She’s experimenting with new art supplies — tortillons, charcoal pencils, water color pencils…

I’m experimenting with new recipes and shutting down my garden before I have landscapers come in to regrade and put in mulched paths.

ZUCCHINNI BAKE

We did this recipe together for a quiche-like bake because I was trying to use up some organic zucchinni and organic yellow crookneck  squash. I think it is her first non-dessert recipe she executed with supervision. I found it at allrecipes.com and just use halfsies instead of all zucchinni.

Julia grated the squashes since she can’t use a sharp knife yet.  We skipped the onion because she insisted that it would make us cry. (She’s going through this anti-onion period.)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup biscuit baking mix
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/4 cup grated onion
• 4 eggs
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 zucchini, thinly sliced (Or grated!)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.
   
2. In a large bowl, combine baking mix, cheese, garlic powder, seasoning salt, oregano, salt, pepper and parsley. Stir in onion, eggs and oil; stir well. Stir in zucchini. Pour batter into prepared pan.
   
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.

PHOTOS

Here’s Julia cooking standing on a stool.  I was also making 5 entrees and sides for a mom with a new baby so we were having a good time wrecking the kitchen!

This is what the batter looked like.  We liked it so much grated, I don’t think I’ll get around to trying this with sliced squashes.

Julia pouring the batter into the 8×8 glass dish.

It took a long meditative period to get the batter smoothed just so…

Fresh out of the oven after baking 30 min at 350 deg.

Mine was fun. Apart from taking child trick-or-treating, we carved our first pumpkins.  Like my child, I’d never done it before so it was new to both of us.

The seeds from the “baby” pumpkins I saved to see if we can grow some for next year.

The seeds from the  big one became snack.

After rinsing them off in a colander, I set them to boil for 10 minutes. The ratio I used was

1 tbs salt: 1 cup water : 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

Boiling in salted water first helps get the seeds salty and not just have the seasoning on the shell.

Then I dumped them into a glass baking pan mixed with

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
• 2 tsp honey (or maple syrup)

I roasted them on the top rack at 400 deg for 25 minutes total and stirred every 5 min.

When they came out I sprinkled them with 1 tsp sugar.

Yum!

• 1 8 oz tub of Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp dried cilantro
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried chives
• 1/2 tsp dried basil

Mix everything together well. Spread on bread and top with onion and tomato or your desired fixin’s. I happen to like it on “Everything” bagels.

An easy, fast, reliable “sick comfort food” type of dish. I’ve been eating it for breakfast for the last few days. The recipe doubles easily.

• 1/2 cup lentils, rinsed, drained, picked over and simmered uncovered in a pot of water for 20 min. When tender, drain.
• 1 lb potatoes, peeeled, chopped, and steamed

For dressing, whisk together:

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs balsamic
• salt and pepper to taste

Chopped green onion to taste for garnish.

If eating right away, just mix it all up. If not, let the dish cool before adding the green onion or they will lose crunchiness.