Yummy in My Tummy: Grilled Summer Veggies

One of my favorite parts of summer is all the fresh produce available from my garden.  I honestly think that foods taste better if you grow them yourself.  I have discovered that one of my favorite ways to use up the veggies is to throw them on the grill.  This is a quick and healthy side dish for any meal!

Start off with your favorite veggies.  I use cherry tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant in my version.

Dice up the veggies into large chunks.  I leave the cherry tomatoes whole!

Give your veggies a health dose of the good stuff...olive oil and seasonings.  You can use any type of seasoning blend that you have available.  I tend to try a different blend each time I make this recipe. 

I put my veggies on a grill pan over medium to high heat for about 10 minutes.  Be sure to keep an eye on these bad boys because they char very easily.  Flip your veggies half way through!

YUM!  I served mine with barbecued chicken from the grill.  Be aware!  These are addictive!

Enjoy!

It's Getting a Little CORNy Around Here

If you follow my sister's blog over at Gal in the Middle, you have most likely read about the Shuckfest that happens each year at my parent's house.  Since I am the long lost sister that lives away from home, I have my own little Shuckfest at my house.  Mine doesn't involve the large amounts of corn and multiple helpers for that matter, but I would say we did pretty good.

I invited the White Trash Hillbilly Neighbor over for the afternoon to share in the festivities.  It was fun teaching her how to use the electric knife to simplify the whole process.  We both ended up with around twenty baggies of corn to use the rest of the year.

Here is our starting point...

So how did we turn that into this??

It was simple, just follow these easy steps.  Shuck, clean, boil, cool, cut, freeze!  Shuck the corn.  Clean the silks by washing it in the sink.  Boil the ears for a few minutes.  Toss the cooked corn into cold water to cool.  Cut the kernels off the ear with an electric knife.  Scoop into freezer bags and freeze for future use.

The hard work is worth the effort!

Yummy In My Tummy: Zucchini Pie

I have oodles and oodles of zucchini.  This week alone, I have picked approximately 20 zucchini, all being on the large (slightly obese) size.  I ran into this problem last year.  I gave away dozens from my garden. Did I learn my lesson?  Nope, I think I even planted more this year than last.  In the past week and a half, I have made 5 large and 8 small loaves of zucchini bread, 2 zucchini pies, roasted zucchini for dinner, 11 pints of zucchini pickles and this doesn't include the 9 zucchini that I am taking home to give away to my family this weekend. 

Last year, I had a co-worker pass along this Zucchini Pie Recipe!  It is phenomenal if you like a good cream pie.  It is a mix between a sugar cream and pumpkin pie, if you can imagine that. 

This pie freezes extrememly well!  Just wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of foil, toss it in a plastic zip lock freezer bag, and throw it in the freezer. 

The blogosphere has been full of talk about weight loss and diets! Well YOU are in luck! This pie can be made with fat free evaporated milk, splenda, and without a crust for a low calorie treat.

First off, you need to cook your zucchini.  Follow these easy steps!

Start off with some peeled zucchini or bare-naked ladies as I like to call them!

Dice up the bare-naked ladies into large chunks.

Boil them in water until fork-tender.

Strain the zucchini.  I press the excess water out of the chunks with a paper towel.

Now for secondary ingredients. (Disclaimer: Only one egg was harmed in making this recipe.  It landed with a lovely splat as it hit the kitchen floor!)

Mix all the ingredients in a blender!  It is almost as fun as making margharitas (almost I said)!

Pour into a deep dish pie shell!

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with cinnamon!

 

Zucchini Pie

1 cup cooked zucchini

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 Tbs melted margarine

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs flour (heaping)

1 egg

Bon Appetite!

Lets Get Snappin...Green Beans That Is!

Have you ever met someone who you very quickly knew you could be friends with? Well it just so happens that we got a new manager a few months ago at the potato chip factory.  At the time, I wasn't too thrilled with having to train a newbie.  Give me a little credit: I had just gotten pregnant and wasn't feeling so hot, AND I was still trying to learn my new job, let alone train someone else.

Anyhow, she was assigned to me and luckily, she turned out to be sown from the same seed.  I often refer to her as my partner in crime (PIC) at work, and just recently she has become my canning buddy.  I am pretty sure that all the other managers make fun of us for talking about gardens and canning and these sorts of things all the time, but that is ok because we enjoy it!

Believe it or not, I hadn't ever canned green beans before so my PIC (pictured below) invited me over after work for just that reason.  Oh boy, did she work me hard.  I believe that we snapped around 13 pounds of green beans! 

That is one large bowl of green beans!

Lets heat it up...for about 5 minutes in boiling water.

The pressure is on..10 pounds for 10 minutes!

We ended up with 12 quarts total!

Did I mention that we also canned bread and butter pickles!  Canning is definately easier and funner if you find a canning buddy! 

A Bountiful Harvest

Check out what I harvested from my garden this morning!

Here is what I have up my sleeve for today: Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, Eggplant Parmesan from Ott, A for dinner, and Golden Harvest Bread for dessert (more on this later in the week)!

Looks like I have a fun and relaxing day ahead of me.  I think I will put in my James Taylor CD and get started!

Garden Update: I can taste the veggies!

With all this rain and hot weather, my garden has been growing at a rapid speed.  I am lucky that my garden is a "raised" garden so the heavy rains haven't hindered it as much as some other gardens. 

I harvested my first cabbage today!  This beauty is going to be used to make a Chinese Cabbage Slaw recipe!

I will be eating fresh broccoli by the end of the week as well!  YUM!

This is my first zucchini that is setting on!  It won't be long until my freezer will be filled with Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Pie!

My tomato plants are a bushy mess; however, they are starting to fill with blooms.  Better mark my calender for canning days full of tomato juice and catsup!

At first glance, my second planting of green beans are looking good...

It turns out that dirty rotten varmit has been back. I decided that it can have my green beans as long as it leaves everything else alone.  If you have extra green beans this year, I might know someone who you can share with!

My cucumbers have a long way to go since I had to replant them as well.  However, I am already looking at pickle recipes to try out.  Let me know if you have a good one!

I hope you enjoyed this garden tour! I bet you can taste the veggies already!

That Dirty Rotten Varmint

While we were away on vacay at the most magical place on Earth, my white-trash hillbilly neighbor was kind enough to water my garden.  This may sound easy enough, but it really is a pain in the rear.  Unfortunately, the closest place to hook up a hose is in my laundry room.  This requires great talent and skill.  The hose really isn't long enough, so it takes precision and accuracy not to knock the utility sink over during the process.  I think she finally got the hang of it by the end of the week.  I really owe her one...maybe I can find some moonshine to pay her with. 

I was very excited to return home to see how much my veggies grew while I was away.  As soon as we pulled into the drive after a grueling 17 hour drive, I ran over to the garden.  At first, all looked swell.  But then, much to my dismay, it went downhill.

Here was what I saw first...

But then...

It appears that some type of four-legged varmint ate all my green beans, cucumber, and zucchini plants.  At closer look, it also nibbled on my cabbage and broccoli plants.

These are the remains of a cabbage plant that once looked like this..

The pesky varmint even nibbled at my broccoli.  But, I think it might still pull through.

Last night, I went ahead and replanted my green beans.  I will have to get some more cucumber and zucchini seeds this weekend.  Until then, I will just have to look at the verdant part of my garden. 

My tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and onions are looking great.  I can't wait to start making some delicious summer treats.

Even Zuma has taken it upon herself to catch that dirty rotten varmint.