Zucchini Boats

I could probably come up with a more gourmet name for these than "zucchini boats"...but it's truly what they are!  The best ones are when you have those ginormic zukes that you randomly find in your garden (surprise!!) and you don't know what to do with them.

Here's a great way to use them:

Step 1.

Cut in half lenthwise and scoop out all the seeds and spongy center

(not sure what's wrong with my picture up there??)

Step 2.

Spray both sides of the zukes, salt them, and grill over medium heat until softened...about 20-25 minutes...turning as necessary

Step 3.

Stuff with rice mixture.  I sauteed onion, mushrooms, a bit of yellow and red bell pepper, and 1/2 banana pepper, (and salt of course) and added that to white rice.

Step 4.

Sprinkle shredded cheese on top (I used muenster) and cover grill until cheese melts. 

I served this with simple grilled chicken.  So good!!  To eat this monster, just slice it up together.  Easier than trying to scoop it out...

Enjoy!

SlimCado

Remember this from yesterday?

                                       
                                         A "SlimCado?"
Well, in my opinion...don't waste the $1.88  It was HORRIBLE!! It was in no way creamy like an avacado nor did it taste like one.  The only thing that was similar was the inside ~ except the SlimCado is much larger and the seed is huge!  So save your money and buy the real deal!!!

Front Porch Redo...Part I

The time has finally come!!  The exterior of our house is going to get a facelift tomorrow... 

Notice that the window and door trim, under the front porch roof, do not match the trim on the rest of the windows?? 

The trim on them is dark brown, so it's rather dreary when you sit on the porch.  Things need to be brightened up a bit!  We're using the same creamy yellow paint that's on the rest of the house.

And see the house numbers over the door?...and the little tiny (but cute as a button) ceiling light??  They'll be replaced too.

I'm going to put new larger numbers on the interior door on that raised panel in the middle of the door (see it above?), and get a new handle on the storm door...bye-bye standard black handle!

Not sure if you can truly tell from these pictures, but that floor paint is the most hideous paint EVER!!  It's painted like a patchwork quilt. I really don't know who would paint part of it dark red, and the other part barn red, but man!!  Is it an eye sore!  I can't WAIT for my new floor!! 

And finally the ceiling light...

I've loved this little light ever since we moved in...  but it's just not substantial enough for this big square house.  I ordered one from our local light store (trying to support the locals!!) that's big and rectangular...more of an Arts & Crafts style light with clear seeded glass.  I'm very excited for that! 

So stay tuned for my next post.  Hopefully I'll have an update!!  Painter comes tomorrow at 7:30am! 

...today's harvest...

So I brew my coffee, grab my favorite mug ...

and go out back to see what's ready to harvest for today!!  Look what all I found!!

There were 3 yellow grape tomatoes in there too, but I had never eaten them before and the kids and I were so excited to pop them in our mouths, that well...they didn't last long!  I must say, they taste a little different than red.  Some people told me they don't, but I thought so...but I like them!!  A LOT! 

Something we found we like that you might too, is to grab some fresh green beans, and dip them in ranch dressing.  Nick's not much of a veggie man...but I can get him to eat them this way.  Nice, cold, and crunchy!!

I checked on my tomatoes that are on the vine, and not quite ready for harvesting, and I'm pleased to announce

Little Chippy hasn't eaten them yet. 

YET! 

(knock on wood!!) 

Lovin' Free Zukes!!

Don't you just LOVE recipes that only have 4 ingredients?? Especially when 1 of them is FREE?? 

Tonight's dinner:

Zucchini "crab"cakes!! 

per crabcake you'll need

1/2c. packed shredded zucchini

1/4c. italian bread crumbs

1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp. Old Bay

Mix all with your hands and squish it together so the breadcrumbs are wet and well-blended.  Saute in olive oil over medium heat until both sides are crispy and brown.  I served these with cheesy spaghetti. (Whole wheat pasta topped with marinara sauce.  Then I stirred in muenster cheese.)  I also put a dollop of sauce on the zuke cake too....  mmm...so good! 

