I love how gardens start out as a patch of nothing, and eventually: Imagine a couple pounds of green beans along with this, and that's our harvest for the last few days. The carrots aren't ready yet, but I was curious about how big they were getting! The tomatoes are starting to ripen.... those little yellow ones in the middle are so cute. I forget what kind they are, but they're shaped like pears and about the size of a cherry tomato. And you can see here the abundant fruits of our cucumber vines.
I promise, I tried to say that in a spirit of thankfulness. I have no idea why we planted so many two years in a row-- you'd think we'd have learned our lesson, especially with all the jars of pickles still in the pantry. But here we are with more than enough, so after we gave away as many as could be considered neighborly, here are some recipes I've been using them in... And I am glad to have gotten the chance to try so many new things. I should note that these recipes have all been approved by Dirk. 1. Cucumber Agua Fresca -- yep, cucumber juice. Sort of. On Friday morning I gave a box of veggies to the lady who takes care of Hendrik, and when I went back to pick him up she sat me down and gave me a tall glass of this. YUM! It was so good. She explained how she made it, and I found this recipe online that adds limes. 2. Thai Cucumber Salad -- I halved the sugar and used cashews instead of peanuts. Also so so yummy! We used jalapeños from our garden too. 3. Chinese Chicken & Cucumbers -- Oh, so good. I will have to post this recipe another time. 4. Greek Vegetable Salad -- Sorry, no tutorial, but I'll post the recipe sooner or later. This is a really really nice one. 5. Brined Pickles -- These are so garlicky and a little scary, but easy to make. Dirk always tells me I read too much, so when I came across a pickle safety article after these had done their brining thing, I really felt like I was walking on the wild side to eat them. LOL I'm sure that makes you want to go make some, huh. They are very tasty! 6. Gazpacho -- The thought of cold soup always grossed me out, but I was running out of cucumber ideas and oh.my. Favorite new food. I followed this recipe pretty closely, but I used green & yellow peppers instead of red, and those cute yellow tomatoes from our garden. That's why it's more orangey than reddish. So healthy and so yummy! And the calories in one bowl of soup were more than matched by all the energy I spent in chopping up veggies. We are going on a camping vacation in a few weeks! We've been talking about it and dreaming up a plan for months, and now that it's only a few weeks away we have so much to do. Here's the general plan (south route first, north route on the way back): Ambitious, right? Don't ask me how many hours in the car google maps tells us it's going to be. We're splitting it up over several days, so hopefully that will help. We're going to the Gates of the Mountains in the Helena National Forest. Dirk really wanted to go to Montana, and we decided we might as well go far enough west to see mountains. But Glacier National Park was too far away. So, Lord willing, we're hoping to drive up around Chi-town, across Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota.... see some badlands and Mt. Rushmore... head up to the Helena area and camp around the Continental Divide... and then back home through ND, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois again. I'm tired just writing that. And since our style of vacationing is sort of historical eco-tourism.... and because we're big nerds... we have a reading list to help us get in the spirit of the places we're going. Here it is!
There might be more, but that's a good start! Ok, off to do less important stuff like food planning...
Thanks to my job, summer is my favorite season. No offense, darling students! (I remember being a little bit hurt when I saw a plaque in my 2nd grade teacher's room hiding behind a filing cabinet: "3 reasons to be a teacher-- June, July, and August.") If we could just always be in a state of early June, that would be something. Once July 4th hits it's hard not to feel like we're in a downward spiral, watching all of the summer days peel off the calendar in a sudden wind. Like in this video... it's so depressing... But of course if it were always June we couldn't harvest the garden, and if Hendrik froze at this age we'd never be able to hear him talk or see him move around much, and I'm sure there are blessings waiting for me during the next school year that I'd be sad to miss. Last night I was thinking about seasons... I'm loving the long days at home right now. I'm getting to channel my inner pioneer and pick food from the garden and hang clothes on the line and make bread from scratch. Well, I made bread from scratch. With the bread machine. Once. It still counts! I cleared off a spot on Dirk's desk for my sewing machine... And the fun of these activities is completely eclipsed by my little helper drooling and grinning his way through the day. The other night he came with me to worship band practice. He was a champ, but towards the end he got a little restless. So Allison let him help her on the piano. The thing about seasons is there's always something you would change if you could. Last night around 10 I was just wanting Dirk to come home and wishing he didn't have 15-hour days so often. They are getting less and less frequent, praise the Lord, and we sure are thankful for jobs. But I'm sad when he gets home so late. And of course, after a glorious week of H sleeping 6 hours in a row most nights, the last two nights he was up every 2-3 hours again. I think he is feeling a little sick. Yesterday he wouldn't nap for anything. So I am reminded that there are good things to hope for in the future.
Oh, and we've just had two weeks with our new addition Shelby! She is eight months old and a really good dog. The first few days we were all wary of each other, but we've settled into a good routine. She comes on walks with us and doesn't lunge at other dogs. It is wonderful! She does go a little nuts with squirrels, but that's ok. Welcome to the family, Shelby! It was Grandma Mary and Aunt Katrina's idea to get H to copy, and he has practiced and practiced. Now every time we look him in the face and talk, this is what we see:
|