I have several loaded cucumber plants right now so I will probably do what I normally do with them–make pickles. I’ve already gone over how to make refrigerator pickles. It’s very easy and costs half the price of store-bought pickles.

Here are a few other cucumber recipes I might be trying soon:

Salads are a natural for cucumbers, and one of my favorites is the Japanese Cucumber Salad. It’s just thinly sliced cucumber mixed with rice vinegar and other seasoning.

I’ve been watching Iron Chef lately and am surprised how often they grind cucumbers up for sauces. It reminded me of Tzatziki, a Greek sauce commonly used in gyros, which is thick and yogurty.

I was intrigued by Cucumber Sorbet. Something about the understated flavor of cucumber makes me think that this would be refreshing and delicious.

I know for a fact that cucumber goes really well in cocktails. You can get cucumber-infused vodka by cutting some cucumbers up and letting them sit in the vodka for 3-7 days. Or you can simply mix them into the drink. Here’s a recipe for Cucumber Margaritas.

I also like when people cut cucumbers up and put them in a pitcher of water.

There are a lot of cucumber appetizers out there, but most of them look like someone spooned pate onto a cucumber wheel. However, these Cucumber Shrimp Rolls are very pretty.

And finally, there’s always cucumber sushi. I bought a sushi kit from the grocery store out of curiosity. Maybe I will try some cucumbers in it for lunch today.

Here’s a clever idea from ReadyMade, making a lampshade out of photo slides. Most of us probably don’t have these lying around anymore, but if you do, this is a great use for them. It looks kind of modern. (Via Recycled Crafts)

This was my lunch the other day. For most people, it would probably make a better side dish for dinner. Either way, it was delicious.

And, since everything came out of my garden, it was absurdly cheap. This might be the cheapest lunch I’ve ever made. The only cost to me was a tablespoon of margarine and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. So the total cost of this dish? Four cents. That’s right, $.04.

That’s got to be a record.

Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:

1 round zucchini, chopped
3 baby beets, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs margarine
salt
pepper

Directions:

Cut all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Put in a pan and mix with salt and pepper. Cut up the margarine and put on top of the vegetables. Stick in the oven at 450 degrees for 40 minutes, or until vegetables are fork tender.

Design Sponge has done it again with another awesome house tour, this time from Shay Ometz, who is senior art director at Fossil. Some of my favorite pictures:

I love many things about this room–the use of blue paint on one wall. The carpet tiles. The interesting pillows. And the library catalog–which I love in a room anyway–made extra interesting by the blue cards in the alphabet slots.

The other side of the room. Apparently they are readers! What an awesome bookshelf. And I like globe collections.

The kitchen. I am mostly posting this picture because I like retro bowl collections. I have the same mushroom bowl (third from the right).

See the rest of the tour here.

This weekend, I found the above golf caddy for $4.50 at a thrift store. My husband mentioned awhile back that a golf caddy would work for my garden tools, and I finally found one that rolls for a great price. I took it home, cleaned it with some upholstery cleaner, and moved the garden tools in. It works great!

A comparable tool caddy costs $149 at Home Depot.

This is a simple little project–turning one of those vinyl bags you get from sheets into a travel bag for your knitting. I like the idea of putting a hole in the top to wind the yarn through. Although it needs a strap.

I always wondered what to do with those vinyl bags.

These are the vegetables I picked from the garden on Monday. On Tuesday, I turned part of them into this:

A Vegetable Quiche.

I like making quiches. They are a great way to use up vegetables. Even people who generally dislike vegetables usually like this quiche. (It’s because of all the cheese… shhhh don’t tell them.) Here’s the recipe.

Vegetable Quiche:

Ingredients:

1 pie crust–(homemade pie crust is a separate post, but if you don’t know how to make one, you can always get the frozen ones from the store. They work pretty well.)
3 Tbs vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 medium zucchinis, chopped *
2-3 c chopped beet tops, chard, or spinach. I used beet greens, stems and all.
3 basil leaves, chopped
3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
2 c cheese
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 pinch red pepper flake

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put the pie crust in the oven for 5 minutes. You’re giving it a head start to ensure the crust will be nice and toasty. After 5 minutes, remove crust from the oven and lower the temperature to 375 degrees.

2. Prepare the vegetables. Put the oil and garlic in a frying pan on medium-high heat. When it is sizzling, add the onions and cook until translucent. Next add the squash to the pan and cook until soft. Finally, take the chopped basil and beet greens and add to the pan. Stir until they are wilted. Lightly salt and set aside.

3. Mix the filling. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, pepper flakes, and the 2 cups grated cheese. I used swiss and mozzarella, but most cheeses would do.

4. Put the vegetables in the pie crust and spread around.

5. Pour the egg mixture over the vegetables. With a fork, carefully work the liquid into the vegetables so it is evenly distributed throughout the crust.

