Meals of Garden Veggies!

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The non-chef (me), is back again for another try! After peeking here, please visit Gollum at her wonderful site. http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/ There are a lot of participants and wonderful looking dishes!

I feel I have to eat from the garden every night now. It's all so good and fresh. I'll have to be having lots of beets in the next few days! I've given tons of zucchini and green beans away!

Here is Sautéed Zucchini and Onions in tomato sauce and green beans. I sprinkled Asiago cheese over top. (Love that stuff.)

A nice light meal so I could have some more Chocolate Cobbler shown below!

Turkey Patti and Green Beans

The turkey patti has chunky Ragu sauce and Colby and Monterey cheese on top. Green beans, of course, and I've found I really like the potato chips and sour cream with these lighter meals.

OK, who is the one who put the recipe on for this Chocolate Cobbler!!!! I made it and it is heaven! So rich and definitely for the chocoholic!!! (me) I have the whole big pan for myself. I hope I don't get sick, I can't keep from taking spoonfuls of it! Here it is warm with vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmmmmm.

Salad, Calico Beans and Zucchini

I started this dinner off with a crab salad over my garden lettuce.

This is Calico Beans (doctored up a little with a lot more ground turkey than in the recipe.) My sister gave me the recipe and I fixed it as stated for a big picnic last summer and it was a hit! Also here is sautéed zucchini and onions and a leaf lettuce salad, all from garden.

I've included the Calico Bean Recipe below. Gosh, I hope it's not a secret of my sister's!!

Calico Beans

The name comes from the 3 kinds of beans used.

A 16 oz can each of kidney beans, butter beans and pork and beans.

1/2 LB ground meat, browned.

Add beans

2Tbsp molasses, 2 Tbsp mustard

1/2 cup onion chopped, 1/2 tsp chilli powder

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar

10 bacon slices cut and browned

1/4 cup BBQ sauce, 1/4 cup ketchup

Heat together on stove in a soup pot then bake in oven for an hour.

Great picnic item!

Well, that's my contribution for this week. I don't know how much longer I can keep this up. (I really don't cook), but the garden is making me : ))

Happy Friday everyone.

Shirley

Tablescape and Apples

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Thank you Susan for hosting this event every week. As you can tell, we all love it!

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

I chose to do an informal setting for this weeks tablescape.

You knew I just had to do a tablescape with my $.60 apple plates from Hobby Lobby!! Aren't they cute. The place-mats are from Walmart. (Cheap, errrrr inexpensive!)

Just had to put an apple on the table somewhere! The white charger plates and yellow plates are from GW as is the little dish the apple is in. And there are those Target bird S & P again : ))

This plate was just slightly bigger than the apple plate to give a rim of yellow.

Kind of harsh shadows. The sun just dipped beneath the trees.

I got these handless cups from Starbucks. (On sale of course.) They are double walled so it keeps your drink either hot or cold longer. I just loved the color!

I used paper napkins for this informal setting. They have different veggies on them. I got them at Marshalls.

As you can maybe see from the tablecloth blowing, it was quite windy. It would've been impossible to have candles tonight!

Have a great Thursday everyone. Now be sure to go visit everyone's tables at Susan's site.

http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

Thanks for visiting me!

Shirley

Riding Echo

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Went to the barn today. I spent the day letting horses run in the arena as it was muddy out in the pastures. I ran a little herd of 6 of them around to let them get some exercise out of their stalls. Thought you might want to see a video of me on Echo a couple months ago. My daughter was taping and incidentally she took this beautiful photo of him. Below is the link to YouTube.

By the way turn off the blog music before you watch YouTube as it has music too. ( The play list is near the top under my profile.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22f9aung8nA

Thanks and enjoy!

Shirley

Today's Goodwill Treasures 7/27

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Everyone, you must go over to Rhoda's place to see what everyone has found. Her blog is at http://southernhospitalityblog.com/ Thanks Rhoda for hosting this. We love to show our bargains! Look what I found below!!

First I'll show you these two little apple dishes, salad size, I got at Hobby Lobby in their 90% off aisle! I wish there had been four of them.

Yep, that's right $.60!!! A pretty good buy! I can see these fitting in with fall tablescapes too.

Here is my "haul" from Goodwill. (I had NO luck with garage sales today!) Below I show each item.

The little tea pot is the first thing I spotted today. It just holds one cup. Then I found those two dishes that almost matched perfectly! I love when that happens!

I thought these old dishes were pretty. They are like salad size. Lots of different choices for colored chargers under them. I got 4 of them at $1.00 each.

These are white plaster doves for the wall. I don't know . . . they "spoke" to me : )) (They were $1.50)

I like this little wire bird cage. I think it will look good with a fat candle in it. However, maybe I should paint it white . . . . (It was $1.50)

Yep, I like it painted white!

I was watching this lady in Goodwill. She drew my attention because she was on the phone the whole time talking. She'd pick up a few things, put them in her basket then change her mind and put them all back. Then she get some other things and do the same thing. Well, I saw she picked up this shabby chic tin basket I had missed!!!! so I just kept my eye on her and sure enough she put it back. That's when I pounced. Success!!!!! (It was $2.00)

I had to get the Thomas The Tank book for my granddaughter. He's her favorite at the moment. The clear jar I am going to put cornmeal in. I've been collecting them for my baking items and pastas. (The jar was $1.00 and Thomas was $.50)

Well, here is my big buck item from GW. It was marked $25. but with 35% off it was about $16. It's begging to be sprayed white I think. The mirror is beveled and I hope that smokiness I see is just dirt. I know just where I want to put it. I liked the shape of it.

