Alayna Picked a Pepper

Gardening with a two-year-old certainly has its challenges. The main one is letting her "help" without completely ruining the plants. I was a bit sad when Alayna picked this little pepper, but I know she was only trying to help mommy. I ended up cutting it up and putting it in a pasta salad. It was pretty good..... a bit bitter, so maybe it was better that it was eaten while it was small.

Can you spot the corn? (hint: there are two ears!)

I have Peppers!

I didn't have much hope for my green and red bell pepper plants. With the unusually cool weather we had this year I didn't think I'd actually have any. But, the past week has been unseasonably hot and I just noticed these small peppers growing. It seems funny to me because the entire plant isn't much more than a foot tall. If the peppers grow to full size, it'll look very lopsided. Its hard to tell size in the picture, but both peppers (I have one per plant at the moment) are slightly smaller than a ping pong ball.


The corn is really starting to grow now.....well at least the stalk is. I haven't seen any corn yet, but Gavin has been oohing and aahing over the stalk that is shooting into the air. Its weird how they are not growing uniformly. The one is quite taller than the others. Not sure if that one is just getting more water or has a little better soil around it or what. Kind of weird! Oh, and that bushy plant next to the corn is my yellow squash. It, too, is off to a slow start, but I finally saw one small squash growing just the other day. Last year I had so much squash we didn't know what to do with it all. Its just been a rough year for produce!

Cooking from the Garden

This is just how I imagined it would be to have a vegetable garden. I went out in the morning and picked some zucchinis (see below). I shredded about half of them for freezing (to make zucchini bread some time later in the year) and made this great saute with the rest of it. The tomatoes are also from the garden and, oh, they taste like heaven. Now, you have to understand that I'm not a tomato-loving person. I normally don't buy tomatoes because I've never really cared for them. Then, one time while my mom was visiting, she asked if I've ever eaten tomatoes right off the vine. I admitted I hadn't and that got me to thinking that maybe I'd try to grow tomatoes this year. Well, that was about the best decision ever because these tomatoes are just delicious!

So, for you cooking-types out there, this is how I made the above yumminess: Saute a small amount of chopped onions (like maybe an 1/8 to 1/4 cup, if you want a measurement) with some garlic (I think I used 2 small cloves) in some butter. Add the zucchini (I used 2 small ones from the garden, thinly sliced) and saute for 3 or 4 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese, chopped tomatoes and sliced olives. Turn heat off but leave on burner and cover until cheese is melted (about a minute or two). This makes two good-sized servings, so you'd want to double it to feed a normal-sized family. I made this small serving because Chad was out of town and I wasn't sure if the kiddos would eat it (however, let me just say Gavin LOVED it!....Alayna didn't but what can I say....typical 2-yr-old!). Plus, I didn't want leftovers because it didn't look like it would reheat well.