Mandy Mandy quite contrary, How does your garden grow?

Growing my garden has been life changing this year. It was my first real garden and has been SO much fun.

It was a little chaotic putting it in, because we owned our house, but didn't live in it yet!

I wasn't sure how much space I had so I just kept buying stuff ... and in the end ... I had more than I realized!

We grew:
Tomatoes (Roma, & Early Girl)
Corn
Red & Green Peppers
Anaheim & Jalepeno Peppers
Peas
Green Beans
Grapes
Potatoes
Cilantro
Zucchini
Pumpkins
and we have a peach tree!

YIKES! We have been harvesting a lot in the last few weeks, and tonight I made a GARDEN DINNER so I thought I would share with you some yummy recipes of what we are making with our little harvest!

First, Adam (my husband) doesn't care for peppers, unless Salsa is in the picture. I had a TON of green peppers I didn't know what to do with, so I decided to try to make STUFFED PEPPERS.
They are basically peppers stuffed with rice and hamburger! I know, sounds a little weird, however they were pretty good, and the family ate them. Although they were good, they didn't CHANGE MY LIFE, so I'm not going to post the recipe. However after making them I found a recipe on familyfun.com that looked better than mine. You can look at that one here!

CORN has grown really well for me, and although I am totally satisfied with just eating corn on the cob, I thought putting a little bit of corn in my CORNBREAD MUFFINS would be yummy, and a get in another serving of veggies!

SWEET CORNBREAD MUFFINS
By Lara Wolford

Ingredients:
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
optional (1/4 cup fresh or frozen corn)
Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the whole milk, eggs, butter, and honey. Add the wet to the dry ingredients and stir until just mixed.

Drop the batter into muffin paper liners in a 12-cup muffin tin. Bake for 15 minutes, until golden.

Last, but certainly not least has been my ZUCCHINI! I only planted one plant and it is going CRAZY! My family is tired of ... ZUCCHINI BREAD, even though it is REALLY yummy, so I tried something different tonight for dessert, and WOW was it a winner! ZUCCHINI BROWNIES!!! I found the recipe again on allrecipies.com. I didn't put the nuts or the frosting on. Here is the recipe I used and LOVED

ZUCCHINI BROWNIES
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch baking pan.
In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched.

AND for your information!
ZUCCHINI BREAD
(This is my mom's recipe!)

3 Eggs
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Oil (optional: substitute applesauce)
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Soda
3 Cups Flour
¼ tsp Baking Powder
3 tsp Cinnamon
3 tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Zucchini Squash, grated fine
1 Cup Chopped Nuts (optional)

directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream Eggs and sugar. Mix in oil. Then mix all remaining ingredients together. Put in loaf pan. Bake for 50 Minutes or until toothpick comes clean. Makes 2 loafs

Oh and we can't forget BAKED ZUCCHINI! We dipped ours in ranch and they were really good, and pretty healthy! (I got the recipe from allrecipes.com)

BAKED ZUCCHINI CHIPS

2 medium zucchini, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 egg whites
Directions

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C).
In one small bowl, stir together the bread crumbs, pepper and Parmesan cheese. Place the egg whites in a separate bowl. Dip zucchini slices into the egg whites, then coat the breadcrumb mixture. Place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 5 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn over and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, until browned and crispy.

The only other GARDEN RECIPE I would love to share with you is my

GREEN BEANS ...

I put in a handful (after I have popped off the ends and divided them in pieces. Then put in some chopped onion, garlic, and either a little butter or olive oil. I saute them until they start to cook, and add a little water to make sure they don't burn. Salt and Pepper those babies and they surely they will CHANGE YOUR LIFE!

A garden has been loads of work, but SO much fun and my husband has gotten SO excited about eating veggies this summer. It was worth every weed pulled, and effort made to have it!

Please use my recipes, however if you do try them, PLEASE let me know what you think :) OH and if you have questions, please email me!