The wedding is all over, except for the leftover food and napkins, and it's good to be through it. Rhiannon was a beautiful bride, and tears sprang to my eyes when I saw Kyle standing in front of his family and all of us, waiting for his wife-to-be to join him for the ceremony. I am happy to have a new son-in-law and the bonus of a first grandchild.
Autumn has arrived in full force, with our first frost this past weekend. I have denuded the pumpkin patch and have much garden clean-up to do. Leaves are blazing and the furnace is keeping the house cozy. Egg production is a little bit down. Rain and warmer weather has set in, so outside chores are a bit different and inside cooking is turning to comfort foods. I enjoy this time of year.
My good friend and walking partner of sorts texted me the other night asking if I have a good recipe for zucchini bread and do I want some. I said yes, thinking she meant bread (but she didn't), and became the proud possessor of 2 huge zucchini. Now, I have some summer squash left to eat from my own garden--I made sure to pick it small and tender. These whoppers take a little more effort! The first one I stuffed with, well, stuffing. It was good, and lasted through one dinner and a number of lunches. Allan suggested the second be prepared like eggplant parmesan at Olive Garden. Here's what I did: I sliced the zucchini into rounds, breaded the slices, and pan fried them. I put them in the oven for 20 minutes. While this was going on I prepared a nice red sauce from tomato paste, water, onion, garlic, and spices. All was going well, but I didn't really like the donut-shaped zucchini patties. I ended up stuffing them with leftover ham from the wedding. I layered everything in a pan with sauce, parmesan and shredded mozerella. It was a hit with all those who would try zucchini.
In preparing for the holidays, I generally cut out sugary treats around Halloween and stay away from them until well after the first of the year. With the stress of the wedding and other things going on, I turned to food as usual. I have taken off 24 pounds this year through counting calories (and staying at a certain level) and upping the exercise a bit, and need to continue losing, but am at a plateau which is not being helped by my less-than-helpful choices. So I started the first phase of the South Beach plan, which is sort of a cleanse of the no-sugar-no-starches variety. This is helping me stay away from the goodies! I already feel better with more veggies and less junk in my system.
What do you do to prepare for the holidays? What are your favorite autumn foods and activities?
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