Sunburns Without Sun

My kids and I got sunburns yesterday. I'm so embarrassed! I feel so badly. It's their first real burns. We were at the beach for four hours with not a drop of sun the entire day. I am a manic mother when it comes to sunscreen usually. (I was wearing a sweatshirt it was so chilly!) At least we all had a ball. The kids were swimming and boogie boarding.

We brought sandwiches and the usual fare for the beach -- chips, brownies, fruit salad.

I feel like a failure. As my husband said, "Let it go." Am I the worst mother, or what?!

The Joys of Summer Food

Yesterday was a day of eating well for me. For lunch, I was inspired to eat a lunch like Oprah. On one of her shows that I caught recently, she mentioned that she eats turkey sandwiches on Wasa crisps. These crisps are curiously satisfying, crunchy, and only 60 calories each. Her sandwich also had cheese, but I chose to stick with: a couple slices of Boar's Head buffalo turkey, Romaine lettuce, tomato and horseradish mustard. It was delicious! May I recommend the "light rye" flavor of the Wasa crisps. Here's a link to Wasa's site: http://us.wasa.com/wasa/smpage.fwx?page=591&main=products.

For dinner, I steamed some of the vegetables that I bought at the farm stand the other day. Somehow the timing worked out well, and each veggie was the perfect tenderness. It also helps that the veggies were so fresh. I put about 2 inches of water in the bottom of a medium saucepan. When it came to a boil, I added the zucchini and summer squash first. On top of the squash, I layered broccoli florets and red peppers. I threw the cover on and let it boil and steam for about 8 minutes. All they needed was a little salt and pepper.

Of course I didn't just eat vegetables for dinner. I also had a sandwich with tuna on whole wheat. My husband and son had baseball practice.

Zucchini and tomatoes

My husband and I planted five veggies this summer. We planted three tomato plants and two zucchini plants. The zucchini plants are really doing well! There are tons of beautiful zucchini blossoms. The tomato plants, however, are yellow and looking crunchy...not sure why. I've given them plenty of water. Maybe too much? We'll see!

Pesto Margherita Pizza

Using my new food processor, I made pizza dough. I was amazed by how easy it was! I made a double batch of dough which makes 4 good-sized pizzas. I used a recipe that came with my KitchenAid food processor.

I made two pizzas so far. One is this Pesto Margherita Pizza, and the other one has the standard red sauce and shredded mozzarella.

For the Pesto Margherita Pizza, first I lightly baked the crust for about 5 to 10 minutes. After taking the pizza out of the oven, I spread the pesto, and then I placed sliced tomatoes and fresh mozzarella over it. I baked it at 400 on the bottom shelf of the oven until the crust was nicely browned. I used olive oil on the pan, and then I sprinkled some on top of the tomatoes before it hit the oven.

I recommend you salt your tomatoes and let them release their juices before you place them on the pizza.

Herbed Pizza Dough

1 cup water

2 T olive oil

1 package active dry yeast

Water should be 105 to 115 degrees, then stir in yeast and olive oil until dissolved. Set aside.

With dough blade in word bowl add:

3 cups flour

1 ounce freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 t sugar

3/4 t salt

1/2 t dried basil

Process about 10 seconds. With processor running, slowly add yeast mixture. Process 1 1/2 to 2 minutes; dough will form a ball.

Remove dough to greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover; let rise in warm place until double in size, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Freshly picked strawberries and peas

Today the kids and I went to our local farmers market and picked strawberries and peas. There were strawberries everywhere! It was hard to stop picking there were so many. Looks like I need to make some strawberry shortcake. I am also tossing around an idea I saw from Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa). She sprinkled her strawberries with a bit of balsamic vinegar, sugar and black pepper. As she would say, "How bad can that be?"

I have since learned that I was supposed to pick smaller pea pods, but I am sure they will still taste good lightly steamed. I also couldn't resist buying "their own" broccoli, hot house tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash.

Don't you just love this adorable "Fresh from the Farmers Market" icon? It's free and available for your use. Check it out at the website http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/.

Sweet Mustard Chops

I grilled some pork chops last night. I adapted the recipe from Allrecipes. I think they were alright.

The grilled zucchini and red peppers were better than the pork! I marinated them in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Sweet Mustard Chops

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup prepared mustard
2 teaspoons Montreal Steak seasoning
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
4 (1 inch thick) pork chops


DIRECTIONS:
Combine mayonnaise, brown sugar, mustard and seasoned salt; mix well. Blend in vinegar. Pour into a large resealable plastic bag or shallow glass container; add pork. Seal bag or cover container; refrigerate overnight. Drain and discard marinade. Grill, covered, over medium coals, turning occasionally, for 20-25 minutes or until juices run clear.

Hot Rolls

Today the kids and I made this hot roll mix from Pillsbury. I noticed the "use by" date was coming quickly, so we made them in spite of the fact it was such a hot day. The dough was sticky and hard to handle, but we had fun. They turned out delicious! I would highly recommend. You need to add an egg, water, sugar, and butter.

Stopping to enjoy the butterfly and flowers

As I was taking a photo of some flowers (coreopsis) that I was planning to pull up, this large monarch sat for a pose. Here are some photos of this year's annuals. I always go big on the potato vines.

Foodie BlogRoll

Please take a look at my sidebar. It's a link to join The Foodie BlogRoll--Food Bloggers unite! It will give you lots of opportunities to find other fascinating food blogs. Enjoy!

Tomato, Mozzarella and Avocado

I made our usual salad with tomato, mozzarella and balsamic salad, but I added some ripe avocado in the center.