Calling All Gardeners ~ Please Help Me Identify This Plant

A few weeks ago, I was being impatient with my garden. My zucchini plant was huge and had a ton of flowers, but not one single zucchini. The plant had grown so big that it was taking over the garden and yard.

But what I assumed was a zucchini plant is actually not a zucchini at all. The plant was a volunteer from my compost and to me it looked like a zucchini especially since the flowers were yellow. I had never grown a zucchini, but we receive tons of them from our CSA and all of the vegetable scraps get composted.

This past weekend, I had to cut back some of the plant. It had grown to at least 8 feet in circumference and I couldn't get to the compost bin. It was blocking the way. That is when I noticed these guys.

And I haven't a clue what they are. Pumpkins? Watermelon? Fall squash?

So, I am calling all of the experts. So many of my readers are so knowledgeable about gardening and I'm hoping somebody can tell me what this is.

Have you ever gotten a surprise in your garden? Volunteers are fun, but it would be nice to know what this is.

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• Tuesday's Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Summer Vegetable Pasta

Take advantage of all that summer garden goodness with this quick pasta dish. Serve with grilled chicken and your meal is complete.



Summer Vegetable Pasta

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 zucchini, chopped
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 cups sliced grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1-2 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs like basil and/or oregano, chopped fine
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• Parmesan
• fresh parsley, chopped fine
• 1 lb pasta such as penne, spaghetti, angel hair, bowtie

1. Cook pasta following the box instructions.

2. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the zucchini, squash, onion and garlic and stir to soften

3. Add tomatoes, herbs, pepper, salt and cook for 5 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

4. Combine the vegetable mixture with the cooked pasta.

5. Top with Parmesan and fresh parsley if desired.

6. Enjoy!

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinner Challenge
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
  

The Road to Simplicity Starts With Cleaning the Refrigerator

In a quest to declutter and hopefully simplify our home, I wrote a series this past winter called "Tackle That Tough Spot". I decluttered and reorganized our home office, the garage/mudroom/pantry, the foyer closet and the kids' toys. Aside from our constant struggle with wrangling the toys, these areas have remained organized all of these months later.

I have gotten away from my mission, so I have decided to tackle another area of agitation. Every time I walk into my kitchen, this mess was causing me frustration. And the only person to blame for it was me. I attach everything to the refrigerator with a magnet thinking that I won't forget about it if it is on the fridge. But the fridge eventually looks like this and not much gets noticed. A refrigerator adorned with my kids' artwork can be cute at first, but this had gotten out of hand and much of the artwork was from this past school year.


And the inside was packed with too many condiments, old inedible leftovers, and freezer burned Christmas cookies.

One morning this week, I walked past that refrigerator one too many times. It was time to conquer it and take control.

So with my babe napping and my oldest coloring, I started on a project that took up an afternoon. I eventually enlisted my oldest to help clean.

I removed everything.

And I mean everything.


I scrubbed, sorted, organized and tossed. In the refrigerator, I found lots of old condiments, some from 2008, and leftovers from last week that were not too appealing. In the freezer, I found a few bags of bread ends that nobody will eat, some Christmas cookies, muffins from the winter and bags of half eaten, freezer burned, mixed vegetables that all needed to be tossed.

When my 2 year old woke up from her nap, she let me know in a way that only a 2 year old can (read: tantrum) that Elmo and her letter magnets were staying on the door. My 4 year old also wanted to keep a few of her favorite magnets too.

The side of the fridge will remain our family's command central with a calendar, coupons, invitations and other important information.

I sorted through my kids' art work and moved the pieces that I want to keep to a plastic container where I am storing art work. There is a wall in the play area of our basement where the kids can tape as much artwork as they want to display.

There is so much room on the inside now that leftovers won't get lost, although I can't promise that they won't get ignored. And I'm not buying another condiment until I am positive we don't already have one.

It feels so much better to walk by the fridge now. I feel lighter. My kitchen feels lighter. And now I have to keep it this way. And hopefully, we will waste less food from now on too.

Now that I have taken control of the refrigerator, I am going to find another tough spot to tackle in my quest to declutter, reorganize and simplify our home.

Are you on the road to simplicity? Is there an area in your home that needs tackled? What is it? Let us know in the comments.

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• Finer Things Friday at Amy's Finer Things
  
  
  
  

When Automatic Billing Isn't So Green.

Over the winter, I reviewed our budget and to try to reduce any unnecessary spending. One glaring unnecessary expense in my mind was our cable bill. When I approached my husband about reducing or even canceling cable, he replied, "what would you do without Bravo TV?". He always knows how to throw it back at me as he knows Bravo TV is my vice.

He suggested that I call the cable company to review our bill and inquire about smaller cable packages.

