Pioneer Woman at Heart

This is an old blog draft I had before all things in life went BAM!   Funeral is over, but we are all hurting.  Again, thank you for your prayers and good thoughts. It is taking all I have to get up and go this morning.  I am slammed with tomatoes, and I should have been up at 4:30am today.  I am so far behind, but I am up, as my husband had to work today as well.  Oh, I am slammed with green bell peppers as well.  I'm still dealing zucchini, and did not have a chance to check on the plants, as we had a day of visitation, and a full day with funeral services.  I thought I just heard the radio mention thunderstorms today, so after I get tomatoes prepped, I may run out and do a very quick look-see. I have to get my morning work out in first, then there is the unloading of the dishwasher, and then moving produce around to make room for a full day of canning.  It's very hot here as well, so that is a double whammy in my kitchen this week. A beaut...

  Yes, you can make foldable tortillas from zucchini!  It took me 3 times to get one right, although a bit toasty.  I followed a recipe I found online.  By the way, not all online recipes are accurate. The one above, although crisp around the side, still folded for a breakfast tortilla. Here is what recipe I followed: Zucchini Tortillas (Gluten-Free, Baked), by Alexandracooks I used the exact ingredients.  You really do want your shredded zucchini very dry for these. To make these 6-7 inches, I could only fit two on the parchment paper.  Recipe instructions state to use parchment paper.  Do NOT use parchment paper.  These stick to parchment and I was lucky to get this one off the paper to try.  By the way very delicious, and a great way to make a breakfast tortilla healthier. Bake time on these?  12-15 minutes at 450°F.  You can see the parchment paper turned brown.  Anyway, the first two trays stuck (recipe says it makes 5)....

  I finally found the other tomato worm, while I was tying the tomato plants up again.  By the way, the plants are as tall as me , and have gone way above their stakes.  I am a hair from being 6 feet tall, if that tells you anything.  We will be watching end of summer sales, for 6 foot metal (sturdy) tomato cages for next year.  I  don't know that they'll work, as our plants are fully loaded, and very heavy when the tomatoes are on.  I don't know what I was thinking.  I went out, thinking I'll just quick pick green beans and be back inside for inside work.  Ha!  Not only did it take an hour to pick beans, but I had more zucchini, and cucumbers to pick.  I had no yellow squash, but the plants are once again loaded with blossoms, and the bees are a buzzing out there. I sent more zucchini to work with my husband, and I will be taking any other extra to the library staff next.  I am still freezing some for us, but it is coming in d...

  (this was a few days ago) Me to my husband:  Sure looks like it's about to come down out there. Husband to me:  Oh great!  Another 1000 green beans (ha ha ha!) We have been getting rain off and on.  We are also getting heat.  We canceled our first camping trip as fast as we booked it due to the heat.  What's the fun in camping, if you can't enjoy a campfire meal?  Not only will the heat be here this weekend, so will thunderstorms.   I decided to only freeze shredded zucchini, and not diced this year.  I prefer to be able to squeeze the water out prior to freezing.   I sent a large bag of squash with my husband to work.  I also picked more, and reduced the numbers by about 10 of them with some baking and cooking (and freezing). The muffins are delicious, but a bit sweet.  I may make them again and swap the honey for maple syrup, and only use half amount. Although we recently got a small bit of rain, it was not e...

  We are blessed with a good harvest of zucchini this year.  The rain and bees are doing their jobs wonderfully.  We have had a poor harvest the last few years. Tip: When freezing shredded zucchini, drain in cheesecloth and squeeze out water before freezing.  It will help reduce a mushy thaw when needed for baking.   I wore out my first cheese grater, so I replaced it with one that will also shred/slice some vegetables.  It worked great for the zucchini. Delicious!  I may try other recipes, but this was a new recipe, and I did not even know you could make hummus with zucchini.  The recipe did not say to shred and squeeze out water.  It said to chop and toss in a food processor.  It is somewhat on the runny side, so next time I will shred and squeeze the water out for a thicker hummus.  I can then use it on sandwiches etc. Jovial's recipe, and it's online.  My batter and bread did not look anything like their photos, but it...

My husband went back to work yesterday.  It's time to get back to cooking and baking and getting my kitchen in order. First I had to put away a stack of clean dishes, then it was time to start chopping. My first batch of sweet pickle relish was canned.  So thankful for the cucumbers and green pepper from the garden.  It was too early to dig up carrots, but they are growing. Baked a zucchini breakfast casserole with garden zucchini. It was fantastic.  I used one from AllRecipes and used up some zucchini.  So good! Baked a Chocolate zucchini cake, because we could all use some comfort food right now.  I thought about adding a glaze, but decided against it.  The reviews said it would be a very moist cake, and the glaze would make it softer too.  Boy is it good too.  I swapped out half the oil for home canned applesauce. Dinner?  Meatballs with home canned hot pepper mustard sauce over quinoa and zucchini/co...

I like to freeze these uncooked, because they cook up pretty quickly.  It's a great way to use zucchini too.  I double this and use my large pampered chef cookie scoop, getting about 34 to 35 meatballs. Turkey Zucchini Meatballs 1 lb. ground turkey, organic 1 cup shredded zucchini* 1 tsp. homemade Italian seasoning 1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder 1/2 tsp. homemade onion powder 1/4 tsp. organic (or homemade) crushed red pepper flakes 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper *if using thawed, frozen shredded zucchini, squeeze out liquid before adding. Shape into balls and freeze or cook.  To freeze, I put them on a try and freeze, then remove and freeze in an airtight freezer container or freezer bag. To Bake (thawed): Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or use a pampered chef stoneware bar pan.  Bake 16-18 minutes, or until done. To Bake Frozen: Bake 20-25 minutes or until done. I like to bake the meatballs about an hour ...

Thursday evening, to honor my hard work in the garden, Hubby surprised me by not working overtime.  He took me on a ride on the Harley, ate at our favorite steak house (which has special motorcycle parking), and ended the evening with adult beverages on the porch. Friday I piddle-dinked around, sucked down coffee, moaned and groaned, complained, let out heavy sighs, wished I drank the beer and not the Crown Royal the night before, and contemplated.  I won.  Even though we have weeds to pull, I decided I didn't want to poke my eye out bending over the 4 foot grass and weeding the sweet potatoes.  Hubby volunteered to weed wack it down to where I could easily see the roots, so I took the day off, in hopes for rain.    There was a 50% chance of rain at 10am, and that motivated my decision (although I'm out there at 7am and done by 10am). By the way, the rain arrived, and may arrive again today. Oh, I had inside work to do, like make a batch of turkey-zu...

The weeding continues daily.  I have to make decisions on which is more important, and sooooo mucchhhhhh needs weeded.  It's a battle of water one day, weed the next, because it's been getting fried here on a constant basis.    If you've ever weeded carrots, you feel my pain.  Pictures to come soon.