Bubba Gump of squash :)

I feel like I am the Bubba (Forrest Gump) of Squash lately.  Squash Casserole, Sauteed Squash, Squash Alfredo, Fried Squash, Steamed Squash.....   Since I have allergic reactions to the best summer vegetables, watermelons and cucumbers, squash and okra are my summer vegetables of choice.  Only one of my boys will actually eat squash and he likes it raw!   

I recently discovered that I can steam and puree squash then mix it into an Alfredo sauce. Everyone eats the pasta and sauce and never notices the squash!!  The boys have even commented on how yummy the "alfredo" tastes.  So here is the recipe for Squash Alfredo:

      1/4 cup butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup steamed and pureed squash (puree steamed squash in a blender until smooth)

salt & pepper                

Directions

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat, add garlic and saute. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and  pureed squash and stir constantly til warm. Season w/ salt & pepper.  Serve over pasta.

 

I have to steam and puree the squash several hours before dinner b/c if my guys saw me put it into the Alfredo sauce they would never eat it.  The thickness of the squash puree makes the pasta sauce thicker than my usual alfredo sauce so I have learned to make it a little thinner than normally would.



Cooper and our sunflowers!

Like my past few blogs, I will mention again that we have a GREAT garden this year! But this time I have pictures :)   Cooper & I made our daily trip to the garden, along w/ our garden cats Blackster & Georgia,  Today we were blessed w/ tomatoes, more cucumbers (of course), okra and lots of new sunflowers!

We have a lot of watermelons growing up our fence panel that we put up for the cucumbers to grow up. We have a watermelon patch but it is clear across the garden. Actually, we didn't plant the "fence panel" seedless watermelons, they came from last year's garden. Our yard man accidentally weed-eated our watermelons and killed them. Well they came back w/ a vengeance this year.  Only problem is that they are growing up a fence, so what happens as they grow? They are getting large and heavy.  I'm afraid they will break off of their vines before they are ready. 

My friend, Melinda (A Master Gardener) was over for a garden tour and suggested that we tie the watermelons up in panty hose.  Well ok then.  I usually just do what she tells me.  She is almost always right...  So off to Dollar General to buy the first pair of panty hose I have bought in about 10 years! I hate panty hose and usually wear boots in the winter to avoid panty hose.  The thought is that the hose will still allow the melon to expand but w/ extra support b/c I tied it to the wire panel. I'm going to need more hose b/c I have a lot of little ones still coming up.

Our actual watermelon patch is across the garden from this one and has two small melons starting to shine out from under the vines.  We didn't grow these up or over anything so I was talking to another friend (Adrienne) about gardens an she suggested raising the plants up just enough to slide newspaper under them and the watermelons won't rot while lying on the ground.  I like the idea of tilling the paper back into the garden for winter compost too.

 So 2 great friends, 2 great garden savers! I am blessed.

seedless melon not supported



watermelon/cucumber wall



all dressed up and no where to go....

Blackster the garden cat, admiring a sunflower

Cooper, my garden helper today.

The Lint Lizard!!

I was in WalMart earlier this week and made an impulse buy...  I usually don't fall victim to the "as seen on TV" products but I finally saw one that I just couldn't pass up.   I wasn't looking for an odd gadget to hang in my cleaning closet, I wasn't aware that I need another cleaning tool but there is was the        

I knew I had to have it!  I feel that everytime I empty my lint screen dryer lint falls down into my dryer duct.  So this was the gadget for me!!! Even @ $11.00 I still didn't hesitate.  "think of the trade off" I was thinking..."flaming dryer lint or the Lint Lizard" .  So of course I needed the Lint Lizard.  

If you haven't seen the advertisements (which I had not) you obviously don't know about this awesome little rubber/plastic gadget. How this works is that you attach this little rubber adapter to your vaccuum cleaner hose and proceed to use the clear rubber hose in your dryer's lint trap. It is supposed to suck up all of the lint that is hanging around, waiting to burst into flames and catch your house on fire ( or so the ad indicates). My lint must have been really backed up as it clogged the vaccuum hose almost instantly. Once I cleaned it out we (the lizard and me) started back up to finish my cleaning task. I have to say, "I am impressed!" I now have a clean lint trap and a clean return air vent. I'm thinking that I will try sticking the rubber hose down the air vents in the living room. I bet I hit the Lego Jackpot! The boys always play Legos around the air vents, and then complain about losing them down the vent. I think I can use it under dressers and the pantry to clean up messes that are usually hidden.  