My 7-yr old that doesn't even like zucchini LOVES these!!  You'll have to check them out!!  If you use jarred sauce, you can have a great, healthy meal in the amount of time it takes to boil noodles. 

Bon appetite!!! 

Summer food...or at least I'm trying...

My tomatoes:

Man, I'd been eyein' these babies up all week. There were 2 that were orange'ish and I was waiting so impatiently for them to ripen on the vine, so that I could have the best, most scrumptious cheese & tomato sandwich.

Today was the day!!  I went out to pluck them from the vine...when suddenly, I felt my finger go into a wet hole.  I pulled the 1st one off the stem and what do you think I saw??  Nibble marks. Nibble marks??  Yes.  Nibble marks.

You see...

There's the cutest little chipmunk living in my garden.  I might have mentioned him before.  Every time I go out there, he runs like mad, over to the rainspout and hides. I didn't really think he was eating my yummy produce!!  I just thought he was enjoying the shade of the cucumber leaves and beans!!  Much to my surprise, that darn rodent is MUNCHING his way through my tomato patch. 

LOOK!!!  See the munch marks??

Ugh!! 

I remember in our last house, the chipmunks would eat the little grape tomatoes that would fall on the ground...but they NEVER climbed up through the vine to get to the fruit!!  Never!!! 

This little fella must be pretty smart!! 

So...off to the grocery store to buy some tomatoes for my fish tacos this week.  I'm so sad!! 

Or at least, I WAS sad, until I found the coolest new item in the produce department!! 

"SlimCado"

It's an avacado from California that's supposed to have fewer calories than a regular avacado!!  I'm SO EXCITED to try it!!  I was tempted to cut it open today, but I really don't need it until tomorrow, so I don't want it to brown...so I'll HAVE to wait!  I'm the most impatient person I've ever met. This will be very hard!!

I'll keep you posted on how it tastes!!

:)

...it's like a third child...

I just love my garden.

I water it several times a week...it's the first thing I check on in the morning as my coffee 'perks'...and the harvesting is the most rewarding thing in the world! 

BUT

The BEST harvesting EVER is when you are randomly walking past the garden to get into your car, and you notice something out of the corner of your eye...that 'surprise' that's just hiding out under a leaf.  That's what happened to me!!  THREE TIMES so far this season!!  Those darn zucchini are the funniest thing to grow!  You check on them and they might be the size of a small gherkin.  And the next thing you know, you look at that gherkin again (what seems like the SAME DAY...but it's not) and she has grown to the size of a newborn baby!!!  I mean seriously!!  Check this baby out!!

Weighing in at a whopping 6 POUNDS, she was 16" in length. She's so big, I feel I need to name her.  Chris rolls his eyes at me that I call it "she" but I can't help it!!  When you've nurtured something for so long...planted...watered...etc...you sometimes become attached, you know??  So yes, therefore, "she" is a wonderful addition to my frig. and I can't wait to slice her and dice her!!  ooh...maybe even stuff her!!  My mom had done that with zukes before.  Cut them in half lenthwise and take out the "spongy center."  Grill it face down. Make a rice medley with mushrooms and sauteed onion...stuff it inside the zuke (like a zucchini boat) and melt a little cheese over it all...Mmmm Mmmm!!  Yep.  She's gettin' stuffed. I just decided!!  I'll try and remember to photo that!! 

'Til then...

Happy Harvesting!!! 

Now go and peak under ALL of your leaves and don't leave any unturned!!  You'll never know what's lurking beneath them!! 

My garden dream...

OMG!!  Remember I said I was going to google search images forever to find the picture of the garden fence I want???  Well I did!!  I saw this

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and felt like the skies opened and the angels started to sing!!  How perfectly organized is that??  I found some other garden pictures that I posted on my pinterest board, but man, this one is doable!  I mean really doable!!  If only my pappy was still around...he'd build that sucker in an hour.  Seems like the most time consuming part would be to fill it with soil!  Mmm...Mmmm...Mmmm.  I'm totally in love with this.  If only I could marry a handyman just for a weekend.  That's all.  Just a weekend.  

