2023 Garden

It is interesting to learn how to garden in a new gardening zone and with new garden soil.  So far our best results have been on the deck garden.

Today I harvested this little zucchini but did not get to eat it.

It is somewhat disfigured but will taste good I am sure.  Tomorrow I will slice it and toss it into the cast iron frying along with a large sliced sweet onion.  Will add a little vegetable broth in case the vegetables begin to "stick" which is another way of saying "burn on the bottom".  It will be a great breakfast if I get up in time to eat.  If not it will be a great lunch!

Last week I happened upon a crazy article which said that basil is good for diabetics and cholesterol or blood pressure if I remember right.  Well, I started eating some of at least three kinds of basil in the Green Stalk garden.  Each morning after eating basil the day before my blood sugar was better.  

Here is regular basil and purple basil.  I have eaten a fair amount of the regular but none of the purple basil yet.

This is what I call "fluffy basil". I have used this, too.  The first time I ate the basil I made a sandwich and used the basil as lettuce. The second time that first day I chopped it and added it to chopped carrots, chopped onions, chopped celery, and cottage cheese.  It was pretty good.  The next time I used basil leaves I used them to pick up small pieces of leftover  General Tso's Tofu and popped them in my mouth. VERY GOOD!

So far when I mention the above use of basil people always say why not make pesto.  Well, I would but pesto recipes that I have seen are filled with oil.  Oil hurts my belly and adds to my weight...so plain basil is good for now unless someone suggests something else.

Anyone who has other suggested uses of basil, please fill me it!

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Pickles

Robbie from Robbie and Gary Gardening on YouTube made some zucchini pickles the other day.

She took some fresh dill and placed it in the bottom of a clean pickle jar then inserted some spears of zucchini to fill the jar.  Next she poured in bottled water to fill the jar.

When the water covered the spears of zucchini, she poured the water out into a bowl and added salt and stirred until it was dissolved.  She then poured the water back into the jar and placed the lid lightly over the top and put the jar into a container so in case there was bubbling up, the bubbles would be contained.  In two days she had pickles which she then put in the refrigerator to enjoy at her leisure.

Well, that seemed like a good idea to me.

The only problem we had was that we only had dried dill weed in the house and no convenient access to fresh dill so I soldiered on with the dried dill.

These are the two jars of pickles as we started them.  We are hoping for the best. In addition to the dill weed, I put garlic cloves in the jars. Well, I am hoping for the best.  Dear One likes sweet pickles.  Maybe we will try them sometime.

Today I checked the jars of our pickles and find that they have begun bubbling.  I had planned to leave them there on the shelf and check them on the third day, so I will wait one more day then try a bite!

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Summer Squash For Breakfast

When we (the ladies and I) went to the Flowers Produce Farm last week I discovered crookneck summer squash!  In the past I have turned up my nose at these squashly treats but not any more!

The table under the tent had cantaloupe (something I don't think I will ever eat...), okra, jalapeños, yellow crookneck squash, cucumbers, peeled medium-sized onions, and lots and lots of tomatoes, both nice fat green ones and fully ripe red ones. 

With a few small squashes in hand, I made a perfect breakfast treat: water-sautéed squash and bell peppers.  What I used:

2 small yellow crookneck squash
1 small sweet onion
1/2 green bell pepper
2 small yellow bell peppers

Start heating a heavy skillet over medium heat.  Finely chop all vegetables.  When the skillet is hot, add the onion dice and stir for 1-2 minutes then add the squash and pepper dice.  Stir for a while.  If the vegetables seem to be sticking, add a tablespoon or two of water or vegetable broth.

Cook until everything is nice and soft.  (Or if you like tender crisp, stop cooking sooner!)

Serve with a tiny sprinkling of salt if you want.  This tastes very good.

The squash is on the right.  The food on the left is mashed potatoes with cauliflower bisque on top...also a delicious taste treat.

Garden 2020: Our First Zucchini!

Today I went out to water the sweet potato plants (I had just learned that they need watering every day for the first two weeks then every other day for a week, then less frequently!) and decided to give all the plants a drink.

This is what I found in the zucchini patch!!!

Okay, so you can barely see it. AND it is probably only 3 inches long, BUT IT IS A ZUCCHINI!!!  Our first one.  The plants seem to have taken off once I put that pine straw mulch around it.  Truly,  in about three days the plants were more than double in size.  Of course, Heavenly Father was watering them rather heavily for a whole week, so it is little wonder they are so happy.  I just need to keep it up!

