Tomatoes!

If you have never had your head down in the middle of a bunch of tomato plants, you need to do it and smell the wonderful fragrance of tomato vines.  I love the smell and I was thinking about the smell after I picked the tomatoes and as far as I know there is not another vegetable plant in the garden that I have grown that has a distinct smell like tomatoes.  They smell wonderful and they sure taste wonderful.

I may not always be able to take care of the large garden I have now, but I've decided that as long as live I will always plant tomatoes and have herbs.

Have a wonderful Saturday and don't forget to go out tonight and enjoy the moon. It is supposed to look extra large.  :)

Eggplant and Goat Cheese Dip

This turned out to be a dip full of the flavors I love.  Lemony, garlicky, with the tangy flavor of goat cheese.  Basically, that's what's in it!  It was great with these fresh veggies but it would also be very good served wit toasted pita bread and some chopped purple onion.

This dip is fast and easy to whip up.

2-1 pound eggplant
Place eggplant on a cookie sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes or until eggplant is tender.  Let this cool and then scoop out flesh from the skin remove some of the seeds, don't use all of them. Place the flesh in a colander to drain for about 15 minutes.

Now place the eggplant in a food processor, add 2-3 minced garlic cloves and 1/4 cup lemon juice.  Puree this mixture.  Then add 5 ounces of goat cheese cut into little hunks.  Blend this with above mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Canning Beets

On Monday, I harvested all of the beets.  My mother always made pickled beets and I love pickled beets in spinach salad, or just salads in general and by themselves.  It took me all day to get all the beets finished because I had to do it in batches.  I ended up with 17 pints of beets.  I'm giving the 6 in the picture to my daughters and the rest will more than be enough to last me through the year.  And I may give some away for gifts.  After I finished canning and cleaning up the kitchen,  I sat down and thought about the whole process from planting the seed and all of the care that goes into that, then the harvest and the process of preparation of canning.  Then I thought about walking into the grocery store going to the canned vegetable isle and picking up a jar of pickled beets.  Huh!  Is it worth all that work?

I love gardening and there is something satisfying about being a producer and not a consumer.  I know there are no pesticides in my garden and no preservatives in my canning process that has chemicals in it.  That's a major issue to me.  Even though it is a lot of work, I would rather be productive.  I like that feeling.  I want to tell you that I do have my days when I sit all day a read a book that I am really into or I'm into something on You Tube that I can't break myself away from.  I do try to guard myself from the emptiness of a busy life.

This is my mom's recipe for pickled beets:

10 pounds of beets
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water (or you can use the liquid that the beets boil in)
1 quart of vinegar
1 tablespoon of salt

Wash and clean beets well.  Leave the tail in tact on the beet.  You can cut that off and I do sometimes because it makes the water redder and I like that for canning.  Cook the beets until tender.  That will take about 45 minutes.  When the beets are tender pour off about 2 cups of liquid if you want to use that liquid instead of water. Discard the rest of the liquid.   Let the beets cool.  Then slip off the skin and trim both ends.  If the beets are a good size I quarter them, smaller I cut in half and if the size of a nickel I leave whole.  Have clean and sterilized jars and lids ready to go and fill the jars with the prepared beets.  Also, while beets are getting tender make up your syrup to pour over them.  It's the sugar, water, vinegar and salt and let this mixture come to a boil.  Pour this mixture over the beets and leave about a 1/2 to 1 inch head space at the top of the jar.  Screw on the lid and put jars into a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.  Then sit out on the counter on a dish towel and leave for 24 hours.  Then the jars may be put away.

In every batch I cut the ends off of some of the beets because I want the red water.  Just clarifying !
If you ever plan on remodeling your kitchen or you are going to get a new stove top and you cook a lot be sure and get a 6 burner stove top.  You will never regret it. When I'm canning, on holidays or preparing a lot of food this is a life saver.

The Beautiful Colors of Summer

The colors of summer are becoming as beautiful to me as the fall colors.  I continue to be amazed year after year at the beauty of creation.  Not only can we marvel at the vibrant colors of tomatoes and the purple beans but the uniqueness of the different flavors.  All this beautiful food that was given to us to enjoy and it's ashamed that we fall into the trap of fast food.

Fast food is exactly what it is!  It does take some time and effort to prepare good food. The majority of the time that's what we eat and it's wonderful, but some times I'm tired and I don't want to cook and I'm guilty of my occasional slaw dog and chili cheese fries from J.&W. Grill in Chickasha :(  

I have wanted to grow these purple beans forever and finally planted them this year.  Gary helped me put up little Tepee's for them to grow up and they didn't grow up them as well as they should have.  I wasn't on top of the training.  Some of the plants took off up the posts and the rest are twisted around each other at the base of the tepee.  Another learning experience, next year I will be better prepared.  It was like looking for purple Easter eggs among a sea of green leaves. 

I making a new egg plant dip with egg plant from the garden and I'm thinking these purple beans and the lemon cucumbers from the garden are not only going to taste wonderful but make a beautiful summer platter.

I'll show pictures and the recipe soon!  xo

This Says It All!

Watermelons!

 

Some pictures of some of our garden.  The pictures of the watermelons are at different stages.  Some baby ones, medium size and some starting to get pretty big.  There are blooms all over the cantaloupe vines but nothing has started to form yet.  I have always wanted to grow a gourd vine and this year I finally got around to planting one.  It gets the brunt of the south wind, so far, just this one little gourd has formed.

It's going to be friends, food and firecrackers this evening.  We always enjoy an invitation from our long time and dear friends to celebrate the fourth of July at their home.  Their fire works display is better than any park display and the food and fellowship is grand.

Wishing you a Happy Fourth of July!

The Bounty

I'm very thankful for the bounty but it's almost more than I can keep up with.  Everything seems to ripen at the same time. : )   I probably have 20 tomato plants that have come up on their own from tomatoes that fell on the ground.  I'm pretty sure they are cherry tomato plants.  If you would like some and you are close, I would love to give them to you.  I can't take care of that many and they are in odd ball places. 

The beets did very well this year and the Swiss chard is doing wonderful.  It's my first year to grow kale so I wasn't sure exactly when it would be ready but I'm learning and it is very good too.  The watermelon and cantaloupe are going crazy.  I saw the first baby watermelon last week.  I still haven't had a chance to get out there with the camera and take a picture.

I wanted to post a picture of the Esperanza.  In the last picture there were no blooms.  This is such a beautiful plant and it flowers all summer.  It is really beautiful and I am enjoying it. 

Can you believe it's the first of July?  I can't!  This summer is flying by and I'm trying to savor all the wonderful summer moments.  Our neighbor came today to survey the pasture to see if it is ready to cut and bale.  I can't wait.  I love seeing those big round bales sitting all over the field.