Garden Update: Day 134

It's so HOT here today but I knew I had to do some re-potting today.  5 plants needed it badly.  In fact, I should have re-potted weeks ago.

My squash and zuke plants were really crying for more room and more soil.

Here's the poor plant.

Before re-potting I cleaned off the plants and got rid of all the dead leaves at the bottom.  I also noticed one squash was completely covered in some sort of mold.  Not sure why but the squash shriveled up and died. :(

I have 1 zuke on the plant.

I have 2 small healthy squash.

I also re-potted my red pepper plant.  Look how tall it is?  

I put the red pepper plant in a bigger pot.  It doesn't look so tall now that it's in a bigger pot.  LOL

I used a lot of my potting mix for the plants.  I have a little bit left over in the bag but not much.

Here's my gardening gloves.  It was better wearing the gloves so I didn't prick my hands on the zuck or squash.  They have some prickly parts.  LOL

Some stacked pots.

I re-potted my marigolds.  They looked like they needed some more room too.  Now they have plenty of room.

The rose plant keeps getting bigger and bigger so I re-potted this too so now she has more room to grow.

Best quote I saw today:  "Every Flower must grow through dirt".  How cute is that?

Here's my big boy tomatoes.  Growing bigger and bigger every day.

This is probably the biggest one so far.....it's about as big as a small bathroom cabinet knob.

More tomatoes.....

Here's everyone nicely tucked into their new pots.  :)

Here's the grape tomatoes.  This is my favorite cluster.  It's hard to tell in the photo but I promise they are getting bigger.  haha

My avocado pit has split all around and the skin has come off.  :)  I'm not ready to plant in soil yet.

Johnsontown 4th of July (2013')

Many years ago Nate's dad started having a big 4th of July celebration for family and friends.  Every year, would get bigger and better.  The fireworks were the best around as well.  It was a lot of fun.  The last party we had was back in 2006.  We all missed it, so this year I talked Nate's dad in letting me plan one for this year.  I talked with Ashley and Kristen and we planned everything and invited friends and family to come out.

Ashley made these adorable favors.  They are pretzel rods with chocolate and red, white and blue sprinkles. Then she made twizzler packs that look like firecrackers.  So cute!!  :)

Baby Ella was dressed for the occasion.  How cute is she?

Gene had his garage set up with the tables.  Kristen, Ashley and I all got to work setting it up that way we wanted it.  :)

Kristen picked up the stuff we needed.  She got just about everything we wanted from the dollar store or party city.  We wanted to keep it cheap and simple and that's exactly what we did.

I brought a ball jar and my fireflies sign in case anyone wanted to try to catch some lightening bugs.  I tried to catch some but they kept flying up to high for me to get.  :(

Here's the game table Kristen set up.  We had hoolahoops, beach balls, croquet, bubbles, bocce and more. The bandana table cloth, Kristen sewed together.  It's awesome!!  We can totally use it during parties for the summer.  It's so cute.  It would be the perfect blanket for a picnic too.

Kristen gave everyone a name tag to wear.

We had flaggy decorations and sparklers.  We ended up having sparklers left over.  Hopefully, we can use them for something.

Here's a patriotic cake that Gene picked up from the store.  

We had smores too.  :)  

Here's Dave and Daniel roasting marshmallows for us.  Daniel makes them a perfect graham cracker brown. I don't like mine burnt.  Kristen loves hers burnt.  LOL

Here's 1 of the smores I ate.  :)  YUM!  I kinda wished I had one right now.  :)

Garden Update: Day 131

Today is day 131 of my container garden.  :)

I'm not sure how many more zukes or squash I'm gonna be able to harvest.  I still have a few left on the plant that are still very small.

Here's the garden.....

I was able to pull off zucchini number 5 this morning.  :)  (Lens fogged from the heat)

My big boy tomatoes are still growing...

More tomatoes...

My daisies in the front flower bed have exploded like crazy.  :)

Earlier today, I took my dad a zuke and squash because I know he'll love to eat them.  I checked his garden.  He's got several green tomatoes and a few tiny squash growing.  He also has several flowers, carrots and zuke plants growing.  Hopefully, he'll be able to harvest them.

Oreo Bomb Pie

The other day on Pinterest I came across a recipe for a delicious oreo cake.  I bought the stuff I needed for it yesterday at the grocery store.

