A June Boon

Our first wave of cool-season crops (peas, lettuce, and radishes) finally fizzled out, so I removed the spent plants and replaced them with tomatoes, chives, and dill.  However, I left a few of the radish plants out, even though they'd "bolted"(threw up a stalk, rendering them basically inedible).  I left them up for two reasons.  First...aren't they beautiful?

Second...they can still provide pollen for the bees, and I want to help them out as much as I can! 

And, of course, the radishes will eventually form seed pods in place of the flowers, and I will gather the seeds for next year's planting.

While working in the beds, I noticed a praying mantis nymph in the dirt.

Minutes later, I spotted another one on the side of one of the container gardens.  They must have recently hatched, but for the life of me I couldn't find a single ootheca this year. 

Happily, there are lots of insects in the garden now.  Grasshoppers...

Hoverflies...

Long-legged flies (Diptera: Dolichopodidae)...

 Your garden-variety flies...

...and lots of mystery insects that I can never seem to identify.

 Of course, the bees are very active in the flowers.

He's been busy...check out that pollen packet on his hind legs!

As you can see from the above picture, the larkspur is flourishing.

The snapdragons that I've been babying since seed-hood are finally coming into flower, too.  I planted the tall kind (2 - 3 feet) and a wide variety of colors.  The very first snapdragon plant to open has amazing, rich colors that remind me of a sunset.

Lovely!

My ruffled daylilies are opening up, too.  I have a confession:  I never used to like daylilies. But I've since learned that you can buy a succession of daylilies in any color you'd like that will bloom from spring 'til fall.  They are beautiful bright spots in the garden.

And I love those ruffles!

I always grab a few daylilies when I make my weekly trip to the yard to gather plants for my bouquets.

I split them up between several small vases...

...and scatter them all over the house.  The real secret to a great bouquet, just like to a great garden, is the green you choose to set off your flowers.  For these bouquets, I use parsley.  The leafy foliage and airy umbels are the perfect neutral background.

I didn't plant parsley this year, but I had a large crop last year, and one plant re-seeded in a cement crack between our container gardens.  That one seed grew a plant almost as tall as I am, and now I have enough parsley for weekly bouquets all summer long.  I will never again make the mistake of not planting parsley.

Here's one of the stars of the show...

It only takes one to really brighten things up!

I cut pretty heavily from my Russian Sage plant, but it can take it.  Russian Sage makes a fabulous bouquet, with its tiny purple flowers and its heady scent.  It lasts forever in a vase, too.

Speaking of "heady scent"...I recently made what may be my favorite cupcakes ever.  Everyone in my gym classes knows about them...and my friends...the clerks at our local post office...and maybe the grocery store, too!  I just can't stop talking about how good they are.  Are you ready for this?  They're brown sugar chocolate chip cupcakes, stuffed with (eggless) chocolate chip cookie dough, topped with a brown sugar buttercream frosting.

Can you say RICH and DELICIOUS? 

They're fairly quick to put together, but be sure to plan a jog around the block afterwards...they're a teeny, tiny bit calorie-laden.  ;) 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough-Stuffed Brown Sugar Cupcakes
Annie's Eats
Makes 20 - 24 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting: 
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions
First, make your cupcakes!  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease two cupcake pans.  With your mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar for three minutes, until fluffy.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

In a separate bowl, combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Slowly add this to your wet mixture, alternating with the milk, until just combined.  Blend in vanilla and fold in chocolate chips. 

Fill cupcake tins and bake for about 18 minutes, until golden brown.

While your cupcakes are baking, make your cookie dough.  Cream your butter and sugar for two minutes, and then beat in your flour, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.  Stir in chocolate chips, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about an hour.

Now, just as your cupcakes are cool, your cookie dough will be ready!

Take a knife and cut a "cone" out of the center of your cupcake.

Spoon in some cookie dough...

Cut the bottom part of the cone off and place the top of the cone 'lid' back on the cupcake.

You'll have a pile of leftover cones, but I daresay you'll find a way to dispose of them.  Ahem.

To make your frosting, beat together the sugar and butter and then mix in the powdered sugar.  Beat in your flour and salt, and then the milk and vanilla.  Combine until smooth.  Pipe onto your cupcakes.

Just to see what you did, cut a cupcake in half and marvel at the cookie dough perfection.

Then eat.  Repeat as desired.

I hope you'll give them a try this week...doesn't everyone need some cookie dough goodness sometimes?

