Garden of Eden?

Baked Chicken and Zucchini

Our little garden spot is certainly no Garden of Eden. But it is still struggling along, no thanks to me and much thanks to my husband. Our zucchini are still producing, though they've slowed down a bit. (You definitely don't have to turn away from me if you meet me on the street. I don't have extra to give away these days.)

The tomato plants appear to be on their last leg. (My Dad says it's spider mites.) So it was time to unearth these recipes before fresh veggies from our garden are mere memories of summertime goodness. 

Both recipes are from my friend, Kim Volker. She is a true gardener, so she has to figure out tasty ways to use buckets of produce. These recipes definitely qualify. Hope you enjoy them, too!

Baked Chicken and Zucchini

1 egg
1 tbsp. water
3/4 tsp. salt, divided
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 cup dry bread crumbs or cracker crumbs
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
5 medium zucchini, sliced
4 medium tomatoes, sliced
1cup (4 oz.) shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 tsp. fresh minced basil

In shallow bowl, beat egg, water, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper. Set aside 2 tablespoons of bread or cracker crumbs. Place the remaining crumbs in a large resealable plastic bag. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then place in bag and shake to coat.

In a skillet, cook chicken in 2 tablespoons of oil for 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown; remove and set aside. In the same skillet, saute zucchini in remaining oil until crisp-tender; drain. Transfer to a 13- by 9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the reserved bread crumbs over the zucchini. Top with tomato slices; sprinkle with 2/3 cup mozzarella cheese, basil and remaining salt. Top with chicken.

Cover and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 10 minutes longer or until cheese is melted.

Serves 4.

***

Here's a side dish recipe. Kim's original recipe called for yellow squash. Since I don't have that variety in my garden, I've also used all zucchini. It's just as good.

Squash Casserole

2 lbs. squash, peeled and cut up (zucchini or yellow or both)
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup sour cream
1 8-oz. pkg. seasoned stuffing mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine

Cook squash and onion in salt water for 3 minutes. Drain. Combine chicken soup and sour cream. Stir in shredded carrots, squash and onions. Mix well and add salt to taste.

Combine stuffing mix with butter. Spread half of stuffing in bottom of 12- by 7-inch baking dish. Spoon vegetable mixture on top. Then put rest of stuffing on top of vegetable mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serves 6 (generously!)

***

Just in case you missed it the first time, here's Low-Fat Banana Zucchini Bread (or Muffins). You can change it up by adding dried cranberries instead of raisins or dates. (Thanks for the suggestion, Nina!) Or get crazy and add a combination!

And this one is super easy since it starts life as a cake mix! This recipe for Zucchini Carrot Muffins is also from Kim Volker.

Flashback: 5,6,7,8

This is as close as I'm ever going to get to being in a chorus line. Going to Crown Uptown's production of A Chorus Line transported me back to my audition for K-State Singers when I was in college.

I passed the vocal audition with flying colors. And then it was time for the dance audition. My college voice teacher did her best to prepare me. In a practice room in McCain Auditorium, I worked with her son's girlfriend who was a dance major. She valiantly tried to teach me the simplest of dance steps. It wasn't her fault that I had zero aptitude for dance.

I went to a small high school with no high school chorale group. No sequined costumes and grapevine moves were in my repertoire. As I stood among the other auditioners in the large classroom in McCain and watched the choreographer lead us through a series of dance moves, it was like she was speaking a foreign language. And no amount of translating by a helpful dance major could overcome the language barrier.

I didn't make the cut. I was crushed.

But then I got into K-State Concert Choir, and it was a much better fit for me in the long run. It's funny how life works out that way.

And maybe that traumatic college experience makes me a better audience member today. Unlike me, the cast members of A Chorus Line in the Wichita production could both sing and dance. It's always good to have an appreciative audience. I'm glad to do my part.

I've been fortunate enough to see two musicals in the last couple of weeks. We went to the Crown Uptown Sunday evening. For my birthday, Randy treated me to tickets to Music Theatre of Wichita's production of 9 to 5. With seats on the front row, I got to see those dance moves up close. I'm still no closer to being able to do them.

That's OK: Randy can't either. On the rare occasion when our dance skills are required, we can ably stay out of other dancers' way by dancing in our little invisible box. A 5, 6, 7, 8 ...

Refined

Three months ago, the landscape was barren. Fire had swallowed up dry prairie grasses like a voracious high school football team at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But some 90 days later, the green grasses are dotted with prairie flowers in yellows and blues amid shoots of green.

What looked dead has new life. 

Today, please join me for the rest of the story over at Lovely Branches Ministries at my Food for Thought blog. While you're there, check out the blog posts by my other "buds" at Lovely Branches. There are a couple of recipe links over there, too.

Happy Monday!

***

And, today I am also linked to Michelle's Graceful: Faith in the Everyday and her Hear It on Sunday, Use It on Monday link. Check out what other bloggers had to say, too!

Read All About It

My sister, Lisa, and I share some reading time.

I've always been a reader. For as long as I can remember, trips to the public library have been part of my DNA.

