OT: Gardening report

For those of you who love to garden, just want to report on my progress so far this week.  I am freezing these, not canning.

13 sm pkgs of broccoli (I did small 1 cup portions)
9 sm pkgs of carrots (again, 1 cup portions)
4 qt pkgs of zucchini
8 qt pkgs of yellow squash

Then I went out and picked again tonight, and I have quite a bit more yellow squash and zucchini to put up again tomorrow.

And I wish you could see my pinto beans!  Next week is going to be picking and shelling beans for sure!

If any of you are interested in learning how to freeze fresh produce and don't know how, I can teach ya!  It's easy.  Sometimes you can find great buys at farmer's markets.  It sure does taste better than store bought and it's usually cheaper, too.

Happy gardening! 

P.S.  (BTW, I love to hear hort reports!)

I love to garden! Maybe Texas is where I belong. I just putting my garden in this week. I am picking asparagus finally. Oh the joys of Northern Michigan!!! I am envious of you.
Nan

Nan,

We have to garden early around here because by July and August it's too hot and dry for anything much to make it in the garden.  This year we didn't have that last late freeze, so things are really coming in early.  About a month ahead of time.

I envy you the asparagus.  It's too hot here for that.  And I do love asparagus!    What else do you plant?  This year I've got squash, peppers, tomatoes, beans and peas.  I was having my surgery in Feb when it was time to plant onions and new potatoes, so we didn't do those this year.  Sometimes we plant corn or okra.  And if I want to make pickles, I plant dill and cucumbers.  Never have much luck with melons.  Too easy to buy them when they come up from the valley or Mexico. 

I love to can and pickle and make jellies.  Do you like to put up your produce, or do you just eat it as it comes off?

Hi, I can most things. I dry onions, green peppers

apples, make applesauce. We like our green beens, corn. carrots & some potatoes. I freeze the rest. I haven't bought jam in 30 years. I even supply the kids with jam. I also make venison jerky. I should have been born 100 years ago.

Nan

Oh, girl, me too!  I'm a throwback to another age!  'Cept I'm not sure I could be as tough as those women were!  I do like my creature comforts!!!  LOL!

Vickie, I absolutely love zucchini/egg dishes whether a quiche, a slice, or a breakfast di****hrow in just about any kind of leftover veggies in also. My freezer is EMPTY of my frozen packages. Wish I could pop over and steal some out of your garden! It will be a month or so before our local squash is available, but once it is here there is an over abundance! Happy harvesting. I'm planting carrots today. It's really windy here on our hill but the carrots don't seem to mind.

Really?  Send me some recipes, please!  I only know a couple of ways to fix zucchini.  I like it, but it's just not something my mom ever fixed, so I don't have a good feel for how to cook it.

I have a terrific squash and cheese casserole recipe if you (or anyone else) is interested.  Plus I do a pan fry thing with squash, onions and new potatoes.  Really yummy!

Good luck with your carrots today.  They are sort of hit or miss here.

I'll go through my squash recipes. I didn't like them until I tried someone else's recipe! Now I love it. My only problem with carrots is that the seeds are so tiny, I tend to plant them too close together. I get some really strange looking carrots but they taste great in soups. During the winter I have bags of frozen diced celery, carrots, onion, squash and green peppers. I cook down tomatos and freeze them too to throw in the soup. Sure makes it easy to throw a soup together. Haven't tried freezing cut up cabbage. Have you? Mike loves cabbage soup. I like it but not every week like he does. It has helped him lose 80 lbs in the past year.

Vickie, Here's my favorite, easy, quick zucchini recipe. I've added all kinds of extras from the fridge and it is always good. I eat it warm, cold, nukked, take it for lunch, put hot sauce on it. . .

Zucchini Pie

3 cups zucchini cut up any way you like: quarter and sliced, grated etc. If using frozen I usually squeeze a bit of the water out. I sometimes add grated carrots if I don't have enough zucchini. Also sometimes leftover spinach (squeeze excess water out first). Also have added chopped ham, bacon, cooked burger.

1 cup Bisquick or Jiffy Mix

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup grated cheese, any kind

2T parsley

1/2 t salt

1/2 t oregano

1/2 cup oil

4 eggs, beat before adding

garlic to taste

Mix and bake in large pie pan at 350 for 50 minutes

I have a couple of others around somewhere. I'd love to have your recipe also.

 

Karen, that sounds delicious!  I will definitely try it!

Here is my squash and cheese casserole recipe.  Really easy and so good!  My family has loved this for years.

Squash 'n Cheese

3 to 4 medium yellow squash cut into 1/4" slices (not too thin)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tbs butter (or you can use EVOO)
S&P to taste
1/2 - 1 cup grated or cubed Velveeta cheese

Preheat oven to 350F
In large skillet, saute squash and onion in butter over med heat.  Cook just until squash begins to soften and onion begins to turn translucent.  Season with S&P to taste.

Transfer squash to a casserole dish.  Add (as much or as little) Velveeta cheese to the mixture and stir well.  I usually add a couple of slices of Velveeta to the top to get that bubbly brown topping.

Place casserole in oven and cook about 25 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and starts to brown a bit.