Basil!!!

I harvested a ton a basil yesterday for Pesto:

This is just half of it

This is the other half

I made enough Pesto to freeze two containers and give one to my neighbors  who invited us for dinner last night.

Roasted Rosemary Garlic New Potatoes

On impulse, I grabbed a back of new potatoes at the market yesterday.  I seasoned them with fresh rosemary from the garden:

And garlic, olive oil, a little salt and pepper:

Roasted them in the oven on 350 for about 45 minutes:

I served them with some baked salmon and sauteed asparagus.

The potatoes tasted sweet and garlicky - so simple to make but so delicious.

Varmit!!!!

Further Update (7/15/12):

The Moth read on-line that you can deter groundhogs by placing objects that look like predators (like owl statues) in and around the garden.  We didn't really feel like buying an owl statute, so the Moth decided to make his own scary looking predator and put it in front of the squash:

"I will kill you Groundhog!!!!"

I have also sprayed the leaves with hot pepper spray and bought some capsicum-based powder to spread around the area, both of which are supposed to deter critters from eating your plants.  Apparently, groundhogs don't like spicy food.
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Update (7/14/12 - afternoon): 

Later in the afternoon, the groundhog came by again, but our neighbor's kitty was hanging out by the garden.  They got into a staring match until groundhog gave up and ran away.

Good Pippi

The Moth got a photo of her out the living room window, just after she scared off the groundhog.  She is actually a really sweet friendly cat who visits me a lot when I am gardening.  Since our cats don't go outside, it's kind of nice to have a feline gardening companion.  I just worry about her crossing the street from our neighbors house, so I always tell her to be careful and look both ways.

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There has been a sneaky groundhog munching on my the leaves of my squash plant.  Fortunately, he doesn't actually eat the squashes, just the leaves.  But still, we don't want to encourage him.  Both the Moth and I have caught him in the act, but we barely get a glimpse before he's off like a shot - running like mad with his bushy little tail flapping behind him.  Usually, he still has a huge squash leaf hanging out of his mouth as he runs off.  He doesn't seem to touch anything else, but he sure finds those squash leaves tasty.

Today, the Moth finally got photographic evidence.  Here he is creeping over our neighbor's back wall:

Tentatively climbing over:

He then scampers diagonally across her yard and up to the squash plant, which is on the side yard between our houses.

He carefully makes his selection:

And CHOMP!

Hmmmm  ... maybe one of these:

Munch, munch, munch ...

Zucchini-Mushroom Frittata

UPDATE:

Leftovers for breakfast this morning:

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I harvested three more zucchini yesterday evening after I got home from work:

I wanted to make something a little different for breakfast this morning, so I decided on a frittata.  I sauteed onion and garlic in butter first, with a few herbs:

Parsley and Lemon Thyme

And about a third of the small green pepper, I harvested a couple of days ago:

I added sliced zucchini and  mushrooms, threw in a few tablespoons of the cilantro dressing I made last week:

And sauteed the veggies into they were just a little soft.

I whipped up some eggs with a couple of leaves of chopped basil, salt and pepper, Romano cheese, skim milk and a dollop of sour cream.  Then I combined it with the veggie mixture, and poured it into a buttered casserole dish.  I baked that for 25 minutes of 350 and then broiled it for 5 minutes right at the end:

Zucchini-Mushoom Frittata

Served with some homemade salsa on the side:

More pollinating and harvesting

I harvested two zucchini a couple of days ago, which were delicious!  The plant already has four more zucchini that are almost ready to harvest.  Meanwhile, I noticed this morning that there were at least three bumble bees working their pudgy butts off to pollinate the squash plant.  I was happy to see that, because I was starting to get concerned that the squash wasn't getting pollinated.  I even got up early a couple of mornings to manually pollinate the flowers.  Very glad to have that task taken off my hands!

I'm going to let the zucchini and squash get a little bigger before I harvest them, but this evening I did harvest a few more hot peppers:

The little red one is from the black pearl pepper plant.  The peppers start as tiny little purplish peppers, but then (apparently) they turn red.  I just discovered this when I went back thinking it was about time to harvest one of the little purple peppers - only to see it had turned a lovely deep shade of red!  These are considered "ornamental" peppers and there seems to be some difference of opinion as to whether they are suitable for eating.  I guess we will find out!

I Hate Zucchini!

Or at least that's what the MOTH has been telling me for the past eight years.  So, when I decided to include a Zucchini plant in my garden, he was none too happy.

Poor innocent Zucchini plant - so maligned

Then, it started to grow and take over the yard:

And started producing blossoms:

Then, yesterday, I harvested these two babies:

I wanted to make sure my first zucchini dish was something really tasty - mainly so I could say "I told you so."  But I also didn't want to make anything too complicated - something to bring out the natural flavor.

I decided to cut them up into pieces ... 

And roast them in the oven with some tomatoes, onions, herbs, salt and pepper, hot peppers, garlic and a little white wine.

Right at the end, I mixed in a little Parmesan cheese and basil to finish off the dish.  I was hoping I would be able save some to take with me for lunch tomorrow:

Yeah - not happening.  By the end of the evening, the whole dish was gone ...  Apparently, we don't hate zucchini anymore.

Pesto Chicken and Roasted Veggies

I finally got around to harvesting a bunch of my basil, which has been growing like crazy and starting to go to seed.
 

About Four Cups of Basil

I made a big batch of Pesto, using almonds instead of pine nuts, some Parmesan cheese, a few tomatoes and olive oil.

Then I marinated some chicken breast - I decided to splurge and buy locally grown organic chicken, which is about three times the cost of the chicken we usually buy on sale.

I also decided to make a roast vegetable dish to accompany the chicken, so I made a dressing from fresh herbs, red onion, garlic and lime juice:

And mixed it with a variety of chopped vegetables (red and green peppers, asparagus, carrots, tomatoes), which I roasted in the oven:

I browned about half the chicken with onions and garlic and then added some homemade stock and white wine to finish it off.  Then served it with a side of the roast veggies:

The chicken in particular was amazing - using the organic chicken made a huge difference.  Luckily, we still have a batch of marinated chicken left over for another meal.