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Even though this is about two months behind schedule, I still wanted to share with you about my tomato sauce. In keeping with my effort this summer to preserve food that we would actually eat, as opposed to just jams that served primarily for gift-giving, I was determined to preserve tomatoes. The fact that canning tomatoes don't require a pressure canner also helped this determination (man, I need to get a pressure canner for next year). Back in mid-September, I bought a bushel of "canning tomatoes" from one of my favorite vendors at our local farmers market.
I had read a lot of mixed writings about whether or not it was safe to add any vegetables (even garlic) to tomato sauce that was to be canned in a boiling water bath (and not using a pressure canner). Not feeling confident, I decided to just go with totally plain tomato sauce, with just a little bit of lemon juice and salt added (to add acidity and then balance it out, respectively). I figured that I would be warming up the tomato sauce anyways when I take it out and prepare it, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal to add some browned garlic and other herbs or vegetables.
For next year, I'll have to look into more canning recipes. And if any of you have any knowledge or suggestions on this, please do share it in the comments section! I used the food mill that I inherited from my grandma to puree the sauce and just poured it into the sterilized jars as is. I ended up with about six and a half quarts of sauce.
In addition to the sauce, I also canned five quarts of plain crushed tomatoes. I figure I will use these for soups or stews or other recipes. Or, I could always make some tomato sauce with this as well. To be honest, I'm blanking a little bit on my process for this. But I'm pretty sure that I followed the instructions for "Cut Up Plain Tomatoes" from Putting Food By. The instructions are just to wash and peel the tomatoes, cut into quarters, bring to a boil in a pot and then simmer for about five minutes before packing into sterilized jars.
I'm really excited about having these tomatoes in my little pantry in the basement (I have a pantry!). And I even used one quart of tomato sauce this past weekend to make lasagne! It was so exciting to use this, along with one of the bags of spinach that I'd frozen earlier in the summer, in my cooking. To be honest, I'm already worried that what I've preserved won't last me a year, but hey, that's okay. This is all a learning process for me, right?
in the weeks before and after our move, i lost all cooking motivation. luckily i did have a few quarts of frozen soup stocked up, so that got us through a little bit. but there was actually about a whole two weeks when i went out to lunch every day. something i almost never do. once we were moved in, unpacking the kitchen was my top priority (well, after putting together our bed, which we did the very first day). i knew that once the kitchen was unpacked, i'd be more inclined to cook. and, well, having food always helps things (especially since i have a tendency to have popcorn for dinner).
last fall i failed miserably at making weekly meal plans. i had a few really good weeks and then just let the whole thing drop off. but i'm going to give it another go. this time, though, i'm being a bit more realistic. i know myself well enough to know that i will not make a whole meal from scratch every night of the week. jared is not always home for dinner (and neither am i) which really diminishes my motivation. so, i'm aiming for cooking two full meals each week (keep in mind, when i say "week" i'm referring to weeknights only- the weekends are another story around our house). this allows for leftovers a couple nights, and maybe one or two nights of snacking for dinner (which may or may not include popcorn).
so, what have we been cooking? our first week of this meal planning coincided with the last weekend of our local farmers market and i decided that i wanted to cook something with pumpkin. i found a recipe for pumpkin saag (a curried pumpkin and spinach dish) in one of my favorite cookbooks. along with the saag, i made some plain basmati rice, and a delicious mango chutney. it was amazing. and one batch of it gave us two dinners and two lunches. i had planned on making some roti to go with it, but i lost a little bit of steam.
that same week, i also made broccoli potato soup (recipe from the same book). soups are key around here in the fall and winter. we try to make a big pot of soup or stew almost once a week. our trick? we always double the soup recipe. this generally gives us enough for a few meals, and then toss one or two quarts in the freezer. those frozen soups really come in handy during busy weeks when this whole meal plan thing gets tossed aside.
so yeah, that was our "meal plan" for week one. this week- we had mashed potatoes with sauteed spinach (leftover from what i bought for the saag) and herbed baked tofu. and tonight, i've whipped up a batch of hummus, and now i've got a double batch of lentil soup simmering on the stove right now.
and now, a question...do you do meal planning? what have you found is the best way to make sure you have a good meal every night (or at least, most nights)? i'm open to any and all tips from your own kitchens!
i realize that i didn't even talk about snacky foods or other staples that we make regularly and always have on hand. i'm going to save that for another post.
Hi Everyone!
I know I promised to get back to this space last week, but the truth is, I'm still settling into everything. Also, we don't have our own internet set up at the house yet (we're "borrowing" from our neighbors). The telephone system is a mess and Jared is working on sorting it out. I do really miss being here and I think in this time of chaos and craziness, I've been longing to be here with you all. So, I'm going to start carving out some time to post here as much as I can. Promise.
