Re: What are you eating from your garden today?

plantoid Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:22 pm

Out the garden for lunch today .

I had a whole 1/2 pound beefsteak tomato from the glasshouse in 1/4 thick slices, drizzled with thick sweet orange flavoured balsamic vinegar , my version of sweet pickled Dilly beans where I had to use star anise because I couldn't get any dill seeds only the herb from a supermarket as ours had just started to have dying flowers .

This was accompanied with two slices of packet ham and four slices of crinkle cut sweet pickle beet root and a glass of water .

It was similar fare for yesterday as well but with the last of some feta cheese as well.

There are not enough tomatoes this year to can most of the outside toms had succumbed to blight before we got back from holiday . . We'll eat what we have for the next 8 days or so & hopefully buy in a couple for trays of canning toms.

FamilyGardening Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:07 pm

I love going into the garden and picking out dinner.....5 min's to the frying pan!
Had a couple pieces of fatty bacon that needed to be used up....decided to add some potatoes, green beans, green onions & garlic! yum!

eggplant - What are you eating from your garden today? - Page 37 Dscf1137

eggplant - What are you eating from your garden today? - Page 37 Dscf1137

its the best feeling to cook fresh food for my family Very Happy

rose

Marc Iverson Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:13 pm

Looks very nice!

Somehow I always like the look of a dish in a cast iron skillet, too. I love mine and use it whenever I can.

FamilyGardening Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:17 pm

These I canned up over the weekend....straight from the gardens for 21 winter dinners!

6 Qts of beef & veggie soup, 8 pints of beef & tomato sauce, 7 Qts of chicken & veggies soup.....

eggplant - What are you eating from your garden today? - Page 37 Dscf1138

eggplant - What are you eating from your garden today? - Page 37 Dscf1138

we call these *fast food* as all we need to do is add some: rice, pasta, pizza dough, pie shell, dumplings or thicken the broth and pour over mashed potatoes...there are lots of things you can do with this head start!

its also a great way to preserve those smaller amounts of veggies you are now getting from the garden as the growing year is slowing down....a little bit of this and a little bit of that....turns into wonderful soups Smile

that can be turned into a meal!
happy gardening
rose.....

FamilyGardening Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:18 pm

Marc Iverson wrote:Looks very nice!

Somehow I always like the look of a dish in a cast iron skillet, too. I love mine and use it whenever I can.

thanks Marc Very Happy

my husband and children bought this pan for me a few months ago and I love cooking in it!
rose......

FamilyGardening Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:23 pm

Marc Iverson wrote:

I gotta make a break fer it while I still gots da chance!

Marc very cute!........your Tomatoes look great!!....what does the yellow/green one taste like? its so pretty Smile

happy gardening
rose

FamilyGardening Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:29 pm

Plantoid your lunch sounds yummy....did you eat it like a sandwich?....I have been enjoying bacon & tomato sandwiches the last few days Very Happy

sorry to hear your toms got blight this year Sad

first time for blight for us was last year and it wiped out all of our big tomatoes that were still green....I was so sad about it

this year has been a really good year for tomatoes for us here in the PNW....it doesn't happen very often though...so I have been using them as much as possible and was able to turn some into pasta sauce for this winter....first time to ever be able to use all of our own tomatoes to make the sauce....

hugs
rose

**donnainzone5** Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:35 pm

Nothing spectacular. Just beans (yellow, purple, and green) with store-bought dill and home-grown garlic, and a steak sauteed with basil and more of said garlic.

Marc Iverson Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:39 pm

FamilyGardening wrote:
Marc very cute!........your Tomatoes look great!!....what does the yellow/green one taste like? its so pretty

happy gardening
rose

Rose -- I dunno! I haven't tried one of those yet. I got a few today and am curious, but will probably wait till tomorrow to try them because I'm already stuffed from dinner. Those are green zebras.

Rose, what is in your jars to the left and right of the tomato sauce? They look like broth with chopped veggies in them ... like soup maybe? But you talk about pouring them over mashed potatoes, so I'm thinking I must have that wrong ...

Marc Iverson Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:43 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:Nothing spectacular. Just beans (yellow, purple, and green) with store-bought dill and home-grown garlic, and a steak sauteed with basil and more of said garlic.

Sounds pretty good to me. And sometimes just having ANYTHING to harvest feels pretty darn spectacular!

If not for my beans, I'd be having a very long wait between good times in the garden.

