Summer, Oh Summer...

The summer is waning Brain.

Alas.

I think I may very well have eaten the last peach of the season today in my morning smoothie.  At least the peaches ended on a high note, if that is the case.

Speaking of summer in the garden and in my smoothies, I'm pretty sure I didn't poison myself this morning but just in case, here's what I did, so you know, if I never post again, Brain.

Malabar spinach in my garden.

I bought this plant at the neighborhood nursery, that was labeled "Spinach."  Once I brought it home and put it in the ground it proceeded to grow into the least "spinach-like" plant I had ever seen.  To me it looked very much like a Pokeweed, or something in the Pokeweed line of plants.  Pokeweed can be toxic if you dont cook it correctly I've heard, so I was not about to go harvesting this thing willy nilly and popping it, un-researched, into my salads.  It grew like a weed and remained steadily unaffected by the heat.  I finally got around to looking it up on line today.  Turns out its Malabar Spinach.  Not toxic, very edible in fact, but also not an official "spinach."  Taking my life in my hands I trusted the internet and put some of the leaves in my smoothie this morning.  It tasted O.K. (I prefer celery or parsley in my smoothies but thanks to the hungry Black Swallowtail caterpillars that's not what's growing  like a house on fire in my garden right now) and so far I am not dead.

The luscious Desert King, food of the Gods!

14.5 LBS!

And in more "Food from The Garden" news, here is a pic of the 14.5 LB watermelon I grew from seeds we saved last summer.  The original melon was one we bought at the Cedar Park Farmers Market .  They told us it was called, Desert King.  It was SPECTACULAR, the best watermelon I have ever eaten by far!  Its a yellow melon, deeply sweet and juicy.  I picked this one just a little bit early, sigh.  Still, it was very good.  I decided to add it to the awesome salad I found in one of my glutten free cook books.  Then I messed around with the ingredients some more and this DELICIOUS salad is what I came up with.

 Smoked Salmon Watermelon Salad with Lime Mango dressing

Here's is what you need to make this scrumptious summer salad.

2 oz smoked salmon

1 avacado sliced and pitted a bunch of yellow
watermelon balls seeded

Parsley

Salt

Pepper

1/2 Lemon

Lime Mango Yogurt dressing

To make the dressing you take the flesh of a ripe mango and the juice of one large squeezed lime and blend it in a blender with one cup of fat free yogurt (I like Dannon).  Then chill for an hour or so.  Cut up the lettuce however you like, add all the items and drizzle with dressing.  If I had had any sunflower seeds I would have sprinkled those around too, I think they would add a nice crunch.  This is a FANTASTIC, fresh summer time salad!

There goes Zoe.

So, not much else to report on Brain.  Zoe is taking it hard that Courage is getting to go so many places with me as he trains to be a therapy dog.  We call it "doing his Home Depot work."  He has to learn to behave calmly and kindly in all kinds of situations and places so we take him as many places as possible.  Zoe does not like being left behind.  I took her for her own special trip to the lake the other day and she felt a little better temporarily.  This weekend she, not Courage (who does not do well in the Texas summer heat) will accompany me on the 11 mile test run to see if I'm ready for the half marathon coming up.

OK that's all, except for this.

Chicken Butt.