If you have missed the previous It’s In Season you have to go catch up! I love this series! Not only does it help you get more ideas on how to add fruits and veggies in your meals but it can help you save money by knowing when to buy specific produce.

Side Dishes

• Parmesan Zucchini Chips

• Zucchini Tots
• Potato and Zucchini Salad with Dill
• Zucchini Ribbon Salad
• Serious Salads: Zucchini with Feta, Walnuts and Dill

Meals

• Zucchini “Lunchables”

• Stuffed Zucchini
• Grilled Zucchini and Ham Pita Panini with Basil Hummus
• Zucchini Noodles with Chicken and Tangy Peanut Sauce
• Cheesy Quinoa Zucchini Pancakes
• Chicken Rollatini Stuffed with Zucchini and Mozzarella
• Quinoa & Zucchini Frittata

Extras

• Zucchini Pizza Bites
• Zucchini Hummus
• Zucchini Butter
• Zucchini Crust Pizza
• Puréed Fresh Zucchini Carrot Soup

Want more? Check out more zucchini recipes on:

A lot of the above recipes are with canned but you can easily substitute fresh!

What is your favorite way to eat/serve zucchini?

Yes I know that pepper jack and blue cheese are two very odd cheeses to put together. I wanted to show you how with this recipe you could actually use any kind of meat or cheese.

What I love is that instead of 185 calories for 12 crackers you only have 18 calories for the zucchini chips!  Amazing!

I made these the other night for dinner as a side dish, my poor husband was so disappointed he is anti anything zucchini. He did give me a nibble. But what was exciting was that my littlest ate his whole serving plus some. He just loved them. Which for me to find a veggie he is excited about is exciting!

I used my handy, dandy Mandoline Slicer (aff link) to slice up my zucchini and I even sliced up extra to just eat raw!

I set up a working station for myself. Setting up my egg, breading, and pan so I could work quickly and easily.

At first I tried just sprinkling the parmesan on the breaded zucchini from a measuring cup but found that doing by hand made me waste less of the cheese on the bottom of the pan.

Zucchini Parmesan Chips

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini sliced thin
• 1 egg beat
• 1/4 cup parmesan
• 1/4 cup panko
• 1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
• 1/4 tablespoon garlic powder
• cooking spray

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°
2. Place wire rack on cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray
3. Combine panko, bread crumbs, and garlic powder in a small flat dish and place egg in second dish
4. Dip Zucchini in egg then bread crumb mixture place on wire rack
5. Sprinkle Parmesan on chips
6. Bake for 30 minutes or till crisp and browned.
7. Serve imediately

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I know that Photo Fridays I usually only share photos from the week, but I had to share this with you today. I went to a great little party by my dearest friend Kristin from Our Ordinary Life sponsored by Snapfish! We all recieved little swag bags and in them we got coupons for a free 8×8 book. I found a new love! Now I know what I want as my present for each holiday from my hubby!

I wanted to share  my experience with Snapfish and their books because I loved it so much! It’s been my best photo book experience ever.

Here is the cover which turned out so wonderful! I loved how I could add photos to the front of the book.

One of my favorite things was the Autofill feature on their photo book designer. It’s actually made to be smart and put like photos together. I have tried making photo books on other sites and one of the hardest things to do is get all the photos in the book and in order. Before my Snapfish experience, I dreaded making photo books, they would take me hours to make.

If I wanted to add a picture to a page I could just drop it on the page and the photos would shuffle to make room like magic. I could also change the layouts by selecting one from a menu that was separated by number of photos and added text. I liked I had the option to add text or not. On this page I shared the memory of a day out blueberry picking with two small boys.

I was so happy with how the large photos printed. I loved this picture of them sitting together on that Lego throne and wanted to highlight it on this page. With a quick drag and drop I was able to switch the photos into the spaces I wanted, making sure the photo of them together was the main focus on this page.

It was so easy to edit the photos within the layout if needed also. The picture below is a great example. The photos on the right were an off bluish color, as they were shot in an aquarium. The colors clashed with the bright orange and yellow colors in the photos of the jellyfish. I changed the aquarium photos to black and white and the page turned out great!

Another great thing about the layout templates was that you could get lots of photos on one page and since I take way too many photos this was great for me. I didn’t have to stress over which photos to take out and which to keep.

This is my Snapfish experience I hope that you enjoyed seeing my photos actually printed out. I really did, seeing these books made me realize I take lots of great photos, but so many of them just sit on my hard drive where only I get to enjoy them. I am realizing I need to print more of my photos and I may make a challenge for myself to start printing my photos.

How often do you print your photos? Do you wish that you printed your photos more often? What stops you from printing them?

As I’ve been teaching myself to cook, I have also been teaching myself how to create my own recipes. In the video above you can learn how I develop my own recipes.

If you are curious about the recipe I created in the video here it is!

If you have missed the previous It’s In Season you have to go catch up! I love this series! Not only does it help you get more ideas on how to add fruits and veggies in your meals but it can help you save money by knowing when to buy specific produce.

