The Squash Are Coming! The Squash Are Coming!

Fair warning: if you see me coming toward you with a grocery bag, I'm probably bringing you some of this morning's harvest...and there's probably a squash or two or ten in that bag. What can I say? It's that time of the year. Squash, green beans, and tomatoes, oh my! 

Here's a picture of a zuke that almost got away from me. It was hiding under a couple of leaves, growing to town.

Most folks suggest harvesting squash from 4-6" in length...when they are just ripe and most tender. But it rarely takes more than 24 hours, especially when the weather is this warm and wet, for the little morsels to grow into mammoth mallets! Our neighbor said he picked a zuke while we were gone to Looeyvul that he described as big as a baseball bat...said his wife commented "did you drive that thing into the house, or carry it?" Wish he'd taken a picture...

[Be sure to check out my post over on our garden blog, Gardening With Giants, to read more about what's happening in the Kitchen Garden. Click here to go there.]

On tonight's menu: Tequila Lime Chicken and goodies from the garden. Included are BOTH Squash Casserole and Zucchini Bread. [Here's a shot of the hot loaves, cooling on the rack. You can also see The Nest Egg Legacy, the family cookbook I did years ago, there on the stand...well-used, don't you know. (Recipes below, by the way.)]

Since one is a savory dish and the other is sweet, I don't think there will be any objections. Sliced tomatoes are a simple but tasty addition...I like 'em with salt, pepper, and a dollop of mayo in the middle. Learned that from my Papaw, who used to use Miracle Whip...but I'm partial to Hellman's, which isn't nearly as sweet.

I can't eat Zucchini Bread without thinking about the first time I had it: about 1975 or 76, I think...in Senatobia, MS, at the home of my W friend and former second floor Callaway dorm-mate from Tunica, NPW. I had never heard of making bread with it, and all I knew about zucchini was that it was a vegetable...and I had a pretty limited veggie range at the time, which did NOT include squash of any sort. But my Momma always insisted we take one bite of a dish when we were guests in another's home, so manners kicked in...and am I ever glad they did! Loved. It. Thanks, N!

Somewhere along the line, my taste buds matured...or my palate longed for Southern-inspired dishes to cure a taste of homesickness in all of our moves about the country...whatever. I developed a much longer list of veggies that I liked...including the formerly-hated squashes, especially if you added enough cheese...:-).

Recipes? Did someone mention recipes?

Here you go!

==============================

Zucchini Bread

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 Tablespoon lemon zest

2 cups white sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 tsp baking powder

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts (I use pecans)

1 cup raisins, if desired

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 2 (9x5x3-inch) loaf pans with cooking spray.

In large bowl, stir zucchini and lemon zest until well mixed. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients (except sugar). Stir nuts and raisins into dry ingredients. Add dry to zucchini. In large measuring cup, beat the eggs into the oil; add sugar and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and blend thoroughly.

Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake 50 to 60 minutes,  or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans on cooling rack 10 minutes.

Loosen sides of loaves from pans; remove from pans and place top side up on cooling rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 days. Serve warm or cold. Spread a warm slice with cream cheese for a special treat! Enjoy!

Makes 20-24 servings (2 loaves, 10-12 slices each)

==============================

*Katrina's Squash Casserole

Ingredients

4 cups sliced Summer squash: yellow, zucchini, or a mixture

1/2 cup chopped onion

35 buttery round crackers, crushed ( I used Town House brand)

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (I used New York Sharp Cheddar)

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 teaspoon salt (I used a seasoned salt)

ground black pepper to taste

2 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Place a steamer insert into a saucepan and fill with water to just below the bottom of the steamer. Bring water to a boil. Add squash slices and onion, cover, and steam until squash is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain well, and place in a large bowl.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together cracker crumbs and cheese. Stir half of the cracker mixture into the cooked squash and onions. In a small bowl, mix together eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Stir in 1/4 cup melted butter, and season with salt and pepper. 

4. Spread into a buttered 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining cracker mixture, and dot with 2 tablespoons butter.

5. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Enjoy!

