Zucchini!

Clockwise from upper left: A colorful basket of produce ready for a stir-fry; chocolate zucchini muffins; zucchini/onion quiche; a package of zucchini from the freezer.  

Our garden is producing copious amounts of summer squash.  I've frozen 15 pints of shredded zucchini to be used in the chocolate cupcake recipe below, have made zucchini spice muffins with raisins, and, my favorite, a zucchini and onion quiche from Taste of Home (recipe below).  Next...I may try leaving gifts of the pretty green squash on my friends' doorsteps, maybe anonymously, because there is no dearth of zucchini in most Kansas home gardens right now. I'm not the only one scrambling to find ways to use this easy-to-grow vegetable!

Recipes

--Farmer John makes a yummy stir-fry something like this:  In a tablespoon or so of olive oil combine one medium thinly sliced onion, one small, sliced, yellow summer squash,  one small, thinly sliced zucchini, and a handful of cherry tomatoes. Stir fry over medium heat, add 2 cloves finely chopped garlic, salt, and pepper about three minutes before the end of cooking time.  Sometimes he adds kielbasa sausage slices as well.

--John also fries young yellow squash in olive oil over medium/high heat.  He slices them fairly thin, rolls them in seasoned flour, and fries until golden and crisp.

--For the zucchini goulash pictured at left:  brown 1.5 lb hamburger with 1 medium chopped zucchini, 1 small chopped onion and 3 large garlic cloves, minced.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, add 1 teaspoon ground oregano and about 1 Tablespoon fresh basil, minced. Stir in 3 medium chopped fresh tomatoes and about 1 cup of Emeril's original marinara sauce.

Daniel and Logan's Favorite Zucchini Muffins

These are egg and dairy free and so are perfect for my grandboys, who have food allergies. 

They are very easy to make and taste like a brownie.   

2 cups shredded zucchnni
1/2 cup oil
1 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1/3 cup cocoa

l/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tablespoon baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

If the zucchini is fairly young and small (12 inches or under), there's no need to peel it before shredding. Roll the shredded zucchini into paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out the excess moisture. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir with a spoon just until combined.  Batter will be very thick.  Place cupcake liners in a 12-cup muffin pan and fill each liner about 3/4ths full of batter.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 350.  Muffins are done when they can be removed from the pan without losing their shape.  

Taste of Home's Zucchini Quiche 

(See original recipe HERE)

I was out of dried parsley flakes and so I also omitted the dried basil and substituted 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh basil leaves instead.     We served it with sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden--YUM!  

·       Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches)

·       3 tablespoons butter

·       4 cups thinly sliced zucchini (about 3 medium)

·       1 large onion, thinly sliced

·       2 large eggs

·       2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

·       1/2 teaspoon salt

·       1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

·       1/2 teaspoon dried basil

·       1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

·       1/4 teaspoon pepper

·       2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

·       2 teaspoons prepared mustard

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/8-in.-thick circle; transfer to a 9-in. pie plate. Trim pastry to 1/2 in. beyond rim of plate; flute edge. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

In a large skillet, heat butter over medium heat. Add zucchini and onion; cook and stir until tender. Drain and cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and seasonings until blended. Stir in cheese and zucchini mixture. Spread mustard over pastry shell; add filling.

Bake on a lower oven rack until a knife inserted in center comes out clean and crust is golden brown, 35-40 minutes. If needed, cover edge loosely with foil during last 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.Yield: 8 servings.

Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches): Combine 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 tsp. salt; cut in 1/2 cup cold butter until crumbly. Gradually add 3-5 Tbsp. ice water, tossing with a fork until dough holds together when pressed. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.

Originally published as Zucchini Quiche in Quick Cooking July/August 2005, p7

August and the Tomatoes Are Ripe!

I have loved August thus far, and that's an unusual status quo for me.  I have a standing grudge against humidity (frizzy hair, dontcha know), and as I've grown older I've turned into one of those people who say, "I just can't take hot weather anymore."  But this August has been gloriously cool, with regular rains.  Morning lows have been in the 60's.  This is amazing.  I've never known an August like it.

On a walk with my grandsons on a late afternoon in early August--and it wasn't too warm!  

It's been cool enough to sit outdoors in my new happy place. The chair is from a set of porch furniture my parents bought in the 1950's.  It was originally painted green, but in later years my dad stripped the green paint to find lovely maple underneath.  Outfitted in three cushions from The Dollar Store, I joked that the chair looked like the wardrobe from Beauty and the Beast: a bit overstuffed. But it feels heavenly. My chairside table is my Grandpa's anvil from his blacksmith's shop.  Wonder how he would feel about me using it to hold my iced tea cup??

