Friday 25 August 2017

What's For Supper / Nearing the end of August

There is a palatable change in the air. It is always this time in August that the crickets are noticeable, there's a bit of a snap to the morning air, many flowers have faded, while others become dominant. Although I LOVE summer, I actually really like how this time of year feels. Normally, flower beds look bedraggled and crispy, but of course this year with our relentless rain, everything is lush and full. The "snap" of the morning air was closer to "bloody cold" these past couple of mornings. We are supposed to go down to a low of 6 degrees tonight!! (Celsius - have no clue what that is fahrenheit, but 0 is freezing).

Normally, as well, I have a glut of garden produce, but the relentless rain caused a lot of blight, etc. so my glut occurred with my strawberries. I have some beans, some zucchini, quite a few cucumbers. The rabbits continue to trim the peas as soon as they grow a little, and the tomatoes, well let's all just bow our heads and grieve over the loss of the potential tomatoes. I've dug out a few potatoes (like buried treasure!!) but even they show the effect of too much moisture with hollow discoloured centres, although the rest of them are still quite edible.

Recently, blueberries were a very good price in the grocery store, so I bought a giant container. I seemed to be the only one eating them, so I had to decide how to use them before they became a loss. I got out my trusty recipe book.

I love these recipe books (there are three altogether, created by the two sisters pictured on the front cover). They were originally published as low fat recipes, but they are just tasty and fun, regardless of being low fat or not (sugar is the devil, anyway, not fat).


I love the names of their recipes, always with some kind of corny pun involved. I frequently write in my recipe books, with helpful future hints, or even a rating from the family. Obviously this recipe was a winner. So I made it again and indeed it was very good.

This was the oats mixture that gets put on top.


Here are the blueberries mixed with sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice.


This makes a big dish of dessert. I like it served warm with a little milk, but we've had it with vanilla yogurt, or frozen yogurt, or just plain. It does stain the dickens out of your teeth, however, so brush well after eating!


Today I got my hair dealt with, regrowth at the roots dyed and some lowlights dragged through my overly blonde hair. I sincerely hate getting my hair coloured, not because of the chemicals, or the price (although it is pretty pricey), but being captive for almost two hours having to make small talk with someone that I have very little in common with. I'm a fairly private person (who writes a blog... I know, a bit of a contradiction) and I just don't enjoy that constant banter of question / answer that is part of sitting in a hair stylist's chair. I have tried various hairdressers over the years. I know it's just my problem, probably other people think it's a lovely treat, but I just want to be quiet.

Anyway, after getting home, I embarked on something I've been wanting to do for a little while. I was inspired by Mama Pea over at A Homegrown Journal who has written a few times about her stuffed peppers. Now, I do NOT have any mature peppers yet (the poor little things, I don't think they'll ever see full maturity before we get frost!), but I have been harbouring a few zucchini in the crispers for a little while now. So, I looked up a some recipes for stuffed zucchini, had a look at what I had in the house and concocted some filling for my scooped out zucchinis. In no particular order or quantities, I combined ground beef, onions, green peppers, soft bread crumbs, egg, parsley, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, leftover cooked rice, and some plain spaghetti sauce. I let my stuffed zucchini bake away in a 350 oven for at least 45 minutes (the meat mixture was raw when I put it in the oven) and then put a little mozzarella cheese on top to melt. They were pretty good! I like that you get the flavour of meat / spaghetti sauce without the pasta, and it uses up at least two zucchini!


Here are a couple of hollowed out zucchini boats.


I really heaped up the meat mixture so each one got lots of filling. Here they are pre-baking. I didn't take a picture of the finished product, because we were hungry. I would definitely make this again, although the filling could change depending on what's in the fridge.

I've been typing this while listening to news casts about the hurricane affecting Texas and surrounding areas. I hope everyone is safe and secure. We don't get hurricanes here. I guess our natural disasters would be tornados and to a lesser extent, blizzards. It's always scary when nature takes over and is far more powerful than you are.