==========================================

*Katrina was my 3rd cousin, once removed, on Momma's Farris side...I hope I got that relationship correct, since she was a crack genealogist in addition to being a loving wife, Mom of four children, a nurse by training, and a fabulous cook in a family of great cooks (her mother and her aunts). Thought the world of her...

The 2013 Great Hemerocallis Hunt

We are back home, recovering from our annual Great Hemerocallis (Daylily) Hunt. Thankfully, the temperatures didn't reach 100 this year as in years past...but mid-90's, with humidity readings to match, and no shade sure made it feel like the thermometer hit the century mark. Whew! What a day! We have been busy as these bees. (Heheheheh...I couldn't resist showing you these pictures we took with our iPhone cameras...Thomas took the yellow one, I took the pink one...:-). 

So, why do we go in July...the hottest month of the year, you ask? Well, that's when the day lilies are at peak bloom (June and July), that's when the NC farms tend to be open on the weekends, and that's as close to my birthday as we can get. [You may recall that for several years now, I have celebrated my Big Day with a trip to the Daylily Farm to pick out a new cultivar or two...or nine...:-) ] We missed last year because of our extended stay in KY, which has several Daylily farms, no doubt...but I just wasn't up to it then. No worries...made up for that little oversight today!

We knew we could only "do" one farm today, so we had to choose from the three we knew and had visited in the past, or maybe locate another one to explore. Easier said than done, on that last choice, though...when a search of "Daylily farms in NC" yielded no further selections that were open to the public on a Saturday in July and within a couple of hours' drive of HPNC. OK, so that made it easy:  we chose to return to Lakeview Farms in Garner, NC...which we admit has become our fav in NC. They have a great website here: 

For the past few times we have gone on the annual Daylily Hunt, I have had either a color in mind...or a type...or both. It helps to do a bit of thinking and planning ahead, especially when we get to a farm with a sea of blooming day lilies, and all Mr. T can see are the red ones. He loves bright colors, so if I don't have some kind of suggestion of what to look for, we would spend hours in the hot sun looking at every red cultivar...and never see anything else. Unless it was a bright orange. Or maybe bright yellow. If both of those colors were on tall day lilies that stood out above the red ones.

Me? I'm a sucker for purples...as if you couldn't guess. And I'm currently on a lime green and chartreuse kick. OK, that's bright, I'll admit. Oh, I'm not opposed to bright colors...it's just I think we need to have a few eye-pleasing combinations as well as the eye-popping ones.

So, this year my plan was to look for more "spider" types of day lilies to add to our gardens. Spider daylilies are defined by the ratio of their petal width to their petal length. Think long and skinny petals. We were introduced to these unusual looking blossoms a couple years ago when we purchased the cultivar Red Ribbons from Lakeview. We paired them with Red Volunteers...and it's a match made in hemerocallis heaven!

Additionally, I wanted a bright combo for the very back of the Way Back...need a really bright pair to draw the eye down the path to the rear property line. And I think we found just the right combination in New Jersey Spider (gold one) and Ruby Spider (red and gold). They are tall and bold...and should easily draw eyes in their direction. And Mr. T is more than happy with these bright colors!

My plan for this Hunt included finding a purple and lime green spider for the back yard, to be planted along the walk, in front of the garden shed (you know, the shed with the purple doors...:-). My first choice (Yabba Dabba Doo) wasn't available, as they had sold down to their last clump, but I found one I like better color-wise (if not name-wise...:-) called Wilson Spider. I didn't get a picture of it, but I did get one of the complementary selection called Easy Ned (another spider...with lime and chartreuse coloring).

 

Then, I wanted to add a white one to our collection. We have two white cultivars (Dad's Best White, which we got while in Missouri and transplanted here, and Miss Amelia, which we bought locally at the Farmers Market last year), but I wanted one with a lime green or chartreuse throat. I was excited to find one that fit my plan perfectly and whose name will help commemorate my Big Birthday coming up in 10 days called Just Celebrate.

We got a few others (!), including a bright red one with a bright green throat called Here Comes Santa Claus (OK, now who could resist THAT name?), but I'll have to snap pics of them when we put them in the ground tomorrow. 