You will need:

*Oreo Cookies (I used the Wegmans brand b/c personally I feel they are better....I wanted reduced fat but as usual they were sold out)

*Fat Free Cool whip  (you will feel less guilty....thawed)

*Fat Free Milk

*Chocolate syrup (optional)

I see that this dessert is called several different names.

Oreo Bomb Cake

Oreo Icebox Cake

I'm calling mine.....Oreo Bomb Pie.  Why not?  I figured 'pie' since I'm using a pie dish.  :)

First, you dip your cookies into milk.

Then lay cookies in your pie dish.

Cover with cool whip and repeat.  I got 2 layers.  If you use a cake pan you will get 3 layers.

Once it's covered in cool whip you will cover with foil and then place in the fridge and don't touch it until the next day.

This afternoon, I pulled it out of the fridge and put some crushed oreo cookies and chocolate syrup on top.

Cut a slice.....

And enjoy.....and yes you will go back for seconds.  It's THAT good.  :)  The cookies are nice and soft and it's just really tasty.  I love this!  The husband is going to love this for dessert tonight.

Baked Zucchini

I got this HUGE newborn baby size zucchini from a co-worker last week.  I decided to use it for dinner tonight.  

Here's the zucchini on the left.  My zucchini I've grown is on the right.  LOL  :)

I found this blog with a recipe for frying zucchini.  Instead of frying though, I baked mine.

First, mix up your batter and pour into a coating tray.  Add your panko crumbs to a tray.  After that cut up your zuke, and add to a tray.

Zucchini added to the tray.  Then start the process...... Zuke, coat in batter, then coat in panko crumbs.

On a foil lined cookie sheet with pam spray add your coated zucchini.  I decided to bake the zukes instead of fry b/c they taste the same and it's just better for your health than fried is.  Win win!  :)

Bake at 450 degrees until browned to your liking.

Sprinkle immediately with some Parmesan cheese.  Serve with Lemon Aioli, or Ranch Dressing. 

For the batter:

1 1/2 cups of club soda

3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1 tsp salt

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp black pepper

Whisk the dry ingredients into a small bowl.  Then whisk in your club soda until everything is well combined. Once mixed add the batter to a coating tray and coat your zucchini individually.  After the zukes are coated with the batter add to the tray with the panko bread crumbs and coat each side.  Add the coated zukes to a baking sheet.  Bake your zukes on 450 degrees until brown.  I flipped mine half way to make sure each side was browned.  Serve hot with parm cheese and a dipping sauce.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Seed planting and Zucchini #4

I'm on stay-cation this week.  It's nice to take time off from work and do nothing.  I have stuff planned to do around the house and one of the things I wanted to do today was plant something I couldn't plant last year.

Last year, when I looked for pumpkin seeds a worker at a garden store told me the best time to plant pumpkins in Virginia are 4th of July week.  I saved seeds from my pumpkins last fall and I figured I would save them to plant during the week of 4th of July.

Here's the pumpkins seeds.  I saved 'Pie pumpkin' and 'Jack pumpkin' seeds.

I then went to the shed and got my seeds and pots ready.

I planted a few pie pumpkin seeds in the bigger pot and then the a few jack pumpkin seeds in the two smaller pots.

I checked on my container garden to make sure everything was good.  I noticed one of my zucchini plants was leaning over so I staked the plant.  Then I noticed that there was a zucchini ready to be harvested.  It snapped right off.  This is zucchini number 4.  :)  I have 2 more on the plant that will be ready in a few days.

Here's my freshly picked zuke.

Beautiful growth... 

In case you were wondering what type of soil I use.....

I use Miracle Gro potting mix for container gardening.

The other day I asked Nate to pick me up a bag of soil and he got me this moisture control container soil.  I haven't used it yet but I will.

After my pumpkins were planted I brought them inside and watered them.  I'm going to start them inside until I feel they are ready to be put outside since I'm starting them from seed.  With the bad summer storms we get in Virginia I want the plants to be stronger and fuller until I put them outside.  And I will know they are safe inside.  :)

Here's the pots.  Now grow little seeds.  I want some PUMPKINS!  :)

Remember my tomato rock I painted??

I decided to paint a pumpkin on this little rock.  :)