Last of Summer - Two New Recipes

When I wrote my last post, Blogspot would not let me complete it. I may be finding a new home for my blog. The garden this summer was a dismal failure. What started out with such promise, quickly became a disaster. Here the garden was thriving...

Here is what it looked like several weeks later. Last year I had a bumper crop of cucumbers, and this year I only got one. All the vines died and these cukes rotted on what vine was left.

The garden did not yield one zucchini, green pepper, or eggplant. My grape tomatoes were the size of dimes. I think the two weeks we were on vacation in June did most of the damage. It never rained and was also unbelievably hot. The second week the garden was watered every three days, but by the time I got home, it was apparent I was going to lose this year's garden.

We lost a large part of the second Bradford Pear Tree. I now have one and a half trees left. While in Myrtle Beach during June, there was an epic trememdous storm that toppled several of the trees in the neighborhood. Fortunately, the largest part of the tree is still there, so I will keep it till another storm claims the rest of it. A large branch that gave a fourth of the tree it's shape fell during the storm. We can now see the middle of the tree on the left side.

I wasn't sure the trunk would survive with such an injury, but so far it has healed itself. The other branches appear healthy.

I made a new pizza recently. The recipe was sent to me by my daughter. It is a taco pizza. You start with a crust, spread refried beans on it, then top with taco seasoned hamburger, chopped tomatoes, onions, black olives, and cheese. Bake until crust is done and cheese is melted. (I always prebake my crust for a few minutes).

I let it rest after baking for five minutes, then I topped my slice with lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. It was delicious!

My husband has been on The Atkins Diet for over 4 years. I've been trying different low carb recipes recently. Yesterday I made fried turnips. First of all, you have to like turnips to try this dish. If you do, it was good, but darn time consuming! Start with sliced onions and turnips. I used my food processor to slice these. I am not one of those cooks who finds it therapeutic to chop and slice...

Heat up olive oil in a pan, add onions, and cook until golden, moving them constantly.

Add turnips to pan and cook, flipping constantly so they don't burn.

They will begin to turn a more golden color. Sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp of cumin, and cook till turnips are soft and golden. (You have time for a glass of wine waiting for the turnips to turn soft...)

I must admit towards the end I plopped some butter in there because I like butter and turnips, but you don't have too. Salt and pepper to taste. I paired the turnips with oven-fried boneless pork chops and asparagus. The turnips were very flavorful.

Have a great day!

This Past Summer at My House

I cannot believe it's been so long since I wrote a blog. After the trip to Boston, it seems the summer just flew by... We went to Myrtle Beach in June, and were joined by Miss Cassidy and her lovely parents. They stayed for a week, and it was so fun to watch Cassidy on the beach. She was just a toddler last time she was there. She was quite awed by the sight of the ocean. However she was not scared. She walked right in, clothes and all!

In July I went to North Carolina for one last visit to the house. It has been sold, and soon everyone will be moving on. The house was lonely without my mom there.

It was fun to visit with family members. I was only there a few days because we headed back to Myrtle Beach for one last trip before school started again. This time Susan joined us for a few days.

Billy hates the beach, but Susan managed to get him out there for awhile. I usually feel like I'm vacationing with a vampire who only comes out after dark.

It was a nice week with beautiful weather. Unfortunately, we were there two weeks. The first week the weather looked like this...

The last week it looked like this...(It is not evening, that is a dark storm cloud)

And this...

But as the saying goes, a bad day at the beach, is better than a good day anywhere else. Plus, the RV NEVER LEAKED, so Bill was quite pleased with that. It was the first time rainy weather at the beach didn't send him to bed early. Have a great day!!!