6. Stick the quiche in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until a knife or toothpick comes out clean. Let the quiche rest for 5 minutes, then cut and serve. Enjoy with a spinach salad and a nice glass of red wine.

*Note: You don’t have to stick to this combination of vegetables for your quiche. Although I do recommend keeping the garlic and onion as a flavor base, you can substitute the basil, beet greens, and zucchini for any other vegetable you want. Just cook it the same way, but add your own vegetable combination into the frying pan–mushrooms, bell peppers, artichokes, leeks, tomatoes, etc.

On top of a delicious and filling vegetarian entree, the Vegetable Quiche is a pretty frugal dinner, especially if you have a garden. Here is the cost analysis for me:

Cost of Dish: Pie crust: $.40; Vegetables: Free from the garden; Eggs: $.75; Cheese: $1.25; Milk: $.25; Salt/Pepper/Pepper flakes: Practically free.
Total Cost of Dish: $2.65, or, with 8 standard slices in a pie, $.33 per serving.

A pleasant way to spice up a drink this summer is to use frozen fruit as ice. I cut up a watermelon and froze part of it in cubes for this drink (vodka, diet 7-up, and lemon) but any frozen fruit will work. It adds color and flavor to the drink plus gives you something to snack on.

This is my safety razor. It’s from the 1940s. I use it to shave my legs.

I originally got the razor from an antique store. I properly cleaned it, of course. The reason they are called “safety razors” is because they were the next design up from a straight razor. They cut you less than the straight razor, thus the name.

I didn’t always use a safety razor. Until recently, I used a Gillette Mach 3. Before that, I used the disposables you get in plastic bags for $5. Then my husband got obsessed with old-fashioned shaving, and I learned that safety razors are a drastically cheaper option for shaving your legs.

Put it this way: A Mach 3 razor blade is about $13 for 4 blades. That is a staggering $3.25 per blade. If you get 6 shaves out of it, that $.54 per shave. That’s a lot of money. In fact, razor blades used to be the most expensive personal care item I purchased, (except for make-up, which lasts longer, so may actually be cheaper that razor blades).

Compare that to the safety razor. We purchased 100 razor blades for $10, or $.10 per blade. If you use that blade 6 times, that’s less than two cents a shave.

That’s a savings of $3.15 per blade, or $.52 per shave.

Why is the price so different? It gets down to the proprietary nature of branded razors. Take Gillette–they have created a razor that takes specific blades so that no competitor can come along, make the same blade, and undercut them in price. If you buy a Gillette razor, you’re stuck with their blades, so they can charge you whatever they like. And $3 for a piece of sharp metal is a ridiculous mark up.

By contrast, safety razors use common standard razor blades. Everyone makes them–you can get them at your corner drugstore–so they cost what a piece of sharp metal should cost, i.e. next to nothing.

I have also noticed that I get almost no razor rash or ingrown hairs with the safety razor. While the Mach 3 actually pulls the hair from under your skin to cut below the skin surface, the safety razor simply cuts along the hair follicle, thus making ingrown hairs unlikely. And because you’re dealing with one blade instead of three, you have to go slower with the safety razor, which is less stressful to the skin overall. This is especially useful for sensitive areas.

Of course nothing is perfect. It is supposed to be easier to cut yourself with a safety razor, although I haven’t experienced this. Also, it takes more time to shave, so it’s not great when you’re in a hurry. I keep some disposables around for when I’m in a rush and can’t be bothered to fuss with the safety razor.

Here’s a rundown of the safety razor:

Pros:

MUCH cheaper
Less stressful to the skin–no razor rash or ingrown hairs
A closer, cleaner shave
Sticking it to man, er, corporate razor companies

Cons:

Easier to cut yourself
Slower shaving time

Want to learn more? Here’s a whole forum of guys who can teach you about the safety razor.

My own herb garden has been a bit of a struggle because it turns out that gophers love herbs. Now I’ve learn that Martha Stewart has an in-depth view of her herb garden, including an interactive map that let’s you see that layout of the garden and what herbs she planted. It is a dream herb garden.

But aside from being pretty, they also go over different herbs, including the odd ones that I never know what to do with. For example:

“Stevia — This tall, leafy plant is the source of a popular sugar substitute. The powder from the stevia leaf is 100 times sweeter than sugar. You can use it to bake, to preserve, or to flavor your lemonade. It is a natural and delicious way to save calories.”

Or:

“Cradoon– The Greeks and Romans loved to eat Cardoons, and you can prepare them like you would an artichoke by boiling the vegetable and serving it hot with melted butter or cold with a vinaigrette. Act fast before the flower atop the vegetable opens to reveal a profusion of dazzling purple petals.”

Wow! The probject reminded me of several other herbs I eventually want to cultivate, including marjoram and tarragon. You know, once I get the gophers under control.