A Plate of Carbs With Tomato Sauce

So I have lots and lots of tomatoes. I've made sauce and paste. Froze skinless whole tomatoes for use this winter. Made salsa. And eat them fresh in every meal. And still I have lots and lots of tomatoes.

How do I put them up?

Tomatoes Vs Sept Vogue

This is 2 quarts of Juliet tomatoes that needs to be processed. I'm thinking of blanching skinning and freezing. Just to the right of Project BSF is a ten pound Vogue that needs processing too.

Who is going to win the afternoon with Judy?

Gingerbread in a Jar

I bought a flat of these half pint jars with wide mouths, and probably should get some more too. I filled two with gelatin made with fresh juice, two with strawberry sauce, and eight with gingerbread. 

The house smelled good that day. Gingerbread in August made me lust for Christmas.

I adapted a recipe called "Canadian Gingerbread" from the book, The Complete Book of Gingerbread: Traditional Gingerbread Recipes and Designs From Around The World. 

I added ground cloves and ground nutmeg. And substituted Agave Syrup for the Light Corn Syrup. 

Believe it of not, I actually had Light Corn Syrup in the pantry. It was at least five years old, although never been opened, and slightly yellowish. The ingredients were High Fructose Corn Syrup and Sugar. I tossed it in the trash.

They came out pretty good, but I would test for doneness (toothpick comes out clean) about five minutes earlier.

I froze a bunch to see how they taste after sitting awhile and then being defrosted. The recipe calls for the bread to sit a day to develop more flavor.

How anyone who smells gingerbread cooking resist eating it for 24 hours is beyond me.

Last weekend I made homemade mac n cheese and had some extra sauce. I'm thinking I might add it to  puree potato soup. I grew potatoes again this year, um, kind of by accident. But that's another story.

Coffee Soda

A recipe for Coffee Soda

One fresh cup of strong coffee

Ice to fill tumbler

One tablespoon of vanilla sugar - stir into hot coffee

Some milk to lighten up coffee (optional)

Pour coffee and additions into tumbler until half full.

Add seltzer water and stir. 

Enjoy!

Good Morning Sunshine!

One of my favorite ways to eat zucchini is sliced into disks and lightly sauté in butter with scrambled eggs. This morning I chopped up some blossoms and sauté them too and finished the plate with a sprinkle of some freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on top. 

Hairy beast!

Sunday Muffins

Banana walnut muffins cooked in a toaster oven this morning were moist inside and had a crunchy crust. The occasionally bite of walnut was a nice surprise. I'm freezing the few that were not consumed for a quick weekday breakfast. What is your favorite muffin?

Mr. Ekans

Maybe this King Snake feels like he fits right with the hoses. He's sure knew I was there, and he knew just where he was going too - down a hole.

Personally I am very glad he is black and white. I really don't want to step on him.

When my appetite calls for one slice

Oh Pepperoni. I swore off cured meats. But I so enjoy the occasional slice of pepperoni pizza that I made a pie with only one slice.

My Garden Success

Harvested Mache

I was reading some advice about yoga the other day. To paraphrase it said celebrate your successes (that your body can do) instead of pointing all the things that your body can't do.

So in that vein my surprise success this spring in my garden is a plant called Mache (with an accent over the e). Also known as corn salad and typically it is grown in the earliest of spring as it is a cold tolerant leafy green.

So who knew it would be hardy enough to take on our very hot spring. I mean it's been HOT! Over 19 days of 85 degree heat or higher in the last month. Plus back when these seeds first sprouted, the birds thought I was serving a salad buffet.

So Mache - I'll be growing this tasty green again!

Growing under the artichoke

Earth Day Pizza

Sunday Dinner - Italian Style

Sunday is perhaps the most relaxing day of the week for me. Usually we don't go anywhere, and I cook. Both of which suits me just fine.

Last Sunday I planned to make a stuffed beef roll called Farsumagru with pasta and sauce. It is sort of based on The Frugal Gourmet's recipe, except I used no meat or eggs or cheese in the stuffing, just bread and vegetables, and the sauce was my onion and garlic version.

The wine is a Vina Robles Cabernet. After it opened up with a bit of oxygen, it paired well with the meal.

What is your favorite Sunday dinner?

Tempura Tales

One of my favorite dine out foods is tempura - shrimp being most sought out. I would like to make it at home and I've tried to with various degrees of success.

I mean after I had shrimp tempura one week and this seafood the next, I knew I had to try again at home. I have a deep fryer and all the ingredients, so blam! Super Bowl Sunday I made red pepper, asparagus, and shiitake tempura.

I used a rice flour and club soda batter recipe that I found online, and it worked pretty well for the shiitakes anyway. There are no pictures from this event because I was afraid to touch my camera. Hot oil, tempura batter, stress. It wasn't pretty, folks.

So I leave you with what is pretty - to me anyway. Salmon! Yum!

Shrimp Cocktail

I was inspired by Alton Brown's Good Eats episode on shrimp. Typically I will buy cooked shrimp from the grocery store and pour cocktail sauce on it and eat it, and hey - that's fast food that's good.

But Alton said never buy cooked shrimp. Never! Buy uncooked and do it yourself.

So I gave it a shot.

Unpeeled, but deveined, with tails, but no heads. Frozen.

After they were thawed, I brined them in 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup salt, and 1 cup hot water that was allowed to cool first, and added a tray of ice cubes for 15 to 20 minutes. Drained and dried with paper towels. Lightly oiled and placed on a baking sheet. Cooked at 350 degrees Farenheit for 13 minutes. And thrown into a ice cold bowl to stop baking process.

Peeled. Arranged. Sauce (out of a jar, shhhh). Light squeeze of lemon.

Results? So very very tasty compared with pre-cooked shrimp (which are kind of salty and rubbery now that I think of it). Definitely worth the effort!