GREAT STEAK SANDWICH

I found it here. Once I read thru it....I had to make it!

http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/the_pioneer_woman_cooks/2007/06/marlboro_mans_f.html

I fixed it this afternoon exactly like her recipe. It was a HUGE hit with my whole family. HUGE.

This evening, dh & I got the evening munchies, & we had just enough left over (I had used just over 3 lbs. of meat) to make a few sandwiches.

I sauted more onions, with some green peppers, & a can of mushrooms (wish I would have had fresh, but canned did ok).

I pan toasted the buns, & then added mozzarella to get all nice and 'melty'.

YUM!

Here's a picture of mine:

You can't really see the cheese, but it's in there. I savored e.v.e.r.y. bite. WOW.

Thank you Pioneer Woman!

GARDEN BOUNTY

We plant & water. God makes it grow.

This is what we'll be doing today. Canning green beans & doing something with zucchini.....LOL. Last week we got 3 buckets of green beans & it made 10 quarts. This will probably can 6 or 7 quarts. It is so nice to only have 1 row of beans & just can a little at a time. There was a time when we'd plant 3 or more rows & can 40 or more quarts at a time. But since we still have at least 20 quarts left over from last year, we only planted 1 row this year. It is nice to stay ahead of the beans. :)

The corn should be ready any day. We had corn on the cob with our supper last evening. I think it just needs a few more days, although we have had a coon start getting into it, so it's close. Last year we lost about 1/3 of our corn to coons, the little brats.

And here's our biggest anticipation:

Waiting on the tomatoes to ripen is SO hard. It won't be long now!

We're also waiting on the cucumbers. Last year our cucumbers failed. We had tons of blumes, but after getting only 5 or 6 cucumbers, the plants wilted & died. Hoping for a better crop this year!

This picture of the kids in the corn was taken a few weeks ago. I'm really looking forward to having corn in the freezer again.

Thank you LORD for the bounty we are receiving & are about to receive!!!

ONE OF MY FAVORITE ZUCCHINI RECIPES

GRILLED ZUCCHINI



I think this has got to be one of my favorite ways to eat zucchini (besides fried!). Grilling it gives it such a different flavor. A roasted flaver. It is DELICIOUS.

I slice them on a diagonal line so the pieces are longer & have less of a chance of falling through the grate on the grill. Coat each piece with olive oil. (although, yesterday I was out of olive oil & used canola oil & it was just fine.) Grill until tender. I add salt & pepper when done.

You have to try this sometime. It is SO good!

If you're wondering....I'm not tired of zucchini. It will be gone before I know it. lol

YET ANOTHER ZUCCHINI RECIPE

ZUCCHINI-OATMEAL MUFFINS

2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans
1/2 c. quick oats (I used old fashioned & it was fine)
1 T. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
4 eggs
1 c. shredded zucchini
3/4 c. veg. oil

Combine 1st 7 ingredients & set aside. Beat eggs; combine with zucchini & oil. Pour over dry ingredients, stirring only until moistened. Batter will be lumpy. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake at 400 for 25 min. ** I made mini muffins & only baked 10-12 minutes.
These are SO good. My dh's aunt gave me this recipe....probably almost 20 years ago. It's one of those recipe cards that has yellowed with age.
I can't imagine why....(lol)....but I'll be making MORE of these muffins & freezing them.

Another Zucchini Recipe

MOCK CRAB CAKES

2 C. zucchini, grated
1 lg. egg
1 c. fine bread crumbs
1 onion, diced small
2 t. old bay sea food seasoning
1 T. mayo

If too wet, add some more crumbs, if too dry (I doubt it, ya know how zucchini is...) add another egg.

Fry in oil in skillet, a few minutes on each side. 3 of the 4 of us love this.

Big Zucchini

This is what happens when you forget to look under your zucchini plants for two days:

It made 3 full plates of fried zucchini & deep fried zucchini sticks! LOL

I don't usually let them get this big.....but it was tasty!

FREE FLOWERS!

WE GOT FREE FLOWERS LAST WEEKEND! No kidding, they were really free. We had to stop at our local Ace Hardware store for some bolts last weekend. The sign out front said FREE FLOWERS. I was sure it meant something like 'buy a flat, get at flat free'. But when I asked at the register....she said all flowers up front were FREE.

FREE!!!

