Still in the Kitchen

I have been in the kitchen for most of the past week as the garden continues to pour forth its goodness.

Yesterday I had many tomatoes to deal with, as well as the rest of the peaches, carrots and the first of the corn.

pasta sauce

So peach preserves, pasta sauce and frozen corn and carrots were the end result.

peach preserves--the first jam I've made this summer.

The day before Larry dug some of the carrots and some potatoes so I made vegetable soup to can.

Some of the carrots are pretty big, at least for our gardens. We don't grow varieties that get huge, so most of ours are fairly small, which we like better.

one big carrot

Also had more peaches to do The cellar is beginning to look great.

He also pulled the onions and spread them in the woodshed to dry, and brought a few into the house to use now. I will be cutting up some of the later crop of onions and drying those in the dehydrator, I think. We really liked having the dried onions last year, so convenient for soups, stews, casseroles, etc.

Today we're back into corn and green beans, and I bought black cherries since they're the cheapest I've ever seen. Those are in the freezer too, waiting for time to make some jam or something else.

Tomorrow I am taking a break from canning and doing some writing. I think we've earned it.

How about you? How is your garden this year? I know some people are having a good year, other places need rain badly.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Peaches and Salsa of the Zucchini Kind

We are still working on the peaches, canning them as they ripen. Yesterday's yield was six quarts, and we have a bushel left to do. We'll see how many ripened overnight.

These aren't the easiest peaches to can because they're the cling variety, meaning the meat of the peach tends to cling to the seed. So it's a messier process and rather than neat halves we have smaller pieces in most instances. But they taste delicious.

A friend mentioned that he was making zucchini salsa last week and that got me curious. Last year I pureed a lot of zucchini and froze it for use in chili, spaghetti sauce and other dishes. It made a nice addition, kind of a filler with no strong flavor but adding some good veggie content. So salsa? I figured it would be about the same.

And the way I made it, that's pretty much what it was. I admit, I cheated! I used Mrs. Wage's Salsa mix, medium heat instead of my own spices and salt. Mrs. Wage's is easy to use, and the taste is fantastic. With so many fruits and vegetables coming in right now I need all the help I can get. There doesn't seem to be much in the way of chemicals and preservatives in Mrs. Wage's as far as I can tell, and it's sure better than the store-bought salsa any day.

So, for the salsa, I used this combination:

6 sweet banana peppers
2 bell peppers (all I had at the time)
4 onions
6 medium zucchini (about 10-12 inches long)
and a bunch of tomatoes of all kinds--cherry, yellow pear, pink, red, yellow and black--enough to make a total weight of 12 pounds of vegetables.
2 packs of Mrs. Wages and 1 cup of cider vinegar (per package directions)

All the veggies went through the food processor with the shred blade. That left enough larger bits to satisfy me as I like a chunky salsa.

Then cooked according to Mrs Wages, put in jars and processed according to package directions.

How did it taste? Delicious! We ate one whole half-pint jar of it plus the little bit left over after filling the jars.

I will absolutely be making more. And looking forward to having it all winter long--and adding to chili too.

For a recipe that is all from scratch, click here.


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Today's To-Do List: Peaches

There was one more basket not in the photo. The little plums are from our tree, the first we've had from it!

1. Pick peaches
2. Can the peaches that are ripe.

That's about it for today. We picked peaches at our son's house, beautiful yellow peaches that are bigger than he's ever had before on that tree.

Plenty of green ones

We got about two bushels, came home sorted ripe/unripe, and put up seven quarts in the end.

Fresh out of the canner,hot hot hot!

There are still plenty of peaches for tomorrow, so guess what will be on the to-do list again?

Loving this garden and fruit year!


Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.