Last week ...

marked the REAL beginning of harvest for those of us living S.E. Texas. As you can see from the above photo we are harvesting a nice bounty daily. Within two weeks these amounts will double or triple and we'll have baskets of fresh home grown tomatoes and cucumbers to add. What did I do with all that zucchini, squash, green beans, lettuce, basil and oregano I collected the other day?

Italian Sausage Soup served with a Garden Salad

1/2 lb. bulk Italian sausage
1 zucchini, cubed
1 yellow squash, cubed
2 c. green beans, snapped
3 med. tomatoes, diced
1 med. onion, diced
1/4 c. garlic chives OR 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
1 tbsp. fresh basil, chopped
1tsp. beef bullion
water
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1/4 c. elbow pasta, per person
water
salt & pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese, grated

Crumble sausage into skillet and brown. Transfer sausage to crock pot, add zucchini, yellow squash, green beans, tomatoes, onion, garlic chives, oregano, and basil, beef bullion and combine well. Add salt & pepper to tastes and enough water to barely cover the sausage and vegetables. Cook on low 4-6 hours or on high 2-4 hours. One half hour before serving cook pasta in salted boiling water until tender. When serving place pasta in the bottom of bowl & ladle the soup over the pasta. Garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired. 8 servings


Although I didn't add any of our harvested vegetables to the next recipe, I'm thinking that the chocolate lovers out there will enjoy it. Saturday morning, OG & EJ enjoyed this special treat for breakfast ...

Brownie Muffins

1 1/2 c. all purpose unbleached flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. cocoa powder
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)
3 tsp. baking powder
1tsp. salt
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3/4 c. milk
1 egg

Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium mixing bowl combine dry ingredients until well mixed. In another small bowl, combine and mix well the vegetable oil, milk and egg. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and combine until just moistened. Spoon into greased muffins tins. Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately remove from pans. Cool slightly before serving. Makes 1 dozen muffins.