I Love Zucchini! And A Keeper From the Recipe Box

I love zucchini! I look forward to zucchini harvest and can't wait to bake it, sauté it, freeze it, grate it, put it into baked goods, and fry it. This summer squash, with it’s mild taste, is low in calories and contains useful amounts of folate, potassium, and Vitamin A.

So why do gardeners spent so much energy figuring out creative ways to get rid of their bumper crops of zucchini? One reason is because know matter how many times you recheck the vegetable bed a zucchini often lurks under a leaf or behind the fence. Then one may be so big it is hard to slice it and sauté it. Another reason is because you seem to have one or ten that mature at the same time. No in between. My Uncle Harry’s favorite joke is, “ Don’t drive by my house with your windows open in August. You’ll end up with zucchini in your lap. Ha ha ha.!” That is when I grate and freeze it.
I remember the year JEJ didn’t think the first zucchini plants were going to make it so it planted a few more. They all made it! That was when I learned lots of creative ways to prepare zucchini. I will share some of my favorite recipes during the harvest season. The recipe below is the one I made last week when we had one of those “ ten zucchini” days.
Also, remember many food banks take fresh produce. Before you hook up a slingshot to send zucchini over to your neighbor's yard, call the food bank.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake
½ cup butter at room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
½ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
2 ½ cups flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat over 350. Cream together the butter, oil, and sugars. Beat in the eggs, vanilla and buttermilk until smooth. Sift together dry ingredients; mix into creamed mixture a little at a time. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Grease and flour a large bundt pan and pour in batter. Bake an hour and fifteen minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. (I usually check it after an hour)
Let cake cool in pan five minutes, then put on rack to cool. Serves12.

taken from Pacific Northwest: The Beautiful Cookbook

Images of Apricots

A friend and fellow teacher that lives down the road called and said she had all the apricots we could pick. We grabbed boxes, bags, sunscreen, and hats and headed to her house this morning. We picked for ourselves and family members. I think the images can tell the story.

Smells of Summer That Take Me Back

The other day while preparing to face the hot sun I covered myself with sunscreen. I had a generic brand, but just that smell of the lotion took me back to childhood and summer. I remembered Coppertone in the signature brown bottle. That day as I was working in the garden I made a mental list of other smells that did the same. Of course, you were either a Coppertone girl, a Sea and Ski girl, or you bravely put iodine in baby oil and slathered your body with that. Forget covering up, skin cancer, or sunburns. It was all just part of the summer ritual. (It was much later that the unforgettable smell of coconut and Hawaiian Tropic came on the scene.)

When I get anywhere near a pool I am back at the Kellogg public pool. The distinct chlorine smell reminds me of green mesh bags, suits that never quite lost that smell, hours of hanging out, pruny hands from staying in the water so long, and a beach towel soaked in chlorine that lingered while riding home on your bike.

I return to my Grandma Woolum's yard when I smell dill. Whether it was when I ran my hands over the maturing dill growing in the garden, or going to her cellar where it was drying it is a smell that is reminiscent of fresh cucumbers, Mason jars, and making dill pickles in August.

The pungent smell of campfire smoke reminds me singing songs around the campfire at Camp Neewahlu, roasting marshmallows with friends at Rose Lake, and gatherings up the river when we were old enough to drive and stay out later. Days later I could pick up a jacket or a shirt and the campfire scent would still be there.

When we had hot spells while growing up all I wanted to do is sit in the basement or go swimming. Then the skies clouded up and a summer rainstorm moved in. Summer rain smell is so distinct it is almost hard to put into words. You just know that smell. It is a mixture of wet pine needles, dampened dust, or rain dripping on maple leaves. Where I live now clouds gather above the lake and the air carries that smell of thunder and heat mixed with lilies and phlox. It is the smell of reprieve and a gentle reminder that autumn is just around the corner.

What smells take you back to childhood summers?

Summer Reverie

Glorious light from the east

illuminates dewy shades of green and white,

Under an umbrella of maple and pine

the fragrance of lilies fills the cool air.

Creating a sweet melody

the crossbills perch on a faded birdhouse.

On this summer morning

pull up a chair and dream.

Three Saturday Surprises

Today the Saturday bouquet has a mix of dahlias, roses, sunflowers, cosmos and other colorful blooms. It is a surprise that we have this many beautiful flowers in this hot, hot , dry weather.
Here is the second Saturday surprise. I would like to give The Blogger for Positive Global Change to Crafty Green Poet. Her blog is here and she uses her poetry, reviews, and opinions to remind us of what is needed to keep our world a green and healthy place. The two parts of her blog I love the most are the crafts she shares using recycled materials (I already have a list of projects to do with students connected to writing in the fall. ) and her haiku. She is very deserving of this award.
The third Saturday surprise is a creation by JEJ. He is a very resourceful person. He used a CB home base antennae we had behind the shed, a saucer from a plant pot, and a blue bowl we use for camping to design a lovely birdbath for our feathered friends that are searching for water on these hot days. Because we do have dogs and cats, the birds are hesitant to use our other ponds and fountains in the heat. This is a perfect set-up. I wonder if people living below us think we have a new Verizon receiver in our back yard. I love it and I can't wait until morning to see how the birds respond. It is easy to fill, but cleaning it out may be a challenge. Oh well, out of sight, out of mind!

Sibling Assignment # 29: Working Hard in the Silver Valley

My dad as a young working man walking in Kellogg after finishing a shift.

Silver Valley Girl assigned Raymond Pert and me the following topic: Share some information you learned about the history of the Silver Valley as an adult that you had no clue about growing up as a student in Kellogg, and then how this information changed your thinking about the Silver Valley.

Raymond Pert’s is here. Silver Valley Girl’s is here.

I also decided to link this to the Sunday Scribblings word this week which is phenomenon. The unusual or significant occurrence of being overworked is a phenomenon for many today.

When I grew up in the Silver Valley we spent time in fourth grade studying Idaho history. I knew some information about the Cataldo Mission. I learned all the counties so when we played license plate game I knew them by the letter and number. I knew we had natural resources and we were called the Gem State. As I grew older there were things about the Silver Valley I just carried with me. I heard stories of gold in Murray, the big fire in Wallace, and often read the brown Historical Site signs to learn more as an adult. Then I became a fourth grade teacher in the Silver Valley and I taught those same important facts about Idaho.

What I didn’t learn about the Silver Valley as a child or as a first-year teacher was the importance of work ethic. Through conversations with my sister as she has researched the Silver Valley for her novel I have learned that the people in the Silver Valley have always worked hard. My dad worked his five shifts at the Zinc Plant every week, oftentimes was on call in the evening, and moonlighted on week-end nights at the Sunshine Inn to save money for his children to go to college. My mom was a wife, teacher, mother, Sunday School teacher, member of PTA and the local teacher association, and did college courses and workshops. She worked hard.

I was surrounded by adults during my growing up years that also worked hard. It was the acceptable norm for the people in The Valley I knew. Homemakers working at home often did volunteer work, helped out with babysitting, or ran the consession stand at a Little League game. It was rare during those years that I remember a family going on a big trip for a vacation. Many families had a lot up the river or a place at a nearby lake. That was their place to relax.

As a child I did chores, babysat, and had summer jobs once I was old enough. I also worked part-time when I was at college. I just worked because it was what everybody did. When I finished college and began teaching it was a continuation of school and the work involved. I always felt like I needed to work harder to be better. I remember Mom bringing schoolwork home so I knew I would do that. I continued my education in the summers and went back later and earned a Master’s degree. I had high expectations of myself and I worked and worked and worked. I didn’t see it as a job though. I saw it was an extension of my learning.

How did I change my thinking? There was a point in my adult life that I was overworked, overstressed, and exhausted. I went to talk to a counselor. After I shared my concerns she told me something profound. “Everybody doesn’t try to fill a week with as much work as you.” I was alarmed. I think I always felt if I worked harder my other difficulties of life would be fixed. She then asked me about the work ethic of my family. As I began to tell her about my hard-working grandmothers, parents, and people that surrounded me she helped me see that strong work ethic is good, but there needs to be a balance.

My thinking changed that day about my family and the people I knew in the Silver Valley. Everyone in the state, country, and world didn’t work that hard. I had a higher regard for the working people in my life, but also remembered that many of these people played hard. As a child I thought they earned a cold beer, a night out bowling, or a pack of cigarettes. It had been a hard week at work.

It has created a challenge in my life. I am constantly struggling with that balance of work and rest. I am still surrounded by people that have a strong work ethic. There are times I get this feeling in my gut and know there is something else I should be doing. I am focusing on improving that balancing act. I know I can leave work at school that isn’t done. I can stay in the house when it is 100 degrees and not pull weeds and deadhead. It is okay to forgive myself for not reading my whole basket of books for summer learning. Maybe it is because I am older, but I like to think it is because I am wiser.

This post was inspired by Otis' guest post " Remembering Where I Come From" on Mommy Dearest's blog here. I don't wear Red Wings, but "comfortable teacher shoes".

To read other Scribblings about phenomenon you can go here.