16 comments:

  1. I used to hate small talk at the hair dressers. Nowadays I don't need highlights anymore (my hair has plenty of white!) and Paul cuts it for me. Those recipes look tasty.

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  2. I hate hairdressers for exactly the same reason. Often I'm the only one there and it's one on one. horrors. My girls colour my hair now but still need it cut once in a while darn it.
    The stuffed zucchinis are similar to a Greek recipe I made the other day. Blog post coming up soon. We make a cheese sauce to go on top. Darned good!!

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  3. We are seeing pictures of that hurricane on our Breakfast television this morning. It looks terrifying.

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  4. I wonder if Texas is really prepared for this huge hurricane

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  5. Agreed on the whole hair coloring thing. I do my own, which means all of $9.00mat the drug store. It's not a professional job, but no one has laughed and pointed yet. No, my reason is the same as yours - the idea of being trapped in a hair for two hours.

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  6. I also like the sister's recipe books, I often borrow from the library. Costco sells their chicken burgers. We like "Where's Waldo Salad" If you could see the state of my hair, you'd know I avoid hairdressers - oh the cost! oh the small talk! ... Mary-Lou

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  7. Wild blue berries are in season now in Maine - can never get enough.
    the Ol'Buzzard

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  8. I always hated going to the hairdresser, can't stand sitting still that long, I tend to be a bit hyper. So I cut and dye and home, doesn't look as good, but I'm willing to make the sacrifice. The zucchini looks so good, but my husband will not eat it. Our peppers are about the only summer crop that did well. Early plants were ok, but like you it's rained all summer here.

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  9. The crumble looks delicious. Ice storm without power for days is the scariest for me. Hurricanes awful too as they are so destructive. Usually all the lawns are covered with furniture and sheetrock are carpeting waiting to be picked up. With hurricanes, no electricity and too hot to stay inside, neighbors actually get to know one another.

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  10. I like my hair dresser. Her name is Mel(anie), and we talk about Laura and about her little girl, and how she wishes she could quit smoking. She is so pretty, and rocks three inch heels.
    I don't miss a garden. The farmer's market does all the work and produces enough for meals for two.
    And Elaine, and Rose and all our friends in Texas, be safe.

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  11. I got the first cookbook by these sisters when it was initially published many years ago. For free! Some older man I worked with was a friend or relative of theirs and he came to work one day with a whole bunch of cookbooks and passed them around to everyone! I thought that was pretty cool. The closest I've ever gotten to a popular author. Or authors, in this case.

    I totally get you with the hairdresser. I'm not much into small talk and depending on who I'm chatting with, it could be stressful. My ideal visit to a hairdresser would allow me to close eyes and relax while I'm being pampered. With soft music playing...and no talking!

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  12. both recipes look wonderful, thanks for sharing! I might do the stuffed zucchini tonight at the cottage for the family.

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  13. Even with the blight (I'm so sorry!) your harvest sounds fabulous. I'm hoping to nab a blueberry box myself -- so good. One of my favorite fruits and they're so expensive off season -- and it's a short season. I'm not at all ready for fall and would like summer to last a longer while but I have to say I love the bounty at the market. Rick's making a tomato pasta out of his tonight and I can't wait. I love a light tomato and olive oil pasta sauce with capers and kalamata. Oh, your blueberry dish -- to die for. Seventh heaven looking at this post!

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  14. I am lucky, in that my hairdresser and I have known each other for so long, we don't have to talk! She is not chatty, thank goodness. I love that blueberry recipe and thank you for the inspiration vis a vis zucchini! I have a couple languishing in the crispers myself.

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  15. Looks like a recipe book with character. I too often write on my recipes but I have never written comments on the response! What a good idea!

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  16. I found your blog via Susan at eei-omg. From your description it seems we are scarily alike. I wonder if we met whether we would click or drive each other nuts. Good luck with your writing.

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