A gardening start

The first zucchini has arrived.

Green tomato have engulfed the purple cherokee plant.

There are pickle-sized cucumbers and tiny peppers.

The harvesting season has officially begun.

Alas, I have not had much time for gardening or blogging, as last week was the Imagination Writers Conference at Cleveland State. I spent the week running about to various workshops and craft talks, interspersed with some more running about, as I have decided to take a summer adjuncting job. Classes started last week.

To make sure I had food to take with me, I had Art use the first of the zucchini to make a dish we invented last year, upon a plethora of zucchini. What it really is: zucchini and rice. What we call it so that Garet will eat it: Cheesy Rice. What I refer to it when the kid isn't involved: Stuff.

Cheesy Rice Zucchini Stuff
what you need:
three med. zucchini, shredded
two carrots, shredded
one red bell pepper, diced
2 c. of uncooked brown rice (or 4 c. of cooked brown rice)
about 1 c. of random spaghetti sauce (any tomato sauce will work)
1/2 square bakers chocolate
1 small can sliced mushroom
i can black beans (with liquid)
1 small can diced tomato (with liquid)
1 c. shredded cheese
ketchup and BBQ sauce

1. Cook uncooked rice. I use a rice cooker, because it's easy.
2. Put zucchini, carrot, pepper, rice, sauce, chocolate, mushroom, beans, and tomato in a pot on med heat. Add ketchup and BBQ sauce to taste. Cook on med to high heat until liquid is reduced to your liking.
3. Stir in cheese and serve.

We got the idea for this odd concoction, because, given the large zucchini my mom kept giving to us last summer, we wanted to try out stuffed zucchini. But I didn't want to use breadcrumbs, so I used rice instead. And slowly, the ingredients list veered off course from Italian to Mexican. Mostly because black beans are my favorite. And we were in the mood for chili.

The "cheesy rice" turned out quite tasty and I took a large container in to leave in the faculty lounge frig. However, I only ended up eating it one day. I was too busy eating out with my fellow MFA students, sampling a different cuisine each day. But the stuff still came in handy when we drove home to Michigan for the weekend. Mom never keeps vegetarian options in the house, so the rice got eaten up quite quickly.