Schnibbles Plan C

I recently purchased the book Schnibbles Times Two and I'm in love!

The first pattern I decided to complete was called "Plan C". I've wanted a blue and yellow quilt to snuggle with on my bed, so this was a perfect pattern for April Cornell's Nature's Notebook by Moda. It incorporated stars as well as bright spots of blue and yellow to catch the eye.

I'm starting to see the potential for the quilt, but it's still got a way to go.

Bruschetta

Our tomatoes are finally turning red! I picked some decent sized Early Girls today -- I love it when you're cutting up a tomato warm from the summer sun. It just makes them taste better somehow. We've had a bug eating our basil this year, but I was able to get a few leaves to use for homemade Bruschetta. Usually meant as an appetizer, our family eats Bruschetta as a meal on Sunday afternoons in the summer. When the tomatoes are ripe, I just can't get enough! The recipe says 16 servings, but my family of four usually eats about two-thirds of a batch when we serve it up as the meal.

Photo courtesy of cooks-catering.com

Bruschetta

2 tomatoes, diced
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh basil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
two 16-inch-long French-style baguettes
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Stir everything but the baguettes and oil in a small glass or ceramic bowl, and let the mixture rest for at least 10 minutes at room temperature.

2. Slice the baguettes about 3/4-inch thick, on the diagonal. Brush one side of each slice with additional olive oil.

3. Place slices oil-side-up on a baking sheet, and broil (carefully!) just until the slices are lightly browned. Remove them from the broiler and place in a serving dish so that the bottoms don't get soggy.

4. When ready to serve, place about 2 to 3 teaspoons of the tomato mixture on top of each slice of bread.

Servings: 16

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1/16 of a recipe (1.8 ounces).
Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 108.86
Total Fat: 3.63g
Saturated Fat: 0.61g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 191.17mg
Potassium: 85.34mg
Total Carbohydrates: 16.13g

Square Foot Garden Progress

Our garden is doing remarkably well since it gets little or no attention from us. OK, that's not entirely true -- Maddie's new job is to water every day and she's been very responsible.

Here's our first few harvests:
The plants are growing tall and taller. Last year our zucchini and cucumbers just withered and died by mid-July. This year they've gone nuts! I'm worried that they're going to choke the tomatoes to the point that we don't get the bounty of red tomatoes I'd hoped for this year.

So, I decided to smoosh the zucchini down a bit in the hopes that the tomatoes could have a chance. Hopefully I haven't killed the plants:

I'm still stuck on what to do with the cucumbers. They're blocking all the sunlight on the right half of the garden.


We planted a few zucchini in normal dirt to see what would happen. So far, they are about 12 inches high and just have a few flowers. I think something has been nibbling on them, but I'm not sure.

Here's some of the hundreds of tomatoes that are just hanging out green and tiny on the vine. I'm hoping they turn red soon...