Or, should I say IF we put them in the ground tomorrow? We are currently experiencing yet another thunderstorm with more rain...10 or more days in a row, I think. Great for the gardens...but not so good for doing actual gardening. Ground is just too wet to work. 

No matter...we won't mind a day of rest around here. Not one little bit, will we mind that...no siree!

Found My Thrill

Sing it, Fats Domino:


"I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill,
On Blueberry Hill where I found you
The moon stood still on Blueberry Hill
And lingered till my dreams came true."

I've been singing that song on a loop for the past few days. Is it possible to be this excited that a bush has borne fruit? Seems silly...but there it is.

Actually, it isn't one blueberry bush...there are 9. We got three in the Spring of 2011 and added 6 more in the Fall. There two different varieties of rabbiteye blueberries: 5 called Climax and 4 called Premier. We purchased them from the Guilford County 4-H and planted them in three raised beds. I've written more about them over on our gardening blog, Gardening With the Giants. (Click here to go there.)

Anyway, we missed whatever harvest there was last year, so we didn't know what to expect. Returning from our recent trip, I was thrilled to collect 2 whole cupsful! Yippee!! And were they ever tasty...:-)

First harvest of blueberries, 2013

Unfortunately, they didn't last nearly as long as I would have liked. About as long as it took me to look up my favorite blueberry pie recipe to confirm I would need a minimum of 4 cups...preferably 5 cups of berries. Hmmmm. Grow, blueberries, grow!

And they did. Four days...and three rains later, and I picked 6 cups of berries. Talk about a thrill!

Second harvest of blueberries, 2013

First came the blueberry pancakes for Sunday Brunch. And they were gooooood!

And then it was time to dust off that recipe for pie...yummy blueberry pie. Here are the pictures...followed by the recipe. Enjoy!

The filling

 

Weaving the lattice

 

The finished pie, just out of the oven...bring on the ice cream!

________________________________________

Blueberry Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

5 cups fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crusts

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

1. SPRINKLE berries with lemon juice; set aside.

2. FIT half of pastry in a 9-inch pieplate according to package directions.

3. COMBINE 1 cup sugar and next 3 ingredients; add to berries, stirring well.

4. Pour into pastry shell, and dot with butter.

5. UNFOLD remaining pastry on a lightly floured surface; roll gently with rolling pin to remove creases in pastry. Using a pizza cutter, cut 1/2" strips for a latticed-top.

6. Weave pastry strips over filling; seal and crimp edges.

7. Brush top of pastry with beaten egg, and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar 

8. BAKE at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until golden. Cover edges with aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning, if necessary.

9. Allow to cool thoroughly on the counter to let the center to gel. Store in the refrigerator.

10. Serve with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Oh Routine...Where Art Thou?

We motored back over the mountains, down the turnpike, and through the toll booths on Tuesday, arriving home too late in the evening to see much of the changes (if any) in the ol' homestead. But after a refreshing night's sleep in my own bed, I bounded up at first light, filled with that thrill that comes when you are opening the first package under the Christmas tree.  Garden Walk!

Wow! Is is possible we were gone only 10 days?! So many things in our garden have started to ripen and are ready for picking. Now. As in, right now! It will take at least a week to get caught up. As Mr. T says, I always need a vacation when I come home from "vacation." Sigh.  I'll post all about the garden over on my other blog, Gardening With Giants. Click here to go there...

Even with all the time and attention the gardens now require, I must remember there are other things that need doing. Thankfully we are ahead of the game, so to speak, with chores: we changed the sheets, did laundry, cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, and dusted before we left (told you my To Do list was lengthy...:); and, we did laundry at Missy M's, so the only dirties we have to deal with are the clothes we wore on the return trip. Still, there are few necessaries in the fridge or the pantry, so a trip to the grocery is in order.  Or, at least "on" order...as I am still a huge fan of online Express shopping at Harris Teeter.

