...frog friend...

...it's the time of year for cicadas...or locally more commonly known as 'jar flies'...not sure if it's because kids catch them and put them in jars...or because they vibrate and 'jar'...or because they jar people's nerves with their constant vibrations...HA!...

...but we did notice the lack of them in WV...

...but that wasn't the sound we heard last night...go here to listen to them in the distance...but this one was chirping right on our front door...and Jack was going crazy...we called them tree frogs when I was growing up...

...Have you ever been awakened by a tree frog on your front door?...

~wishing you a lovely start to your weekend!

...W.I.A.Y. ...

Breakfast - just a big ole bowl of grits...with lots of Earth Balance of course...

Lunch - using up some of all that fresh veg - new potatoes, fried okra, cucumber, and a big slice of tomato...oh...and corn on the cob...

...then the Man made a delicious Mediterranean dish for dinner...served over fried polenta...it was so good...not sure what all is in there...olives, green peppers, pearl onions, tomatoes...he's very secretive about his cooking ...

Dinner - Boca chick'n with Mediterranean Sauce over Polenta, and a salad...

...now go ahead and inspire me with your meals...

~Have a lovely day!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...just veg...

...as for Work In Progress this week...I do actually have another dish cloth for the youth on my needles...but mostly we've just been trying to keep up with all the wonderful veg that we've been gifted...

...this lovely fellow is called an Crenshaw melon...I thought it was interesting that "The melons were bred by crossing casaba melons with Persian melons"...

...and the fellow who gave it to us said that they only grow here during election years...no idea what that means...I searched for an answer but didn't find any...so let me know if you know...

...but it is so very delicious...juicy and sweet...we'll make short work of it I'm sure...

...and then we had another big bag of corn to deal with...Silver Queen this time...

...so several pints of that went into the freezer right beside the beautiful golden yellow we froze last week...

...are you managing to keep up with all your fresh veg this season...

~Have a lovely day!

...Blueberries for Breakfast...

...I know it's Tuesday...and I should be cooking with Julia...but, for one thing, it's too hot...and for another thing...with all this veg I just don't have time...

...so keeping cool...and having a big bucket of blueberries...I ground up some fresh flax seeds...I often buy them already ground...

...but they are so much better (nuttier) freshly ground...

...so for brekkie...this morning...I just threw a big handful of fresh berries on top of a big bowl of homemade soy yogurt...

...nice and cool and refreshing...

...and then sprinkled on some freshly ground flax seed...

...do you prefer hot or cool breakfasts when it's hot outside?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Blueberry Pickin' time...

...a friend of ours invited us to come over and do some blueberry picking...

...it was a hot...HOT day...about 99° F (37° C)...but we went anyway...because we NEED some blueberries...and when someone offers you theirs for free...you just about HAVE TO go...

...and just look at all those plump ripe berries...

...it was so hot...but it didn't take us long to fill up a basket/bucket thingy...

...so...this might be the week of blueberries around here...and of course I ate about as many as I put into the bucket...

...and I'll have to tell you about my go-to summer tea that's in the bottle there...I take it just about everywhere with me...

...what's your favorite thing to make with fresh blueberries?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Vegan Eggplant Parmesan...and a movie...

...so...for family movie night last night...we switched things up a bit and had Eggplant Parmesan instead of Pizza...

...this is one of those dishes that you can serve to omnivores with nary a scoff...

...start by slicing a nice fresh eggplant in half inch slices...then salt both sides and leave it to sit for a bit...it'll get all weepy...

...then bread lightly with flour...

...and fry in olive oil until golden...

...while it's cooking make your sauce...

...then layer your golden eggplant slices in a casserole...

...and spoon over a layer of sauce...

...then a layer of vegan parmesan...

...continue layering and end with sauce...and top with your favorite vegan mozzarella...sometimes we use Daiya...but I had made a batch of Stretchy Vegan Mozzarella...and then I froze it until it was stiff...like I did for the Big Slice of Mozzarella...but instead of leaving it as a big slice...I sort of julienned it into slivers...and topped the eggplant parmesan with that...

...(the recipe is from it doesn't taste like chicken)...

...ready for the oven...

...baked for a half hour or so...

...it was so delicious...and we did eat it in front of the television...but it's not really as TV friendly as pizza...

...so...what did we watch?...

...The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared...it's super cute/funny/slightly dark ...and according to Wikipedia it's the third highest grossing Swedish film of all time...

...we really enjoyed it...

~Wishing you a lovely weekend!

...Dealing with all that Veg...oh the CORN...

...y'all know by now when I apply the label 'garden' to a post that I really mean 'other people's gardens'...

...this lovely box of veg appeared on our back porch...

...so I fried some squash and sliced some cucumbers...

...and then I was left with a few dozen ears of corn...

...and then I got busy...shucking...

...and scraping...

...and now we've got some beautiful golden sweet corn in the freezer to remind us of the sunny July days...

~Have a lovely day!

...W.I.A.Y. ...

Breakfast - Vegan cheese biscuit, coffee with vegan creamer...

Lunch - tomato sandwich, kale chips, vanilla almond milk...

Dinner - tofu poisson bearcy - julienne veg, brussels sprouts, salad, potato...

...post away...what's the most interesting thing you ate yesterday?...

~Have a lovely day!

...W.I.P. Wednesday...a couple more Youth Dishcloths...

...mostly I've been canning and freezing veg...

...but I did manage to make a couple more dish cloths for the youth to sell...

...I added a little bit of yellow from my stash...and then I was trying to use up the bits of yarn I had left from the other dishcloths...and I really like the way this granny square one turned out...

...and then I had a little bit of pink and a little bit of the multi left...so I knitted one more...it's kinda ugly though...

...and I only had that tiny bit of yarn left over...

...what are you working on this Wednesday?...

~Have a lovely day!

...Tuesdays with Julia...

...since I had those lovely homegrown tomatoes...I made some of Julia's Tomatoes Stuffed with Mushrooms...Tomates Farcies Duxelles...

...and this is one of those recipes that requires you to use a couple of other recipes...that happens pretty often with Julia...

...I think fresh delicious homegrown tomatoes may not be the best choice for this recipe...they were delicious...but they kinda fell apart...

...and of course all of the particulars are over at The Vegan Version

~Have a lovely day!

...Scout went to France...

This was his big (BIG) graduation present...a 10 day tour of France, Normandy, St. Malo, Rouen, Nice, Eze and Monaco...quite the whirlwind...he took about 600 photos...we've not even seen all of them yet...

...departure...

...one of the tour photos...(Scout's right in front in a striped shirt)...

...and arrival...he had a wonderful time...and we're thankful he's home...

~Have a lovely day!