SONIC

Isn't it funny when you discover something that you LOVE and then you wonder how you ever lived without it?  There are many, many things like that in my life...like my husband...my wonderful friends...having a vegetable garden...guacamole...my 1-armed backpack...bronzer lotion...my porch swing...and

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SONIC!!!

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You know how they have the 2-4pm happy hour deal every day in the summer??  Well geesh!  What a stinkin' good deal!  My favorite is the strawberry real fruit slushie.  Chris won't order it because he refuses to say the word "slushie" into the speaker.  (dork-wad...he has no clue WHAT he's missing!)  But seriously, for 89 cents, I can get the most refreshing yumminess!!  Best part? It's a mile from my house and on the way to/from EVERYTHING!!  

The last time I went, the dude accidentally gave my the regular size instead of the small (which was just peachy with me!) and I chugged it so fast over a 20 minute period that my insides were freezing and I had to cover up with a fleece blanket and sit on my 95 degree porch to warm up!!  Chris was SO MAD at me!!  He just glared at me with disgust that that was really happening...if I remember correctly, he even said something like, "I can't believe I'm even married to you right now....fleece....ugh." 

Talk about rolling on the floor laughing!!  Man, THAT was

fU-U-U-U-nny!!! 

So now of course, I feel guilty NOT going there everyday, because I mean really... 89cents!!  How can I NOT go!!  It's like they're payin' me to come........well........kinda.....  

So go and try it!!  Strawberry Real Fruit Slushieeeeeeee!! You won't be sorry!!   

Hahaha!!  This picture was the day of the mistaken "regular size." 

I got the bug

Ok, so today I insisted on was invited to walk through the garden of my friend's neighbor.  This place is insane!  ~ in a good way~
From a distance, the garden looks like a meandering flower garden.  Tracie is so knowledgeable of all types of flowers (annuals, perennials, and the ones that reseed themselves~whatever they're truly called??)  Little did I know that once inside the homemade gate made of PVC piping, I'd find a plethera of veggies and herbs as well.  I thought MY tomatoes were tall.  Man!  She totally put mine to shame.  Hers are taller than me BY FAR and are surrounded by, not cages, but cement sidewalk support wire (or something like that!)  You can tell she's thoroughly pleased with everything.  All her walkways are lined with hay or cut grass clippings.  With how BIG it is, I was impressed with the tidiness and few weeds.  She held a garden 'forky thing' in her hand as she pointed to different plants and taught me a few things....like the fact that I MUST plant "4 o'clocks" next year (which are the prettiest flower that reseed) and some other taller purple flower, which I canNOT for the life of me remember the name of ... urgh!!!!  Shoot. ...and that I need to leave my green peppers on the vine MUCH LONGER than I have been or they won't taste good (what can I say?  I can antsy!!)...and that you can do a lot of building with PVC piping!
Anyway...  I really want to make my garden bigger.  Chris wants to get rid of the dumb patch of grass on the west end of the garden sections because it's a pain to mow...  that would give me 24 more squares of garden space!!!  Wow!  THEN...I want to fence in the whole thing MYSELF!!!  Or with friends!  Wouldn't that be fun!!  To put up a fence with friends??  I would kill Chris before we were finished if we attempted that project together.  Typically we make a GREAT team with projects...but not when there are tools and assembling involved. 
So now...I'll be on google images and blogs forEV looking for the perfect fence!! 

Ho...Hum...