Abbie apres nail trim

Also, I took advantage of an nice offer our vet (Guilford-Jamestown Veterinary Hospital) made recently: "like" them on Facebook and make an appointment for a free nail trim. Since Abbie missed getting her nails trimmed on her last vet visit (she was not in the mood, shall we say?), and since I had trimmed Elmo's and Duche$$'s nails just before we left (no easy task, as they have nails as thick as chop sticks and as hard as, well, nails...:-), I made an appointment for Abbs to get a mani-pedi on Thursday.

Easier said than done. Abbie...our little "chicken dog," who is a holy terrier at home but a meek, mild, scaredy-cat when out of her own domain...has apparently found her voice in Looeyvuh. Great. Ella Rae and Dixie taught her to bark at anything and everything that moves (which is an excellent trait when you are guarding a single woman's home, right?), and she is taking her lessons to the extreme. She's now a mixture of scaredy-cat-meets-Cujo. Not easy to handle. Here she is after surviving that trauma...looks like she's saying "hey, I'm cool...no big deal..." Right.

Mr. T had an appointment to keep Thursday, too. He had a follow-up with his ortho surgeon about his knee. Oh me. Not a pleasant time. The dr. drained the accumulated fluid on the left knee AND gave him a cortisone shot. Ow. Double owwwwww. But at least he said "no more crutches," which is a good thing since Mr. T had stopped using them a week or so ago anyway. Now he has to exercise on the recumbent bicycle and get fitted for some orthotics...all to help in the battle of keeping arthritis from taking over the left knee. We shall see...

And me? Well, I have been wading through the mount of mail and plethora of phone messages. Paying bills. Touching bases. Trying to catch up on some work. And, seeking the solitude of routine to get me on track again.

Routine? It's around here somewhere. I'm almost positive I saw it under that pile of papers...

A Week Away

Has it really been nine months since we were here in Looeyvul? Yes...yes, it has. Hard to believe. Seems like just a few weeks ago I got to see the magnolia in the front yard blooming...and here it is a-bloom again. Lovely...

We are currently dog- and house-sitting for Missy M while she's attending a conference in California. The news we are getting from San Jose is good...in spite of the awful, terrible, horrible experience she had in getting there from here on a rainy Monday. [Think Planes, Trains, and Automobiles.] Here's a shot she messaged from a side trip to Zelda's in Capitola Beach, CA. (Special of today: Maine Lobster...:-)  She put her toes in the Pacific and said "it is cold!"

And despite a bump or two in the road, we are having a decent week here in Derby Town.

Bump 1: Thomas is still recovering from his knee surgery and related issues. He's got a long Daddy-Do List to get through before M returns tomorrow night, so he is pushing himself. When the heat forces us inside (like the 92 degrees this afternoon), he usually pops an ice pack on to combat the swelling. He is also dealing with some fluid buildup, so he will have lots to discuss with his doctor next week. Big sigh. 

Bump 2: I spent the first couple of days or so trying to outrun yet another ear infection...third this year, in case you're counting. Haven't had that many ear infections since...well, never. Biggest worry with an ear infection for me? That it deteriorates into an inner ear infection...and morphs into a vertigo episode. Fortunately, I had the meds from the last go-round, so was able to dodge that bullet. Unfortunately, I missed Cousin A's big birthday bash in TN...didn't think I needed to bring her a "gift" of germs. Heard it was a "good time had by all" kind of a day. Double sigh.

So, even with a couple of hiccups, Mr. T and I are enjoying spending time together...having early morning coffee on the deck, watching the birds at the feeders...well, until one or more of the five dogs chases them away, that is. The dogs...ah, yes...the FIVE dogs. That probably says it all right there.

It is a little like a vaca. It's still light here late, since da 'Ville is on the westernmost edge of the Eastern time zone. Wine at 9:00, anyone?!  We checked out Frank Otte's, a local Garden Center fantastique and found Breadworks, a neat neighborhood bakery for bagels and coffee on Wednesday...a treat for the two of us who are rarely in the same city mid-week. I finished Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno, as well as Dorothea Benton Frank's Last Original Wife.  Stayed up until 4:00 this morning reading that last one...and I really can't do that anymore. No, no, no.

