Friday, August 11, 2006
Relief From The Heat
Saturday's forecast calls for a high of 75 and mostly cloudy. I hope to finally get some work done in the garden that I have been seriously neglecting lately due to the intense heat and humidity. I mean, I have been going out each day and picking tomatoes, okra and butterbeans. I even pulled the rest of the corn one evening this week but I could never force myself to stay out there for more than an hour. After an hour I would come in the house flushed, mosquito bitten, hot and cranky. It just wasn't workin'. It was beginning to seem like too much of a chore and not a joy like it had been before the heat wave. So I am looking forward to rubbing myself down with tansy leaves (to foil the mosquitoes) and spending some weeding, trimming, and culling some of the growth as well as picking the rest of the butterbeans that are ready.
I need to can tomatoes again too. I tried something new this year (well, new to me). I cut the tops off the tomatoes and gave them a squeeze over a bowl to release the seeds and some of the juice; put them skins and all into my large stock pot and cooked them until they were mostly mush. After letting them cool a bit, I transferred about 1-2 quarts at a time to my colander and then pushed the good stuff through while the skins and most of the seeds that were left stayed behind where I could just dump it to the compost bowl and go again. I ended up with a very nice tomato sauce, just a little bit watery; but after I cooked that down a bit, it was just right. I can either can it at that point and have virtually endless uses for it this winter or make sauce. For this I add garden fresh herbs, basil, thyme, parsley, oregano just picked from my herb beds; grated zucchini squash, some diced bell peppers that I roasted, onions that were lightly sauted add from the garden, fresh garlic, salt and pepper. I didn't measure much, just went by taste. What I ended up with was some pretty good pasta sauce. I put it in jars and pressure canned them. Later when I am ready to use it I can add ground beef if I choose or just add some parmesan cheese. It tasted delicious. The tomatoes were so good and sweet I didn't even need to add any sugar (big plus). You just can't buy anything that good at the store! The only down side is that it is a lot of work and I only yielded a few jars of this fabulous sauce. I do plan to make it again though, because 1-I love pasta! and 2-It makes me feel good to take my own tomatoes and make something that will be so comforting come this winter. It will be a taste of summer in the dead of winter and bring back the memories of this year's garden and the time I spent there...
I need to can tomatoes again too. I tried something new this year (well, new to me). I cut the tops off the tomatoes and gave them a squeeze over a bowl to release the seeds and some of the juice; put them skins and all into my large stock pot and cooked them until they were mostly mush. After letting them cool a bit, I transferred about 1-2 quarts at a time to my colander and then pushed the good stuff through while the skins and most of the seeds that were left stayed behind where I could just dump it to the compost bowl and go again. I ended up with a very nice tomato sauce, just a little bit watery; but after I cooked that down a bit, it was just right. I can either can it at that point and have virtually endless uses for it this winter or make sauce. For this I add garden fresh herbs, basil, thyme, parsley, oregano just picked from my herb beds; grated zucchini squash, some diced bell peppers that I roasted, onions that were lightly sauted add from the garden, fresh garlic, salt and pepper. I didn't measure much, just went by taste. What I ended up with was some pretty good pasta sauce. I put it in jars and pressure canned them. Later when I am ready to use it I can add ground beef if I choose or just add some parmesan cheese. It tasted delicious. The tomatoes were so good and sweet I didn't even need to add any sugar (big plus). You just can't buy anything that good at the store! The only down side is that it is a lot of work and I only yielded a few jars of this fabulous sauce. I do plan to make it again though, because 1-I love pasta! and 2-It makes me feel good to take my own tomatoes and make something that will be so comforting come this winter. It will be a taste of summer in the dead of winter and bring back the memories of this year's garden and the time I spent there...
# posted by Wild Wisteria Farm @ 12:33 PM 
