Venus Blues Hideaway

Well, it is official-I have turned into the Domestic Diva.  For those of you who know me--betcha never would have guessed it!! Me either!  I CAN cook--I just don't do an extraordinary amount  of  it.  That is, til this past weekend.  Seems everything in the garden comes on at one time.  The cucumbers, okra, peas, squash and zucchini were all piled up in buckets just waiting for something to happen to them. So, I dug out the recipe books and this is what I found:

 Pickled Squash, Zucchini, Okra and Dill Pickles.  Spent ALL day saturday prepping and canning.  It wouldn't have been too bad, but I had to go up to the garden and pick some things in the middle of the day and, it is only about 1000 degrees up there at high noon.

 We set the cooker up outside so that it doesn't warm up the house too much.  It was about 100 degrees Saturday.  I just didn't like the thought of doing all of the cooking inside and on an electric stove to boot!  It takes forever and ten days to get the water boiling on electric burners.

 This is Fresh pumpkin pie and one of the all-time best recipes I have ever tried--It was delicious but took a little time to make.  It is so good and made out of fresh pumpkins out of my garden.   This web site http://www.everythingpies.com/fresh-pumpkin-pie-recipe.html  explains the best way to peel the pumpkin, and even gives hints for freezing--which works.  I had made two pies and froze one using these tips and it was just as good as the one that wasn't frozen.

The picture above is a zucchini blueberry loaf and it was divine.  The recipe made four mini loaves and a regular loaf size.  I made it with the zucchini from the garden and frozen blueberries that I put up last year.  The recipe called for fresh berries but it turned out fine with the frozen.   If you want to try this recipe, follow this link http://allrecipes.com/recipe/blueberry-zucchini-bread/detail.aspx.  I'm tellin' ya--it is divine :)

The picture above (I know, a little fuzzy) but it is of fresh cantaloupes taken out of my garden.  I have a cake recipe that I want to try--I know, cantaloupe cake?  Who knows--I will report back to ya on that one.

This was part of supper Saturday.  I put up about 50 bags of peas so far this year and about 5 bags of beans.  These are purple hull peas.  Did you know if you put salt in beans and peas when you cook them, it makes them tough.  I didn't either--I read it somewhere and it is right.  Add the salt to them after they are done cooking.  Eggs also.  Salt makes the whites of the egg tough if you add salt while they are cooking.  Who woulda guessed it. Not I.

And, Last but not least--Shish Kebabs.  I soaked zucchini, squash, onion and steak in an Italian dressing/liquid smoke/terreyaki  sauce combo marinade for about 3 hours and them threaded them onto skewers and grilled them.  MMMMmmmm, yep.  They were good.

I have had so little "studio time" since the summer began, that I think I am losing my mojo.  But, I got a box in yesterday that I wanna show you.  I will post it tomorrow.  Maybe all the sparkly things can rekindle the fire.  We'll see!!



Gonna have to go on a diet after the summer mos.  I can see it coming.

F.