Friday, July 31, 2015

...the week of summer squash...Patty Pan...

When I saw this Roasted Patty Pan Squash and Herbed Chickpeas Recipe over at Chocolate and Zucchini or C & Z I knew I wanted to try it...

...but I didn't have any patty pan squash...
...and I'm so glad I bookmarked the recipe...because one of our new friends gave us some patty pans...
...aren't they the cutest little squash ever...like little ufos...
...I cut the cute little flying saucers into eigths...
...and put them in my vegetable roaster...and drizzled them with some olive oil...
...I love this little roaster...we've had it for years...like longer than Scout is old...if I remember right...it's from Williams Sonoma...and I don't think anything does a better job of roasting veggies to caramelized perfection...
...see...perfectly done...
...then I mixed up the chickpea part of the salad...
...aside from the patty pans...it's the capers that really make this recipe...
...it's the perfect cool and refreshing summer salad...we loved it...

...I hope you've enjoyed the week of summer squash...and as I've still got bags of squash...I'll probably be posting more recipes before I run out...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

...The Week of Summer Squash...Vegan Scalloped Squash...

...this is just like scalloped potatoes...
...except with sliced squash instead of potatoes...
...add some sliced onion...
...mix a cup of vegan milk...we used almond milk...with 2 Tbs of flour and a little bit of salt and white pepper...
...pour the milk and flour mixture over the squash and onions...
...top with some vegan cheese...we used Daiya Cheddar...
...bake until squash is tender and lightly browned on top...
...and serve...
...I thought this was really good...the boys...not so much...so...I probably wouldn't use squash this way except if I had an overabundance...as I currently do...

...they just prefer it fried...or now baked...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

...the week of summer squash...Day 3...

...this is just a simpler less time consuming way to get crispy fried single pieces of squash...from the oven...
...just oil a sheet pan...and dredge the slices the same way we did in the fried squash...and place them in a single layer and bake for about 10 minutes at 425...turning once...
...then when they're nice and crispy and brown on both sides...
...they're ready to serve...
...they are just like the ones I fried on Monday...but I didn't have to stand in front of the stove...
...perfectly delicious...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

...a week of summer squash...Day 2...

...another super simple summer squash dish...this one is so so easy...
...just slice some yellow squash...sprinkle with chives and a little bit of salt...
...drizzle on some olive oil...I used extra light...but use what you like...
...then just microwave until tender...
...super quick and easy...and delicious...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, July 27, 2015

...a week of summer squash...Day 1...

...we have been quite literally inundated with summer squash...

...and as we've had squash at every meal since I've been here...I thought I'd share with y'all some of the ways we've been eating it...
...just about everyone's favorite way to have summer squash is simply breaded with cornmeal and fried in a little bit of corn oil...seriously no recipe that's all there is to it...we just sort of dredge each slice in some corn meal...the cut squash is wet enough for just the right amount of cornmeal to stick...
...and then I just barely coat a seasoned cast iron pan with oil...and place the slices in a single layer...
...cook over medium heat until they brown on one side and then turn them over...and brown them on the other side...
...I take them off the heat and put them onto some paper towel to drain a bit...but there's really not all that much oil...
...about one squash per person seems to be the right amount for us...
...and it goes with anything for dinner...we had some barbecue seitan...
...it's sort of crispy on the outside and soft and slightly sweet and bubbly on the inside...we think it's delicious...but we've found in our 'travels' that squash fried this way is a pretty southern dish...

...how do you like your squash?...

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, July 25, 2015

...Vegan Mint-Chocolate-Chip Ice Cream...

...my sweet sissie came for a visit...and it was a rather warm 95° F day...so we needed some cool refreshment...and we used to love walking around the fairgrounds in Raleigh eating mint chocolate chip ice cream...
...so I got out the Vitamix and some ice cubes...almond milk...vanilla...peppermint extract...and some vegan chocolate chips...
...gave it a whir...and we had some creamy...soft-serve-like ice cream...
...added some chopped up chocolate chips...
...and it was delicious...I'll definitely be making it again...

...rough-ish recipe...I just sort of threw it all together...

VEGAN MINT-CHOCOLATE-CHIP ICE CREAM

Ingredients

1 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp Peppermint extract
1/2 cup dry soy milk - I used Better Than Milk
1/2 cup chopped vegan chocolate chips
4 cups ice cubes

Directions

Place all ingredients except chocolate chips in the Vitamix container.
Turn machine on and slowly increase speed to Variable 10, then to High. Use the tamper to press the ingredients into the blades.
In about 45 seconds, the sound of the motor will change and four mounds should form.
Stop machine. Do not over mix or melting will occur. Serve immediately.

