More zucchini!

Brit got me the book Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld for Christmas. And although I have my doubts about Jessica Seinfeld (wife of Jerry) actually cooking there are a lot of good ideas in the book. She suggests making vegetable purees to use in recipes and so I took a couple of my zucchini squash and chopped, steamed and pureed.

The next step in measuring it into little bags and freezing it. I'll be sure and share when I use the puree in a recipe.

Stuffed Zucchini

I'm not sure I undersad the spelling of this vegetable...but anyway. These are actually zucchini squash, but it works for regular zucchini too.

Ingredients:

4-6 zucchini

1 cup dry bread crumbs

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 finely chopped onion

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup grated parmesan (another food with an odd spelling)

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350

- Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Cut each zucchini in half and add to pot. Cook until tender, 5-10 minutes. Drain the pot and scoop out the "flesh" of the zucchini, making a boat.

- Combine zucchini flesh, bread crumbs, cheddar cheese, onion, salt, and half of the parmesan cheese.

- Sprinkle remaining parmesan on top and bake for 20 minutes.

A Garage Sale Transformation

I bought this trunk for $8 at a garage sale. I used rust remover on all the metal hardware, you can see in the picture below a before (bottom of handle) and after (top of leather handle).
Here is the final product.

A few Cards

The Bissel gets the Gold

I first borrowed a carpet cleaner like this from my in-laws, then from a friend. It worked well both times so my mom and I went in together and bought this one. It's my new favorite domestic appliance. It hadn't been too long since I last cleaned the carpets but this is what the water looked like when I finished just half of my bedroom.
It was both very satisfying and very disgusting. (And also a little embarrassing now that I'm sharing this...) I love clean carpets. It makes the whole house smell nice. There really is something gratifying about having the house a little cleaner in some way.

For Starters

Richard had several binders left over from his CPA study course and I used one to make this book. I just mod-podged the cover on and tied a ribbon around it. I've subscribed to various magazines over the years and when there is a recipe/craft/article I really like I cut it out and put it in here in a page protector.

The flowers are from my own flower beds. That is quite an accomplishment for me!