Hope = Flowers

There is so much to write about this week; but I am going to start with the flowers in one of my gardens. This summer, here in Central Texas we experienced one of the most severe droughts in recorded history for this area. Here at my home, we try to grow and eat as much vegetables from the garden as we can. Unfortunately, we had to make the decision to save a few grand old trees with our septic watering field and water hoses or to water the garden. We elected to save the trees and the garden mostly died. Towards the end of summer, with over 60 days of 100 plus temps and no rain, we dug up the dead garden and added to the compost pile. Then the rain came. Soon, we discovered that some of the few flowers we had scattered about had thrown their seeds wide towards the end of the drought and sown a beautiful patch of truly, wild flowers. Here are some of the flowers that are now blooming in various patches throughout my yard. The majority of them are Zinnias, one of my own and my grandmother’s favorites.

Zuchinni Pasta & Rainy days

Finally, we are getting a series of rainy days and storms here and there. The good news – we really need the rain. The bad news – cooped up inside all day with bored people, so it’s hard to get anything done. Also, if there is a hint of thunder, my ‘brave’ dogs are almost always in my lap. It’s not so bad when Ruby sits under my desk [where she always is] – but when both dogs, at about 65 pounds each, get under there, it gets a bit crowded and the computer and phone wires get nudged, pulled and sometimes, disconnected. As you can see by the picture [this is Ruby], my feet are usually covered too. That’s actually a good thing – they are soft and warm!

Now, what’s this about Zuchinni Pasta? As a low carb eater, I had to find a substitute for pasta and experimented with several things. Surprisingly, I discovered several veggies that substitute quite well, but the most abundant veggie in my garden these past couple of years have been yellow squash and zuchinni. Here is how I prepare the zuchinni:

Clean zuchinni and pare off any bad spots. Usuing a vegetable peeler, cut thin strips of zuchinni – similar to if you were peeling a cucumber – except you are going to eat this! If you don’t like to look at the green stuff – some people, especially children, are green-aphobes – then peel and toss the green part. [Just don't tell me you did that!] Keep slicing off long peels, plan on 1 medium zuchinni per person if you are serving this as a meal in place of pasta. If the veggie peeler doesn’t work for you – you can also slice the zuke lengthways about 1/4 inch thick, then turn it on it’s side and slice thin slices off of that – it will look more like fettucine this way. Boil the ‘noodles’ in salted water for about one minute, then immediately rinse with cold water. When you are ready, add the sauce [it will heat up your noodles]. As an alternative, you can simmer the noodles in garlic butter or steam them and toss with your favorite cream sauce or add them to your regular pasta.

And I may as well add – yes, I tried MANY veggies this way. A particulary beautiful combination was zuchinni, celery, carrot and red pepper pasta. But each cooks at a different rate! The red peppers need about 7 minutes, the carots & celery about 4-5. You will have to experiment.

For REAL noodles, of course, you can cook the veggies to mush, let them cool and mix with flour, eggs and salt and make just like grandma used to make! While zuchinni is good like this, when making these noodles I prefer using spinach or sweet potatoes. WHAT??? You haven’t had sweet potato noodles? How about Sweet potato soup? Oh, my gosh are you missing out on some treats! But those are for another story time, boys and girls. Today is just about Zuke pasta and rainy days – hope you enjoy it!

God-Zuka [aka BIG zuchinni]

Thought I would share with you a few Zuchinni recipes as well as a picture of some of the veggies that came from my garden this year. Please note my standard disclaimer that the date on the picture is wrong, but after I downloaded these pictures, I actually fixed the problem; at least until hubby replaces the batteries without telling me. I could photo shop the pics, but too lazy to do it.

These zuke’s grew in approx. one week from the time we spotted them on the vine at approx. 2 inches in size. They are monsters – and we had many of them. As you can see in the picture, I have a 10 inch dinner plate to kind of give you an idea; the smallest one is about 16 inches long while the larger one is over 2 feet! One of these on the counter is still good enough to eat [it's fresh] while the other two have gotten a little old and are starting to dry inside. We are saving these seeds for next year.

Easy Zuchinni Dip

First, take one small fresh zuchinni, peel all skin and slice length-ways into 4 spears. Remove all the seeds. Grate with a vegetable grater or use a food processor. Turn onto a layer of paper towels and drain; I use another couple paper towels on top to squeeze as much moisture from them as I can.

Combine all the following in a bowl, then refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving. This makes a great dip for bread, veggies or as a sandwich spread.

• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 minced zuchinni
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• Fresh mint to garnish if you like

Bradley’s Zuchinni Muffins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 24 muffin tins. Gather:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup softened unsalted butter [or cup of oil]
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups grated zuchinni
• 1 teasoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmet
• 1/4 teaspoon each ginger & ground cloves
• 1 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter & sugars together. Beat in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and spices. Sift or mix well with a fork. Slowly add wet ingredients and mix well. After well mixed, add zuchinni & nuts, mix well. Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting knife in center to be sure it comes out clean. Baking times vary by oven. Makes 2 dozen.

