The temps here have cooled a bit and it seems a little less humid. Or it did until today when it rained. I was up just before the sun this morning and checked the weather. I noted rain on its way and I really wanted to get in a ride. So, I decided to go out then and there before breakfast and see how much I could get in. For safety, I have a blinking light on the back of the bike, but it wasn’t really dark. No sun, though.
This picture was taken just after I got home. I did 8 miles, which is about all I want to do before breakfast anyway. Right after I took this picture, it started raining! Talk about good timing.
I’ve been a bachelorette for the last couple days and keeping busy. I have the last few batches of soap to make. Then cutting them all:
Here is a new soap in the mold. This is Rosemary Lemon.
It has rosemary and litsea essential oils. Litsea is the lemon scent. Then I added finely ground rosemary. We’ll see how this sells at the show next month to see if I keep it.
Now to the title of the post. Being the bachelorette and lots of stuff to do, I’m needing quick and easy meals. I would love to do lots of cooking, but not right now. Anyway, I bought those patty pan squash at the market and I wondered if I could spiralize one. I chose the least flat one.
I cut off the green stem and put it on the spiralizer:
I used the smallest blade, but I’m thinking a bigger one would be fine. This is how it came out.
Towards the end, the spirals started to become tiny pieces, which you can see on the right. It almost looked like vermicelli! I don’t know if you have had patty pan, but it has a light slightly sweet flavor and actually is good raw. If I wanted to cook this, I would put it in the microwave for a minute or so. However, I had other plans.
I got suckered into another one of these. No more LOL. I actually didn’t care for this one so much. However, it is fast. Only 5 minutes and dinner was ready. I added the spiraled patty pan to this to bulk it up and let the heat of the pasta and broccoli warm up the squash:
That was actually a good way to do it. The squash didn’t get soggy like it can if you cook it in water and it had just a little firm crunch to it. Look at that, 2 veggies in one dish!
I have to show you this picture of a new flower. I didn’t want to wait until Friday’s blooming posts because it is just that cool. This is a passion flower.
Isn’t that amazing? The blooms don’t last very long, but they are stunning. It’s an annual climbing plant. For a long time, I didn’t think it was going to do anything, but it must have loved the heat and humidity because boom – flowers.
The passion flower is so amazing.
I still haven’t used my new spiralizer. I’ve got some pasta sauce in the freezer and a zucchini in the fridge. Maybe tomorrow will be the day!
I should use the spiralizer more. Every time I use it, I think “Why aren’t I using it more” LOL
oooooh thank you for saying that about it being good RAW as that was my first thought!!!!
and probably only mine.
The fam would insist on cooked 🙂
Lots of patty pan at our farmer’s markets right now so I need to try this. You’ve stumbled on my secret with pasta: I often add spiralized veggies to spaghetti make it seem like more but still be able to have real pasta!
I hope your soap smells as lovely as it sounds and sells out!
It would be nice to sell out, but I hope I have more than enough all together. I have other shows to do, so it’s production time right now.
That flower is GORGEOUS. Love the color combination!!!
I wonder if using the ribbon attachment would be interesting for the patty pan? Nice way to add extra veggies to your dinner, regardless of how you slice it!
I bet the ribbon would be good! You know, I only use that one for apples and never veggies.
Flower is gorgeous, and it appears my next purchase needs to be a spiralizer. You seem to be having too much fun with that thing. I love patty pans!!!
Yes, the spiralizer is quite fun.
The flower doesn’t show up on my screen. I’ll look again tomorrow.
It’s the law to have (working) lights on your bike here. Not that people always do that and there’s nothing more I hate than people riding their bike in Winter when it’s dark without their lights on.
That’s weird about the picture. I hope it shows up, although I’ll be posting on FB with it later this week.
We are only required to have lights at night, not during the day. So many people don’t and it is irritating.
Passion flowers are my favorite!!!!! They are stunning!
I need to haul out my spiralizer again!
I haven’t bought any patty pan zucchini. It’s funny, working the farmers markets I have yet to actually go to one that I can take my time and look around! Hoping to get to one tonight. 😀
Love the flower picture!
Having trouble with the photos on your blog today, but the passionflower did show in all it’s glory! I have it here in north Texas and it makes a very full large vine that grows along a fence by our pool. I grow it mainly as host plant for the gulf fritillary butterfly. I bet if you look closely, you will find the caterpillars happily munching away and see the pretty orange gulf fritillary butterfly fluttering around the vine. The eggs are a creamy white about the size of a “sprinkle” used in food decoration. They will hatch in about 10-14 days. The caterpillar will wander off the vine to attach to something to form the chrysalis, then another 10-14 days to become a butterfly. I often collect the caterpillars in the last stages and feed in a netting covered bucket with sticks propped up along the side for them to crawl up and form their chrysalis. The chrysalis is rather ugly–looks kinda like a curled brown leaf. But watching them hatch is breathtaking. My grandchildren love this process. I’ve got 4 black swallowtail chrysalis now (host plant is parsley) to take to the birthday party (#6) for my granddaughter on Saturday. She is mesmerized by the newly hatched butterflies as they crawl around on her hand before flying off. I hope all my grandchildren remember these experiences with butterflies — I’ve sent many to school to their classrooms.
I love butterflies and am trying to attract them to our yard. We don’t get the gulf fritillary up here. Black swallowtails we do get.
pictures finally all came in, just took forever.