roast, stirring once, until zucchini is tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions, adding asparagus and peas 3 to 4 minutes before it's done. Drain, reserving some pasta water and transfer to a large bowl. Toss pasta mixture with the zucchini, garlic, chives, parsley, zest, Parmesan and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons of reserved pasta water. Top with extra Parmesan cheese you may also want to add salt and pepper to taste.

I used one cup of Parmesan cheese. I like cheese!

Outdoor Bathing

For years, I have wanted an outdoor shower. One reason, after I work in the garden and get really dirty I don't like coming into the house and tracking dirt to the bathroom. One year I was really dirty and I got between two structures (I live in the country) shed my clothes and rinse down with the water hose. It was wonderful! Being really hot and the cool water and the light breeze felt really wonderful. I've been hooked since then. In thinking about what I would like as far as showers go and where I would want it and how I would want it to look, the thought of an outdoor bathtub has crossed my mind but was cancelled out immediately by the thought of sitting down in that cold water.

Now, for my exciting news! One of my favorite magazines is Mary Janes Farm and she had a wonderful article on The Art of Outdoor Bathing and how you can rig up a cast iron tub with a propane heater under it.
You'll need 6 12x12 concrete pavers, cast iron tub, 2-burner propane camp stove (she used the heavy duty cast iron two-burner stove from http://www.hurricanproducts.net/) 6' (or more) flexible gas line, 5-gallon or larger propane bottle with regulator, crescent wrench.

1. Lay concrete pavers on a level, undisturbed 2'x3' piece of ground or deck.'
2. Position your tub on top of the pavers and your camp stove underneath the tub.
3. Attach the gas line to the propane stove on one end and to the propane bottle on the other
end. (If you decide to hide the propane tank, you can build a small wooden box around
it. Make sure the box you build has a couple of air vents in the sides.)
4. If the area where you're situating your bathtub is prone to wind, you can do one of two
things: build an unmortared brick wall around the tub on three sides with numerous gaps
for air flow, or build a skirt around the tub on three sides out of metal flashing. Either
way, be sure to leave gaps large enough to allow access to valves for lighting and regulation.
Fill the bathtub with fresh water from a garden hose, light the burners underneath the tub, then check the water temperature in about two hours (depending on outside temperature. If you want to speed this process up, you can put some sort of insulated panel on top of your tub (she puts a piece of plywood on top, covered with a quilt). Once you are ready to bath, turn off the burners and hop in (touch the bottom of the tub first to make sure it's not too hot, and don't ever step directly on top of the burner areas). If the water is too hot, use the hose and add some cold water. Use biodegradable soaps and you can simply pull the plug and let the water run out onto the ground when your bath is finished.

I can see mine now, fresh flowers growing by one side, candles, and me in the middle of a bubble bath watching the moon come up over the hill. I can't wait! Mary Jane uses her outdoor tub even in the winter.

Remember, you were once WILD, you bathed in the open! :) MJ's quote.

My First Harvest!!!

I picked a bunch of spinach this morning. It looks great and I can't wait to make a spinach salad or saute it with garlic.

Spinach Salad

Bowl full of spinach
Thinly slice and ring a purple onion
Slice pickled beets (about six for four people)
Slice 4 hard boiled eggs
Crumble 6 pieces of fried bacon on top (optional)

I use Brianna's Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

Sauteed Spinach

4 tablespoons of olive oil, 3-4 garlic cloves chopped and a squeeze of fresh lemon

Put oil in a skillet and heat then add garlic. Saute garlic one to two minutes and add spinach and stir the spinach to cover it with the oil and garlic. It will wilt quickly. Add salt and pepper to taste and squeeze a little lemon over the top.

Lemon Pineapple Ice Box Pie

This is an old recipe that was a favorite of my dad. It is now a favorite of my husband. It is quick and easy and delicious.

1 can of Eagle Brand Milk
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tablespoon of lemon zest
1-15.4 ounce can of crushed pineapple
1-9 inch graham cracker pie shell
cool whip for topping
garnish with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

Pour Eagle Brand into a mixing bowl add the juice of two lemons and the lemon zest. Whip with a mixer until mixture becomes thickened. Drain pineapple and add to mixture. Mix well and add to pie shell and chill at least 3 to 4 hours before serving. Before serving top with cool whip and sprinkle top with chopped pecans.