We already had a full car (4 of us, plus 2 German Shepherds in the back, and a few groceries...lol) but we got as much as we could. Here they are:

There are 2 hanging baskets with something called 'super petunias' in them. They had a lot of dead stuff to pick out, but they are still good, & with some care, should be fine. We got a flat of pink & white petunias & some pink & white impatients. The middle flat is watermelons, musk melons, a honey dew melon, 2 cucumber plants, & 2 okra plants! FREE!!! We we SO tickled with them.

Turns out, dd & I had to head back to WalMart later in the afternoon. So we pulled back into Ace & they still had TONS of FREE flowers! So we got this:

We got some geranimus, begonias, & some zinnias. ALL FREE! I bet we got $75-$100 worth of flowers! We shared some with family & still have to find some more pots or places to plant some. :)

Throw-together supper

More bounty from the garden:
We love steamed broccoli. My mom gave me a steamer that had been her mom's. I also got her small roasting pan. These are the only things I have from my grandma; I like using them.
I took the lid off for just a minute for this picture:

I didn't have anything planned for supper last evening, but knew I wanted to steam some fresh broccoli. Then I thought of throwing some oven fries in the oven.

Oven Fries:

Potatoes (I use 7 or 8 for family of 4)
1/3 cup olive or canola oil
salt & pepper
onion salt
garlic salt
season salt
parsley
Italian seasoning

Wash, peel, & cut potatoes into large fries. Stir in all ingredients. Bake at 425 for 25-35 minutes, stirring occasionally.

We LOVE these.

I needed a main dish. lol I looked through the freezer & found BBQ that I made in May & I froze the leftovers with my sealer thingy. BBQ was a boneless pork roast cooked in the crockpot all day. Then shredded & added 2 jars of K.C. Masterpiece BBQ sauce & put back in the crockpot for an hour. YUM...)

So here's our throw-together supper:

MORE ZUCCHINI

Do you think I have enough zucchini? ROTFLOL I had to find a place to put it all....
I love zucchini. I love it fried, escpecially as Deep Fried Zucchini Sticks

These are cut like big oven fries, dipped in egg, then dipped it Italian bread crumbs. They fry up in 2 or 3 minutes in the deep fryer., maybe that's part of why I like it this way so much...it's quick & easy & clean up isn't as bad as when you fry a few skillets full. lol

But here's the pie. I love this pie. :)

ZUCCHINI PIE

4 c. thinly slice zucchini

1 c. chopped onions

1/4 to 1/2 c margarine

1/2 c. chopped fresh parsley of 2 T. dried parsley

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

1/4 t. garlic salt

1/4 t. basil

1/4 t. oregano

2 eggs, beaten

2 c. grated cheddar or jack cheese

Dijon mustard

Deep dish pie crust, frozen or homemade

Prepare homemade crust or allow frozen crust to thaw. Preheat oven to 375.

In a large skillet saute the zucchini & onions in the margarine for about 10 minutes or until softened . (I also added half of a green pepper, diced) Add the spices & stir well. Set aside.

In a large bowl combine the eggs & cheese, mix well. (our favorite is cheddar cheese) Add the zucchini mixture & stir till well blended.

Use Dijon mustard to paint inside of crust. ( I used a thicker layer of dijon one time & did not like it. I use about 1 t. of it, but you can use more if you like it.) Fill the pie crust with the zucchini mixture & bake for 18-20 minutes. (I added another 5 minutes to lighlty brown on top) Allow to stand for 10 minutes before cutting & serving.

It is so good. I served it with tossed salad that had fresh broccoli out of the garden in it, & melons. Not a piece of meat to be found & I thought it was good!

Pizza

I copied a lot of recipes for pizza dough from the net & tried different ones. They are all pretty much the same, but this is the one we like & use a lot. It was actually a recipe for the bread machine, so you could make it in that if you'd like. I just do mine by hand, it's not that much harder (just a few minutes of kneeding...which I like to do to relieve some stress...lol) .