I'm getting extremely impatient with this gardening bit.  We came back from vacation last week and everything had grown so well...cukes were incredible.  But now?  Everything seems to be at a standstill and I'm not liking it at all.  I've been staring at the same 4 jalepenos for a week...I swear they've only grown 1 millimeter and ALL my tomatoes are green....STILL!!  I haven't gotten one yet.  There are about 8,742 tomatoes on the vine, but they're just sittin' there starin' at me with their green faces.  Ugh. 
Today, I had to tie cotton string to the cages to keep them from falling over.  The fruit is getting so heavy it's pulling the cages right out of the soil.  I guess that's a good thing....but geesh!!  Bring on the red for heaven's sake!!  Maybe I'm watering them too much.  I'll have to research that. 
My eggplants still have those darned black teensy-weensies on them.  They're the bugs that are the size of course pepper.  (I tried uploading a pic. but it won't work...maybe later!) Last year I sprayed them with soapy water twice daily and it killed them...or else made them dislike the nasty flavor and they went away....but this year....nope!.  They're still hangin' out. 
I do have a cute little chipmunk friend that lives nearby in the rain gutter.  Too bad he can't kill the teensy-weensies for me.  I think he likes to catch the shade under the beans.  Too cute!! 
Hopefully, in another week, I'll post something positive about my 2011 garden...but for now???   Grrrrrrrr!!!!! 

A great dinner!

We had a great dinner tonight!  We invited our neighbors over, as a thank you for taking care of the house while we were on vacation.  I decided to try a new recipe (Chris thought I was insane!) and it worked out just smashingly!!  We had chicken, salad, and corn.....but not just ANY chicken, salad, and corn!
First, I marinated the chicken in Paul Newman's Light Lime dressing.  Tangy and deLISH!! 


Second, I made the cilantro & lime corn my neighbor introduced to me on the 4th of July.  Steam corn and cut from the cob.  Toss with lime juice and fresh chopped cilantro...and a bit of salt.  Mmmm!


Lastly, I made a southwestern salad with avacado lime dressing. 
2 c. romaine
1 c. diced tomatoes
1/2 c. diced cucumber
1 can (15oz) pinto beans, rinsed
1 avacado
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
3 T. lime juice
1/2 c. sour cream
3/4 c. salsa
1/3 c. crushed tortilla chips
Combine first 4 ingredients.  Mash avacado.  Put it in a bowl and whisk in lime, sour cream, and salsa.  Personally, this was WAY TOO  MUCH dressing for the quantity of the salad contents. We have a boatload left...but it makes a great dipping sauce for nacho chips...or would be great on chicken tacos or fish tacos!! 


The dinner was a hit!  E. made blackberry peach cobbler for dessert with vanilla ice cream. Turned out perfectly.  She made individual place cards for the table as well...  fresh cut flowers from the yard... a picture perfect dinner party!! 

Home Sweet Home...

So what can I say?  I'm the kind of girl who starts things and doesn't finish...kind of like the vacation entries from last week.  Honestly, I  was enjoying myself too much to be sitting in front of the computer...plus who wants to read day to day details of my trip anyway??  So on to better things...


The first thing I did when I got home was go to the bathroom. go out back and look at my garden. It was incredible!  My tomatos and beans are taller than me! 

Look at these babies:




 I plucked 5 cukes from their stems and searched through the elephant-ear-sized leaves of my zukes looking for some fruit.  They're about 4" long so far...I think I'll leave them for a bit.  I made some wonderful cucumber mango salsa, using cukes and cilantro from my garden. It was great as the recipe stood, but I thought it was missing just a little something.  I added Mrs. Dash's Fiesta Lime....just a couple shakes.  Perfect!  Here's the recipe:
2 mango, peeled and diced
1 cuke, peeled and diced
1jalepeno, with seeds and ribs removed, diced
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (optional...I did not use it)
Juice from 1 lime (or about 6 T. juice)
zest from 1 lime
6 T. chopped cilantro
salt to taste
Mrs. Dash Fiesta Lime
That's it~  Mix it and refrigerate for a bit before serving...but not too long or the mango gets mushy. 


Here's some more yumminess you MUST try!!  Forget the regular C on the C (that's corn on the cob for you plain folk).  Try this! 
Steam your corn (or grill it) as you normally would.  Cut it from the cob.  Add lime juice and cilantro and a pinch of salt.  Stir.  SO GOOD and fresh.  You'll love it!  Guaranteed!!! 


So in case you can't tell....CILANTRO is my new favorite thing in the whole wide world!!  I must plant a LOT more of it next year!!  I'm so glad I ventured into the "unknown territory" and planted it this year!! 


'Til next time....toodles!