Cooler after a warmer than expected day yesterday. Showers overnight and early morning, then partly cloudy and humid until evening, when it cleared out to be a beautiful evening.
Busy day in the kitchen today. We found that the grapevine on the arbor had done surprisingly well, and we picked a 5-gallon bucket plus a 3-gallon bucket full of ripe Concord grapes. What a treat. Those are now made into concentrated grape juice and jarred up, making 7 quarts in all.
The peppers I chopped up and put into the dehydrator. Dried peppers are great for chili, spaghetti sauces, etc.
Then there were cucumbers again. The second planting vines are beginning to produce so I made 5 pints of dill pickles with those. Larry had picked another half bushel of yellow squash and zucchini, so those went into the food processor to be grated up for squash fritters, chocolate zucchini bread, and lemon squash bread this winter--and also to add to spaghetti, meatloaf, etc. Lots of ways to use squash prepared in this way.
Lastly, I made green tomato pizza for dinner. I'd seen a newspaper article last week that mentioned a restaurant that made this, and I figured I could duplicate it. It was really simple. Someone had given us some 8" frozen pizza crusts, so I didn't have to make crusts. I sliced a green tomato very thin, salted the slices and let them sit for a while to draw out the moisture. Then I rinsed them off, patted dry, spread my homemade pasta sauce on the crust, and arranged the tomato slices. Bake for about 7 minutes at 400 degrees, pulled out and added crumbled bacon and grated parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, then back in the oven for about 5 minutes. Delicious, and so pretty. Next time I'd like to try mushrooms instead of bacon. Or maybe both.
So, today was all about food. Yesterday was all about the booths, as I went on a road trip with a friend to Columbus to pick up some things to add to our stock. It was a fun day, but I knew that today I'd be working hard to catch up.
Tomorrow, tomatoes. Lots of them. I see more pasta sauce in my future. Wish me luck.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for sharing your thoughts! Comments are moderated so may not appear immediately, but be assured that I read and enjoy each and every word you write, and will post them as quickly as possible.