Quiche Anita

In an attempt to use up all my basil, I've been looking for recipes to incorporate a lot of basil. I googled a quick quiche recipe and just added tons of basil leaves to it. It's just baked eggs, right? How hard could it be?



Ingredients:

• Basil leaves
• 5-6 eggs
• half n half or cream (I used low fat milk)
• 1-2 cups of shredded cheese of choice
• garlic
  
• pie crust
  
• salt, pepper, nutmeg
  

I used Pepperidge Farm puff pastry instead of pie crust because I really just don't like pie crust. I also think the puff pastry is lighter and cooks up more quickly. Unfold the crust and lay it into the dish.


Blend the ingredients together using a blender for 2 minutes.


Pour the mixture into the dish.


Bake for 45 minutes. Allow to cool on the rack. I didn't have a tart pan which is why I used this dish. I like the way it turned out because it looks like a "country" chicken pot pie.


This can be served as a main course with some tomato salad or as a side dish.

Enjoy!

10 Things to Do with Zucchini

Both my husband's mother and some readers have commented that they don't know what to do with zucchini.

1. Throw a zucchini party!
2. Fried tempura
3. Ratatouille
4. Zucchini Bread
5. Stir Fry
6. Bi Bim Bop
7. Zucchini Cheddar Biscuits
8. Grilled
9. Steamed with butter - boring!
10. Any ideas?

Record Breaking Zucchini

Found hidden amongst the leaves was this monstrous zucchini today! It's about 9" long and 4" in diameter.

Zucchini Flowers w/Fresh Mozz and Basil

I have often been curious of zucchini flowers. They seem so delicate that I was intimidated to try recipes that involved stuffing them. It seemed like too much work for such a small bite. With lots of male zucchini flowers in the garden, I just couldn't let them go to waste.



Ingredients:

• Zucchini flowers (with or without stems)
• Basil leaves
• Fresh Mozzarella cheese
• Olive Oil
• Batter
  

Snip some zucchini flowers by the stem with a pair of scissors. If the flowers fall off the stem, that's okay. You can still use them. Rinse out each flower and remove the stamen.


Cut up some fresh mozzarella into long chunky pieces. Wrap a basil leaf around the cheese.


Then stuff the flower with the cheese and basil. I knew this was going to taste delicious already!


Lay them aside and prepare your batter.


I couldn't find my tempura batter, so instead I used Bisquick, 1 egg and low fat milk. The batter should be very runny and just coat the flower.


In a non-stick pan (I use a wok for everything), add some olive oil and turn the heat up to medium. With your fingers, roll each stuffed flower in batter and gently place it into the oil.


After 2 minutes, turn each one to cook the other side. The stems come in handy when you are trying to turn each flower. Chopsticks make turning easier too.


Remove them from the pan and lay them on a paper towel. Arrange on a plate and serve! I arranged these into a "bouquet" of flowers with the basil leaves.



ENJOY!

In the Garden Today...

As of today we have had:

• 19 eggplants (3 white ones)
  
• 5 tomatoes (cherry tomatoes don't count)
  
• 26 English cucumbers (but I've lost count now)
• 2 lemon cucumbers
• 6 zucchinis
• 4 ears of corn
  
• 6 very sad carrots
• sugar snap peas, snow peas and edamame

A Different Type of Flower

Not quite from the garden, but still a flower and "to the table". My girlfriend Renee is pregnant with identical twin girls! For her baby shower, I made her these "baby bunches" using wipes and socks. She loved them!



Fold the wires in half and then wrap it around the flower and twist. It is much easier this way than the way I did last time by trying to twist one end of the wire to the flower. It also makes it easier for mommy-to-be to undo them afterwards.



Also, these terry cloth wipes were much easier to twist into flowers than the rigid cloth that I used last time. I love these because occasionally there will be a bear or flower that sticks out.



Using little socks, I rolled these little buds. They are so cute.



Then I held them together and arranged it how I liked before wrapping the ends with floral tape.



I added some tulle to fluff it up and some ribbon. And there you have it! A happy mommy-to-be!


(blouse from Anthropologie)

TGIF!

Far be it for me to decide, but I suspect I'm gonna have a lot of salsa this summer! These are the heirloom tomatoes.



2 more of the white eggplants. I'm going to grill them this weekend.



The bell peppers are getting bigger. They are about 2.5" long now.



My roses are looking beautiful!





We have a new dahlia! It's so pretty.