Food Friday: Banana Zucchini Muffins

Yesterday I saw some muffins that Sherry M made and for which she posted a picture on Facebook.  They looked excellent.  I asked if it was a secret recipe and she immediately posted it.  I wanted to make those muffins right away.

Today I went to the Food Lion on my way home and picked up several beautiful zucchinis that were in the front of the store, right behind the hot table that sits there tempting me with Southern Fried Chicken and other delicious-looking fried foods that I almost always manage to avoid...but it is a sore temptation.  Food Lion is cruel to place that hot table at the very front of the store.  In my opinion...

The zucchinis were nice and fresh so I got enough to make the muffins plus some zoodles which we will have tomorrow for supper.

Here is Sherry's recipe:

Zucchini Banana Muffins by Sherry W

½ cup butter, melted
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 medium banana, mashed
1 ½ cups grated zucchini
1 ½ cups AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

Add sugars, egg, and vanilla to melted butter.

Stir in mashed banana and grated zucchini.

Stir in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Divide batter into muffin cups, and bake for about 20 minutes.

The only things I did differently were that I added the last of our freezer walnuts, chopped, then in the second silicon pan of muffins I added chocolate chips.  Dear One feels chocolate chips only belong in Chocolate Chip Cookies...so tomorrow when he goes out to serve with the missionary elders I will bag up those chocolate chip banana zucchini muffins for the Elders.  If there are any still there when morning comes.  

As you can see, I put them into silicon pans.  The idea I am working from recently is that the less added fat we eat, the better for our health.  There is no need to grease silicon.  The only glitch in that system is that you/I need to remember that the food needs to sit in the pan for fifteen minutes AT LEAST after removing from the oven to cool down.  If you do not wait, then only part of the baked treat will come out of the muffin cup.  This is most annoying...and not because of the pans but because I forget to let them sit.

You will notice that I cooked the muffins in the silicon pan but put the pans on a cookie sheet to slide into the oven.  ALWAYS use a pan under silicon unless you love messes to clean up when you try to put the floppy pan in the oven by itself!  That is my experience, anyway.

These muffins are quick, easy, and so moist and delicious. (And who doesn't have a banana that is too ripe to enjoy eating by itself and just is calling out to be in a recipe like this?!) I only ate one and had to remove myself from the kitchen immediately or fall prey to temptation again...

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Zucchini Noodles and Vermicelli

One of my favorite things to eat is zoodles. It is so easy to make them with the spiralizer.  They lighten up spaghetti tremendously, especially if you put in more zoodles than spaghetti noodles. 

When I was looking for some good vegetables at Shaw's (since we have been home I had already shopped at Price Chopper, Hannaford's, Wing's, and the Coop--I wanted one more time shopping in each place) I saw some beautiful firm YOUNG zucchinis.  I picked up four of them and resolved to make spaghetti for supper.  Slipping zoodles into a recipe like spaghetti can get some vegetables into resistant vegetable eaters!

Quick and Easy Zoodles and Vermicelli

Put a large pot of water on the stove to start boiling.

Spiralize four young zucchinis--about 6-7 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter/thick. 

Heat a cast iron frying pan and place in it 1 Tablespoon olive oil.  When hot, add the zoodles and toss to cook. 

At the same time break up a pound of vermicelli into thirds if you are feeding young children.  It is hard for them to eat long noodles...and put them into the boiling water to cook.

Continue tossing and cooking the zucchini until you are happy with it.  I actually cooked it until the vermicelli was cooked because it did not take long.

Drain the vermicelli in a colander then put back into the pot. Add the cooked zoodles and a jar of Ragu spaghetti sauce.  (I said it was quick and easy...!) . Toss well and serve.

After I had eaten a tiny bowl, Son #3 told me he put some sea salt and Frank's Red Hot Sauce on his bowl. I had to try it.  I am very new to Frank's Red Hot Sauce, but may I say: it was fabulous.  I had several more tiny bowls, then had some more for breakfast today!  Yummy yummy.

The smallest grandchild insisted he could not eat zoodles.  When it was made a condition of receiving a bowl of a multi-berry sherbet for dessert he said, "Okay...", and began shoveling the spaghetti into his gullet.  And I mean shoveling!  He was done in three bites.  Because I am a mean grandma, and wanted to rub it in a little...so he would get the message that often things he thinks will be awful are not at all bad to eat, I asked him how it was.  He said, "It was kind of good."  Funny little creature.