I made the phone call and after a 30 minute conversation with a customer service rep, my brain was mush from all of the talk about bundling, broadband and Internet speeds. We bundle our cell phone, Internet and cable and because of that we receive a discount. If we reduce or cancel cable, we will pay more for Internet and our speed will slow down. GRRRRRR.

Sensing my frustration, the customer service rep dangled free 3 months of HBO in front of me to appease me. I bit and hung up the phone.

I was glazed over and hubby was going to have to figure this out. After all, electronics are his domain. If it were up to me, cable would be gone, but it's not so easy for us to cancel cable as it will affect our Internet speed which we have grown accustomed to. The bundling makes each service attractable.

Fast forward to July 2010 and my husband asks to see a copy of our cable bill to review. He was finally going to help me figure out how we can reduce our cable bill. Because I signed up for paperless billing, I needed to go online to print a copy of the recent bill. Our monthly bill is automatically paid via a credit card.

I printed the bill and without even glancing at it I handed it to my husband.

"Why are we paying for HBO?", he asked.

"What did you say?", I replied.

"$22.99 for HBO", he said.

Until that very minute, I completely forgot about the free HBO that we were given several months ago. We might have watched a few movies initially, but we forgot all about it.

He called the company to talk about our bill and found out that the free HBO ended two and half months ago and we were now being charged $22.99 a month. He told the customer service rep about the free offer and that we weren't interested in paying for the HBO. The rep refunded our account $71.82.

The new paperless billing that I signed up for is great, because I don't have to worry about missing a payment. But I don't see a bill unless I take the time to look at it online to check for inconsistencies. And obviously I have not done so. Lesson learned.

"You owe me", my husband said with a wink.

My husband just saved us $71.82 because I was asleep at the wheel. I might be the Family Office Manager, but it goes to show that 2 minds are still better than one.

How many of your bills are paperless? Do you still review them regularly?


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This post is linked to:

• Frugal Friday at Life as Mom
  
  

Image: Salvatore Vuono / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Grilled Garlic Rosemary Red Potatoes

Have I told you how much I love our CSA? Well, I am going to say it again. I LOVE our CSA. Not only do we receive our share of organic, local produce every Tuesday from May through November, but once a month they invite the members to the farm for free extra produce. The farm is about 45 minutes away, but it is so beautiful there that we try to go to as many 'farm days' as possible. And we usually come home with a week's worth of organic produce or maybe more, so the trip is usually worthwhile.

On a recent trip, we were allowed to dig for potatoes. The kids thought that was fun, but mom probably had more fun.

We came home with 2 meals worth of baby red potatoes. Normally, I would roast baby potatoes, but I'm not turning the oven on in 95 degree heat, so I grilled them.

I used this handy grill pan. I really liked how the potatoes turned out with the grill pan. They were nice and crispy, just how we like potatoes.

I would never tell you to go buy a new pan, so I tried the potatoes the second time using a foil pack. They turned out good as well, but the grill pan made them better. I found with the foil pack that some of the potatoes didn't get as crispy.


Grilled Garlic Rosemary Red Potatoes

• baby or new potatoes - as many as you need, I grilled enough for my family of 4
• olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. chopped, fresh rosemary - from my garden
• 1 tsp salt

1. Cut potatoes into bite sized pieces.

2. Cook the potatoes in boiling water on the stove top until softened.

3. Drain the potatoes.

4. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, rosemary, garlic.

5. Place in grill pan. Set the grill to high and carefully set pan in a grill.

6. Grill 8 minutes. Stir. Grill another 8 minutes or until your desired crispiness.

7. If using a foil packet, after you drizzle with the oil and seasonings, place potatoes in foil. Fold up the 2 long sides and fold up the ends. Like the picture. Place in a grill at high. Grill 8 minutes. Flip the packet. Grill another 8 minutes or until your desired crispiness.

8. Enjoy!

The potatoes in the picture are from the grill pan. Don't they look yummy? I served them with Grilled Lime Chicken with Mango Red Pepper Salsa and some homegrown grape tomatoes tossed with feta.

Do you have a favorite summer recipe that you'd like to share? I have been hosting a Summer Grilling Recipe Exchange specifically for grilling recipes, but I have decided open it up to all recipes.

A few Mr. Linky guidelines:

• Please link a favorite recipe to Mr. Linky. If you are not a blogger, please let us know your favorite grill recipe in the comment section.
• Please post the link to your recipe, NOT to your homepage. To do this, click on your update post, copy and paste the whole url address into the Mr. Linky.
• I also ask that you post a link back to Family Balance Sheet in your article or grab the badge that is in the top left of the site.
• If you are reading this post via a reader or email, you will need to click through to post your link and to visit others who have linked up.

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This post is linked to:

• Mouthwatering Monday at A Southern Fairytale
• $5 Dinners
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesdays at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum