Too Much Chocolate Cake

Monday was a coworker's birthday and I offered up to bring in something sweet and delicious. I debated making these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes as something new (and deadly delicious!) to try. In the end I went for a tried and true. But I will definitely have to give these suckers a try. I also found a recipe for Chocolate Chip Caramel Cookies that look tasty too.

I ended up making the ultra-reliable Too Much Chocolate Cake. Definitely give this one a spin. It's super easy, and even more delicious. And, the fun thing about it, is that you can mix up the flavors a bit and give it your own twist.

Links: In the Garden/In the Kitchen

In The Garden:
How to turn a pallet into a garden. Neat idea, especially for small spaces.

An idea I will be trying! EngineeredGarden shows how to use upside down tomato cages to prop up squash.

In The Kitchen:
Truly easy homemade cheese.

Apple dumplings that look delicious and chic.

Need to defrost meat you have sitting in your freezer? Try a hot water bath.

Chilled Double Chocolate Torte - the no-bake version, sounds perfect for hot summer days.

Leek toasts with blue cheese from the goddess at Smitten Kitchen.

Yum. Falafel & Tzatziki.

June Gloom Means Bloom

The cucumbers are starting to flower (along with the tomatoes, peppers and eggplant). Garlic is starting to scape now (and the shallots continue to do so as well). My succulent plant I purchased for my desk at work has flowers starting to open (sweet!) which means I'm not killing it (yet). Yay! And one little picture of baby bunny bum, munching away on grass in the yard. It may be June gloom and hard to get out in the yard to do much but, at least there are good things happening. :)

Also if you are interested in succulents, I found instructions on how to fluff your succulents when they start to get overgrown.

Shallot Scapes

End of last week, I noticed that our shallots had flower buds. This being the first time I've grown shallots, I wasn't sure what to do with them.

Today I did some research to see if you treat them like garlic scapes--cutting them off and noshing on them. There was not a lot of info at first in the books that I had or immediately online, but the deeper I dug, I found that quite a few suggest taking them off. Which, makes sense.

The reason you remove them from garlic is so that the plant puts the energy into the bulb, not the flower. And garlic scapes are tasty.

The question is what will shallot scapes taste like? I'll have to let you know after dinner tonight. ;)