Sooooo. I finally finished my first pair of socks! I know, somewhere in the midst of buying a house and all that craziness, I found some time to knit. Actually, I stole some time to knit. But whatever. And, I wore them today. They're a teeny bit baggier than I would have liked, but I'd say that for my very first pair of socks, I did a pretty damn good job. So there.
For my birthday, my mom bought me a book, some yarn, and fancy needles, for another pair of socks. I have few projects ahead of that in the queue, but there will definitely be some more socks in my future....--------------------------------------------------
Pattern: Basic Ribbed SocksYarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine
Needles: Size 2, double pointed.
Modifications: None! This pattern was great for a beginner like me.
{on Ravelry, here}
Hey everyone! I'm back!! I know it was longer than a week, but I am beginning to resurface from under the mountains upon mountains of boxes I'm living amongst. Let's just say that it's a good thing we only moved a few blocks away, because that moving truck made multiple trips.
I've got loads to share with you (I finished the second sock! I'm cooking again! The quilt is almost done!), but first, it's 'Roid Week over on flickr. Go check out the group...there's always some amazing inspiration over there (see my polaroids here). And, it's just in time for the new scanner Jared got me for my birthday, sweet.I've missed being here and sharing stuff with you all, hopefully I'll get my feet on the ground soon and can get myself back into a regular routine of posting soon.
Hello friends!
Sorry to disappear for a whole week there. I've been on such a good blogging schedule and really enjoying sharing with you all everything I've been up to over the past couple of months. I still have a stack of photos waiting to be scanned and a few posts brewing in my head. Topics such as tomato sauce, buckets of apples, homemade vinegars and tinctures. And I know I still haven't told you about my medicinal herbs!
The fact is, though, I think these posts are probably going to have to wait at least another week. We are moving one week from tomorrow and there's a lot of loose ends that still need tying up. And by that I mean, there's still a lot of crap that needs to be packed up and paperwork that needs to be filled out. So. I think, to take the pressure off, I am going to sign off here for at least a week, maybe even until the end of the month. That way, if I do manage to pop back in with a post or two, it'll just feel like a bonus! And, as always, you will find me here (for as long as our scanner stays unpacked!).
I wish I had some inspiring links to leave you with, but I haven't had much time for internet dilly-dallying lately. Take care, friends! And when I come back, we'll be homeowners!
As predicted, I did indeed lose a little steam on the garden as the summer has begun to draw to a close. Although, I am happy to report that my gardening journal currently goes until September 16- and I have a few entries that I'm going to add back in, so that should be a really big help next summer! I missed my window (again!) for planting for fall crops, so things are starting to dwindle here. And with forecasts of 34 degrees tonight, I think I'd better get on out there this afternoon and salvage whatever is left in my plot. I was discouraged last week when I went out to see that my one proud little eggplant had gone missing from the plant. Missing! I'm thinking some four-legged creature must have chomped its way through that. I guess all I can hope is that he/she really enjoyed that eggplant. There were also two cucumbers still on the vine, so I'm hoping the colder temps this past week haven't taken their toll too hard on those little guys.
Last week, when there were overnight frost warnings, and combined with our upcoming move in a few weeks, I decided to cut down the rest of the basil. There was just enough for one more good-sized batch of pesto (so I now have two half-pint jars in my freezer, for those of you keeping track!). While I was out there cutting the basil, I suddenly found myself cutting down the rest of the herbs. Even the ones that are pretty cold-hardy. Suddenly I had a table full of cut herbs and an empty garden. Hmm. Afterwards, I felt sort of stupid that I had done that, thinking that I really hadn't needed to do that so early on. But then I thought that these herbs wouldn't have grown much more anyways, and (again) with our move, it was probably better to just get them out of the ground and into the air for drying. And with the very small amounts of free time we're having these days, that was actually probably a really good thing to do.
So now I've got nine little bunches of herbs hanging from the light fixture in our dining room. This is the second batch that I've dried so far this season, so I already have two half-full pint jars of rosemary and thyme (one jar each). I'm sure after I pick all the leaves off what's drying right now, I might even need bigger jars for those two! I also have some peppermint, spearmint (for teas, most likely), sage, and a little bit of basil that I'm drying.
I'm working on getting some photos of my medicinal herb adventures, and then the final few harvest from the vegetable garden. I'd love to hear how your gardening adventures ended up going this summer, and how you're transitioning into fall gardening, or closing up your gardens!
