I Can't Think of Anymore Garden Sayings

It's another gardening post, but with no cute title.

Last week, Sis noticed that our ignored, storm-ravaged plants had actually born tiny little fruits: we found half of a mini yellow squash on the ground, clearly the snack of some desperate rodent, and a tiny green tomato hanging from the beaten stem of one of our tomato plants. Sis loved that little tomato--"Mommy, I didn't know we could grow a tomato!" She was so enthusiastic about seeing it turn red and in that excitement called her brother over to see it. He promptly (and probably unintentionally) pulled it off the plant. Ohhhh. I had to explain to her that it wouldn't turn red, even as she sat on the front step to watch it happen. Why, oh, why, hadn't we thrown out the withered plants right after the storm? For more than a brief moment, Mama and I toyed with substituting a bright red cherry tomato overnight. We didn't.

And so, this weekend, we decided to go to a local farm and orchard to pick thriving fruits from the proverbial vine. We got Ginger Gold apples, Canadian-something (honey?) peaches, green tomatoes (which we put in newspaper to ripen . . . please, please, please. If not, I have a fried green tomato recipe), yellow squash, zucchini, late late raspberries (it took 30 minutes to find 15 decent ones, but Bud thought they were divine! And they were pretty good), but no pears, as Sis likes to remind us. We were going to pick Asian pears but felt they weren't quite ready yet. Of course, Sis is still talking about the pears we didn't pick.

But at least she has forgotten the withered squash and little green tomato.

And as we have told them both, we'll try again next year.

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Mexican Lasagna

3 squash (I used 2 zucchini and 1 yellow), sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 jar salsa
1 cup enchilada sauce
2 cups cheese (cheddar or Mexican blend), plus a little extra for topping
1 cup sour cream
6-8 whole wheat tortillas

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute squash and onion in skillet.

Mix beans and salsa in separate bowl. Mix cheese and sour cream in another bowl.

Spray 9 x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Pour about 2 tablespoons of enchilada sauce in pan.

Layer tortillas, then vegetable mixture, bean mixture, then cheese mixture. Pour some enchilada sauce over it. Repeat until done, ending with tortillas and a layer of extra cheese.

Bake covered for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly. Remove foil for last 10 minutes to brown cheese on top.

Inspired by Claire's Corner Copia, New Haven