Zucchini season is not here yet, but before long, it will be here, and I will have enough zucchini to feed an army.

Zucchini and Summer Squash are always part of my veggie planting list, as they do not require too much TLC, and continuously produce throughout the season.

Zucchini make a nutritious vegetable side dish, or a yummy casserole, but I came across, and tried, a great new recipe, for Zucchini and Goat Cheese Fritters.

The first time I tried this recipe, I did not have Goat Cheese on hand, so I used Cottage Cheese instead, and they still tasted great.  My next batch was with PrimoTaglio Garlic & Herbs Goat Cheese, and they were just as delicious.

I made some modifications to the original recipe, by adding other veggies, to suit my taste.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup of scallions, chopped
• 1 medium clove garlic, minced
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 1 Tbs. red peppers, chopped
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 oz. goat cheese (or cottage cheese)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp Black pepper
• Canola oil, for frying

Directions:

1. Wash the zucchini.
2. Shred on a large eye grater, over a colander.
3. Mix in salt, and let the juices drain out.
4. Squeeze out more moisture from this mixture, with your cupped hands over a colander, or you can use cheese cloth, to make them even dryer.
5. Place squeezed zucchini in a medium bowl.
6. Beat egg slightly, and add to zucchini.
7. Sprinkle the flour over the zucchini, and mix it in to incorporate.
8. Mix in chopped scallions, garlic, carrots, and peppers.
9. Mix in black pepper.
10. Fold in cheese.
11. Heat 1 Tbs oil in a sauce pan.
12. Drop 1/4 cup mounds of of zucchini mixture into the hot oil, flattening them with the back of a spoon to form pancakes, and spreading them about 1/2 inch apart, so they don’t stick together, and are easy to turn over.
13. Fry for about 3 minutes on one side.
14. Turn them over, and fry for another 2-3 minutes.
15. Remove them onto a plate lined with a double layer of paper towel, to absorb any extra oil.

Serve them hot with a dollop of sour cream, plain yogurt, mushroom gravy, or as plain as they are.

I love sour cream, but tried to cut down on calories, so I had mine plain.

This year’s early, and quite warm spring, allowed extra time to spend in the garden.

Last fall I divided most of my perennials, to share with family and friends, so this spring I was very busy rearranging my east side flower patches.

I will share new pictures once all the plants get bigger, and begin to blossom.

My sister also loves gardening, and always surprises me with new seeds of popular European flowers.  I am anxiously awaiting this year’s flowers from those seeds, as one of them used to be my mom’s favorite.

Oh yes, there will be more pictures.

My daughter is quite a gardener as well, and this year she started a raised bed herb garden, which I will  share with you in future posts.

The new addition to my west side flower patch is a new flowering plant, called Anemone.

Anemones are perennial plants, hence planted last fall, and are blooming since early May.

This is a close up shot of the pink and white Anemone flowers, for your enjoyment of their beauty.

Aren’t they gorgeous?

I also added some Pink , White, and Yellow Tulips, to this year’s spring flower beds.

Here is a close up of the Pink Tulip, slightly injured by an unexpected frost.

The White Tulips, my new addition as well, are just as gorgeous.  They have much fuller blooms than the regular tulips, and I totally adore them.

The Deep Yellow Tulips are also amazingly beautiful.

These Irises are two years old now, and doing very well by producing larger and fuller blooms.

I hope you enjoyed the display of new additions to my spring garden.

Enjoy your gardening, and share your thoughts and pictures.

This year’s mild winter weather is very favorable for my garden, and my spring flowers.

Isn’t this a gorgeous bloom of a Daffodil?

My mom’s garden used the have lots of White Daffodils with orange rimmed centers.  They were much more fragrant than these yellow ones.

Spring is my favorite season of the year.  I love the fresh air, after a long winter, the vibrant colors of new growth on plants and trees.

It looks like the earth is waking up from a deep sleep, getting ready to show off the beauty of nature.

I planted these hardy Pansies last Fall.  They stayed green and blooming throughout  winter (thus slightly weathered looking), and now are picking up new spring look.

Hardy Viola, also survived the winter with its original foliage and blooms.  Now changing to a more springy shade.

