July 1st, 2011

How in the world is it July already?  I feel like Memorial Day just happened.  This summer is flying by and I’m not happy about it.  I feel like things are just starting to calm down and next week I have to begin my marathon packing for Minnesota where I make our guest room a staging area for many “organized” piles of clothing, toiletries, chargers, and kiddo entertainment items.  Not going think about that right now, I like Scarlett O’Hara’s theory, I will think about that tomorrow. 

Our garden is starting to finally get into gear.

This guy will be our first red tomato.  He wins the race.  I am so hoping the tomatoes start turning red before we leave for Minnesota.  I want to bring a good amount of goodies for everyone.

Also hoping to bring some red peppers, that might just happen!  Good thing, Trent and the girls steer clear of peppers, so someone has to enjoy them with me without wearing a stinky sock face.

Root vegetables are a mystery to me.  I have no idea when it’s time to pull them up.  This guy looks ready, right?

My parents had all these volunteer sunflowers growing in their backyard in the grass from seeds from their massive sunflowers last year.  Trent loves sunflowers, so I planted all of them in a little line by the garden.  They were about 2 inches tall at the time and I was skeptical.  I was certain me or the girls would end up accidentally stepping on them or Trent would forget and mow over them since I just planted them in the grass. 

Looks like I worried for nothing.  We now are hosting a sunflower jungle.  I think we’ll have some happy birds come soon.

The perennials are starting to open in our hummingbird garden.  I’m excited and anxiously awaiting their Midwest arrival!

There are 2 camps.  People who like Rachel Ray and people who don’t.  She seems to be one of those people you have a definite opinion of her.  I like her.  I also like her magazine.  A couple of months ago the magazine got a new editor in chief and they made quite a few changes.  Good changes in my opinion.  My biggest beef with her recipes is there is not nutritional info, but then again you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out if a dish packs some fat or carbs or whatever is the no no food of the moment.

There was an article on different versions of bruschettas and various chefs wrote in their favorite recipes.  I thought number 8 looked pretty darn good and equally easy. Please ignore the mess on the recipe, I keep a recipe close to where I’m cooking and the poor paper normally gets a few battle scars along the way.

It was delicious!  I made it as our dinner with a salad.

But it’s pretty versatile.  It could be a side dish or appetizer too.  This recipe is officially a chosen one and setting up residence in my recipe binder.