~Garden Bounty~

Yesterday I was busy in the kitchen, utilizing food from our garden.

I cut chives, and poured melted butter over them. Frozen little cubes of chive butter! I did the same with basil, just with olive oil. I'm looking forward to using these herbs in the fall and winter months.

I'm done canning pickles, but I had a bowl full of cucumbers that would have otherwise gone to waste. I made 4 quarts of refrigerator pickles.

This year we grew watermelon in our garden. First and last time. ;-) Watermelons take a lot of space! They sure are good though! I cut and seeded a watermelon so it is more convenient to eat.

I also washed enough basil for pesto but I didn't get to making it yet. I'll do that today, along with some canning that I plan to do.

~Canning~

Green Beans in the Canner 

This summer has been very hot and dry, but we've still gotten quite a bit of yield from our garden. I just went to our garden this afternoon, and picked almost four pounds of green beans! Our plants don't look like they should be producing anything, but they keep churning out the beans. :)

When I came home from the garden, I looked and looked online to try to figure out what the little yellow Monster's Inc-esque bugs were on our beans. From what I can tell they are squash lady beetles. Apparently, as they eat aphids, they also eat up the leaves too. Hopefully they quickly mature so that they can fly away and leave my beans alone!

So far, I've gotten 21 pints of green beans, 18 quarts and 5 pints of tomatoes, and various amounts of pickles, pickled peppers, salsas, and relish. My jar count is at 129 jars. Whew...and I still have quite a number of things I'd like to can this summer.

I love canning, and when I'm in the immediate process of putting everything in jars, I'm thinking to myself how relaxing it is. And then after I get the piles of dishes done and sit down I realize how exhausting canning really is. ;-) Nonetheless, I do enjoy canning, and it is so nice to have food saved aside for over the winter!

~Honey Cloud Pancake~

I am most decidedly not a Pancake Mom. You know, the mom who whips out pancakes in any size, shape and color? The one who writes names and draws animals? Sooooo not me.

When we have pancakes, the house fills with smoke. Or, if I keep the heat lower so the pan doesn't smoke, the pancakes are raw in the middle. Or burnt on one side. And horribly misshapen. I can't flip a pancake to save my life!

I am not a Pancake Mom.

So yesterday when I asked my daughter a simple question, "What would you like for lunch?" and the answer was "Pancakes!" my heart filled with dread. Until I remembered my favorite oven pancake recipe. I asked my daughter if she'd like an oven pancake and was relieved when the answer was "yes!"

Phew! Dodged that bullet.

Honey Cloud Pancake

Honey Cloud Pancakes are, in a word: awesome. I don't normally like oven pancakes because they are too eggy. This one is still eggy but the fluffiness is wonderful! With the salty, buttery bottom and a drizzle of honey on top the egginess fades to the background. I believe the recipe has been altered by the blog author since I printed it, because I noticed that the recipe calls for 1 egg white and 1 whole egg, whereas I use two eggs. I'll keep my recipe the same, it works for me!

I do have to bake the pancake a few minutes longer than the recipe calls for (maybe it's that extra egg yolk?)  I've made this recipe at least a half-dozen times. It's definitely a keeper!

There you have it! A pancake even a non-pancake mom can make. ;-)