Oh for the love of Corn...

I have to say one of my favorite things about the summer is fresh corn. Eating it right off the cob it really can't get any better then that...or could it. How about fresh from the garden corn. Last year we tried growing some in our veggie garden. Unfortunately we did not get to eat any because of a squirrel or deer (we aren't really sure which one) eating the whole crop.

It was fun last year watching the corn at least grow that we decided to try it again this year. So far so good but the other day when I went out to check on stuff...someone is starting to eat the corn again. I think because of the extremely wet summer we have had things have not been growing that well. The corn isn't completely grown yet but I decided to pick one...so I can at least try it this time.

I have to say it was OK nothing that exciting...it wasn't as sweet as I was hoping it to be. I am hoping that is because it wasn't completely grown and needs that extra time to get the sweetness going. Maybe if we try it again next year and start a little bit earlier we might have some luck finally. If anything it is at least fun to see corn growing in our garden.

Garden Update

We are doing a garden again this year but so far I am a little worried about it. With all the rain we have been having this year it is amazing things aren't water logged. Also we planted later this year then last year and bought our plants instead of starting from seeds. That we due to the arrival of our little sweet William. Next year I think we will go back to starting the plants from seeds.

Bell Pepper

Jalapeno Peppers
Tomato
Zucchini

My First Harvest.

It wasn't too long ago when I shared the picture with you of our first siting of a zucchini. We had a lot of rain the other night so I went out in the morning to check on the garden. I was up a little bit worrying about it getting flooded again. To my surprise there it was full grown and ready to be picked. I was so excited and couldn't wait to tell everyone. I wasn't going to pick it yesterday but then realized I didn't have a good veggie to make for dinner...it was so nice to go out to the garden and realize that I did in fact have a veggie to make for dinner.

Zucchini still on the plant.

Fresh picked and sitting on my front step (I wanted to get a picture of it with my son but he almost tossed it down the steps)

Cut up and being sauteed in the pan.

There really isn't anything like the taste of a fresh picked vegetable and I can't wait for everything else to start popping up. I know we will soon have a bunch of yellow squash ready to be picked...which of course I will keep everyone updated on that.

Zucchini, Onion, & Basil Pizza

The inspiration for this recipe came from William Sonoma's June 2008 catalog. One of their featured items is the Beehive Pizza Oven. It's way over my price limit, but now that I have my Pampered Chef Bar Pan, who needs a pizza oven?! =)

Anyhow, the farm stands have also opened upstate and although I have a ton of veggies growing in my garden, they aren't quite ready for the picking. Well, not entirely true, the lettuce is ready and we have a few cukes that are small but very edible! We made our first salad the other night!

Zucchini & Basil Pizza - my modified version below

Ingredients:
1 green zucchini, sliced 3/16 inch thick
1 Vadalia Onion
1 Tbs. EVOO
Olive Oil Spray
4 tsp. Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
One store bought pizza dough
4 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
6 large fresh basil leaves, torn

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, stir together the zucchini, 1 Tbs. oil, salt (1 Tbl) and fresh ground pepper. Let stand for 5 minutes, then drain off the excess liquid. Place pizza dough round on a sprayed Large Bar Pan from Pampered Chef. Lightly spray the dough with olive oil and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the dough. Sprinkle the mozzarella on the dough and top with the zucchini and onions. Transfer the pizza to the oven and bake for 18 minutes and then low broil for about 5 minutes (to ensure top of crust is cooked through). Place torn pieces of basil on top. Cut into slices and serve immediately.

Review: Another wow! I really enjoyed this and kept saying it over and over to Rocco. A perfect summer pizza with just the right amount of flavoring. The zucchini and onions were sweet and just a delight. My only downer is that I used store bought (fresh) pizza dough and the last time I made pizza I got it down on Arthur Ave. at Madonia Brothers Bakery and you can actually taste the difference in the dough!

It is So CUTE!!

A little while back I posted about our vegetable garden that we are growing with my neighbors. It is very exciting stuff to grow something from a tiny little seed. We even had a little scare of it all washing away after a really really heavy rain storm. Thankfully we built the mounds/hills and the plants weren't hurt. After the same storm I spotted two little bunnies eating around our garden. It was a good thing we put up the fence because otherwise I think they would have eaten our plants.

Yesterday I went out to check on the garden and see if everything was ok. We were getting a little concerned about our zucchini plants because a bunch of the blossoms were falling off. After a little Internet research I found out that it was the male blossoms that tend to just fall off after they pollinated the female blossoms...hmmmm. Then I found our first little zucchini growing under those giant leaves. I am happy that we will get at least one zucchini out of all this and hopefully I will be posting later this summer that I am totally sick of the green stuff.

The garden just after it was planted (sorry for the fuzzy picture)

Picture of the garden from a couple of days ago.

My two little bunny friends

The great flood of 2008

Our first Zucchini spotting.

The Garden

When we moved into our house last year it had a little veggie garden. Our next door neighbor was kind enough to give us a bunch of tomato plants which gave us very yummy tomatoes. This year we made the garden at least twice it's size and with the help of my neighbors across the street...the Santolfi (a combo of our last names) Garden was born.


One rainy day a couple of months ago we all got together and planted the seeds in little pots. I think about two weeks ago we put them into our garden. We have planted in the garden cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, and corn. We also have planted in little pots herbs and some lettuce.

Our old garden

Mike working on the new garden

The new garden complete with plants

The other side of the garden (our tomato plants)

I found a zucchini blossom yesterday!!

I am very excited about having fresh vegetables this summer and have started to think of all different recipes I could make with the products of our labor...stay tuned because of course I will keep you all updated!