We still have a thing or two up our sleeves. Missy M has planned a couple of vacation days next week, so we'll get to spend some time with her before we head back to HPNC. A new restaurant? A matinee movie maybe? Also hoping to meet up with Bro T and SIL LaD for breakfast while here, since we are in the same area code.

All-in-all, a good week at our home away from home.

What a Week!

Happy to report we are still hugging tightly to our little piece of the Earth. With all the wild weather we have been having this week, we could easily have lost our footing and been blown away!

Forget Hurricane Season. (OK, I know we in NC can't actually "forget about it" until November.) This has been Straight Line Winds territory. Clocked at over 40 mph on Monday and an amazing 60+ mph on Thursday, the winds have not been our friends. Throw in some hail and flash-flooding rains, and you got yourself one scary Spring weather combination.

Can you find the low spot in our back yard in this shot? You can also tell that it has been too wet to mow or weed.

And then there is this one from the Row Garden Monday evening. Looks like we are raising the squash and melons (right) and the beans (left) hydroponically. Water, water everywhere...

You may have visited our garden blog, Gardening with the Giants, and read of the Miracle of the Corn: high winds on Monday flattened the entire patch...and then the stalks apparently righted themselves by Thursday...and wonder-of-wonders, they escaped any real damage in Thursday afternoon's storms. Counting our blessings...as well as the coming kernels...:-)

Anyway, we are enjoying an absolutely gorgeous Friday...blue skies, low humidity, lower temps, and no storms in the forecast for today. Hooray!  A mild finish to a wild week. And a perfect day for a drive in the country...or a drive THROUGH the country maybe...:-)

Yes, our plans are to head over the mountains and through the toll booths to Missy M's house we'll go...dogs included. We are postponing our departure by a day since Duche$$ developed some last minute  problems, but thankfully those seem to be abating. Still, we did NOT want to travel with a sick dog...no, no, no!

And we will no sooner get to Looeyvul, when I'll get back in a car and head to TN with Missy M on Sunday. (Mr. T won't be joining us, as his knee can handle just so many miles...and he's over his limit for this week. So, he's been volunteered to be dog-sitter for a day...:-)  We are going to Dickson to Cousin A's 105th Birthday party! Whoopie!!

Now that's an adventure worth shouting about.

It's Raining...It's Pouring...It's Raining Some More...

Do you know when the Atlantic Hurricane Season officially begins? Those of us who live in states that have a coastline know the answer to that one: June 1.  And, it looks like we are going to have an active one, if this week is any indicator. We barely had flipped over the calendar before the weather wonks began with the storm updates.

Here's what our map looks like on the News 2 Weather ap. No Grasshoppers game for us tonight!

The first Tropical Storm of 2013 has arrived and been strong enough to get a name: Andrea. Oh Joy. Of course, she's been a mild one as Hurricane experiences go (remember...we were in NC for Hugo and Fran), bringing only rain to our doorstep.  Buckets and buckets of rain.

Still, I don't see rain as a bad thing. It has supplied the gardens with glorious gallons of H2O..and allowed me to do more inside than out...for the first time in a long while.  I finally got around to cleaning out, rearranging, and organizing my desk, workspace, and bookcase. Made it easier to concentrate on writing. Deep-cleaned our bathroom, which has only received a lick-and-a-promise lately, sad to say...casualty of a gardening obsession. Got the laundry all caught up. Made a 7-Up Pound Cake for Mr. T's return home from DC area.  Even found time for two new eBooks: The Bookman's Tale and The Kingmaker's Daughter.

But, I can't stay out of the gardens completely, don't you know? When we have had a break or two in the showers, I grabbed my camera to take some shots of the fat water droplets on the green and growing kingdom of the Way Back Garden.  I shared these shots over on my other blog, Gardening With Giants, which is why they all have the GWG watermark. No matter...here they are again. Hope you enjoy!

First, the flowers:

Always and Forever rose

Edith Ann daylily

Spanish Lavender

First Zucchini

Now for the veggies:

Goliath (green) tomatoes