Preserving my Garden

Two weeks of rain and the everything has greened up. Looks like Spring again. Expect for the shortening days. I had to turn the farmer light back on and light the pilot on the furnace. The wood shed is filling up again. The freezer is getting full and the root cellar is stocked.
It's been a good tomato year, so good that I broke out in hives from eating too many.  There's a never ending pot of tomato sauce on the stove and the oven is full of trays for roasting. Another gallon of red sauce just came out of the canner.

Note to self : get more quart jars

Magnetic Lid Lifter = my new favorite thing in the world.  It's a magnet on a stick. Stupidly simply and completely brilliant.

Gift Factory - Citrus

This month's Sunset magazine and a box of oranges have provided lots of  inspiration this year. I've dried oranges, infused boozes, candied orange peels (pictured above) and lemon peel. There's orange sugar and orange simple syrup. By the way, a splash of orange syrup in coffee is lovely.

That I am infusing alcohol is a source of amusement for my Mother. I'm practically allergic to wine and I got a contact high from the fumes when I decanted the grapefruit tequila.

All the recipes I used are in this month's Sunset and also online.

The cherry rush is on

Since last posting the weather has turned hot and humid, with thunder in the afternoons. Now 2 sets of  aunts and uncles are here for the cherry glut. Over the last 3 days we've picked about 120 pounds of cherries and processed almost all of them. There are cases of canned cherries,  dried cherries, pickled cherries, and cherry cobbler and pie. My hands are stained purple and my stomach will probably rebel if I eat any more. I'm ready for a nap in my chaise out on the lawn with the dogs. There are 4 terriers running around with their tongues hanging out. If we can keep the Westies out of the cow pies for the afternoon, I'll count that as a win.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's been raining and cold all week. Feeling very much like March instead of May. The garden is coming along and so are the weeds. The wet weather seems to have encouraged everything to burst from the ground at an alarming rate. If you stand in one spot too long you can see the grass grow. As a reward for pulling wheelbarrows full of weeds from the beds; I made Oatmeal Cookies. I'm not sure where this recipe comes from but my family has used it forever. These were often included in lunch boxes to grammar school and packed along to all the Boy Scout events.

This is the old card out of the recipe box in my Dad's handwriting. I don't always add nuts and this time I didn't have enough chocolate chips so I used white chocolate.  The white chocolate also had the nice effect of filling the house with a lovely vanilla sent when they cooked.

The Cake Thief

 A batch of homemade yogurt went sideways on me so it was relegated to cooking uses. I settled on Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake, because really any excuse for cake works for me. Strange yogurt or not this is a really great cake. Super easy and incredibly good, I swapped the lemon for orange this time.  It  never comes out dry and gets better the longer it sits, although it never sits for long in my house. 

So the cake was resting after baking and soaking in the orange syrup. Even cakes like to have a good soak and relax after rising for the occasion. I ducked out to schlep the garbage out to the cans. I was gone less than 5 minutes and returned to find a corner missing!

Someones been eating my cake....

...... and he's still looking at it rather wistfully.

April Fool's from Mother Nature

 Mother Nature played a state wide April Fools prank by snowing. 

Again.

  Just look at it piling up on Mrs Brown! It didn't really stick and it sort of cleared up later that afternoon. The hens really don't seem to care. They're just so happy to have dirt to play in. Mrs. White looks like she's wearing brown boots all the time now. To combat the gloom and warm up the kitchen,  Mom made scones. Lovely Irish White Soda Scones from Darina Allen's recipe.

I am of the opinion that life cannot suck too bad if you have warm baked goods. Besides there are few things that raspberry jam can't improve. 

Feeling old and cold

The weekend began with icy sidewalks, gained a few inches of snow, and I got a year older. Mom and I fried vegetables and made cheesecake. Cheesecake ranks at the top of the Work vs Yummy scale for me. Most of the time involved is cooling the cake down after baking. Ina Garten's recipe is really good, especially if you spoon berries over it.

As to my birthday, it's made me more than a little irritable this morning. I woke up with a headache and a giant zit. Thank you so much universe! A hot shower fixed the headache, stupid weather. And after troweling on some make up I no longer look like an extra in an zombie flick. My brain still feels like over cooked oatmeal. I spent a good twenty minutes looking for my coffee cup and then the a sharpie I lost during the cup search. Stupid chemo brain. It's feeling a little more like dementia these days. And why a multi- vitamin should make me wonky and give me a hot flash I don't know.

Silver Lining - I have cheesecake in the fridge and all the extra trips up and down the stairs counts as exercise.

Brownies & Hearts

It's cold this morning. Like 15 degrees cold.

In all fairness the sun is out,  the birds are singing, and the fields are sparkling white. (Blindingly so.) The landscape has been really beautiful, if a little monochromatic of late. So to counter act winter I made brownies and a crochet heart. (Valentines day is encroaching)  The brownie recipe is an old stand-by  from Fine Cooking.  It's a one pot wonder that makes up in a flash and comes out fabulously fudgy.

Although now that I think of it, I'm not sure I've really ever had a bad brownie. Maybe one with too many nuts. I have a thing about nuts diluting my chocolate.

But I digress; the heart can be found here. The Internet is a buzz with Valentine related stuff these days. Mostly I've been ignoring it, but I needed a little color today.

Dutch Baby and Berries

The new year started off with a high of 20 degrees and iced over sidewalks. So with a roaring fire in the stove and strawberries from the freezer I threw together a fabulous New Year's breakfast.

  

 My Dutch Baby recipe is from an old copy of The Best of Sunset. It's one of those really simple dishes that always seems spectacular and decadently festive. It's really just a giant pancake that puffs in the oven and then piled with good things. This time I smothered it with yogurt and berries. It's equally lovely with fried apples and maple syrup.

 

 

There is something wonderful about having summer fruit while it's below freezing outside.

Head over to  http://dutchbabypancakerecipe.blogspot.com/ for lots of recipes and variations.

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year too.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Pictures

stained 90 feet of deck railing, (my hand may never be the same)

raining

canned a dozen quarts of red sauce

people under my desk

which check to use?

Piggy

In my Kitchen

 It's salsa time!  Sunday brought dark skies and high winds to this part of the world, making it a perfect time for a little canning.

My versions of tomato and tomatillo salsas involve a lot work by the Cuisinart and very little work by me. Basically I throw things into a pot and cook just until it tastes good. The recipes I get out are for general reference as I can't seem to follow one exactly. I tend to measure things by the hand full. I've posted the recipes if anyone wants to try them. Just work around the water spots and hand written notes.Salsa seems to one of those very subjective things. Everyone likes a different level of heat.

**microwave peel your garlic; 30 seconds or less on High, garlic will explode out of it's skin

Canning info and supplies:

Fresh Preserving.com

Renee's Garden Seeds Putting Food By (Plume)

Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

Pickles and Relishes: From Apples to Zucchinis, 150 recipes for preserving the harvest [Paperback]