When I was little, my Mom took us to the Pratt Public Library located in the Pratt County Courthouse. When I was in grade school, the new public library opened in Pratt, and I was so excited to visit the brand new building and search for Happy Hollister books and Encyclopedia Brown mysteries in a room devoted to children's literature.

I was a champion reader, and I have the certificate to prove it:

I read 166 books in the 3rd grade.

Let's just say I didn't get any award certificates for math.

These days, my library of choice is the Hutchinson Public Library, mainly because I can get bestsellers and my favorite authors there more quickly. The librarians know me by name because I usually have some new book on hold.

If you need further confirmation that I'm a library geek, I have my 14-digit library card number memorized so I don't have to look at my card to reserve books on the hold list. (My current card is falling apart, and several of the librarians have tried to suggest a new card. But that would require memorizing a new number. I'm holding out as long as I can.)

I did my best to share my love of reading with my kids. From the time they were tiny, I tucked them into my lap, and we snuggled while we read book after book.

When they were little, we visited both the Stafford and Hutchinson Public Libraries and brought home stacks of books. When he was in elementary school, Brent often hung out with Dixie at the Stafford City Library while he waited on me to get done working in the high school office. 

Both Jill and Brent are readers today. And we're now working on the next generation. Kinley's bedtime routine includes reading. When we were in Topeka last weekend, I read Barnyard Dance and Moo Baa La La La and There's a Wocket in My Pocket and some others before her Mommy said it was time for bed.

We got this board book, Find My Friends, last summer in Yellowstone before Kinley was born!

I like opening the pages of a book. I like nestling it in my lap along with a comfy pillow. I like reading right before I go to sleep at night. And, true confessions, sometimes Randy has to turn out the light.

So I wasn't sure whether I'd like reading a book on a Kindle. Brent loves his. My sister, Darci, who does lots of traveling, thinks hers is great.

But, recently, the Hutchinson Public Library called and asked if I'd like the book, The Innocent, by David Baldacci on Kindle. I told them I didn't have a Kindle. They said that was OK. I could borrow a Kindle, too.

So I did. The Kindle also had The Litigators by John Grisham downloaded on it. But I'd already read it - the old-fashioned way.

As it turned out, I liked it just fine. The library had the Kindle in a book-like case, so I could still open it up on my lap and read it in bed. I felt like I was "turning" pages constantly, but other than that, I got along fine. Randy also read the book via the Kindle and liked it. (He's also a reader, as were his parents before him.)

Am I ready to buy my own? Not yet, mainly because I like being able to borrow books for free from my local library. 

But I've learned through the years to "Never say never." I don't know what will happen with e-books and public libraries. I'm not sure libraries know what's going to happen as the popularity of e-books increases.

It wasn't until last September that Amazon made Kindle books available for lending at more than 11,000 public libraries for no charge – the same way you're able to check out any paper-and-ink book at your local branch. The e-books can be read on any Kindle device or phone or tablet that has the Kindle app. 

However, just like an old-fashioned library book, there are limited copies of e-books at libraries, so if you’re searching for a Kindle e-book of a bestseller or another popular title, you have to wait until someone checks one back in. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I guess wait lists are still a fact of life for readers who love bestsellers unless they want to fork over the dough to buy them directly.  

Just give me a book ("e" or otherwise) - and I'm happy. 

My Plate, My Way

Where's the beef? Since our home-raised beef is in the freezer, it's the most common protein on our dinner plates. This Tenderloin, Cranberry and Pear Salad was a first-time recipe at our house, but it won't be the last time I serve it, especially as the hot summertime continues.

The Kansas Beef Council asked me to take an online personality assessment. The new My Plate, My Way interactive tool offers personalized tips and recipes to guide healthy eating choices that fit in with USDA’s new dietary guidelines.

The short quiz asks a series of questions. Once completed, users receive information and resources—including tips and recipes—tailored to the personality assessment. The profiles include:

• Lean Lover - "I'm always looking for foods and recipes to help me lose or maintain weight."
• Buff and Cut - "Food is a means of building muscle."
• Cost Slicer - "I have to stick to my budget."
• Health Seeker - "Food does more than fill me up—it has many health benefits!"
• Family Chef - "Family time is precious to me, so my meals have to please the whole gang."
• Time Tackler - "Just because I'm short on time, doesn't mean I want to compromise taste and health."
• Flavor Saveur - "It's all about the taste!"
• Two-Stepper - "I'm no top chef, but I'm willing to try to make a recipe if I think I can do it."

The quiz revealed that I'm a Family Chef. I wasn't surprised. I began cooking family meals when I was a teenager. I've been cooking them ever since. And while there are only two of us at home these days, I still consider myself a Family Chef, though I also see "time tackler" and "flavor saveur" as top vote getters in my book. 

You can take the My Plate, My Way quiz, too. Just click here. The salad recipe wasn't one that came up with my Family Chef profile. But it was one featured on the website that I thought would appeal to both Randy and me. 

