Weekly Harvest Review

Sadly, I don't have any fancy pictures of harvest this week.  This was a week where there was more of the same.  We had more green beans and more squash.  I was a baby food making machine trying to not let any squash go to waste!  The corn is doing really well and should be ready to eat in a few weeks.  Our tomato and pepper plants are still alive but very sorry.  We have heard so many people talk about how their gardens just aren't growing well this year and we are no exception.  We are expecting some really hot weather over the next few weeks so maybe that will get everything in full summer mode! 

Happy harvesting!

Southern Living Banana Bread

Banana bread is another great quick bread that is simple and fast to make.  Both my mom and grandma made it frequently and it was always a favorite of mine.  Almost weekly my grandma would send me back to the dorms with a loaf to share with friends or to have for breakfast.  Such a great treat as a poor college kid! 

I go back and forth between a family recipe and a recipe from the Southern Living Cookbook.  Here is the Southern Living recipe that I am a huge fan of, I hope you love it as much as I do!

I realize there are tons of SL cookbooks so here is a picture of the one this recipe is from.

Banana-Nut Bread
Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 1 hr
Cool: 10 mins.

Ingredients:
2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted (I never toast mine)
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
3 very ripe bananas, mashed (1-1/2 cups)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup plain low-fat yogurt - Optional (I never include this and it is still very moist)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Grease and flour bottom of a 9"x5" loaf pan; set aside.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.  In another bowl stir together melted butter, mashed banana, eggs, yogurt, if desired, and vanilla; add to dry ingredients and stir until moistened.  Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake at 350* for 1 hour to 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool on pan on a wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pan and cool completely on wire rack.
Yield: 1 Loaf

For Muffins:
Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin pans, filling 3/4 full.  Bake at 350* for 19-21 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove from pans immediately.  Let cool on wire racks.
Yield: 20 muffins

Family Favorite Zucchini Bread

Zucchini is flowing abundantly from our garden and I am always looking for a good way to use some up.  One of my favorite ways is to make zucchini bread.  In high school I took a cooking class and we made zucchini bread using this recipe.  I made it with my mom at home and soon it was a family favorite.  We have used it exclusively since then and love it every time.  I made a double batch this morning and we have already dug into one loaf.  I made 2 regular sized loaves and 3 mini loaves from a double batch so I can put some in the freezer for a later time. 

Enjoy this great recipe!

Family Favorite Zucchini Bread

1 C. sugar

1-1/2 C. shredded zucchini

2 eggs

3/4 C. vegetable oil

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 C. flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 C. raisins (I omit this ingredient)

1/2 C. shopped pecans or walnuts

1 TB. flour

1.  measure dry ingredients.  set aside

2.  measure liquid ingredients.  set aside

3.  grate zucchini on large side of grater.  set aside

4.  mix raisins and/or nuts with 1 TB. of flour.  set aside

5.  sift together 1 and 1/2 C. flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt

6.  in another bowl, beat eggs with whisk

7.  stir in oil, and sugar and mix well with wooden spoon

8.  stir in vanilla and zucchini

9.  stir in dry ingredients 1/3 at a time, stirring well after each addition

10.  stir in raisins and pecans

11.  pour into prepared loaf pan  (greased and floured)

12.  bake in preheated 375* oven for one hour

13.  remove from oven and set on cooling rack 10 minutes before unmolding

14.  cool completely before wrapping

 

For mini loaves or larger loaf pans make sure to watch them as they frequently don't take the full hour to bake..

Summer Cookout

Last week we hosted a cookout for the extension group that I am a member of.  It is a ladies organization that meets monthly and every summer they get together (along with their spouses) and have a cookout.  I am new to the group so was really excited to welcome all of the ladies into our home and get to know them a little better.  What a fantastic time we had!  I worked on the yard and house for days and days and let me tell you, it was so great to have it all done and in fine form.  Many times I need a motivation to get things looking as good as they probably should look all of the time.  This was the perfect motivation. 

It took me three evenings to get the yard mowed.  I wait until the little one goes to bed and then I get moving on the outside of the house.  With the heat and strong sun we have along with the danger of mowing and edging it just isn’t feasible to get it all done with him in tow.  When my mom was visiting in May we started laying rocks in the gardens around the house and I hadn’t finished putting rocks out yet.  Yes, I know that was two months ago but hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day!  So, I finished getting the rocks out and it looks great!  It really finishes the look and brings everything together.  Now I am just praying that my plants continue to survive!