Side note: this recipe can be adapted to low fat or low sugar/low carb diets by experimenting with substitutes such as egg substitute, olive oil, Splenda, sugar free vanilla and flour substitutes such as sesame flour or  almond meal. I use almond meal for 2/3 of the flour and Splenda in my recipes.

Tropical Garden Snow

The first day of Autumn, on Sept 21st, brought cooler temperatures, gentle breezes – and a true ‘fall’. As you can see by this picture of my tiny pond/garden, all day the Crepe Myrtles have been gently dropping their blossoms, like a delicate pink snow, onto the pond and garden. I sat there enjoying the fall, quite, pink [in compliment to my pink outfit for the day!] and covering the ground with a gentle swirl of pink, looking for all purposes like a pink snow covering the tropical plants that thrive in the moist heat around my pond. By the way, igonore the date, once again on the picture. It seems whenever my husband changes the batteries, he doesn’t change the date; while I on the otherhand, always make sure the date is current so as not to confuse me when I take a picture.

Some people think that Crepe Myrtles create an unholly mess and don’t like them in the garden, but I don’t mind scooping the gentle blossoms from the pond or sweeping them from the porch as this may be one of the few colors that can sustain it’s presence in our severe drought the past two summers. In fact, the trees thrive so well we often have to cut them back, remove the suckers and dig out the creepers that want to snake through and appear within the Sago, Holly and Boxwoods. Shortly after this picture was taken, a well appreciated rain came along and did make the soggy blossoms much less appealing than the gentle, blowing color I was enjoying earlier in the day. This Sago Palm is daintily displaying some of the Myrtle blossoms on it. This is the home of several Anoles, which cavort all over the plant, catch the sun, or on a warm night, they glow as they sleep spread out on one of these branches. They also enjoy a great game of chase in the branches of the Crepe Myrtle and they change colors from the light tan bark of the tree to the green Sago – always perfectly displaying their colors proudly. I wonder if the color of the blossums on the leaves disturbs them, or if they try to immitate that color as well? So far, the only color I have seen even close to matching the blossoms is when the males thrust out their ruby throats in challenge, or mating displays.

I’ll end with one last picture [three in one post!]. This is a weed that climbs all over everything, but in the fall, it adds a nice bit of color to the hanging basket pole where I have a complimentary  colored Ice plant. There is a Mockingbird that particularly loves this plant and this pole; often he joins me on a piece of driftwood next to the porch to stare up at the vine and basket, or he will delight me with his antics as he perches on the head of the stone frog that spews water in the pond, then dips his head into the flow of water to get a drink. Often, I don’t even know he is there until I hear the stop, then splash of the water as it resumes.

Garden to freezer – to Table

I was cleaning out my freezer this evening and decided there were some good meals to be had in those little zip-lock baggies. First, the pineapple, coconut concoction – a Pina Colada.

Next, the peppers, tomatos, celery, onion, venison sausage & shrimp – voila! Jambalaya.

And finally, the peaches and bread crumbs – for a bread pudding dish.

So, we started out dinner with the best Pina Colada smoothies I have had – ever. While the boys snacked on Brussel Sprouts (ewww) and Broccoli – I whipped up one of the best Jambalaya dishes, complete with wild rice & herbs from my garden. Yum!

We’ll top it off with the peach bread pudding; I may even make a rum sauce to top it, although I like it fine just the way it is.

Want recipes? Earlier in my blog, I know I have listed the method for creating one of my Bread Pudding & Jambalaya dishes. Here is how I created the Bread Pudding tonite:

Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with nonstick spray & preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream together 1/4 cup butter and 1/2 cup Splenda. Beat in 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add 1/2 cup cream. Break in approx. 8 pieces of crumbled, dried bread or hot dog buns (I throw the ends and pieces in the freezer just for this). Stir in 3-4 coups of sliced, peeled peaches. Mix all thoroughly, then spread into the greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until knife comes out clean when inserted into middle. Serve warm or cold, with or without a topping sauce. For a fancy desert to serve company, reserve a few sliced peaches & some fresh mint leaves for garnish. Heat up some peach preserves, then swirl a pattern on a plate. Place the warm cake slice off to one side, add a dip of vanilla ice cream, then place a peach slice & mint leaf to decorate. Top this all off with another swirl of the peach sauce. A rum sauce or caramel works well too; but it’’s easier to reach in the pantry for preserves and warm them up!

Home style Sunday Brunch

It was a pleasant morning that I enjoyed by sipping my Earl Grey tea on the porch while watching the antics of my hummingbirds, the baby Anoles and the koi pond. The boys were still asleep and I had the urge to make a nice homey brunch – since it was moving towards the noon hour!

Gathering up the fresh eggs from our Buff Orringtons, some homemade sausage [venison and pork with garden onions, peppers, cilantro] and the ingredients for a low-carb Cinamon Coffee cake; I begin.

Well, I was going to get all cheery and write how to make the coffee cake – but anger has exploded in our home and I have other things to attend to.

So goes my peaceful Sunday. Oh well, I was blessed with a beautiful morning and inspiration!