Randy, who often chooses honey mustard dressing at restaurants, really liked the homemade dressing. I probably would prefer a little lighter taste, either a bottled raspberry vinaigrette or this homemade Orange Vinaigrette.

You could also add other seasonal fruits to this salad. Mix and match to suit your own family. For more beef recipes, check out this link to the Beef: It's What's for Dinner website sponsored by the Cattlemen's Beef Board and National Cattlemen's Beef Association. I'll be trying more of them, too.

Tenderloin, Cranberry and Pear Salad 

with Honey Mustard Dressing

Recipe adapted from

The Healthy Beef Cookbook

published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

4 beef tenderloin steaks, cut 3/4 inch thick (4 ounces each)
1/2 teaspoon coarse grind black pepper
1 package (5 ounces) mixed baby salad greens
1 medium red or green pear, cored, cut into 16 wedges
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Salt (to taste)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup crumbled goat or feta cheese (optional)
Honey Mustard Dressing:
1/2 cup prepared honey mustard
2 to 3 tablespoons water
1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon coarse grind black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt

Season beef steaks with 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Heat large nonstick skillet over medium heat until hot. Place steaks in skillet; cook 7 to 9 minutes for medium rare to medium doneness, turning occasionally.  Note: Though the original recipe called for a stovetop preparation, I used my outdoor gas grill. Also, instead of seasoning the steaks with black pepper, I used a dry, commercially-prepared steak seasoning. For grilling instructions, refer to this Harness the Power of the Grill guide.

Meanwhile whisk Honey Mustard Dressing ingredients in small bowl until well blended. Set aside. Note: I added two packets of non-calorie sweetener to the dressing to make it a little sweeter. You could add regular sugar, agave or honey as well. I used all 3 tablespoons of water.

Divide greens evenly among 4 plates. Top evenly with pear wedges and dried cranberries.

Carve steaks into thin slices; season with salt as desired. Divide steak slices evenly over salads. Top each salad evenly with dressing, pecans and goat cheese, if desired. Note: I substituted feta cheese for the goat cheese specified in the original recipe.

Cook’s Tip: To toast pecans, spread in single layer on metal baking sheet. Bake in 350°F oven 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. (Watch carefully to prevent burning.) Set aside to cool.

Makes 4 servings. Total preparation and cooking time: 25 minutes.

Nutrition information per serving: 321 calories; 14 g fat (3 g saturated fat; 7 g monounsaturated fat); 67 mg cholesterol; 434 mg sodium; 21 g carbohydrate; 3.3 g fiber; 26 g protein; 7.6 mg niacin; 0.6 mg vitamin B6; 1.4 mcg vitamin B12; 2.4 mg iron; 30.0 mcg selenium; 5.1 mg zinc.
 

This recipe is an excellent source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, selenium and zinc, and a good source of fiber and iron.

***

I was asked by the Kansas Beef Council to take the My Plate, My Way quiz and then try a recipe from their website. The opinions are my own, and I modified the recipe as indicated in the recipe notes. 

***

So, what kind of chef are you? Take the quiz and let me know by leaving a comment!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation

 How I Spent My Summer Vacation

By Kinley Marie

Who knew that I, Kinley Marie, had accumulated 10 vacation days in my 6 months here on Earth? So, when my Grandma Kim and Grandpa Randy came to visit last Friday, I saved my parents some dough and let the grandparents take me for the day. 

I like day care and all my friends there. But grandparents? They are pretty easy to entertain.

Show a little musical ability. Sing a few Sunday School songs. And Grandma is happy. Check out the markets and the weather. And Grandpa is thrilled.

Exhibit a little interest in reading, and they are both over the moon with delight. They are SO easy.

I wowed them with my super fantastic new tricks. A little Army crawling can make the older generation go a little crazy with their unbridled enthusiasm. Bring on the applause people! 

After meeting Mom and Dad for lunch in downtown Topeka, we visited Mom's office. Let's just say I was popular there, too.

Giraffe and I were pretty tired after our excursion. And we needed our beauty rest since my big 6-month photo shoot was Friday evening. Being a model is hard work, but I think I pretty much rocked it. I had gotten lots of practice since Grandma seemed to have a camera recording every moment of my day before that. 

A pesky fever kind of ruined my half-year birthday celebration on Saturday.

But I still managed to try my first bites ever of food. I'm not sure what I think of rice cereal at this point. Time will tell.

A popular girl's entertaining work is never done. After a quick photo with Grandma Kim Sunday morning, I was off to Humboldt to entertain my Daddy's side of the family at a reunion. I may have to go to day care just to get some rest.

The End

Love from Kinley and the Ever-Shrinking Dolly

Good Morning, Sunshine!

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;

                                His mercies never come to an end;

                They are new every morning;

                                Great is your faithfulness.

(Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)

Sunrise on the County Line

Sunrise during my walk in suburban Topeka.

And here's the best sunshine of all. 

More will come on our weekend with Kinley.  (And Jill and Eric, too, of course.) I definitely didn't spend the weekend on the computer, so you get the short version this morning.  

Happy Monday!