Our tomato plants are producing and I've tried my hand at homemade ketchup.   I'll share the recipe for the batch I made this afternoon; it was so savory and delicious that  I had to restrain myself from eating it like soup! Here is the recipe as I wrote it for my grown-up children: 

Homemade Ketchup

...not quite like Grandma Opal’s but pretty good nonetheless...I used The Pioneer Woman’s ingredient list but with fresh rather than canned tomatoes and proportionately more sugar.  And to tell the truth, I’m pretty sure Grandma used more sugar yet.  And probably more vinegar too.  And she probably had never heard of Worcestershire sauce.... 

·      14 cups tomato juice from about 10 lbs. ripe tomatoes. 

o   Blanch ‘em, peel, core and quarter them, and put the juice through a wire sieve to get rid of the seeds.  It’ll take a little bit--stir it around, moosh it down  with the back of a spoon...fill the sieve and go have a cup of coffee.  Or...use one of those tomato squishers. I do not get along with the one Dad uses.  He evidently doesn’t mind the fine spray of juice that splatters clothing, floor, and countertops. Maybe it is because I wear glasses and flip-flops, but I mind.  And the squisher has a lot of moving parts that have to be dissembled and cleaned.

·      2 medium onions, chopped fine

·      4-5 cloves garlic, minced

·      ¼ cup olive oil

·      1 can tomato paste

·      1 cup brown sugar, packed

·      1 cup white sugar

·      ¼ cup molasses (if you spray the measuring cup with cooking spray, the molasses will slide right out)

·      ½ c. apple cider vinegar

·      1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

·      1 Tbsp. salt

·      1 teaspoon chili powder

·      1 teaspoon ground ginger

·      1 teaspoon allspice

·      l/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1.      Boil the tomato juice for about 20 minutes or so until it has reduced by I have no idea how much. Just cook it down some.  Stir it once in awhile.    

2.     Meantime, saute the chopped onion in the oil over low/medium heat until the onion is translucent.

3.     Add the minced garlic to the onion during the last 2 to 3 minutes of cooking time

4.     Add the onion mixture and all remaining ingredients to the simmering tomato juice and stir well. 

5.     Simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring often.  It will begin to thicken up a bit. 

6.     Use an immersion blender to smooth it out. (Don’t use your countertop blender.  Trust me on this.)

I freeze this in quart bags, 2 cups to a bag.  It is deeee—licious. Add more brown sugar and use it for a meatloaf topping and you’ll become famous.  Put some in the meatloaf too.  

Yields about 5 pints

July So Far

It's interesting to me how wildflowers vary from year to year. This year some of our road ditches are lined with what appear to be thick plantings of Queen Anne's Lace, and these Brown-Eyed Susans are everywhere. This photo and the one below were taken just west of our house.  

Doesn't it look as though a professional landscaper carefully planned these plantings?

We have an ancient red leaf plumb tree in our yard that has perhaps cross-pollinated with the wild plums that grow in thickets along the roadsides. The fruit from our tree has become nearly inedible over the years because it is so sour--but it makes pretty, pleasantly tart jelly.

I often wonder whether other families make such an occasion of birthdays as we do.
Around here birthdays call for a special dinner, decorations, gifts, and of course a cake! This year we have several celebrations planned as four family members will celebrate milestone birthdays--our son will turn 30, our son-in-law will be 40, and the handsome gentlemen below have just turned 50 and 65 respectively.   

Singing "Happy Birthday" to these two was easy since they share the same name, "John!"  Don't you like Farmer John's very appropriate tee-shirt caption?  I gave him a mug that states "It's a crime to look this good at 65!"  And it is.  Makes my normal aging alongside him somewhat of a challenge at times.  

A Summer Cold and Homemade Broth

Grandkids, farming, and cooking:  Top row l to r: Daniel, age 9; Rebekah, 19 months, Isaac, 20 months.  Middle row:  homemade broth ready for the freezer, big brother helping baby brother, and Logan, age 4-almost-5 eating his first ever donut (it is dairy free thanks to his creative mom); bottom row:  on my first walk after the awful cold; Farmer John at the end of a hard day of planting soybeans; and one of the five cherry pies I made during June from the cherries on my in-laws' trees.  

On June 5th I came down with a bone-chilling, body-aching, full-fledged summer cold that put me into quarantine and required antibiotics for a secondary sinus infection. I was housebound for most of the month, but then I did a little old fashioned counting of my blessings and realized--June wasn't really so bad after all.  Farmer John didn't catch the virus and so he was able to plant soybeans, combine wheat, and begin hay-making without discomfort; farmers don't get sick leave and so he would have kept right on going through the misery that put me to bed.  And, when I look back at my calendar I realize that I was really only completely out of commission for 3 days (although the family avoided me for a full week just to be safe!).