So go get a lint lizard! I'll have some other uses for the Lizard tommorrow!   I'm even thinking about ordering the Dust Lizard next!!  So if you are thinking about ordering a lint lizard, here is the website!  https://www.lintlizard.com/?uid=2537E5769CBD480DD2D390C9037919F1

I hope you find it an easy to use cleaning tool

Oh! I almost forgot:  I am a not a compensated spokes person :)

These are the views of a rambling, crazy, tired mom

Pickles!!

We have this BEAUTIFUL garden this year!!  It is producing so far beyond our expectations that we are starting to freeze/preserve vegetables now.  This weekend we decided to make pickles out of all the cucumbers.  I have made jams & jellies but never pickles before so I started researching the internet for options.  I found this great site that breaks all the different methods down for people like me. http://www.pickyourown.org/makingpickles.htm

So I found out that you can't just use any cucumbers. The younger, bumpier ones do not have many seeds and make the best pickles.  I had a lot of those and I did mix some larger ones in w/ the spears and they did fine.  I learned that even when you think your jars are packed, pack more.  I had about an inch of brine in each jar once everything was processed.

I thought that since cucumbers were just coming in (for most people) that the ingredients to make pickles would be plentiful, NO.  I went to 4 stores- bought jars @ WalMart and Kmart but neither of them had the packets mentioned on the website, nor did they have pickling salt.  My Walgreens didn't have any canning supplies.  I finally found most of what I needed to get started @ Tractor Supply but even they were out of the dill supplies.  I decided to make bread & butter and go "old school" on the dills. 

I learned that you can make the dill by using pickling salt, dill, garlic, vinegar & water.  There is a great recipe on the back of the Mrs. Wages pickling salt bag.  My advise, cut the salt back on it, they were REALLY salty! I like the recipe on the "pick your own" website better for the dill pickles.   When I made jellies before, the jars came w/ labels, mine didn't this time.  I decided to make Bread & Butter chips and Dill Spears so that I could tell the difference until I printed labels for my jars. 

This was so much easier than I thought!  Jelly is more time consuming and much messier.  All of our jars sealed within a couple of hours and we used the dills in potato salad today. Yum! 

I love that this is an all natural method! My boys will be eating these!

Finished product!! Dill spears & Bread/Butter chips. Notice the large amount of liquid on the chips - really pack them down in there before the brine.

.

So, Don't be afraid! Go to your Farmer's Market, buy some cucumbers, make some pickles it's easy.  Just make sure you have all the supplies and ingredients the day before so you're not running around shopping and then making pickles.

Food

yellow crookneck squash



vidalia onion

  I have been blessed to be born into a family of women who can cook.  I mean REALLY cook.  My grandmother and mother have always cooked huge meals for our family. 

  My mother still cooks all the time for groups of people.   My grandmother (who turns 89 tomorrow) doesn't cook anymore and in her later years would try "new" recipes, like putting a jar of salsa in her spaghetti to jazz it up. :)  I didn't eat it but I heard it was not good.

    I have been fortunate to inherit several family recipes that I still crave and have to cook regularly.  One of them is my grandmother's squash casserole.  As soon as the squash in our garden starts blooming, I start craving squash casserole.   So I thought I'd share my Nana's Squash casserole recipe on my blog.  We have had so much squash that I've sauteed it w/ the onions and froze it for future casseroles.  Alway cook onion w/ squash b/c it brings out the flavor in the squash. 




Squash Casserole

6 medium squash sliced in 1/4 inch circles

1/2 vidalia onion, diced

vegetable oil

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

3 lg eggs

1/4 cup mayonaisse (I know, right?)

1 1/2 cups crumbled ritz crackers

2 tbl butter

Salt & Pepper to taste

Saute' squash and onion is vegetable oil (not sure how much, we never really measure it)  until tender.  Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl.  Add 3/4 cup of cheese to mixture, followed by mayo and mix well.  The mayo keeps it moist, you could probably substitute sour cream and extra salt and it would probably taste close to the same. I use the Olive Oil Mayo and it works well.  Now add eggs and mix well. Pour into a buttered 8 x 8 casserole dish and bake @ 350.  I'd like to say how long but I cook it until it's firm and starting to brown.  My grandmother never has times on any of her recipes.  When the casserole is almost finished top w/ crumbled crackers and drizzle w/ melted butter, toast for around 10 minutes (golden brown).   Remove and cool. 

*squash can be sauteed w/ onion and frozen for future casseroles (especially in the winter months). 

