Delicious Dinners

Every evening I ponder how to differently use the squash from our garden for preparing dinner.  We have so much, why not use it rather than spending money on vegetables from the supermarket?  We are almost sick of it (sarcastically spoken).  Many times I use it as a meat substitute in recipes I am already familiar with.  This is okay to do if you balance your diet to get the iron and protein you need from other sources.  My husband has always been an avid lover of meat, and generally would not be pleased to find out there was no meat in dinner when I first began implementing a less carnivorous approach to meal preparation.  However, he has always supported me and complimented the chef on her efforts anyhow.  Last week he was in charge of dinner, and this is what he came up with as a main dig, with a side of pasta salad.  It is full of fresh herbs, including stevia, sage, and lemon balm, giving it a very sweet bite that I wasn't expecting!  Good job Honey!  How would you vary your dinners if you had to use the same ingredient every evening?

Watermelon

How does one know when a watermelon is ripe?  This is a rather large watermelon that my husband decided to pick before consulting with anyone...i.e. ME.  I am not sure that I KNOW how to tell when a watermelon is ready to pick, but I am pretty certain that they are ready when the stem is woody or cracking, not green, similar to winter squash.  Upon cutting into our homegrown beauty, we soon discovered that the mostly beige colored flesh was not sweet at all, but that it tasted like the whole thing was the flavor of the rind.  What a very disappointing experience this was for us.  Luckily, we do have another watermelon still on the vine that I do not intend to let anyone pick until I SAY it is ready!  If anyone out there reading this has a more confident opinion of when to pick a watermelon, please post your comments, as I do not wish to be disappointed a second time! 

Botanical Boy

I was shouting across the street to my 3 year old today to come home and get his shoes on.  He always sneaks out with no shoes, and I guess it doesn't phase him even though we have a harsh desert ground with rocks and stickery weeds.  He was trying to tell me that he found something, so I asked him what it was.  "It's a squash plant Mommy."  I was skeptical of his conclusion since he was standing in tall dried brush in our dry desert.  I crossed the street to see what he had found, and sure enough, right up against someone's fence a pumpkin plant had two vines extending beyond the perimeter of their garden under the fence where he could see them.  It had a few female flowers in bloom, the premature fruit bulging at the base, and that is how I could tell it was pumpkin.  I was so proud of my boy for identifying correctly a plant that didn't even have an obvious ripened fruit on it.  Most people don't recognize differences in garden vegetable plants unless there happens to be a label on it.  But my boy knew from experience that this was a squash plant.  I am a proud mommy!

Caterpillars and Moths

White Lined Sphinx Moth

As I arrived home with the children, one ran into the bathroom and exclaimed that a grasshopper was in the house!  Upon further examination, it was really just a moth, but a fairly large one.  We captured it in a jar and decided we wanted to know which type of caterpillar it had been.  As we googled large moths on the internet we came across a website listing moths and their larvae.  Our moth was identified as a white lined sphinx moth, and it's larvae, dreaded by many gardeners, as the tomato horn worm!  Does this mean I have more caterpillars on my tomato vines?  It looks like I have more work to do!

Tomato Horn Worm

Even the chickens were afraid to eat this monster of a worm I found a few weeks ago.

Patty Pan Burritos

Green Tint Patty Pan Squash

This afternoon I had to come up with something the kids would eat, but thought I should do my duty as a mother also by sneaking something good in it for them.  I have prepared so many meals with squashes this summer and it is almost getting old!  Something I had not experimented much with is the Patty Pan Squash.  I had never heard of this before this season but was intrigued by it's adorable appearance so I had to plant some!  The first time I prepared it I quartered it and baked it in the oven for 20-30 minutes.  This time, however, the vegetable detectives were going to be inspecting the meal.  I started with a frying pan and a drizzle of olive oil.  Then I added chopped red onions and a clove of garlic.  After cooking them down a bit I added thinly sliced patty pan squash--enough to fill a few burritos--and some dashes of cumin.  I let it sauté and chopped it up some more in the pan with my spatula.  Then I put a scoop in a tortilla covered in mozzarella cheese and topped it with more cheese.  I folded it up and put it on my kids' plates.  Mmmm.  "Mom, are we having burritos for lunch?"  Yes.  We did.

Checkin' Out Chickens

Hilda, who has the darkest feathers of them all, but they are hiding behind her!

This is our first year trying out chickens.  We just wanted to be a little more self reliant, along with getting some fresh eggs.  Our chickens are Ameraucanas and each are a little different in coloring so we can easily identify them.  We currently have 4, at least 2 of which have reached egg-laying status.  They are officially hens.  The others are still pullets.  They were born on February 15th of this year.  It took them approximately 25 weeks to mature to adulthood.  Their eggs are a pale blue-ish green in color and quite small for now.  They will lay larger eggs soon, but never quite as large as the common brown eggs laid by Rhode Island Reds.  We love watching them roam through the foilage of the garden, snapping up grasshoppers as they go.  They are named Hailey, Holly, Hooley, and Hilda--after some of the Who's on 'Horton Hears a Who.'  What gorgeous animals to behold!

Holly and Hilda

Hailey

My son really knows how to ruffle their feathers!

Hilda, Hailey, and Hooley

Hooley

Fruits of Labor

Here are some dazzling pictures of my husband and the fruits of his labors and toil in the garden.

Green Jungle in the midst of a dry desert

Pumpkin

Congo Watermelon
I believe it should reach a minimum of 35 lbs.

Just look at that homegrown pride on his face!  Mmm mmm.

Eating Flowers?

I once heard that zucchini flowers were edible.  I decided to try them, and guess what?  They are a hit.  I had my children begging for more!  They won't eat their vegetables, but give them a flower and you're their best friend!  Try it!
After the squash forms, then you pick the flower. You remove the end along with the 'reproductive organs' inside the flower. I rinse them inside and out and fill them with grated mozzarella cheese or a chunk of string cheese. Twist the petals to seal closed. Then heat them. I have never tried it in the microwave because it seems the flower would be more soggy than crisp. I broil them in the oven, but try whatever works for you. I bet a leaf of fresh basil would be great stuffed inside as well!

Stuffed Zucchini Flower

Yellow Squash

For the past few weeks our garden has been prolifically producing yellow summer squash.  We pick an average of 2 or 3 a day now.  We have been sharing with friends and neighbors, mailing some to family, and last week I believe I gave away 8.  This morning, however, was different.  By the time the day was over we had so many squashes lining our back porch and counters that we decided it would have to be preserved.  After giving away a few we took a picture of our chopped up squash in all it's glory. 

Cucumber

I have never had much success with regular pickling cucumbers until this year.  Usually the cucumbers turn out small and withered looking with a bitter taste, but this year there have been many regular sized and plump cucumbers.

My successful cucumber that I tried about 5 years ago was an Armenian variety. I remember some being over a foot long and a couple inches in diameter. They were fresh and plump, and I grew enough to give many away, although most people were afraid to try them because they looked so different from the norm.

Herbs

Usually my herb garden contains at leat sage and basil.  This year I tried something new to me called Lemon Balm.  I have to say that I love it.  It's fresh and lemony scent are very uplifting.  I haven't yet tried cooking with this herb, but I have experimented a little with flavor combinations.  I have found that when a leaf of Stevia herb is chewed silultaneously, it reminds me of a lemon head!  Yum!