Because of my grandsons' dairy allergies, I use my homemade chicken broth to make  a dairy free white sauce that is a good base for soups and casseroles.  T'his month, I drank lots of this healing broth as a beverage and who knows? Without it that cold might have lasted even longer!  Here's how I do it, approximately:

5 to 6 pound whole chicken

About 6 quarts of water

About 2 tablespoons salt

A stem (or two) of of fresh sage-- 6-8 inches long with lots of leaves.

One or two stems of rosemary

4 stalks of celery, chopped

2 medium Vidalia onions, quartered

Large head of garlic, sliced in half crosswise

Pepper to taste, about 1 Tablespoon

Quarter the onions and place two or three quarters into the chicken cavity. Place the chicken and all remaining ingredients in a large stockpot.  Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer and cover, cook about an hour and fifteen minutes. Remove chicken and as soon as it is cool enough, remove meat from the bones. If desired, return bones to broth and simmer another 45 minutes or so; some people believe the bones have healing properties.  Let broth cool about an hour, strain through a colander. I freeze the broth in one quart containers like Ina Garten uses, available here:  Cassandra's Kitchen 

Blue Skies and Roses

Here are a few more month-of-May impressions from a kind of early morning walk this morning (about 8:30 a.m.--ok, not early):

I record "Farmer Johnisms"--my man does have a way with words.  I'm sorry to report that as we walked along this morning John told me our brush cutter needs to be replaced because it is "...busted, crusted, and rusted."

And, then he looked up and said, "Just look at that sky.  Not a cloud in it.  It goes on forever n' ever."

So I took a photo of that endless blue expanse with a few cottonwood branches to the left for reference:

One more note...there is an old-fashioned rose that blooms in the fencerow by our driveway every year in late May or early June.  As I recall, sometimes the blooms are a paler shade of pink than this year.  We didn't plant this bush; it was here when we moved in 43 years ago.  Just as all of us hope to be, it is hearty and long-lived!  I feel a little doubtful as to whether it is a true wild rose--see how it grows in its own bouquet-shaped clusters?  It has wound into a partially dead tree and is just so lovely.

I've added this photo this evening (May 30). It was taken with the setting sun backlighting the blossoms.  

The Merry Month of May

Life. It rolls along so quickly, with sad and happy and beautiful happenings all mixed up together. This month we've had another root canal (mine this time), some precious times with our beloved kids and grands, and attended the funeral of a friend, a gentleman who has been a jovial, sports-loving, family-supporting fixture in our little community.  We will miss him so much.

Just as John finished planting corn, we received some much-needed rain that allowed the newly burned pastures to quickly turn to lush, graze-worthy green.  All of the cattle have been moved to their summer pastures, and as soon as the ground dries Farmer John will be hard at his one-man farming show, planting soybeans.

May 2 -- We were worried about dry conditions, but spring was nevertheless having its green way with the cottonwood trees across from our house. 

Our grandboys, all ready for a Royal's game May 4th.  

May 10--the setting sun cast gold light beneath these dark clouds to the east.  Rain!

Beautiful Rebekah, 18 months, loves her reflection in her new cowgirl hat (purchased by Grammy, of course).  

You know I love the symbolism of photos of roads--life is a journey!  This phone photo of the setting sun revealed a rainbow effect not visible to the naked eye.  I like that symbolism as well--the Lord surrounds and protects us in ways we do not see.  

Here Isaac looks like he's saying "That's all folks!"  And so we'll let him bring May's blog post to an end.  

April

I can't really entitle this post "April on the Farm," because I haven't been out with John this month as he has been busy fixing fence, burning pastures, and moving cattle. I have spring allergies and odd swelling in my face from Rosacea, and these things are aggravated when I ride around in the dusty ol' farm pickup.  Hard not to grieve missing out of this time of year, but there have been lots of blessings this month nonetheless.

A wind farm surrounds the little nursing home where my mom now lives. I've overcome my fear of these huge machines and often stop to snap a photo. The backstory of how I wrote my first short story for Kindle this month (the storyline includes a giant wind turbine) can be found HERE.  

The lilac bush bloomed--briefly.  A hard rain stripped it of blossoms on about its third day of full bloom.  

This photo reminds me that springtime is beautiful even from the inside looking out.  

Loved Easter this year with four--count 'em, FOUR grandkids hunting eggs in our front yard.