Then there was the inside of the house.  Ick, my least favorite part.  I had the kitchen in fairly good order but the rest of the house needed some love.  Somehow, it managed to get that love.  I even got the floors scrubbed!  Miracles really do happen!

The last part to get ready for the party was getting the food and essentials ready.  I started a grocery list early on and managed to get almost all of it in one trip!  I made a jello poke cake and provided all the meat and bread and the ladies of the club brought sides and desserts.  We had an over abundance of delicious food, I don’t think anyone went away hungry!  We ate in the backyard and the shade of the trees and orchard sprinklers running all around us really cooled things down nicely.  I hope everyone had a wonderful time, I know I did!

I wrapped the utensils in a napkin and then punched a whole in the side of the paper plate.  I used a piece of twine to tie the utensils to the plate.  This is so handy when doing a buffet so you don't have to worry about forgetting or dropping anything!

 

The little one and his best friend Sadie.

 

He loves playing with her tail and laughs like crazy when she wags it at him.

 

Do you have any summer cookouts planned? 

What do you do to get you motivated to get all areas of your house and yard in tip top shape?

Weekly Harvest Review

The garden continues to blossom and grow weeds like there is no tomorrow.  We were out of pocket for a few days so instead of picking a little everyday we just picked from the garden two times this week.  We had a bout of fast heavy rain a few weeks ago and it was a little tough on the melons but they seem to be making a come back.  The new growth is green and healthy but it did slow progress a little bit.  I can't wait for cantaloupe to be ready! 

We ran into some great sales at Lowe's last week while in town and picked up some great and cheap plants.  We got some hostas (big ones for $1/each!) for the east side of the house, a few flowers for the beds on the west side, German garlic and 7 blue spruce trees.  Things are really looking great!  I also planted some more zinnias on the south side of the house and some marigolds to keep the bugs away,  all of the seeds are up and the true leaves are coming in!  Zinnias and marigolds have got to be some of the most rewarding seeds to plant!

Here are the harvest pictures. 

All pictures were done before washing so please excuse the dirt!

Eggs, yellow squash, cucumbers and zucchini.

Green beans, yellow wax beans, a test of our carrots (they needed thinning and I couldn't wait to see how they were doing!), zucchini and yellow squash.

 

Eggs, cucumbers and lettuce.

 

A little find when I walked out in the back yard this morning.

 

Such beauty! 

The new zinnias are planted right next to these that are already blooming bright purple/pink.

Weekly Harvest Review

Things are really starting to pick up as we have been blessed with rain.  The garden is doing well although it is eternally needing weeding.  I am going to try and post on Sundays or Mondays a recap of what we have harvested throughout the past week.  I look forward to being able to look back at the end of the season and remind myself all we have been blessed with!

The first of our squash!  This went into making baby food (brown rice and squash) which was consumed immediately.  And of course eggs, we get lots of eggs, daily.

 

Still getting lots and lots of lettuce although with the heat it is starting to get bitter.  We may have to take a break from lettuce for awhile and give it a shot again when it cools down in the fall.

 

Our first green bean harvest of the year. Many more to come!

 

We picked all the artichokes that were left.  So many! Our season is just a tiny bit short to get another harvest this year so we will enjoy these as it will be a year before we get anymore!

Independence Day Festivities

We had a great celebration for 4^th of July that actually got stretched into a few glorious days.  On Thursday I decided I needed to do some patriotic crafting so I made a pallet flag.  It was so much fun and also very easy!  See the previous post for the tutorial. 

On Friday Michael took the little one with him to check cows so I got to have a few hours in the house alone and I used to it clean.  Like a crazy person.  It was fantastic.  I was able to scrub down the kitchen (again), dust, sweep, vacuum and scrub the floors.  The house smelled so clean and looked amazing!  What a great way to start a long weekend.  We then ate donuts for lunch that Michael brought home from town as a special treat.  YUM!  Clearly, we are some healthy eaters.  Logically, donut consumption was followed by lounging and napping.  About 5:00 PM we went to the park in town and went sliding and swinging and rolling all around.  The little one loved every second of it.  Once we were done at the park we went to watch the fireworks that the town put on.  They were fantastic! The winds changed shortly after the show started and brought the fireworks right overhead.  Although probably dangerous they made for one of the best shows I have ever seen.  The little one was mesmerized by them and just watched them in silence and awe.  I was so pleasantly surprised he didn’t get scared!

