Happy Father's Day

 My father had the greenest thumb of anyone I knew. 

If a plant was dying he could bring it back to life.

In his yard he had a pear tree, it is still there, which he

grafted a different type of pear to the tree. It know produces

2 different kind of pears! 

I am attempting to grow green beans on my deck this year. 

I can not tell you how sad I am that I will not have my Dad's garden to raid this year!

My plants, which I started from seed, are coming along nicely. 

Today I built a couple of trellises for them to climb.

 

I do have high hopes for these plants...

And even the one in a smaller planter -

I use to make my Dad something blueberry for Father's Day. I decided to continue the tradition in his memory. This morning we had Blueberry Muffins from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite cookbook. I only made half a batch, still ended up with 8 muffins! I also toasted some coconut and added that to the mix. Nice flavor.

Blueberry Muffins from Gordon Ramsay's Healthy Appetite

Ingredients -
2 very ripe large bananas
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking sodea
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 large egg
1/3 cup light olive oil
7 ounces blueberries, rinsed

Method -
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Peel the bananas and mash in a bowl, using a fork.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 cup brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and add buttermilk, egg, olive oil and mashed bananas. Fold the ingredients together until just incorporated. Gently stir in blueberries.

Spoon the batter into 12 paper-lined muffin tins and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon brown sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown on top; a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin should emerge clean. Cool in the pan for a couple of minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.



So what did we have for dinner?

Grilled Sausage Patties with Roasted Peppers and Macaroni Salad.
The Macaroni Salad recipe was from RealSimple.com.

The Roasted Peppers were from Cooking With Chef Silvio: Stories and Authentic Recipes from Campania.


And in honor of Father's Day we had some of my Dad's Zinfandel 2007.

 Hope everyone had a relaxing Father's Day!