I  had planned to post a picture of the finished casserole but I left it covered, on the stove and went to a swim meet. I came back and David had finished it :)  

School's out for summer.....

School is out!!  I countdown the days worse than my boys!  I love summer and the things that summer brings.   It's been less than a week and I feel like I am stressing myself out w/ a mental list of ALL the things we "need" to do this summer.  
 There is the responsible list:
 A. Paint the exterior of the house.
 B. build a deck
 C. Clean out the chicken pen and dog kennel
 D. redo flower beds and spread mulch...
 E. finish upholstering Mrs. McReynold's chairs that you've had for a month!
 F. put a new floor in the kitchen, bathroom and shop.
 G. add on a new laundry room.

 You get the idea. 

THEN there is THE LIST!:
A. Go to DC for the 4th to watch the BEST fireworks and see Smithsonian again.
B. Paint the rain barrel something crazy
C. make that table out of all the bottle caps we've been saving
D. Hang the lights on the patio ( I got them for Christmas :)
E. Go to the BEACH. ALOT
F. Take Cooper to SeaWorld and Oliver to Legoland.
G. Go Camping on the Beach (primitive, next to the water kind of beach camping)
H. Spend lots of time @ the River taking pictures of my boys.
I.  EAT lots of watermelon -them, not me. I'm allergic.  BUT I love the smell of them eating.
J. Fill my beverage server w/ bubble mix and let them blow and spill bubbles all over the 
     yard
K. GRill, Grill, Grill.  and eat veggies from the garden. 
L. Let the boys make the 8x20 visquine slip & slide in the backyard and not worry about the dead grass landing strip it leaves when they take it up.  It'll grow back.

Again, you get the idea.   I could go on w/ both lists.  I may get a few completed off of both lists too.  My lists do not include the schedules of summer football workouts, swim team practice /meets or play practice @ BLT.  These are also important lists b/c are also part of our summer and determines how much time we can spend on List #2.  

Basically list #1 is stay @ home and work.  List#2 is run away from home and all of it's work!  Where's it gonna go anyway? It'll be there when we get back. 
 There's always the Fall.   No wait, that's football season and soccer......  

We'll see @ the end of the summer if I get anything accomplished.   Thanks for reading.facebook

End of the school year

Wow! It's been a quick month!  The boys have 1 day of school left and we are ready!! Oliver graduated from kindergarten last night.   Baseball has ended and swim team is starting. Parker leaves for Youth camp next Tuesday and has football all summer.  So much for summer break :)   Cooper received 2 awards today, 1 was for all A honor roll for the whole year. The other was voted by the class and he was named Top Mathmatician.  He was so proud!

 Our garden is beautiful in spite of a hail storm that destroyed most of the new plants.  They looked like they had been hit by a weed eater.  But almost everything bounced back and is blooming.  The only thing that didn't come back after the hail was the spinach. I'll post a pic tomorrow of what is left, it looks like a deer got to it.  I was really looking forward to fresh spinach and feta omelets this summer.  I'll have to settle for store bought spinach for now.  We should have squash to eat in about a week, it looks beautiful.  We used barn compost from my friend Melinda's horse barn to turn into the soil for fertilizer and it is awesome!!

I hope to have more information to blog over the summer.  Due to baseball 3 nights a week for the past several months I haven't cooked much.  We've been eating a lot of Grilled Chicken Salads and sandwiches before ballgames.   I've been making coaster sets out of ceramic tiles to sell in my booth and I sold 30 sets between Mother's day and the end of school ( w/ the help of my PR Rep, Dawn).  Now I'm working on Father's Day designs for "the Man Caves".  So far I have vintage beer labels that are really cool and look great.  I want to do some w/ Golf designs and fishing motifs.  The coasters sell better than anything else in my booth right now so I'll keep making them and doing new designs. 
 I guess that is all for tonight. Everyone around me is snoring- The little boys fell asleep downstairs, one in the chair and the other on the dog bed :\  The dog, Shorty is snoring b/c he's not on his bed and can't get comfortable. I'm glad I washed the dog bed before my washing machine died.  Oh yeah, that happened too. Fortunately it's under warranty but the part won't be here until next Friday! We'll be out of clothes by then.  I'm going to the laundry mat tomorrow afternoon and do all of it!  Speaking of things breaking I am reminded that we had to have a fuel pump replaced in the Yukon and the transmission went out in the Cargo Van in the last 2 weeks.  Hopefully we are finished w/ repairs for now. 


#13 Parker's Spring Jamboree 5/16/12