Saturday we got to sleep in until 8:00 AM, even the little one slept that late!  We had a fairly normal morning with errands and our usual afternoon routine.  I ended up preparing some meat that Michael’s parents had bought and froze awhile back.  I had never heard of pork brisket bones so guessed on what to do with them and just made a rub, seared them quickly on the grill and then wrapped them in foil and cooked them at a low temperature for a few hours.  They turned out great!  They were a cheap cut that filled us up well!  We made our way to Michael’s parents for the evening.  They had watermelon, cantaloupe, potato salad, baked beans, cherry pie and a strudel to go along with the prepared meat.  It was all scrumptious and I was soo full!  We got done eating in perfect time to watch fireworks that their town was putting on.  They were delayed from Friday night as they had some flooding issues after a big rain that had come earlier in the week.  The show was great although it didn’t compare to watching them right overhead like the night before.  It was a late night getting home but worth every minute of it. 

We had such a fantastic time celebrating Independence Day!  Did you get to do anything fun?

First time sliding at the park!

 

A perfect evening for play in the park with Poppy.

 

The best and most simplest pleasure of life, family.

 

Waiting for fireworks to begin.

 

Family on the 4th.

 

I know it's dark but I just couldn't resist his precious face and how intrigued he was!

 

Pallet Flag Tutorial

I decided last minute (July 3rd to be exact) that the house needed some patriotic décor not only for Independence Day but for the summer.  We have so many pallets around and pinterest has been bleeding with pallet DIYs I decided I had to try one myself.  Probably the last thing this world needs is another pallet tutorial but that isn't going to stop me.  This project was done in under an hour!  So here is what I did to get my patriotic yard décor.

I used super cheap (+/- $1.50 at Walmart) spray paint for the red and blue and then cheap white house paint that was about $3.50 for a small jar for the white stripes and stars.  I used regular paint instead of spray paint for the white so I had more options when it came to making the stars.

 

I selected this pallet from the pile as it had lots of slats and all were in good shape (except for the bottom one that had the bottom half of it gone).We have so many pallets around the farm, Michael was excited to see one gone!

 

I rolled up newspaper in tubes and placed it on each side of the slat I was painting to keep it from getting on the other boards.  I moved the paper after each area was done.

 

I laid a piece of paper down where I wanted the blue to stop and sprayed straight up and down so it wouldn't leach onto the red (the paper isn't picture here, imagination time!) This probably could have  been a little more precise if I used tape but I was way to lazy to go look for some in the house.

 

This is where I would show you a picture of me painting the white stripes.  Except for I didn't take a picture.  Use your imagination, let it soar!  It was epic.  I made that $0.98 paint brush work hard!

 

Ta-Da!  Stripes are all done!

 

I had no idea what to do for the stars so I cut a potato in half and carved out a star.  I am going to play it off that I was going for the artsy/craftsy/Americana look so it is totally acceptable for it to not be perfect.  In fact, I think it enhances it! Honestly, it was just the best I could come up with as I knew free hand painting would have been tragic.

 

And now the stars are on and it is complete!  For the record, I am 100% aware there are only 18 stars (thank your for continually reminding me, Darling Husband). 

 

Doesn't an Instagram filter just change things for the better?

 

We now have the flag propped up against our favorite pecan tree in the front yard and it really makes the house look fantastic!

WIP Wednesday

This past week has been pretty slow on projects as we were out of town for a wedding for a few days and then I spent some (much needed) time on the house.  It is still a disaster but it is slowly getting better.  I have a few blocks to catch up on as quilting groups meet next week and the following. Maybe tomorrow will be my day!  Here is what I have been doing in my few spare minutes the last week or so.

The latest block from the "Twist It, Change It, Rearrange It" quilt. I haven't started on the compliment block to this one yet.

 

My design wall with all the complete blocks to the "Twist It, Change It, Rearrange It" quilt.  There are seemingly endless options but I will probably finish it at 12 blocks.

 

 

Two more blocks for the 1930's mini-quilt.  I have four complete so far.

Cherry Time

Last week we wanted to finish picking cherries before the birds got them all.  We had a net to cover the tree but the tree has grown so much that it only covered about a third of it.  Once the birds get one taste of the berries we don't stand a chance at getting any.  Michael took the time to finish picking what was ripe and we took to processing them.  We washed them and then ran them through a crank pitter that we borrowed from my mother in law.  It was a slow, sticky and messy project but it was a success!  This is the first harvest we have had from this tree and probably could have done another light picking but we were cherried out.  We ended up with three, 2-cup bags that we froze.  Michael loves cherry pie so maybe we will make one for the 4th of July. 

Do you have any 4th of July plans?

An action shot of Michael working the pitter.