How to make stuffed pumpkin blossoms & tempura green beans

I love summer when I don't have to work every day and can just while away the hours picking, stuffing, frying, and savoring decadent little treats like these herb cheese stuffed pumpkin blossoms.  

While I could sit and be despondent that my Seminole pumpkin plant keeps blossoming but not fruiting, I decided I would not wait around for the pumpkins and eat the blossoms instead.  I'd not done this before and thought about using these open flowers, but I'd have to fight the bees first.  There were two nestled in the flower below. I decided the just-spent blossoms were the way to go.  I chose the male flowers in case the females decided to ever fruit.  The females have their little female bumps at the base of the flower and the males have the penises inside.  Just kidding.  Well, not really - they have little flower penises.  Or I guess I should call them pistils and not be so ignorant and crude.

Below, I carefully rinsed the insides of the blossoms, stuck a finger in there and broke the pistil off, and pulled the slightly prickly green sepals off.  I shook them as dry as possible because they'll be deep fried in oil, and I'm not trying to be splattered by burning oil.

I decided to make a cheese stuffed blossom.  It's a busy day, so I cheated a bit by cutting some ricotta with some Boursin shallot and chive cheese rather than creating my own filling from scratch.  All kinds of filling recipes are out there so create something you like.  When this little one heard "filling" she insisted on piping.  A good idea.  I turn around and she's got a bag in a cup and is filling it up.  This kid's watched too many cooking shows.

She has carefully piped the filling in, and we've gently twisted the tops.  I used a light tempura batter - 1 cup flour and 1 cup club soda.  The blossoms were dipped in the batter, excess dripped off, and then deep fried in vegetable oil on medium-high until lightly browned.  Since we don't fry too much, I looked for other things to fry- I made some latkes (my kids' favorite) and found some beans in the garden.  The tempura beans were also amazing!