When I have time...

There are times I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to keep up with it all... While daydreaming today, I waded through my photo library and these jumped out at me (stories to follow) ...

Travel

France

 England

and then Gardening again!

Squash Blossoms

Another way to manage the growth of your zucchini is to "nip them in the bud," literally.... By that I mean, if you pick baby zukes while their blossoms are still intact, you reduce the number of full-grown zucchini AND get to enjoy a wonderful treat. The preparation for this recipe requires a little time and tenderness, but its presentation can be dramatic, not to mention taste delicious. What better way to impress your guests than with your own Fiori di Zucchini...

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1. Here are my baby zukes with blossoms, fresh from the garden.
2. Gently wash the blossoms and remove the pistil from the flower center.
3. I used goat cheese, blue cheese, and garden-fresh chives and basil for my filling.
4. Gently spoon filling (about 1T) into blossom.
5. Close and seal by twisting tips of blossom.
6. Place each blossom in light batter of flour and soda water.
7. Heat olive oil in pan, add blossoms & cook just until cheese begins to melt. Serve immediately.

I served my fried squash blossoms (at back) with linguine & chicken, topped with sauteed zucchini ribbons and a dallup of my homemade zucchini/basil pesto...yumm!

Summer Surprise

As most experienced gardeners know, if you plant zucchini, you will get zucchini...and probably more than you want. I've spent the last month or so trying to make the most of my zukes (thank you to my friends). This past weekend, I found a fabulous recipe for this most-prolific plant... Zucchini-Lemon Sorbet. This is the surprise of the summer for me, and I can't wait to share it with you!

The recipe is really easy. The only snag I ran into was not owning an ice cream maker. But I found this work-around on the internet, which worked just fine! After all, they made frozen goodies long before there was ever an ice cream machine. See photos below...

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1. Start with fresh zucchini, like this one shown above from my garden.
2. Grate the zucchini, then puree with lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and peppermint in blender or food processor. NOTE: I sifted mixture 3-4 times to make consistency smoother for freezing.
3. Place bowl of mixture in freezer on top of tray of ice; stir vigorously with whisk every 30-45 minutes to break up ice crystals.
4. Sorbet should be ready in 3-4 hours. I let mine freeze overnight and then used a hand mixer to puree once again to a smoother consistency. Makes for more enjoyable eating...

Bon Appetit!