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, July 24, 2015

...poor little kitties...

...our improvised shelter for our stray cat Callie...she's been spayed...and deflead (word?)...and de-wormed...so not really a happy camper...but we're trying to take good care of her...
...and the kittens have all be deflead and bathed...cats don't like baths...ha!

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, July 23, 2015

...model behavior...

...Scout has started a couple of models...it's funny because it's probably been 5 years since he's done one...and now he has two in progress at the same time...and he still has boxes to unpack...but you've got to have priorities...right?...
...and as we always put our spare change into a jar...Scout wanted to take it to the bank like we did before we moved...we used to just take the jar and they would dump it into a machine that would count all the change and then deposit that amount into his savings account...it really adds up...most times we take the jar it's between $35 and $50...so it's well worth the trouble...but our bank here does not have the machine...so Scout got all his spare change rolled up to deposit...

...what do you do with your spare change?...

~Have a lovely day!

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

...W.I.P. Wednesday...

...right after we moved here...I got a little packet in the mail from my Mom...it was just a little bit thicker than a letter...
...and inside there was a note...and these two sweet little hankies...

...the note simply asked if I'd mind embroidering Grandma's name on some hankies for her as she likes to keep one with her all the time...and they don't want them to get lost in the laundry at her assisted living apartment...

...so I said of course...what could be easier than sending that little bit of love up to Grandma...

~Have a lovely day!

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

...one of my favorite things...

...you may or may not know this about me...

...but I love clothes dried on the clothesline...we had one in North Dakota...but not in West Virginia...no one in our neighborhood did...isn't that a funny thing to ban...I think that clothes drying on the line are kinda pretty...what about you?...

~Have a lovely day!

Monday, July 20, 2015

...Hobo Supper...

...we had a fund raising supper at Church...Pinto Beans...Cornbread...and Coleslaw were served...I thought that I'd taken a photo of my vegan plate...but I can't find it...
...there was a Sweet Treat Walk...just like a traditional Cake Walk but with lots of cookies and pies too...so they don't call it a Cake Walk...

...everyone had a lot of fun and raised over $150...
...there was a packed house for the auction (with a real auctioneer)...I took my Mom's Black Walnut Pound Cake...again...I was busy and didn't get a photo...but there's one on the link and it looked exactly the same...and just like when I was a little girl and my Mom's cake would sale at the Bake Sale for $10...here at auction it went for $27...and I got a call the next day telling me how delicious it was...all thanks to Mom...

...altogether over $2500 was raised for the local food bank...and that's why they serve such simple food...to remind us how blessed we are to have enough to eat...

...have you ever been to a Hobo Supper?

~Have a lovely day!

Saturday, July 18, 2015

...kittens...

...we were blessed with a stray cat and kittens when we arrived...

...that's the Mama Cat on the woodpile (she will soon have an appointment to be spayed)...we're calling her Callie...and she's the most tame of the bunch...the Man's been feeding her since he got here...and the babies are difficult to catch...they're still pretty wild...

...left to right they are Lucy...Screamer...because she literally screamed when we caught her...and Emmie...because she has a perfect M stripe pattern on her forhead...

...He'll actually be called Emmit Scout tells me because he's a boy...HA!

~Have a lovely day!

Friday, July 17, 2015

...new neighbor-liness...

...more neighborliness...

...one of our parishoners brought us a fully grown and already bearing potted patio tomato...

...this may be the extent of our garden here...the house is on a really nice shady lot...but there's no place for a proper garden...
...can't wait to get some ripe red tomatoes off of this baby...the weather here has been really hot and dry through June...so I see lots of watering in my future...

~Have a lovely day!

Thursday, July 16, 2015

...SEVENTEEN...

...OKAY...seriously...how'd that happen...

...right on the heels of the big move Scout had a birthday...
...so we needed a cake...he requested devils food...as usual I think...it was a pretty warm day...so I popped it in the freezer for a few minutes just to set the icing a little bit...
...then I used a trick I learned from my sweet sister when she was decorating her son's Wedding Cake...she used a damp paper towel to smooth the icing...my paper towels left a pattern on the icing that I didn't like so I used my jelly straining cloth...
...then I just piped on some stars willy-nilly...
...and smoothed those out as well...
...it turned out nice...
...added 17 candles...

~Have a lovely day!