Lizards mating

At first, I said Eeeewwww! But I sat there, fascinated as I watched two Anoles mate at a distance so close I could have touched them. We support the efforts of the Anoles & other wildlife to breed in our little garden areas, even to go so far as relocating a toad from one area to about an acre away so that he wouldn’t eat our baby lizards.

Now, to me, watching two lizards mate is not something I want to do, but I couldn’t help but be fascinated, and pleased by the insight – or sight, as it may be. Here is a picture of one of our wild ‘pets’. He is often found hanging out on our Sego Palm near my Koi pond. There is a hummingbird feeder that sometimes will drip on the palm and I’ve seen the lizard drink often from these drips. We like to keep them around (the Anoles) because we think they help reduce the mosquito polulation and they are actually entertaining when they do their little mating dances, run around thrusting out their ruby throat sacks. My teenage son swore last year that one small lizard ‘knew’ him because every day when he came home from school, there would be a lizard sitting in the same area of a holly bush at my son’s eye range. Sometimes, a single or pair of lizards in the cold days could almost daily be found on the pole for the hummingbird feeders, catching the day’s rays. We know they eat other bugs as well as we often see them catch moths, June bugs and once, even, a WASP! [I don't like wasps, so this was a victory for me].

Simple things amuse simple minds, I know, but to me – it’s a reaffirmation of nature. Everything seems to be drying up and dieing, the hens aren’t laying, crops & gardens aren’t producing or just outright dead, animals are producing less milk - but here – here in my tiny little eco-system, life goes on and nature shows us that it can and will continue to produce a life cycle somewhere.

August Harvest

I just thought I would show you what I brought in from the garden today – before I turned it into Pork Fajitas. Isn’t this a pretty shot of the peppers? They are growing very small, but still tasty and colorful. It made a wonderful meal tonite.

Texas Drought

Since it’s on the top of everyone’s mind in Texas these days, I thought I would ramble on about the drought and how it has impacted our lives.

Many discussions this spring were about our next – first black – President, the oppressive question of whether we are in a recession, beginning depression or what, the fail of the banks, loss of homes, jobs, the reversion to home gardens and more. We didn’t think it could get worse – but maybe it has. With record heat and record lack of rain, conversations are shifting more to rain – or the lack thereof. Our little area in the Hill country of Texas is suffering from over two years of drought with less rain in a 24 month period than we usually get in ONE year. Many of us optimistically sat back and said, well, OK – the economy is going to hell but I can fall back on my garden and some of the old ways and we’ll get by.

It’s not happening. Oh sure, some of us got our plants in early – and lost them. Some waited, and got a little late start with a very short harvest season, only to have the weather defeat us at every turn. From drought  to havoc reaking storms – we can’t win for losing. I too was hoping to have a wonderful summer and fall harvest, only to have to stop watering and battling the heat and basically give up. I lost a lot last year – garden, fruit trees, wild flowers and natural grasses. This year I am losing even more. Sure, I have an abundance of some things – peaches, peppers and zucchini to name a few. I may even have an abundance of pears this fall if they don’t die off like they did last year. But we can’t water the garden anymore, only watering enough to keep our trees alive; living by the phrase ‘let the yellow mellow and only flush the brown down’; and making sure the clothes are worn more than once before washing.

To top it off, our family is still suffering from being unemployed – and the unemployment benefits of the state (a whopping approx. $10,000) has run out. Still no jobs on the horizon, all though that could change if BOTH of us take on another minimum wage job. That would make – oh – about 4 jobs I have. I’m scrambling to accept every bit of work I can get no matter the pay or the job. I have to cut down on my charity and volunteer work, which makes me feel like I am letting people down.

So, to sum it up – the drought is not just about rain, although upmost in our minds here. Not only are our lawns drying up – but jobs, writing opportunities, spirits, political support, religious beliefs and more. The soul of our nation is in a drought. I grew up in a society where it was polite to talk around the dinner table about the weather, family, crops, etc but never to discuss religion and politics in mixed company. Now, it’s all so mixed up in our minds that we can’t HELP but talk about it all. Someone give me some GOOD news for a change?

Above all – don’t lose your sense of humor. If you can laugh at yourself in the worst of times, sometimes they can become the best of memories when you get through them. That’s not macabre – that’s survival.

Mysterious Rose

After being gone for over a month, I finally have a little time to dedicate to my poor flowers, herbs & vegetable gardens. One of the things I found most curious was my little Yellow Rose. I get one or two giant gorgeous blossoms from this plant, which the deer love, so I finally had to uproot it and pot it so I could move it around. Here is a picture from earlier this year of one of it’s blooms. When I came home on Saturday, there were these tiny little white buds on the plant, which I thought were rather odd.

What it has turned out to be are these small, frilly, lacey WHITE rose blooms on the same plant that always produced yellow rose. Watching further – today – on the SAME plant, I have a couple yellow roses in full bloom and also two of the small white blooms. Here is a picture of the white blooms;

I’m sure it has something to do with the stress of the plant this year, the heat, the moving to a pot, the inconsistent watering, etc; I haven’t really researched it. But it’s an interesting thing to see both types of blooms on the plant at the same time – my own little mystery!