Me vs. the zucchini

I am a one-note wonder in the summer, and that note is vegetables. If there were a reality TV show that consisted of nothing but various people competing to find something to do with all the squash coming out of their garden, I would totally watch that. I really don’t care if no one else is interested in hearing about my vegetables. This is all about me.

Here’s how it’s going so far. I went to North Carolina for a week and understandably fell behind. Every year I forget how many cucumbers just one plant can create, let alone two zucchini plants and two summer squash. Also, while I meant to buy six poblano pepper plants, I ended up with six jalapenos instead.

I had big plans for today, and then I might have kind of sprained my ankle. Yeah, I did that while I was in the backyard trying to create some kind of protective barrier to keep the cats out of my raised beds. Yes, the cats. Don’t ask what they do in the raised beds.

At any rate, even with the sprained ankle, I’m counting today as a victory. I used three cucumbers making these fridge pickles with dill and onion. The downside is I’m pretty much the only one in my family who eats them.

 I used just one, over-large zucchini making two loaves of zucchini bread. Good news: I can give one loaf away and make more.

The jalapenos! It’s the All-Star break, so some home-made jalapeno poppers, baked instead of fried, seemed like a good idea. First time I tried this recipe and these were delicious. The cheddar cheese melted all out onto the cookie sheet, which was perfect.

Which all sounds good, except here’s what I have left in the house still:

Which doesn’t count what’s waiting for me up at the community garden. Next up, zucchini tater tots. I am injured, but not yet defeated. I am, undoubtedly, obsessed.