Today’s warmth of the spring sun, coaxed these Crocuses also open up nicely.

How is your flower garden doing in your area?  Any blooms yet, or maybe even more than here?  Please share with us.

This year’s winter, at least in my neck of woods, has been quite mild.

We are already into the second week of February, yet we only had about an inch of snow (a month ago), and the temperatures have been unseasonably warm (even in the 60’s).

This wonderfully warm weather, yet strange at the same time, fooled my spring flowers into coming out of the ground, and some are even blooming.

Here are some pictures of the early signs of spring 2012:

Can you believe all these blooms in February…..

Hyacinths are  poking through….

Isn’t it just amazing how the forming flower bud is so close to the ground?

Crocuses are also waking up….

Daffodils had even an earlier start….

Notice the Daffodil bloom budding already…..way to early…

Barberry bushes are very popular with landscapers for being incorporated into many of their landscape projects.

Apparently the Barberry shrub was first introduced to the US landscaping in the 1800’s, and it still remains very popular today.

Due to its thorny branches, it was used by many as a living fence, or planted in front of home windows, as a deterrent for burglars.

They do add contrast to the color scheme in a landscape, due to their deep red foliage, however, their thorns are very annoying, and merciless.

I have pricked myself so many times with their needle sharp thorns, at trimming time, or whenever I was working around that area, which finally prompted me to dig them up, and replace them with something more manageable, and thorn free.

Also, I could not bear to think that someday one of my grandchildren might get one of these thorns stuck in their finger, and knowing how painful these are, and how difficult to remove, I could not deal with this any longer.

It was time again to trim my shrubs, thus perfect time to finally remove these thorny bushes, once and for all.

It was a labor intense job, since there were six of them to work with, and those thorns still managed to get through my very thick gloves.

I had numerous gardening tools laid out in my front yard to get this job done, since I was determined to use whatever it took, to complete this project successfully.

The operation was a success, and the Barberry bushes were gone.

A week later, I finally decided on a replacement, to fill in the empty spots in my landscaping.

I selected, the above pictured ( innocent looking), Abelia Kaleidoscope bush, which also flowers, with pretty white flowers, during late summer and early fall.

I am very pleased with my selection, and needless to say, I was pricked, one last time, by some small thorny branches mixed in with the landscaping stones (I am so glad I got rid of these annoying bushes).

As I mentioned above, I removed 6 of the Barberry shrubs, and replaced 4 of them withe the Abelia Kaleidoscope bushes in the main shrub landscaping, but the other side needed something less bushy.

For this side of my landscaping I selected 3 very nice ornamental grasses, Lily Turf (variegata), shown above, which also blooms late summer and early fall, with dainty purple flowers, studded on a long stalk.

I will love these next year at trimming time.

Do you have Barberry bushes in your landscaping?

Please share your experience with Barberry bushes.

We all would love to hear your story.

Those of you who love gardening, will agree that this hobby needs careful planning, requires its share of physical labor, and definitely lots of cooperation from Mother Nature, thus favorable weather.

Whenever someone asks me what my plans are for the weekend, often time I am unable to answer that question precisely, because it all depends on the weather.

Since Saturday is my only free day to catch up on my gardening, especially in the Spring and Fall season, and if the weather is great, I am out there during early morning hours, digging in the dirt.

Sunday, on the other hand, is a “Day of Rest”, so I attend church services, spend time with family and friends, have fun and relax.

This year’s Autumn season has been wonderful on several Saturdays, so I had a chance to clean up my flower beds, and my veggie and herb garden, to prepare them for Winter.

My Zinnias are still blooming, thus the gorgeous picture of my favorite Hot Pink Zinnia flower (top picture).

Zinnias are very resilient plants, thus easy to grow successfully.  However, some varieties  grow very tall and require a sturdy steak to support them.  Please keep this in mind when planning to include these beauties in your flower garden.

Roses are another great plant to include in a flower garden, since they continuously produce gorgeous blooms.  Even during their tougher day, when aphids try to “eat them up alive”, they lose many of their leaves, but still manage to produce new flowers.  Just amazing!

This is a display of my Golden Autumn Harvest of remaining veggies and herbs.

