Roasted Tomatoes

It is so hard to believe September is already here.  I hope you enjoyed a lovely Labor Day weekend, soaking up the last bit of our "official" summer.  Although the thermometer still says "summer", our routine is switching to "fall" with the start of classes in the morning and soccer games and practices in the afternoon and evening.  Hubby and I had initially thought of taking a small road trip with the Littles on Labor Day weekend, but as we talked about where to go and what to do, we actually made the decision to stay home and take advantage of the one day that we actually didn't have to go anywhere.  We used it as a day to get caught up on a few things around the farm.  Hubby spent most of the day sorting and planing boards for the outside trim on our addition, and I caught up on laundry, mopped a few floors, organized the library, and harvested what I could from the garden.  It was a lovely day, actually, and I was happy that we chose to stay home.  It always feels so good to go into a busy week prepared and organized.

One area that I chose to work on in the garden yesterday was my tomato patch.  We have been harvesting tomatoes for a couple of weeks now and have been enjoying them for lunch and supper almost every day.  We use them for sandwiches, cut them into salads, but mostly we simply slice and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper and eat as a side dish with whatever we are having for supper; nothing much compares to the taste of a freshly picked, still warm from the sun, garden tomato.  Up until now we could keep up with them by simply picking and eating, but now they are ripening so fast that it is time to start preserving.  My vines are all brown and dead, having succumbed to a late-hitting blight, but the plants were able to produce quite a bit of fruit, and the tomatoes are ripening quite nicely.  I did pick a bowl full of rotten ones that had been pecked at by our rogue Guinea hen that kept sneaking in the garden before we clipped her wings (the chickens were quite happy about that bowl full), but I harvested a nice basketful for preserving.

I've always canned our tomatoes, but this year I decided to try something a bit different.  I roasted them. It was quite simple; it filled our house with the most tantalizing aroma, and the result was delicious! I will definitely be doing this again, maybe even replacing my usual method for making spaghetti sauce with my new roasted tomato sauce.

It was so simple; I wanted to share with you how I did it.

After washing the tomatoes, I cut them into chunks and spread them onto pans, lightly covered with oil. I sprinkled them with salt, pepper, chopped garlic, basil, and fresh oregano.  You could use as much or as little as you want and add any herb that you like.  I think next time I may try adding a bit of onion and even some green peppers. I then roasted them for about 2 hours at 300 degrees.  Oh, you won't believe how delicious your kitchen will smell while those delightful tomatoes are roasting! After they were finished roasting, I let them cool, put them through my food processor to break up the chunks, and poured the sauce into freezer bags...that's it!  It really was so simple, and the flavor....oh, the flavor...so much better, in my opinion, than the traditional spaghetti sauce that I usually make and can.  Roasting the tomato brings such a smoky sweetness to the sauce and will be quite comforting on a blustery, cold night this winter.  I'm looking forward to putting many more bags of roasted tomato sauce in our freezer.

August Garden

Is it already mid-August? It seems like only yesterday I was looking at my snow covered garden wondering if I ever was going to be able to start planting, and here we are at the height of harvest.  So many wonderful things are coming from the garden now...zucchini, summer squash, cabbage, green peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, beets, beans...oh, the beans; they just keep producing by the bucketful!  My plan to plant one row for summer eating and two for preserving has worked better than I expected. The freezers and pantry are filling up quite nicely with 8 quarts of dilly beans recently being added to the shelves. I used a traditional dilly bean recipe from my Ball Blue Book, not yet daring to delve into the world of fermentation.  After a very unsuccessful attempt to make sauerkraut, I haven't had the nerve to try fermenting again...oh, I shudder when I think of that disastrous outcome.

Meal planning this time of year is so easy. Some type of meat, usually grilled, or pasta and fresh summer vegetables are standard summer fare here on the farm.  Sauteed zucchini, kale salad, and Asian style slaw have been dinner favorites the past few weeks.  I love being able to stroll to the garden in search of our dinner meal, so rewarding and so peaceful.

My attentions have now turned to harvesting and many of the weeds have been allowed to take hold.  I did, however, grab a few Littles and enticed them to help me remove the "carpet" that was encroaching upon my tomato plants.  We have also had some trouble with one lone guinea hen, who escaped getting her wings clipped.  She insists on flying over the garden fence and pecking my ripening tomatoes, and she doesn't miss a single one that is at her level.  Hubby finally caught her in action this past weekend, and gave her a bit of a trim.  My tomatoes are now safe, as long as little children wandering in for a handful of blueberries remember to close the gate behind them.

It seems my attentions this summer have been mostly of the outdoor nature, and my knitting and sewing have come to an abrupt stop. Living here in the Northeast where winters are so long, I want to take advantage of every bit of summer that I can, knowing I will have plenty of time soon for those cozy indoor projects.  Today the sky is blue, and the air is crisp and dry, a nice change from the wet, clammy weather we have been experiencing. I'm looking forward to this lovely, late summer day.

Sambucus canadensis L. (The American Elder)

"So repugnant to insects is the odor of the American elder that an eighteenth century gardener recommends that cabbages, turnips, etc., be whipped with young elder twigs to preserve them from insect ravages.  An infusion of elder leaves is often used to-day to keep bugs from the vines.

The clustered flowers of the elder remind one of mellow old lace. They give off a heavy, sweetish, and. to many people, a rather sickening odor...Elder flower water is much used by the confectioner...The young buds are sometimes pickled like capers...

