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!

Family Photos

Remember that awesome contest with HI-YA PAPAYA that I posted a few weeks back? Well I actually WON! CRAZY huh! I was super excited because we are in need of some awesome family pictures for our new house ... and we got EXACTLY what we were looking for! THANK YOU SO MUCH to Jesse and Cristi who rock and gave us such awesome photos! Be sure to contact them for your family! They will do an amazing job! Check out a few of my favy's!

Lake Powell ... Changes my life!

Now I can't say that getting to Lake Powell was a great event. It turns out that Chad got an ear infection on Monday, and Adam and I went to the doctor on Tuesday for chest colds. But STILL, we were determined to go! We drove down on Wednesday night and stayed in the Marriott (Thanks to Marn and Erik!) and enjoyed a great nights sleep. We had two wonderful days boating with my two sisters and friends. We also had a great opp to see some of our "besties" from Page. We had to cut the trip short, because of the passing of my uncle (Which was a good passing ... terminal cancer ... late seventies ... it was his time), however regardless of coming home early for the funeral, we were grateful to get home and rest.

Now you ask ... why would Lake Powell be a life changer? I have been vacationing at Lake Powell since I was about 8 years old. The serenity, the beauty, the 80 degree beautiful blue water, and the experiences. When you get away from everything and can just relax and enjoy yourself, you find that you can focus on the more important things of life. Living in Page was also such a life changing experience for me. (Page is the resort town of Glen Canyon Dam, which makes Lake Powell) We met the most incredible people and gained life long friendships. They are simple, wonderful people, who are not judgmental and they don't let the world get in the way of what is important. WHAT A FABULOUS trip to remind me again, of what life is all about!

OH, I forgot to post about that awesome photography shoot giveaway! Can you believe that I won?? Click here to see our awesome family picts! Can't wait to display them in our house!

FINALLY ... an update!

Don't you think it is about time?

Adam and I leave for Lake Powell on Wednesday, so I thought it would be good to give you some updates and pictures of our house.

Here are two of my favorite things on the outside:
Our View

My GardenWe planted Green Beans, Tomatoes, Corn, Peas, Anaheim Peppers, Jalapeno Peppers, Red & Green Peppers, Cucumber, Zucchini, Cilantro, & Pumpkins. The family before us planted a peach tree, potatoes, and had a grape vine! We are starting to harvest little by little, and are LOVING it!

We are still FAR from having everything decorated inside. Not only am I having a hard time deciding how I want everything and what furniture I want, I also have a budget! However each day I make a little progress.

Here is what I chose for my Fridge and Washer & Dryer! Super pleased so far:


Our house is 5 finished bedrooms (potential 6), 3 full bath, 1 half bath, living room, family room, basement room, kitchen, laundry, and a storage room. The house was decorated great before we moved in, however I like to make things my own. I thought I would share with you a few pictures of some things I have changed.

Master Bedroom:
From this
to thisI Purchased 2 antique doors that I am refinishing for my headboard. I also can't wait to replace my SWEET high school furniture with new. & I am thinking stripes?? kinda like this??What do you think?? I hesitate to share my unfinished decorating process on my blog, because I still have a long way to go, however I thought it would be fun to invite you along for the ride!

Next was the back bathroom:
Before was Americana ... cute, but not my style. So I painted it blue! I can't wait to get this from Ballard Designs to hang my laundry! And maybe some cute art like this:(Also from Ballard Designs)

Next is Chad's Room:
They had a set of twins in the room before. Super cute for a boy and girl set of twins:However after the dots were gone, that dark brown on the bottom didn't do it for me. We decided to paint it white for now. I still want to change the color on top, but figured I could live with it for now. Some SUPER cute accessories to show you soon with his room!

Next was my favorite change ... and that was the basement!
Before

After ... With no furniture yet ;)


Lots more to do, but those have been the main focus of my busy summer ... along with lots of fun water fun activities with my kids. Adam has a break for a few weeks from school, so a little vacation is definitely needed! As an end to my VERY long blog post, here is a teaser of the before of my office!The pink was a little much for my style of office (although it was super cute for their little girls) so we painted it all white for now. I am working on some fun plans!
Can't wait to show you what I am doing with my scraproom!

Make and Take today at Roberts!

American Crafts called me a few weeks back and asked if I would go to Roberts Crafts in Orem for a few hours to do a make & take for them. I haven't done one in a long time, so this should be lots of fun.

I didn't design it this time (which actually is kinda relieving), however I will be there with bells and whistles!
Come join me if you get a few minutes and are in the area.
I will be there from 1-3 pm!
See you there.

BTW ... I really hope to update you on lots of stuff in the next few days. Summer is just busy busy busy. I have to remember that the most important thing is to spend the time doing things with my family, and "if time" then to update my blog. Although I am sure my blog readers wish this were different, I have to do what is best for the fam. Thank you all for your great patience! I have LOTS of fun things to post!
M