Summer has been busy and crazy, and along with all the busy and crazy our trees and garden continue to produce. There is no scheduling when stuff ripens, so we have to deal with it in the middle of busy and crazy. Since we don't have anything exciting going on right now, my excitement consists making salsa and spaghetti sauce. We planted several varieties of tomatoes this year, to see which we prefer most. Needless to say, we have kept the neighborhood, family and ourselves abundantly supplied. In June, I bottled 9 quarts of plum juice. I made a couple batches of plum syrup, and some jelly - all of which has been given away. The bottled juice will be turned into more jelly and syrup at a convenient time. Our strawberries did well this year, and I have a couple of frozen bags of whole berries in the freezer and made freezer jam. Also not pictured are the blackberries we ate in cobblers and the few bags of frozen berries waiting to be made into cobblers. We only planted one zucchini plant this year, but from that we've had plenty for the table, some for grating and freezing and I put some in the salsa and spaghetti sauce. The salsa ingredients came exclusively from the garden - tomatoes, red onions, green peppers and jalapenos. Jared enjoyed fresh jalapenos on his eggs when they were here in June. This was my first attempt at spaghetti sauce. It was easy, but takes a long time to boil down. The house smells so yummy while it is cooking - imaginings of visiting Tuscany. Fresh spaghetti sauce is almost too good for words. I ate what I couldn't fit into the freezer containers on a piece of bread - Man O' Man! Now you would be really impressed if I told you it was fresh French Bread from the oven, but it would be a falsehood. I haven't done this much canning/freezing for years, and I probably haven't made french bread in even longer or ever! Reminds me of the many years my sister and I would can peaches for an entire day - 96 quarts one time. It was exhausting, but gratifying to see the 'fruits of our labors.'
Tomorrow we are having bacon and tomato sandwiches for dinner. Come on by and we will share. And no - the bacon isn't from our pig. We are city folk!
7 comments:
Fun times! And I can attest to the tastiness of the salsa and spaghetti sauce. I especially love the SALSA. I just need to find a low WW point chip to eat with it. YUMMM! Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labor.
I love it...Can I come over for dinner? I need to attempt a garden but haven't yet...there is a time and season right? Anyway--thanks for the inspiration! Looks YUMMY!
I miss having a garden and the fresh veggies. While living in a town home means I don't have to mow the lawn or shovel the snow it also means I can't have a garden. I've tried growing tomatos in pots but they never do well so I gave up. Maybe I'll try again next year. That reminds me this is prime corn on the cob season and we have a local garden store that has the best corn. I need to go get some. Fresh corn and butter with a little salt - that's good.
I'm so jealous. We've tried growing a garden, but stuff just doesn't grow well here. And then the wildlife eats what little we do grow.
Mom- I need some lessons on canning! And the recipe for plum syrup! We have tons of tomatoes and loads of blums. we also get some blackberries which I too have made into cobblers. I am jealous you have the time (even though you have been busy)to make all those canned items though. Maybe when the kids go back to school.
I can also attest to the tastiness of the salsa. We haven't tried the spaghetti sauce yet, but I'm looking forward to it. It's waiting in my freezer for a good opportunity to serve it to my family.
It makes for such a pretty countertop display! How impressive!
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