Wednesday Work Night

I arrived a bit late but drove up to this scene...Break Time

Fruit Laden Plants

Baby Bell Peppers

Cantaloupe

Watermelon
(I found bigger ones after taking this picture)

Spaghetti Squash

Zucchini Brownies

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 2 handfuls chocolate chips
  

• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup margarine
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 7x11 inch brownie pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. The batter is very, very dry - almost too dry to call a batter. But that's how it's supposed to be, the zucchini will shed it's moisture during the baking and you'll get superb brownies!! Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.
   
4. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and margarine; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the confectioners' sugar, milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

INGREDIENTS

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  
• 2 pints fresh blueberries
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.
3. Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Old-Fashioned Italian Zucchini Fritters

INGREDIENTS

• 6 eggs
• 3 zucchinis, shredded
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups vegetable oil for frying

• DIRECTIONS

• Beat the eggs in a mixing bowl with a wire whisk until smooth. Stir in the shredded and diced zucchini, then season with salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese, and basil. Add the flour a little at a time, stirring between additions until no dry lumps remain.
• Heat the oil in a large skillet to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Drop the batter into the hot oil by the spoonful a few at a time making sure not to overcrowd the oil. Cook until the fritters are golden brown on each side, about 4 minutes. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate before serving.

2 recipes

Kale chips - originally from Traci and done in a dehydrator, but you can also do in the oven. Basically you just use the leaves (no stem or big vines) and tear into chip size pieces. Drizzle or spray with olive oil and salt. Bake 350 for 10-15 minutes until crispy. My kids loved them! Haven't tried them with our kale variety yet.

Rainbow chard, onion, garlic and pine nuts - From Kaiser's recipe section. I stumbled on this guy looking for something and the recipes are actually pretty good. He bases a lot on the farmers markets they host.
Here is the link:
http://recipe.kaiser-permanente.org/recipes/sidedishes/2008/05/rainbow-chard-leeks-garlic-and-pine-nuts/
(just use 1 small onion if you don't want to get leeks. Interesting flavor.

A Couple of Zucchini Recipes

These 2 zucchini recipes were both from allrecipes.com.

The first one (warning: fried food alert!) Laura passed on to me and I made tonight. Yummy. You can look up "Old-Fashioned Italian Zucchini Fritters." The batter makes alot so you could definitily half the recipe. I am saving the oil and the other half of batter for tomorrow night. Changes: I didn't have the fresh basil tonight so I used some dry basil and also added some italian season. Then I sprinkled some Johnny's seasoning salt on them when they came out of the pan.

The second one is "zucchini herb casserole." Changes: David is allergic to fresh tomotoes so I haven't tried it with the chopped tomotoes. I buy a diced can and blend them up, than mix that in instead.

Grilled Caesar Salad

Grilled Caesar Salad
Got this from a Sur-La-Table cooking class - it's great! - Amy

Cut romaine head in half lengthwise. Brush with some caesar dressing. Grill cut side down on preheated grill to produce grill marks and to partially wilt (not very long!)

Arrange whole 1/2 head on plate sprinkle with parmesan, dressing, croutons and lemon wedge. ENJOY!

Turnip Puff

I found this recipe on Recipezaar, tried it last night and it was pretty good. I'm not a huge turnip fan so this was a nice surprise. I can't leave a recipe alone though, so I will post the recipe as written, then my notes at the bottom will let you know how I change it up just a little, along with ways I will try it next time.

TURNIP PUFF
Serves 6
Preheat oven to 375

6 cups turnips, cubed
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs, beaten lightly
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup soft breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Cook turnip, drain very well and mash. Allow mashed turnips to cool some then add butter and eggs, beat well. Add flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt, pepper and nutmeg, stir well. Pour mixture into a well greased, small but deep casserole dish. Mix melted butter with breadcrumbs and sprinkle on top of turnip mixture. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until puffed a bit and golden.

My changes/suggestions:

• I doubled the breadcrumbs then added a handful of minced onions along with the melted butter.
• Didn't have white pepper on hand so I used regular.
  
• A bit of cheese (I'm sure any would work) would be GREAT in this.
• I also like things with a bit of zest so I will add a pinch of paprika or cayenne next time.
• This is a great side dish but add some shredded chicken straight into the turnip mixture before baking and I bet you could make it the main dish.
  

July 6

Eryn, Matt, Amy, Terry, Nathan, Joel and I all met out at the garden tonight to focus on getting the tomato fence/support put into place. It was a successful night, the fence got up, some of the plants thinned/trimmed and all of them tied up. I'm sure a few other things got done after I left so you guys will have to report on that. I did take a few pictures before heading out though...

Oh my, that is a cute face!!

A couple more cuties.

Fencing up, Amy and Eryn working on thinning and support.

We found lots of fruit on the plants.

Wollam put on the last few wire ties.

The pepperoncini is longer than the plant!

It was another beautiful night.
The potato patch is looking very healthy.

Have you pulled out your recipes yet?
These will be ready soon!

Beans getting taller and taller.

The turnips are ready to start taking.
Take the larger ones and leave the smaller.
Anyone have some yummy turnip recipes to share?