Laying in Store for the Winter

I have been busy trying to save everything I can and not let anything go to waste. We bought 1/2 bushel of peaches last week at the Farmer's Market. I froze most of them except I made an easy peach cobbler with part.As you can see, my husband got into it.
Easy Peach Cobbler
1 cup Bisquick
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 stick butter
2 to 3 cups sliced peaches
I melt the butter in the microwave in the glass dish. In separate bowl, I mix Bisquick, sugar, and milk until smooth. I pour that over the butter in the dish. I top that with the peaches. Sprinkle a little sugar, cinnamon, and a tiny bit of allspice on top. I bake it at 350 degrees for one hour. We like to stir ours every 15 minutes, twice, and then don't stir the remainder of the time. Boy, is this good topped with vanilla ice cream. We only get ice cream when it is buy one, get one free.

Besides freezing peaches, I put up some corn, squash, and okra that a friend brought.

I made spaghetti sauce for Saturday night. I browned a pound of hamburger and a chopped onion and cubed some squash and zucchini into that and poured a jar of spaghetti sauce over it. I added some garlic powder and oregano and let this simmer. We had a meal Saturday and Sunday night out of this spaghetti sauce with sugar snap peas one night and a salad the next. Monday, I took what sauce was left over and made lasagna. What we had left from that meal, I divided into meals and put into the freezer.
We had one zucchini left yesterday from our garden and I grated it and made the chocolate chip zucchini muffins that I have posted the recipe for before. I would love to get some more corn and some field peas. We are hoping that we are going to have some late tomatoes.
Love,
Marie

Muffins

I made muffins yesterday using a recipe from Brenda at Coffee Tea Books and Me. Go over and give her a visit--she is full of very helpful and inspirational information. Take a look around and then go to her recipe blog for the muffin recipe. I used chocolate chips and pecans in mine.

Zucchini, Let me count the ways!

We have had a bounty of zucchini this summer and I will cook the last of it tonight unless we have more rain. Below are a couple of recipes I have used.




Zucchini-Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shredded zucchini
1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla, mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until muffins test done.

Oven Fried Zucchini Sticks
Two 8 ounce zucchinis
1 large egg
1 tablespoon of water
1 cup of coarse cracker crumbs (saltine) I used stuffing and ground it up fine
2 tablespoons of margarine, melted
Salt and Pepper

Trim unpeeled zucchini and cut into sticks about the size of French fries. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Beat egg with water; roll each zucchini stick in egg mixture and then in crumbs. Place on wire rack while oven heats to 400 degrees F. Place coated zucchini on a baking sheet and spoon butter over. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until tender and lightly browned.
I served these with ranch dressing.

Supper for Two

My DH and I spent the 4th just the two of us. He doesn't like to cut his flowers for me to make a flower pot--he likes for them to be in the yard. He broke down yesterday and got on his scooter and rode around a gathered me a "few" flowers. I didn't really have any 4th of July decorations so I went to Martha Stewart and printed off a few things. My plates are our outdoor plates and have birdhouses around the rim. As you have probably noticed from other pictures, I love birdhouses. We barbecued chicken on the grill. I cut the chicken in half and double wrapped them in tinfoil. DH cooked them 25 minutes on one side and turned them over for 25 more minutes. He then removed them from the tinfoil and brushed the sauce on. I usually make my NC barbecue sauce but didn't feel up to it yesterday, so I used bottled sauce. I marinated the zucchini slices in Zesty Italian dressing and then he cooked them on the grill. We had mashed potatoes and marinated steamed broccoli. The recipe for the broccoli is below.
STEAMED BROCCOLI FLORETS
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon prepared mustard
Dash each of salt, pepper, and ground mustard
1 pound fresh broccoli florets.

In a jar with a tight fitting lid, combine the sugar, vinegar, oil, water, prepared mustard, salt, pepper, and ground mustard; shake well. Set aside. Place broccoli in a steamer basket. Place in a saucepan over 1 in of water; bring to a boil.
Cover and steam for 5-8 minutes or until crisp tender. Place in a serving bowl. Shake dressing and drizzle over broccoli and toss to coat.

Enjoying the Bounty

This is all that was left from the Zucchini Sausage Boats that I fixed for supper last night. Go over to Kelli's blog and get the recipe. Enjoy her blog and then scroll down on the right hand side and you will see the recipe. I halved the recipe for us and instead of bread crumbs, I used some barbeque potato chip crumbs.
A friend called and shared a recipe for me to make pickles with the cucumbers.
Refrigerator Pickles
8 cups sliced cucumbers
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon celery seed.
I sliced the cucumbers with my processor and placed them in a large jar that I gotten bread and butter pickles in. I boiled the syrup and and poured over the cukes and they are supposed to be okay like this for a while in the refrigerator. We will probably have them eaten pretty quick.