Well, I hope you had fun looking for treasures too. Now, I'll go look at yours.

Happy Monday.

Shirley

From a Non-Chef!

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Thanks to Gollum for having this party every Friday. I always make sure I visit but this is my first post here. Be sure to visit all the wonderful things participants are cooking up at http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Anyone that knows me will be shocked that I have entered the "Foodie Friday" blog world! . . . because I'm known for my non-cooking. However when I put my garden in this year, I of course, made it bigger than I had planned and now all these vegetables are coming in at once. I am giving away as much as I can but I live in the country and everyone has a garden. So I have to take my produce to the barn and give it to my daughter and a couple other "city people". I also feel I have to eat as much as I can. It's all organic and healthy. This is a zucchini bake I made. I put it over brown rice and of course , as I do every night, had a side of green beans. I wrote up the recipe below. I got it from the Kraft site but made it my own with some changes. No meat in this recipe. I wrote it out below. ME giving you all a recipe! If you only knew how funny that is!!

Zucchini Bake

Cut up a large zucchini in slices or chunks and saute it with some onions in a pan till it is crispy tender.

Put into a square baking dish and add a few cut up tomatoes.

Mix 2-3 eggs with 1/3 cup of Miracle Whip.

Pour mixture over top and scatter any shredded cheeses you may have over the top.

I used a lot cheddar and some pizza cheese I had.

I love cheese.

Bake at 375-400 till it bubbles.

That's it.

I served it over rice.

I eat alone most of the time unless my sister & her husband are visiting. So since Jack died, I really cook very seldom. Now that doesn't mean I don't eat! I'm lucky to have a local grocery store that makes and sells homemade dinners which have become my mainstay. I do bake sometimes because I'm a carbaholic!! I have always been a slow eater but eating alone makes you eat faster. Not so good for you. I like to play with dishes and tablescape which is new to me too since I've started to blog here in this community. Never would I have imagined, at my age!!!!! I would've been taking that up! This isn't a tablescape below, this is just how I ate at my kitchen table tonight!

Well, have a good Friday. It's my day to do grocery shopping, get things done around here and yes . . . make a stop at Goodwill : ))

Nice talking to you.

Shirley

Tea on a Tray

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Thank you again Susan for hosting this event that got us all started in collecting dishes!!!!! I love it. After you have a look here, visit the participants at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ There is always the most beautiful and inventive ideas.

How about a spot of tea?

Pretty little porcelain cups with coasters that match. The teapot I've had forever, and the tray table, remember, I got a few weeks ago at GW and painted it white.

I got this little tea set (minus the pot), at Marshalls. It also came with a long little tray in the same design. All for $10.00.

Little silver sugar tongs. I was going to sell them on eBay and now I'm glad I didn't.

Delicate little napkins. Oneida Community silverware.

Hope you all have a chance to be served tea in bed.

Have a great Thursday and thanks for the visit. Please drop me a little note.

Shirley

Three or More & Outdoor Wednesdays at the Barn

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This is my first posting at Three or More. But I have 3 horses and this is about my day with them so I suppose it qualifies. Be sure to visit Tam and all the participants at http://gypsycorner.blogspot.com/ I'm making this a double post along with Outdoor Wednesdays.

Here is my Wednesday outdoor report! Thank you Susan for hosting this fun time. Now, after you take a peek at my day with the horses, go see what everyone else has been up to at http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

A lot of my "Outdoor Wednesdays" will be photos from my "other home", the barn. I'm always there on Tuesdays and every other day I don't have to babysit. This is a big part of my life. I wanted horses ever since I was little and it took till I was nearly 60 to have them!!! I totally enjoy every minute with them. It's true, there's something about women and horses. And here's another truism: "Every horse should be owned by a little girl at sometime in their lives."

They're coming to see what I'm doing. My two there have fly masks on.

That's Preacher

Oh, that fence makes a good scratching post!

I braided Echo's mane today. His mane is very long and gets tangled with knots if I don't keep after it. Echo is part clydesdale, part thoroughbred and his sire was a paint. (So that makes him a warmblood) He's big boned but not too much higher than my quarter horse.

(15.2 hands)

Satire, munching away, enjoying the summer day.

That's our "boys". From left to right . . . Echo, the black one, is a warmblood, 5 yrs old still training him; Preacher, a quarter horse, 15 yrs., my all around guy; and Satire, my daughter's senior Arabian. He's 30, a retired show horse and in great shape.

Leading out to the front pastures.

Some of our horse's stalls. You can see the inside arena through the big door there. Oops that's an inside picture!

The mountain of manure that WAS here gets hauled away every so often by landscape people who use the wonderful compost. Maybe that's more than you wanted to know but that's life at a barn : ))

OK, I'll "end" with this! That's me with shorter hair last spring, standing on an enormous mountain of manure! (20 horses make a lot of "debris" through the winter!!) Hope you enjoyed my horses and a day at the barn photos. I have at least a gazillion photos of our horses. Let me know if there are any "horse people" out there. Next time I'll do some riding photos and tell some horsey stories!

My daughter took this photo. She's a professional photographer. Go have a look at her beautiful website http://www.mzezulakphotography.com/

Thanks for stopping by and have a great Wednesday everyone. Drop me a line.