Strawberry Cornmeal Shortcake

The other day I tried out this recipe that caught my interest on Lise's blog.  I had to try it.  I think cornmeal goes well with many kinds of fruit, it is naturally sweet and has such a mild flavour.  The recipe didn't call for leavener - which had me going back to the computer to double-check that I had jotted it down properly.  It did have beaten egg whites which I haven't made in ages.

It is a very quick and simple recipe.  I baked it in one of my cast iron pans (because I do so love my cast iron pans) and it turned out Just Right.

We enjoyed good sized portions of cake...

with lots of sweet strawberries and a good topping of whipped cream (with Trader Joe's bourbon vanilla!).

I love the way the strawberry juice soaks down into the cake.  So simple and so delicious.  Isn't it fun the delicious recipes you can find through blogs?  Thanks Lise.

Zucchini "Noodles"

Last year I ate my words discovered how much I loved my husband's old Miracle Chef cutter when I made a zucchini into "noodles".  Since then I have used it all the time to make our favourite cabbage salad, scalloped potatoes, pickles and lots more.  It is such a handy thing.

This year I've decided to see how many ways I can find to cook these zucchini noodles.  I still love this recipe but since my tomatoes aren't ripe yet I wanted to try something else.  I've found three ways to enjoy them so far.

The first was just a variation on that linked recipe where I used my sun-dried cherry tomatoes because I don't have fresh ones yet and I used Feta cheese instead of Romano.  Delicious.

This one has the zucchini and carrots (also done in the slicer) sauteed with lots of garlic and some fresh ginger.  Then I added some soy sauce and some hoisin and cooked for several minutes until the veggies were soft.  I poured that over cooked spaghetti (soba noodles would be good but I didn't have any on hand).  Also delicious - hot or cold the next day.

Then last night I decided to make E's secret cheese sauce (not so secret anymore because I've watched him make it! I used asiago, cheddar and gouda cheese.) and I put that over a panful of sauteed zucchini and cooked spaghetti.  Delicious again!

And since I came home with another armload of zucchini from my garden I'm pleased to have found a way of using them that my whole family enjoys.

Town Garden

Normally I love to post photos of my garden and if you were to look back a few years on this blog probably all you would see in my summertime posts are garden photos. I haven't had a chance to take any pictures of my garden in town yet this year - I usually rush there, work on the big garden then, if time allows, quickly do the basics on my garden, then rush home.  Yesterday I tooks some time to prune and tie my tomatoes, pick some more veg and, finally, to take some photos. The front garden in this photo (the parts with the newly mulched pathways) is my garden.  All the garden to the back (250 tomato plants), the garden to the side and another huge garden up front are growing food for the landowners use and the foodbank.  It is very fun to be a part of that. 

I have pole beans climbing on the right - these are my saved seeds that I have collected for years, starting in my old garden.  I missed these SO much last year when we first left our garden and I didn't grow them.  It was quite a shock to my system to buy green beans from the farmer market and have to pay $4 for a small bag  (I'm used to giving bucketsful away and eating bucketsful) so our consumption of beans went way down last year.

Can't wait to make this again.

I planted watermelon for E - our watermelon king.  Not his Moon and Stars kind  (shown in our old garden here)  because we got a late start and had to buy seedlings but I'm sure these Sugar Baby will be delicious too.

Some of my tomato plants, beets, onion and basil.

We've been enjoying our cucumbers already. 

My first time growing soybeans.

I planted some bush beans as well because of last year's deprivation of beans. ;-)

Our peppers, these are Super Shepherd and will turn red.  I use them in antipasto and salsa.

Tomatillo attempting to take over the whole bed and a pathway.

Purple ruffles basil.  Haven't tasted it yet but it looks beautiful.  Can you imagine how interesting the pesto from this would look on pizza or pasta?

My first attempt at growing sweet potatoes.

There are also carrots, green onions, lettuce, nasturium, marigold, and other herbs tucked in there.

