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| You just need a garden and a library! |
What a special time of year for people who love fresh veggies. July and August are the prime months for harvesting vegetables from our garden. This is the time of the year when we get paid back for all that hard labor in planting and nurturing those lovely plants.
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| We are reaping the rewards now. |
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| Warning!! It's zucchini time. Zucchini is a prolific plant. Once it gets growing, the harvesting goes on and on and on. You'll need several recipes to have some diversity in your diet. I'll share a zucchini cake recipe at the end of the article. |
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Green tomatoes. Fingers crossed we'll have a long enough season for the tomatoes to ripen. We had a late spring. The weather was so cold and rainy, Gardener Ted thought he would never get any crops from our garden. Unfortunately, many seeds rotted in the cold ground and had to be replanted. The good news is the sun finally came out and warmed up the ground so we will be making a pot of beans for dinner tonight--green, yellow and purple greens boiled together with potatoes, onions and bacon. Lip-smacking good! |
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| The peppers are producing now! I love, love, love green peppers. You too? |
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| The potato plants are blooming. They show promise of producing tasty spuds. |
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| Lettuce on the left. Romaine and Magenta. We have had to give lots of lettuce away to friends and family and to the local food pantry. What a rewarding experience when people smile when we hand them the fresh lettuce. Nothing like it. I've made several batches of cole slaw from crisp heads of cabbage. Nothing like the sound of the crack of a head of cabbage when you split it with a sharp knife. I cut the head in halves or quarters, cut out the core, then soak it in salt water for about 15 minutes. The salt kills any insects hiding within the layers of leaves. |
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| I know, the black-eyed Susans are not veggies, but oh so pretty. |
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In my scary story, Terror on Sunshine Boulevard, the main characters are Gloria and Jim Hart from Michigan. They spend winters in a retirement community in Florida.
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| Terror on Sunshine Boulevard Half-price through July 31 at Smashwords |
Jim is a year-round gardener with a garden Up North and one in Florida. He grows waaaaay too many vegetables so they give them away to friends and family. Gloria is always searching for delicious ways to cook vegetables so she has a choice of dishes for their dinner table.
Hmmm...these characters are suspiciously similar to the author and her husband. LOL...Yes, I based them on my life, but Jim and Gloria are a bit more fun and quirkier than we are!
Since I can't pass a zucchini through the Internet to you, I will share a great recipe with you for Zucchini cake.
ZUCCHINI CAKE
3 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Sift together these dry ingredients into a bowl and set aside. (I don't use a sifter.)
3 c. sugar
11/2 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chopped nuts
Beat together sugar, oil, vanilla, eggs and zucchini
Mix all ingredients together. Fold in nuts.
Spray 9 x 13-inch pan with oil--do you flour your pans?
Bake at 350 degrees C for 1 hour
Cool in pan, then sprinkle with powdered sugar or frost with cream cheese icing
Mmmmm. Good.
TIP: Use 3/4 c. applesauce and 3/4 c. oil instead of 1 1/2 c. oil to reduce fat
So I leave you with this delicious recipe. I hope you and your family and friends enjoy the cake.
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| Our Michigan garden |
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3 comments:
I love your garden. I live alone now so only have a small vegetable patch. It's done really well this year too.
Glad your small patch is producing this year. We were just talking how some years are famine and some are feasts!
Hi JQ - sounds ideal ... the garden, all the delicious produce it provides for you and your friends! While basing characters around yourselves makes sense too ... all the best with the publications. Thanks for visiting - cheers Hilary
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