Enjoy!

Stop and Smell the Zinnias

The garden is so colorful at this time of year. A profusion of orange cosmos covers a five-foot area, makes a sharp right turn at the fence, and continues down several more feet before tapering off in a bed of almost-blooming marigolds.

Cosmos make fabulous bouquets. I've been combining them with dill and queen anne's lace in mason jars all over the house. The dill makes the air delightfully spicy.

Next to another patch of cosmos, my phlox is blooming nicely. I've got lavender...

...and white. Bees and butterflies love it!

My rose of sharon bush is ready to burst into blossom. The flowers are big, floppy, and ungainly, but I do like these tidy little conical blossoms that cover the bush every morning.

The queen anne's lace is glorious...

...and my russian sage is drawing bees from all over the city!

Even my oriental lilies have bloomed. I like to cut off the blossom heads and place them in tiny, three-inch vases. I've got them scattered all over the house, too.

Of course, I have my zinnia hedges, which by now are nearly 8 feet long and four feet wide. They're so easy to grow and each year I plow up more and more yard for them. Someday they'll have a very important place in my cottage garden!

It's easy to give them a quick glance and take pleasure in the beautiful flowers, just as they are.

Each one is so unique.

But sometimes, I like to get a little closer. The other day, I brought out a garden mat and burrowed into one of the hedges. The sun was out and the bees hummed steadily. It was very pleasant, and I felt perfectly happy there, waiting and watching. At first I just saw the insects on top of the flowers, like this honey bee.

But I waited patiently, and soon my eyes adjusted to a smaller world. Before long, I saw a tiny crab spider in one of the zinnia blossoms. Crab spiders don't build webs, although they can spin thin "drop lines" to help them move from flower to flower. They prefer to lie in wait and ambush insects that visit the flower for pollen.

What at first I thought was a discolored petal moved and became a shield bug. Shield bugs, so named for their distinctive shape, are common in gardens. They are plant feeders, and release a noxious odor when handled. I made sure to give him plenty of space.

Little gnats and flies soon returned to the zinnia leaves all around my head. Each one is so unique and interesting, but I despair of ever learning their identities. There are so many of them.

To my surprise, I saw several small praying mantises motionless beneath flower heads. Despite all the mantises that left the oothecas this spring, I have only seen one or two full-grown ones in the yard, and I thought they'd been picked off by birds. But no, they're just experts at not being seen. Like the crab spiders, they wait patiently for an insect to visit the flower, and then pounce.

Two flies found this zinnia stalk a perfect place to mate.

This fly has the most beautifully patterned eyes! Amazing!

I stayed outside for about an hour. The little creatures became used to me and crept out of their hiding spaces, and I watched them scurry about. What a nice, peaceful way to spend a morning!

Inside, things are a little more sedate.

I finished a knitting project recently, a cardigan for a friend's daughter. It's Kate Davies' Mini Manu and I learned several new techniques...

...such as pleating. Kate has an adult version of this cardigan that I might cast on for someday!

I decided to embroider some tiny flowers below the pleats, to match the vintage buttons I found. Pretty cute!

A few weeks ago, I bought some clearance bakeware at JoAnn Fabrics. I normally don't like to bake with this rubbery material, but you couldn't beat the price. So, I became the proud owner of a mini loaf pan.

I knew just the recipe for its maiden voyage!

Lemon Fruit Yogurt Loaf
From Smitten Kitchen
Makes 4 loaves

1 1/2 cups white flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup yogurt - vanilla or plain
1 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup fruit (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc.)
1/3 cup lemon juice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease your mini loaf pan. Sift your flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the yogurt, 1 cup of sugar, eggs, lemon zest, vanilla, and oil. Gradually add the flour mixture to this wet mixture, and then mix in the fruit. If you're concerned about your fruit being untidy and discoloring the batter, you can always mix it with a little flour before folding it carefully into the batter.

Pour into mini loaf pan and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until golden.

YUM.

You're not done yet! Mix the remaining tablespoon of sugar with the lemon juice and warm until sugar has dissolved. Once your loaves have rested for about 10 minutes, poke some holes in their tops and drizzle the sugar/lemon juice mixture over them.

These are so moist and delicious...probably one of the best dessert breads I've ever had. The nice thing about these mini loaves, too, is that they're easy to tie up with fabric and give to friends.


I hope you'll give some away soon. Have a great week!