Wildcrafting

So much goodness to collect right now.  The last few weeks I've been collecting red clover for infusion. 

Purslane because it is yummy and full of omega-3 fatty acids.

Elder flowers for their antiviral properties.

Then more Elder flowers for a facial toner as well as yarrow for tincture and daisies and rosebuds...just because they're lovely!

So wonderful to have all these good things (and much more) growing right outside the door.  Anyone else have any wild favourites?

Zucchini Soup

 Heidi shared her recipe for a delicious and simple zucchini soup in the comment section here.  I made it with one good sized zuke and found it so delicious that I made a second batch.

I wanted to share her recipe here for everyone to see just in case others have a surplus of zucchini as well.  Thanks so much, Heidi. 

Zucchini Soup (1 Batch)

  

500g(1lb) zucchini
1 onion
dab of butter
700ml(1.5pts) vegetable stock

 
1) Wash, top & tail zucchini. Cut into rounds (slices)
2) Dice onion & saute in butter
3) Add zucchini & stir for about 5 min
4) Add stock & simmer for about 30min
5) Season to taste
6) Liquidise

 PS This soup freezes well; also tastes great when cold; if you like thikc soup, just add less water/stock.

I used garlic in these batches I made because I'm sharing it with a friend who is not supposed to eat onions right now but I'll be making my next batch just as the recipe says.  I served it with a good squirt of Bragg's Aminos too because we all love the flavour that gives to soups.

Weekends

Summer weekends find us enjoying life to the fullest - camping, exploring, beaching, paddling, biking or hiking - we don't spend much time at home.  This makes for jam packed weekdays as we try to unpack from one adventure, keep up with our usual routines, tend the garden, work and get ready for the next adventure.  While we couldn't sustain this pace all year round it suits us very well in the summertime.  There are just always so many things we want to do and places we want to visit that it makes the work of doing it very worthwhile to us.  This weekend was delightful for all of us. 

There was mountain biking, a farm market (tomatoes!! and raspberries) and a picnic at the beach. E played around in the water collecting "seaweed" the whole time until he figured he had enough to fill a bathtub. ;-)

Our usual beach dinner is subs.  We bring the fixings in a cooler, spread out our blanket and everyone makes their own there.  But every once in awhile it is nice to bring along something different.  I was making sushi for a friend of mine and made a few extra rolls for us to enjoy as well.  Such a refreshing thing to eat on a super hot day.

More biking for the guys while I went garage saling, cherry picking and dipping in the creek then back up the mountain for some time on my own while they biked all day. 

I had an amazing solitary hike up the mountain to the top then a run part way back down to meet up with the boys so I could take some photos of them (Then back up, then back down.  Whew!  Was I ever hungry by the time I got back to the condo that evening.).  Such fun.

I took some time to enjoy the view from the top.

Both times!

I had time to walk with E and learn some new (to us) plants while S and W biked hard.
Valerian

and Arnica.

We all had plenty of reading time in the evenings (I've just read such a good book that I had to read it twice). Then there was time to get those strawberries and then head to the beach for a quick visit with friends.  Then back to town to visit my garden briefly and ooh and ahh over our cukes (and sigh over how much more pruning my tomatoes need). 

Oh, but weekends are good.  I do wish they lasted longer.  Hope yours was great too.

Strawberries!

This year is the first year in many, many years that I've not gone strawberry picking.  There was no U-pick in our town this year and hardly any strawberries available at the usual places due to the wet year and the poor crop that resulted.  But yesterday on our way home from an out of town weekend adventure I stopped and got a flat of strawberries.

We usually freeze at least 100 pounds so there will be a lot less strawberry goodness around our home this year but there will be enough in the freezer for some winter smoothies and I've saved enough fresh for two strawberry shortcake nights and one chocolate strawberry short cake (Can't wait Rebecca!).  Now...if I can just find where I saw a recipe for delicious looking shortcakes made with some cornmeal, I think it might have been on a blog I found from a comment left here.  Was it you?  If so, I would very much appreciate the link to the recipe.