From our Garden

I just had to share this huge cucumber that came from our garden.  It made for the perfect food vessel.  This year we planted our garden with just a few things.
We have 5 tomato plants, 6 cucumber plants, 3 pepper plants, radishes, and 6 different types of herbs.  Four of the herbs we planted are perennial.  We also had some plants pop up from last years garden.  The cucumber we planted this year were the English Type.  The one in front of the huge one is the green English and the huge one is the While English.  This cucumber was 26 1/2 inches long, 12 1/2 inches around and weighed 7 1/2 lbs.  Can you imagine??  So when we cut it open it had a large hole in the center (I think that was because it was way over ready)  So I thought that would make a perfect place to put some food.  :)
Here is it stuffed.

I just made some chicken salad and put it in the center then when I cut it i had a piece of cuc with every bite.  I could also have cut it length wise and filled it that way, but this way it fit on the plate just right.
Thanks for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do All the things You Love.
Donna

Basil Lemon Roast Chicken

This is a very quick and easy dish to make.  You could stuff the chicken if you wanted but I made this one empty.

Ingredients:
1 large chicken ...think this one was about 3 1/2 lbs.
1 whole lemon
2-3 stems  fresh basil
2 fresh thyme springs
salt and pepper

Preheat oven 375°
Rinse the chicken and pat dry.  Place in a roasting pan, put a little salt inside the
cavity, the loosen the breast skin and place a thin slice of lemon and some basil between the skin and the meat.  Squeeze some juice on top then put the rest of the lemon and basil inside the cavity.  Put in oven uncovered and bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.  Test with thermometer for internal temp to be 160° - 175° and juices run clear.
With the drippings from the chicken you can make a nice gravy.  Just add some cornstarch or coconut flour *(low carb) to some water then to your drippings.  Add some thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
You can serve this with so many things for a quick meal.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find The Time to Do all the things YOU love.
Donna

Tilapia With Italian Cheese Sauce

When we were at Sam's last week I saw this cheese and had to buy it because I just knew it would be good on so many things.  It's called Bruschetta, it's Monterey cheese with italian seasoning mixed throughout.  Well I was right it's delicious on Tilapia, hamburgers, hot dogs, in omelets and makes a wonderful cheese sauce, so bet it would be good in  a Mac and Cheese dish.  This sauce is so quick to make and is also "Low Carb".  The recipe below makes enough for 2 pieces of fish.  The fish above I fried in a pan with some olive oil and butter and sprinkled Italian Seasoning on top.  Comes out nice and brown with a little crunch.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz of Bruschetta cheese
1 oz of cream cheese
1/4 cup or less of heavy cream

Melt all in sauce pan and serve over fish.

Now wasn't that easy.  This was one of those short, sweet posts.  This time of year it's too hot to be in the kitchen for long so finding quick recipes is wonderful.  Have a great day and Remember to Find the Time to Do ALL the things you love.
Donna

Healthy Muffin

Been trying to eat a bit more healthy these days and there are times you want something that is yummy but also can be healthy.  I made these without using any White Flour.  Ya know what they say it's not that good for you...that's why it tastes so good.  :)  But to my surprise these were really yummy.  Could be because there is so much stuff in them.  They go together quickly so you could make them on the weekend and I would think they would freeze well.  The recipe looks long and has a lot of ingredients but trust me you'll have them made and in the oven in no time.  I do think next time I make them I will add raisins.  I didn't this time because my son in law won't eat them.

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (I made mine own by just putting oats in the food processor)
1/3 cup almonds finely ground
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
2 carrots shredded
2 banana's mashed
1 apple grated (I used red delicious b/c that's what I had)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 slice of jellied cranberry mashed
 about 2 TBL of the cranberry juice

Preheat oven to 350°
In a large bowl mix the banana, egg, oil and sugars.  Add the vanilla, sour cream, cranberry and cranberry juice.  Combine the flours, nuts, salt, baking soda, baking powder and all the dry spices.  Add the carrots, and shredded apple to the wet ingredients.  Then add the dry ingredients to the wet.  Don't over mix.  Put into muffin line tins and bake for about 20 minutes.  This made 16 regular size muffins.
Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful day and Remember to Find the Time to Do All the things You Love.
Donna