About two weeks ago, I completed the harvest of beans, potatoes, tomatoes, and lettuce.  I also, seeded another round of dill, which should still provide a nice crop before the first frost appears.

Flat Leaf Italian Parsley is my preferred parley, over the curly leaf parsley.  I pulled up some of these plants with its roots, since these add a great flavor to soups, and roasting meats ( the roots should be cleared of the stringy small roots, and the outer skin layer needs to be scraped off, before cooking).

These are my Onion Chives, and Garlic Chives.

Garlic Chives turned up coincidentally in my herb garden, as a result of trying to grow garlic from small cloves, which never matured to real garlic heads.  Garlic Chives have a mild garlic flavor, so I use them in salads, and other dishes, along side of Onion Chives, and Dill Weed.

Red Beets are a must in my garden.  I cook many Eastern European foods, so these are a main ingredient in my Traditional Ukrainian Borscht, Botvinka, Red Beet Vinaigrette, and my favorite Exotic Red Beet Salad.

Here are my Basil leaves, and Sorrel leaves.

I picked the Basil leaves off of the stems, rinsed them with cold water, patted them dry, spread them on a paper towel, microwaved them for one minute, then left them out to dry.  Once fully dried up, I crushed them in a food processor, and stored them in an air tight spice container.  Their aroma is much stronger, and fresher, than the manufactured one (and a real money saver).

The Sorrel leaves may be preserved for later use as well. Here again, they need to be rinsed under cold water, patted dry, chopped, placed in a zip lock freezer bag, and may stay frozen for few months.

I usually freeze enough in each bag (2 tightly packed cups), to be used in my Sorrel Borscht (Shchav) recipe.

I had to leave the best for last.

These Green Peppers are the best, because they are totally FREE!

I planted these from the seeds I scooped out from Green Peppers I bought at a farmer’s market for our dinner.  The seeds sprouted nicely, and the plants grew to maturity without much TLC.  Now we can enjoy them stuffed with Bulgur and Turkey, or a Vegetarian recipe.

My garden is almost ready for its winter snooze, but there are still a few more things that will need to be done before then.

Hopefully you enjoyed my gardening pictures, stories, and might even try the linked recipes.

Please share your gardening experience with all our readers.

I already shared the story about my zucchini crop this year,  so now it’s a perfect time to share a zucchini recipe.

I was thinking of posting a Zucchini Bread recipe, but I have been baking a lot lately, so a vegetarian dish sounded more appealing to me.

My sister might like this recipe as well, since she just told me that she is contemplating becoming a vegetarian.

I could be a vegetarian most of the time, but I think I occasionally would miss my poultry and pork dishes.

My mom loved zucchini sauteed with butter, onions, garlic, and some Italian spices.

Today I will share this yummy recipe for Zucchini Casserole with tomatoes, cheeses and Italian spices.

One recipe fills a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini (8 inch long), sliced into thin discs (1/8 inch thick)
• 3 large tomatoes, sliced into thin discs (1/8 inch thick)
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. dry oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dry basil (1/4 cup fresh, chopped)
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 cups Cheddar Cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
• 2 Tbs. butter (or canola oil)
• 1/2 cup Italian Seasoned bread crumbs

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the Cheddar Cheese, Parmesan Cheese, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.
2. Set aside.
3. Grease the casserole dish, or spray with a  cooking spray.
4. Divide the sliced zucchini and sliced tomatoes into two equal parts.
5. Arrange the first half of the zucchini slices in the casserole dish, covering the whole bottom.
6. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese mixture over the zucchini layer.
7. Arrange the first haft of the sliced tomatoes over the cheese sprinkled zucchini.
8. Sprinkle 1/4 of the cheese mixture over the tomato layer.
9. Repeat the zucchini, tomatoes, cheese, layers again.
10. Set aside.
11. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter, over medium heat.
12. Add the chopped onions and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent (2 minutes).
13. Turn off heat.
14. Add the seasoned bread crumbs, and mix until the butter is totally absorbed and onions are mixed in.
15. Preheat the over to 375 degrees F.
16. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture evenly all over the top of the casserole.
17. Cover with aluminum foil.
18. Bake for 20 minutes.
19. Uncover and bake for 20 minutes longer.
20. Let it cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Best served fresh, while the topping is nice and crunchy.