The specific name is supposed to be derived from sambuke, an ancient musical reed instrument -- the prototype  of the crude hollow-stem elder whistle of the barefoot country boy.

The same hollow stalks of the elder play an important role in every maple-sugar camp.  Cut into appropriate lengths and inserted in the incisions of the tapped trees, they serve to conduct the rising sap into the waiting pail or sugar trough.

Other crops may fail, but this plant always produces a full harvest, never yielding to the caprices of the season, be it wet or dry, hot or cold."      ~The Book of Wild Flowers, 1924~

After being so inspired by my favorite British blogger and their elderberry cordials (here and here), I have become obsessed with finding elder bushes in order to harvest the flowers.  I spotted a few bushes in my travels, and last week I harvested enough blossoms to make my very first batch of elderberry cordial. I felt like a little kid that had just come home from the candy store with a bag full of treats. Making sure I had identified the flowers correctly, I pulled out one of my new favorite books, recently acquired from a library sale, Book of Wild Flowers, put together by the National Geographic Society in 1924.  I read the portion written about the American Elder and found it interesting and quite entertaining. I was aware of the medicinal properties of the berries and have made elderberry syrup in the past to help with cold and flu season, but I had not known that the older branches were hollow and used in early maple sugaring, nor that the plants were used by gardeners to ward off harmful insects. I was very  happy to learn of the other uses of this bush, and Hubby and I are already making plans for planting our own hedge of elderberry bushes next spring, ideally somewhere close to the gardens so as to preserve them from insect ravages.
I have since found more bushes in bloom and have plans of making another batch of cordial, hoping to return later in the year to pick the berries.  Many thanks to our British friends for introducing me to the lovely elderberry bush and the delightful cordial made from its blossoms.

All-Time, Favorite Pickle Recipe

The Internet is flooded with recipes for almost anything one would want to make (or maybe not) from Pickle and Peanut Butter Cupcakes to a simple white sauce, so I am usually hesitant to add more to the mix.  I couldn't resist, though, after making a batch of Slippery Elms (a recipe handed down to me from a childhood friend) and filling the kitchen with the mouth-watering aroma, sharing this favorite pickle recipe with you. The melt in your mouth goodness is like no other. We like this pickle with almost anything...alongside a sandwich, as an accompaniment to winter squash, with cheese and crackers, or simply any time we want to add a bit of zing to our dining experience. This pickle recipe is great because it uses the not-so-perfect, overgrown cucumbers we so often find in our garden at the end of the season, and it's really quite simple, with only a few ingredients. 

Slippery Elms

8 quarts cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes

8 cups sugar (white or brown; I use equal parts of each)

3 hot peppers cut into thin strips or 3 tsp dried red pepper

4 tsp turmeric

Apple cider vinegar (enough to cover cucumbers (about 12 cups)

Place cucumbers in large stockpot. 

Add the sugar, hot peppers, and turmeric.

Pour vinegar over the cucumbers until just covering them.

Simmer over medium-low heat until tender, stirring occasionally (about 45 minutes).

Wash jars and lids. (Since the pickles will be processed for 10 minutes, simply washing in hot soapy water is sufficient. The Blue Ball Book recommends sterilizing jars used for contents processed for less than 10  minutes).

When pickles are tender, spoon into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.

Screw on lids and process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. (Here is a nice tutorial for processing using the hot water bath method.) 

Enjoy!

Linked with Say Not Sweet Anne, Alderberry Hill, Huckleberry Love, This Gal Cooks, Sumos Sweet Stuff

Iced Coffee, Anyone?

I can't believe that it's the middle of the week already; it's amazing how quickly time flies.  I wish it wouldn't. I'd like to capture the summer days and make them last forever...they can be a rare commodity in our neck of the woods.  Winter seems to take more than its fair share of the 365 days in a year, so I want to savor these long, warm, sunny days.

I want to wear colorful, argyle wellies and a sundress while I work in the garden...

Enjoy some girly talk while pulling weeds...

Allow the Little Ones run to around the yard in bathing and suits and wet hair...

Watch them discover the joy of picking flowers, finding worms, and eating popsicles...

Let the grass tickles Baby's chubby feet for the first time...

I simply adore summer...I live for it...I look forward to it all year long.  I enjoy the longer days; right now the sun rises around 5:00 am and goes down around 8:30 pm in our corner of the world.  I love the sounds of summer...the birds, the frogs and peepers, the crickets.  I enjoy going to the seaside, driving with the windows down, stopping at flea markets and yard sales, planting and harvesting the garden, watching the fireflies light up the yard at night, and sipping iced coffee while reading a magazine under the maple tree.

 In honor of summer and drinking lots of iced coffee under the maple tree, I want to share with you my favorite iced coffee recipe that I found on pinterest.  I don't always have the forethought to prepare it ahead of time, but when I do....mmmmm...it is delicious.  Adding ice, sugar and cream to leftover coffee made in the morning will do, but pouring a glass (or in my case, a mason jar) full of this cold-brewed coffee is much more satisfying.

The Best Iced Coffee You Will Ever Drink

1/2-2/3 cup ground coffee

1 tsp cinnamon

3 TBS dark brown sugar

3-4 cups of cold water, 

Mix all of the ingredients together, let sit overnight in fridge, strain, pour over ice and add cream. Enjoy!!!!

Linked withThe Brambleberry Cottage, French Country Cottage,