Basic Pizza Dough
(for bread machines, this is a 1 1/2 pound recipe)

1 cup warm water
2 t. yeast
2 T. olive oil
3/4 t. salt
3 cups bread flour (I think all purpose is fine for pizza dough
1 T. cornmeal ( I've never used this)

If you use a bread machine, add ingredients as suggested by the manufacturer. If by hand:
Add yeast to warm water & set aside. In large bowl add flour & salt. Make a little well in the middle & when water/yeast mixture is creamy pour it in the well along with the olive oil. Stir well & transfer to table that is dusted with flour. Kneed for 5 minutes or so. Add more flour as needed so it won't stick to table. Put a bit of olive oil in bowl, toss the ball of dough to coat, cover with clean towel & set in warm spot to rise for 90 minutes.

This makes 2 pizzas. I make 1 large one on a pizza stone, & then a medium sized one. I only have 1 pizza stone, so I put the second pizza on a 10x15 cookie sheet, but it isn't as large as the cookie sheet (apporx. 9x13). It takes a little work to get the dough rolled out, but once you get it going it's easier. Add the toppings you like & bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes. It smells GREAT!
The pizza in the picture has 1 can Del Monte Diced Tomatoes with basil, garlic, & oregano (you can use regular pizza sauce), Italian sausage, mushrooms (canned, but I like fresh better), onions, green peppers, & cheese. We like pepperoni too, but I didn't have any on hand that day. I also left it in the oven about a minute too long....but it sure was good. The Fam says it tastes like pizzaria pizza. :)

UPDATE:
I am updating this on 7-14-08
I wanted to say that I now use this recipe to make 2 large pizzas. We really like thin & crispy crust, so I've found that if I roll this out really thin, & then pre-bake the crust for 10 minutes, we get a nice thin & crispy crust. It's SO good! It makes a large pizza stone pizza & then an extra large pizza on this new pizza pan I got for Christmas.

July 4th lunch

We have ZUCCHINI!

We picked 4 this morning. I usually let them get just a little bigger for fried zucchini, but I just couldn't wait any longer!

We have a number of different ways that we fry them or deep fry them. Our dd's favorite is just the traditional way.

We dip in eggs & then in flour & then fry. And salt. Have to add salt.

YUM!

I think I could eat these until I get sick! LOL I LOVE them SO much!

Empty Nest

The baby birds have left the nest. Actually, they left on June 26, just a week and a half after they hatched! I didn't realize it would be that quick.
And it wasn't as happy an ending as I'd hoped.

The 4th baby bird that hatched a few days later than the rest, died after just 2 days. It was so much smaller than the rest, I think it couldn't compete for food.

Here's a picture with all 4 birds. The youngest baby is at the top of the nest, & you can see his little head is so much smaller that the other bird's heads.

And here's probably my favorite picture. Again, I wasn't really this close, it was the zoom. As I stepped near to take the picture, my foot snapped a little twig, & the noise made them think their mother was near. This is what they did:The above picture was taken on June 20, when they were just 5 days old.

A few days later during the weekend, one of the birds crawled/walked (?) out of the nest & was staying near the nest in the basket. We had just over an inch of rain on Saturday the 23rd. We looked in the nest the next morning & the bird that crawled out had died. :( I don't know why. Maybe it drowned? Maybe it couldn't get back in the nest so it could cuddle with the other birds to keep dry?


So then there were just 2. And on June 24 or 25, they decided that they too were tired of the nest & they prefered the basket. See? They're sitting just next to it. I was afraid they'd fall out.
Then, on June 26, they must have been ready & they left! It wasn't quite that simple. lol My dh came in the house & told me that one had fallen out of the nest/basket & the only way he knew was that our German Shepherd ran up to it & sniffed it! Not knowing for sure what to do, we decided to take our chances & put it back. My dh wore gloves & put him back. I was in the house when he put him back. But, what happend next let us know that he hadn't fallen out of the nest. As soon as dh put the bird back, he JUMPED out of the hanging basket & ran across the garden. He said it sure was a sight. LOL


So only this little guy was left:

This one spent the entire day alone in the basket. When we checked the nest after supper, he had left also. These are the dates:

The nest was noticed with 1 egg in it on June 2.

2 birds hatched on June 15.

1 bird hatched on June 16.

Last bird hatched June 18 or 19.

Both surviving birds left the nest on June 26.

So long little baby birds!

The picture below shows yet another bird nest. This one is under the lid on our propane tank. I think there's always a nest in there. We always see some type of blackbirds taking worms for their youngins in there. These eggs are about 3 times the size of the sparrrow eggs we had. We shut the lid & we will NOT be following the progress of this nest. LOL