Picnic

We recently went on a picnic to a park about 10 minutes away from us, right near the Ohio River. It was really hot but we had a good time...and Rose loved getting her energy out.

Beautiful Book

I love used book stores. My favorite (ever) is Riverby Books on East Capitol Street, right across the road from our church. The Hill definitely has an intellectual culture, and it's evidenced in the great books (from all genres) that show up on Riverby's shelves.

Today Bobby and I ate lunch together then walked over to Riverby. Bobby got a book called Manhunt, a history of the capture of John Wilkes Booth - the author lives behind our church and next door to Pastor Mark. I found the new edition of Little House in the Big Woods, a collection of essays by Lisa Couturier called The Hopes of Snakes and Other Tales from the Urban Landscape (about wild animals in New York City...like hawks and stuff) and the prize: a large, beautiful hardback book called The Farmer's Alphabet by Mary Azarian. It's beautiful pictures of the alphabet done in woodcuts. The book was published in 1981 and cost only three dollars AND it's in great condition. You can get a new version for pretty cheap on Amazon, but there was something about finding this book (without an identifying dust cover) in the children's section and being blown away by the beauty of the art. Her work reminds me a bit of Nikki McClure (though McClure makes stencils, not woodcuts) and I'm so excited for little Lady J to get to look at these wonderful pictures.

Four hardover books for $19.00. Yup, I love Riverby.

Container Garden Disaster! and Blueberry Banana Muffin Goodness

We had really full tomato plants growing. I am not so much an expert gardener, and had them improperly staked (the cages are only a recent addition!). In a recent wind and thunderstorm, our Cherokee Purple tomatoes (on the right of the box, and in the right picture) snapped at the base. Oh no! Major surgery was required (we cut off half the plant...) and we're hoping the remaining limb will recover. It's a slim hope though...you can see how wilted the leaves are! Luckily, our Brandywine tomatoes are growing fine.

These tomatoes are the fruit off the broken tree.

Everything else is growing well: the picture on the left is one of three lavender plants (blooming!). All the others are basil, peppermint, spearmint, the rest of the lavender, and a chili pepper plant.

We get a lot of mint, basil and chilies, and hopefully I'll get enough lavender to dry some.

I also used some of our CSA blueberries to make blueberry banana muffins. I'm trying to buy less snacks at the store, and instead we'll eat popcorn, fruit or muffins/bread/whatever I make at home. I found this recipe at allrecipes.com and modified it a little bit (allrecipes.com is great because other home cooks leave all their comments and mods, too. Always helpful to read reviews!)

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 1/2 cup + 2 T. all-purpose flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats

1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 t. baking soda

1/4 t. salt

1/2 cup applesauce (I used this instead of shortening)

3/4 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup mashed bananas

1) Preheat over to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan, or prepare muffins tins (makes about 17 muffins).

2) In medium bowl, dredge blueberries in 2 T. flour. Gently stir blueberries together with

oats, nuts, remaining flour, soda and salt.

3) In large bowl, combine applesauce and sugar.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in mashed banana. Add blueberry mixture, stir until just moistened. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

4) Bake load pan for 50-55 minutes, muffins for 20-25 minutes. Cool on rack for a few minutes, then remove from pan, returning to rack to cool completely.


Sorry for the poor formatting - the pictures always mess me up!

We Actually Ate All Our Vegetables

Veggie soup with kale, zucchini, onions, and fresh peas. Note my new Emeril Dutch Oven - I've wanted one forever, but they're so expensive. When I found this one at Ross for $35.00 instead of the regular $100.00, I knew I had a deal.

Summer Squash and White Bean Saute. So delicious. I made this all the time last summer. It's great over brown rice, with whole-wheat biscuits on the side.

Fresh peas and lettuce saute, with boiled new potatoes, fresh home-made bread (yay bread machine!) and seasoned Alaskan salmon (great buy at Costco - 6 for $13.00)

Things I made but didn't take pictures of:
Roasted Broccoli
Roasted Vegetable and Penne Pasta Casserole. (I roasted some of the squash and eggplant I already had, mixed it with some marinara, crushed red pepper, and 16 oz. cooked whole-wheat penne, layed it in a 9"x13" casserole, topped it with mozzarella and breadcrumbs, and baked for 15-20 minutes at 350. Delicious with lots of leftovers).

I just got this week's delivery - it includes cauliflower, green tomatoes, butter lettuce, zucchini, beets and more. I'm looking forward to making some zucchini bread!