This recipe has been updated and moved to the new blog.
You can now find it here: Zucchini Oat Bread on The Creekside Cook
Zucchini Oat Bread
Take it outside!
We’re getting to the time of year when good photos of the food I’m cooking becomes more of a challenge. I never use the flash, so I need lots of natural light to make things look right. It is not such a problem for desserts or snack type recipes, because those will usually be eaten later anyway. But it is different for those times I plan on having dishes for dinner the same day I cook them. Larry has some objections to eating dinner at 10:30AM, not the least of which being that he is at work then. So, I cheat. I go outside.
I took this photo on the little table Larry built for our backyard. I pot up plants here and it’s a handy spot for the laundry basket because the clothesline is close by. And, bread looks nice on it too. This is Zucchini Oat Bread – I’ll put up the recipe in a few days.
This mixture of scallions and celery were the start of a soup. I took it out on the back porch. If you crop things just right, no one can even tell that there is a gas grill, a can of OFF!, and a pair of soggy gardening gloves nearby.
A couple weeks ago when I posted this recipe for Peach Cobbler, you probably thought – “Wow, Donalyn sure has a nicely lit kitchen!” [don’t try to fool me – I know that is what you were thinking!] Nope – I have a nicely lit porch. [the soggy garden gloves had been replaced by a compost pail and a tennis ball.]
What a nice rustic shot of some veggies getting ready to join forces with the onions and celery from the shot up above, and become Garden Chicken Chowder. One of my neighbors actually slowed down to gawk as I was taking these shots. They are used to odd behavior from me – laying on my back to get an interesting shot of a flower in my garden, weeding the daylilies in pajama pants and crocs – you would think photographing plates of vegetables on my back porch would barely elicit a second glance, right? Not so – this was something new apparently. And I have to admit that there is not a whole lot of excitement way out here in the country, so we have to use our imaginations when it comes to entertainment. Or, you can just drive by my house I guess.
And sometimes when I’m out there, rearranging a rapidly cooling dinner so that it will look just right on my blog, I spot something that belongs outdoors and get a nice shot of that too.
So – now you know all of my secrets. If you want to try this yourself, it’s important to remember that too much light is just as bad as not enough, so you don’t want glaring midday sun. Open shade on a bright day is best. Just make sure to wave to the nice neighbors as they drive by.
Posted in photos
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Sesame Green Beans
Due to Larry’s forward-thinking late planting of green beans, we are still getting enough for a couple meals a week. Maybe it is knowing that they will soon be gone for another year that makes us savor every bite – or maybe it is this recipe! I used to make these for the girls when they were little. Not that I had to gussy up veggies to get them to eat theirs – freakish children that they were, they loved vegetables. Except lima beans – nothing I did with them convinced them that those were edible. It’s too bad we didn’t have Riley then, because he would have been happy to scarf down surreptitiously delivered limas. He loves green beans too [who could forget this?], but he didn’t get any of these.
To get started, wash, and cut the ends from about a pound to a pound and a half of fresh green beans.
Put a couple cups of water in a 12 inch saute pan and bring to a boil. Spread the beans evenly in the pan, cover and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir the beans to redistribute them evenly in the pan, cover again and cook another 3 minutes. [these will be very crunchy still at this amount of cooking time – if you like your beans a bit less al dente, then let them go another another couple minutes] Remove from heat and drain, then empty the beans into very cold water to stop the cooking – I use my sink, but a bowl will work. When the beans are cool, spread them out on a kitchen towel to remove most of the water – they don’t have to be dry though.
Wipe out the saute pan and heat two tablespoons olive oil. To the oil, add 2 tablespoons raw sesame seeds. Shake the pan to spread them out and allow to cook for about a minute, over a medium flame. Reduce heat to low and add a large clove of garlic, minced finely. You want the garlic to cook without turning brown, so keep an eye on it. After about 2 minutes, add a couple tablespoons dark sesame oil and cook another minute. Add 1/4 cup Tamari sauce [Tamari is a fermented soy bean sauce, similar to soy sauce. You can use soy sauce if you like, but Tamari has a much better flavor in my opinion, and is well worth finding. I get mine at the health food store usually.] Stir and cook briefly and then add the beans, turning frequently with tongs, until they are hot through.
These are great hot, at room tempurature and even cold, where they take on a more salad-like quality because the beans will still be nice and crunchy. Enjoy!
Posted in recipes
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Squish Squash
It is starting to get really beautiful around here now. The colors lure me and my camera outdoors, even when I should be doing something else. Look at this – right at the edge of our field:
But wait a minute – what is that?
That, my friends is squash.
A lotof freakin squash. You might end up with this much squash if you were extremely busy back in the spring and kind of lost track of how much and what kind of squash you had already planted. So, just to be on the safe side, you planted a little more.
A nice variety don’t you think?
I may have to change the name of this place to “The Squash Recipe Blog”
Oh yeah – I’d like you to meet our new friend, Hugo S. Hubbard. Riley will not be pleased by this development. 
So, c’mon people – give me some winter squash recipe ideas in the comments. I need inspiration!
Posted in garden, photos
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Summer’s last offering
The very last thing to bloom for me each year are these crazy, extravagant little things. They are commonly called Toad Lilies, but the botanical name is Tricyrtis hirta. They bloom so late that some years an early frost does them in before the flowers can open. This year, they are actually a bit early – because of all the rain during the summer I imagine. They seem to think they need to really close out the year with a bang, so they have spots, and rings and stuff that sticks out and fuzzy parts.
A nice final hurrah, if you ask me.
Posted in garden, photos
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