Slicing and Dicing

I've been such a foodie lately, baking and mixing and stirring, slicing and dicing and stir-frying, sprinkling spices and seasonings with abandon--a little on the food, a little under the arms.  There's nothing nicer than smelling like oregano.

With all this hot weather, the squash in my veggie garden is taking off, with leaves as big as elephant ears, and squash growing so fast you can almost hear it lengthening.  I have yellow crookneck, patty pan, hubbard, and I forget what the other squash is.  Soon I'll be making squash bread and freezing it or giving away as much as I can.  I'll never forget the time my then-new neighbor decided to have a veggie garden--his first--and he ignored my advice about NOT planting zucchini.  Everyone knows zucchini is the kudzu of the Northwest.  I came home from work one day, and all the mailboxes out on the road were filled with zucchini.  A whole line of mailboxes, bulging with obscene green zukes the size of zeppelins.  It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen.  This neighbor was crafty.  He sneaked the zukes into the mailboxes after dark.

I never grow zukes, but I have enough other squash plants to keep me in squash for months. It's amazing how many things you can make with such a versatile vegetable!

The Summer That Wasn't

For the first time in many years I had a large veggie garden this year.  Below is a picture of part of the terraced garden in front of the basement.  I was diligent, starting my seeds indoors and transplanting them early.  They started off promisingly.  In April we were blessed with unseasonably hot weather, and the garden took off.  And then summer came.

At least the calendar said it was summer.  You couldn't tell it by the weather.  We'd have a few hot days, and then the clouds would move in and the skies would turn gray.  So my garden's been growing in fits and starts.  Once, we had almost two weeks of hot weather, but then it turned cold again and everything quit growing.

And so it's been, all summer.  My corn is 5' tall, but has only begun to tassel.  I probably won't get any corn this year.  My tomatoes, on the left side of the picture, are tall and vigorous and loaded with tomatoes--all of them green.  I have 6 large tomato plants, and so far, have harvested less about a dozen ripe tomatoes, most of them cherry tomatoes.  My summer squash is barely producing, and my acorn squash is so late that it hasn't even begun to blossom yet.  My sugar snap peas are a joke.  You can see them lying anemic on the ground in front of the tomatoes My green beans, however, are doing great and I've been eating beans for weeks.  The broccoli is just starting to form heads, and my cabbage and Brussels sprouts are iffy. 

The only thing that grew immediately, and fast, was my radish crop.  I had to pull them up and toss them, as they were all wormy.  I'm never growing radishes again.  My carrots are still infants.  My Walla Walla sweets aren't even adolescents, though the jalapeno pepper plant--the only one I planted because I bought it by mistake at the nursery--is growing like crazy.  When I bought it, I thought it was a green pepper plant.  My other green peppers are sickly.  My cucumbers haven't a single blossom yet.  My parsley, on the other hand, is growing like gangbusters.

All in all, we've had an absolutely lousy growing season for veggie gardens.  I'd bought a canning and freezing book this year, anticipating canning and freezing all my produce.  Guess I'll put the book away.   I certainly won't have anything to preserve this year! 

Recipe: Sunday Spinach

I just finished a plate of creamed spinach that was divine. It's the first time I tried this recipe, and it's a keeper! Without further ado, here is the recipe.

SUNDAY SPINACH

Two 10-oz pkgs frozen chopped spinach

6 T finely minced onion

1/4 c. melted butter

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp black pepper

2 T cream cheese

6 T grated Parmesan cheese

6 T heavy cream

Tabasco sauce (optional)

Italian bread crumbs

Cook spinach according to package in unsalted water. Drain well. Saute onions in butter. Add drained spinach, salt, and pepper to taste. Pour in cream. Add cheeses and Tabasco sauce. Mix well. Before serving, place in baking dish and top with buttered Italian bread crumbs and bake at 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Freezes well.

Note: when I make this again, I think I'll reduce the onions to 5 T. instead of 6, and increase the cream to 8 T. instead of 6. I like onions, but I thought they almost overpowered the spinach. Regardless, it turned out really superior.