Last time on the pineapple post I suggested getting this great Pineapple Corer to help you cut up your pineapple. Today I had to show you this awesome little tool for corn that I am wanting so bad:

It’s a One-Step Corn Kerneler! How cool is that. I think that my boys would love helping me with this!

Side Dishes

• Delicious Cream Cheese Corn Recipe
• Crispy Corn Cake recipe
• Southwest Rice and Corn Salad with Lemon Dressing
• Tarragon Corn Recipe
• Roasted Corn with Parmesan and Lime

Corn on the Cob

• Baked Garlic Corn On The Cob Recipe
• Grilled Corn with Cotija Cheese and Bacon
• Grilling: Italian-Style Grilled Corn
• Homemade By Holman: Chipotle Chili Grilled Corn
• Roasted Corn with Cilantro Butter

Soups & Salads

• Grilled Corn Summer Salad
• Grilled Corn, Avocado and Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing
• Summer Corn Salad Recipe
• Chinese Corn and Cabbage Soup
• Journey Kitchen: Lemony Coconut Milk and Sweet Corn Soup
• Picnic Corn-Zucchini Salad Recipe
• Dilled, Crunchy Sweet-Corn Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

Meals

• Corn & Bacon Fritattas

• Black-Bean-and-Corn Stew
• Quick Quinoa & Corn Saute
• Corn-Husk-Wrapped Grilled Halibut with Charred Corn Salsa Recipe
• Crock Pot Chicken Taco Chili

Extras

• Freezer Corn Recipe
• Corn & Black Bean Salsa
• Mais Con Yelo – A corn dessert!
• Microwave Corn On The Cob Recipe

Want more? Check out more corn recipes on:

A lot of the above recipes are with canned but you can easily substitute fresh!

Do you prefer canned pineapple or fresh? 

Corn is in season and I’m loving getting it straight from the cob. It’s so much sweeter and tasty fresh! Today the boys and I walked to the store and we got some corn. I quickly through this recipe together it is so easy. But also amazingly tasty.

I like to grill my corn, I am even known for throwing the whole cob into a frying pan and grilling it. Today I cut the kernels off and grilled them in the frying pan.

Today I decided to make a fun sign for you to remind yourself that you are a good mom no matter what and to stop looking at other moms and trying to compare yourself. If you haven’t read my previous post in regards to #momenough make sure you do!

I did not make this a desktop like last week, but if you would like it for a desktop let me know and I will make it!

I very rarely use Pepper Scraps as a place to rant and rave, but I’ve been seeing the Times cover floating across the web. I was bothered by it.

I wasn’t sure why at first.

It was not because they showed a strange picture of a woman breastfeeding. Not because I don’t believe in attachment parenting. But because Times Magazine is trying to goad women into comparing themselves with this cover. I have not even read the article.

This is a constant fight in our lives just as women, but it even worsens when we become mother’s. We are constantly questioning what we are doing as women, how we look, how we mother our children, and our choices that we have made. Then we see the mom that is doing it better than us, she has everything down perfect (at least we think so). Then the comparing starts. If she can do it why can we not. We must be doing something wrong! There must be something wrong with us.

Weight & Body Image

I have compared myself and my body to other women. Why am I so heavy? Why is it if I even eat 1 meal a day do I weigh more than the women enjoying 3 heavy meals a day?

I have faced the fact my body is my body. If I want to be healthy and strong I have to work hard! It’s how I was made and through this battle of losing weight I have helped others!

Breastfeeding

I personally have struggled with comparing myself with other women in breastfeeding. I had low milk supply, it just didn’t work for us. The first time I hated myself and my body for failing. But the second time I chose not to compare myself to the women surrounding me enjoying breastfeeding their children. I was proud of myself for the battle I fought to make it 6 months!

Through this trial I have been able to help and encourage friends who have battled breastfeeding in their own ways. From the mom who was making her little one sick by over feeding her because she just thought she had to have a low supply to supporting many friends who just were not able to do it at all.

Mothering

A few years ago I struggled at trying to the perfect Mom. I was putting too much on myself. I saw other moms who were teaching their children to read and write. They were able to keep a perfect house, homeschool their children and seemed to have everything balanced. I started to compare my life to theirs and I struggled. I was trying to homeschool, keep house, work on my business, and work outside of the home. It was just too much for me.

Ironically I would have other mom’s come up to me, while I felt like I was failing, they asked me how I do it all. They were envious of me because I am crafty and artistic and my kids were always creating things. For me the trade out for being crafty is that I’m terrible at organizing and cleaning, I’m in a constant battle with my house.

I sat back and looked at my life last year and realized I needed to decide what works for me. What has God given me in talents and abilities that make me the Mom I should be for my kids. I also made a point as soon as I started to compare myself to another mom I would tell myself STOP!

But now the question is turned to you:

Are you mom enough to not compare?

Because the fact is you are the mom you are supposed to be and if you start to try and be like someone else you will fail!

Every Mom is Mom enough to be the mom they are meant to be.

I’m Mom enough because I want them to become strong Godly men that are leaders and filled with compassion. Everyday I tell them I love them, I hold them, snuggle with them and spend as much time as I can everyday with them.

Please share in the comments: Why are you mom enough?