Still great the next day, but the bread crumbs become soft as they begin to absorb the moisture from the veggies.

Enjoy, and share your comments.

If you recall my previous post, this year I planted some Yukon Gold potatoes.

It takes several months for potatoes to fully mature, but I rather use mine when they are very young, and fresh.

Today I dug up several of these potatoes from under the growing plants, and tried to leave the little ones behind to continue to grow, but as you can see some broke away, so I picked them as well.

If you do pick some of the larger potatoes from under the potato bush, you still need to make a soil mound around the plant, as it was before, to protect the still growing remaining potatoes.

Any potatoes exposed to light will turn green, thus not suitable for consumption.  My first crop already produced at least 10 lbs of potatoes, and I still have 4 more potato plants growing.

All this from ONE Yukon Gold potato!  Pretty good deal, wouldn’t you say?

New potatoes are so much tastier than the full grown ones, and best of all, they do not need to be peeled.

The skin is tissue paper thin, and is easily scraped off with a paring knife (the potato juice might stain your fingers).  They also can be cooked with the skin on, and served that way, or scraped off once cooled.

I love new potatoes, boiled, cut up into chunks, and flavored with sauteed butter and dill, with salt and pepper to taste.

My grandma would also serve homemade white cheese (resembling cottage cheese) mixed with sour cream, as a side dish with her new boiled potatoes, plus a cup of fresh buttermilk.  Simple meal, but 100% organic!

I never acquired the taste for buttermilk as a drink, however I do use it in baking and cooking.

Do you like buttermilk?

Did you ever enjoy new potatoes freshly from the garden?

Please share your thoughts, and serving ideas.

My flower garden this year has the usual perennials, and some annuals for additional color splash, with one exception.

My sister sent me some seeds from her Hollyhocks, so I added these to my garden this year, making them very special to me.

Hollyhocks  (Malvy – in Ukrainian) are very popular in Ukraine and Poland, and are mentioned in many of their traditional songs, as well as incorporated into paintings.

I was lucky to plant these in a perfect location, since they turned out to be over 6 feet tall.  I knew they grew tall, but did not realize that they would get this tall.

Having these plants in my garden brings me closer, in thought, to my family in Europe.  The Bumble Bees also love all the nectar and pollen, they find on the numerous flowers.

If you are thinking of planting Hollyhocks in your garden, keep in mind the amount of space these will require, and the constant bee activity you will experience around them.

You definitely would not want to plant these close to an area where you plan to relax, or play with your grandchildren.

Here are some of the pictures of my very tall Hollyhocks:

This Hollyhock bush is very full, but only about 6 ft tall.

This one is the same color, and style, but already over 9 ft. tall.

They grow lots of blooms on each one long stalk.

This dainty white with pink/maroon center, is a heaven for bees.  As you can see there are two of them fighting for the sweet nectar and pollen.

Bumble Bees love this color just as much.  Notice one working hard in the center of this flower.

Last year I did not have good experience with growing my squash and zucchini.  They were overcrowding the rest of my garden plants, so I transplanted them to a different location, and they did not like that at all.

This year I had a better plan, and gave them more growing room in my newly expanded garden patch.

I planted four zucchini plants and four squash plants, but one of my zucchini plants is different from the rest.  It has two tone leaves, and bears same kind of two tone zucchini, as you see in this picture.

This is my “odd” zucchini plant with spotted leaves, and it is a much bigger plant than the regular zucchini plants.

A close up view of the spotted zucchini leaf.

These are my regular zucchini, from seeds in same packet as the spotted one…go figure.

These are my Summer Squash plants; blooming already, but not producing yet.  They had a late start, but it is worth the wait.

I love  zucchini and squash with sauteed fresh garlic and onions.

This year I planted some corn, for the first time.  Hopefully the birds will let them grow to maturity.

I planted the one that is mixed with yellow and white corn on the same cob….should be yummy!

My granddaughter loves getting out the sweet peas out of the pods,  and eating it fresh.  Very sweet tasting little morsels they are!

Please share your gardening experience with all of us.