FamilyGardening Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:17 pm

Marc Iverson wrote:
FamilyGardening wrote:
Marc very cute!........your Tomatoes look great!!....what does the yellow/green one taste like? its so pretty

happy gardening
rose

Rose -- I dunno! I haven't tried one of those yet. I got a few today and am curious, but will probably wait till tomorrow to try them because I'm already stuffed from dinner. Those are green zebras.

Rose, what is in your jars to the left and right of the tomato sauce? They look like broth with chopped veggies in them ... like soup maybe? But you talk about pouring them over mashed potatoes, so I'm thinking I must have that wrong ...

1st jars are Beef and veggie soup.....once you open the jar you can thicken up the broth and make it into beef stew....or drop dumplings on top of the soup or add some rice to spread out the soup to feed more people.....

same with the chicken and veggie soup on the right....once opened you can thicken up the chicken broth and use it as gravy over mashed potatoes......my family loves it this way Smile

or add some noodles.....

just some idea's of how to turn home canned soups into more than soup Razz

not that having fresh home canned garden soup is not enough Smile

rose

Marc Iverson Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:26 pm

Can you tell me, here or in PM, how you thicken up the broth to make a gravy? I make a lot of home-made chicken stock, but I've never made gravy out of it.

**sanderson** Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:34 am

Just got to this post after 2 days. To all of you who have posted Monday and Tuesday, everything sounds and looks yummy. FG, you are ready for a 3 week emergency!

**donnainzone5** Wed Sep 10, 2014 10:56 am

Although many people would disagree, I use corn starch to thicken a sauce or soup.

I mix a small amount with water, then add to the liquid to be thickened, stirring constantly until it reaches the desired consistency. If the liquid remains too thin, I repeat the process.

The advantage to corn starch is that, unlike flour, it doesn't form clumps.

Marc Iverson Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:38 pm

I'm quick enough with a wisk, and add liquid so slowly, especially at first so that I get a really even texture, that I'm pretty good at keeping lumps out. Except from mashed potatoes, which I'm hopeless at.

My only experience with corn starch was using it to try to thicken a pasta sauce, which was a gooey disaster.

There are all kinds of starches out there. It would be nice to have it figured out as to which was the best one where and why.

plantoid Wed Sep 10, 2014 4:39 pm

FamilyGardening wrote:Plantoid your lunch sounds yummy....did you eat it like a sandwich?....I have been enjoying bacon & tomato sandwiches the last few days

sorry to hear your toms got blight this year first time for blight for us was last year and it wiped out all of our big tomatoes that were still green....I was so sad about it

this year has been a really good year for tomatoes for us here in the PNW....it doesn't happen very often though...so I have been using them as much as possible and was able to turn some into pasta sauce for this winter....first time to ever be able to use all of our own tomatoes to make the sauce....

hugs
rose

It's a knife & fork on a plate dish , had we some crusty flaky rolls left from breakfast there would have also been been a small noggin of bread to mop up all the tomato juice and sweet orange balsamic as it's " Slurp " ...delicious ( must stop drooling over the keyboard before it shorts out )

**donnainzone5** Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:05 pm

Marc wrote: My only experience with corn starch was using it to try to thicken a pasta sauce, which was a gooey disaster.

With pasta sauce (getting ready to make high-protein spaghetti tonight), I simply let the sauce simmer/boil off extra moisture. It will take time.

And.... I think you probably used too much cornstarch. Small amounts typically suffice.

However, there may well be other methods I haven't tried.

johnp Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:26 pm

I roasted the rest of the pimentos for freezing and the first of the poblanos and some small red peppers that are very sweet when roasted. Waiting for them to finish steaming in the paper bag and the whole house smells like roasted peppers. The tomatoes with salmon was terrific last night with the lemon vinaigrette. I have been in the dog house since last Sat. so I have been doing all the cooking and most of the clean up and stuff to atone for my small forgetfulness. We got 6 pounds of plums early sat morning and I
got out the jars and stuff and started canning cardamom plum jam and regular plum jam. I was about half way through when my lovely wife came in and casually asked me if there was anything better that we could do on our anniversary than can plums,. Embarassed

:oops:This is only the second time in 47 years but it didn't matter, I was done.

Marc Iverson Wed Sep 10, 2014 5:50 pm

donnainzone10 wrote:With pasta sauce (getting ready to make high-protein spaghetti tonight), I simply let the sauce simmer/boil off extra moisture. It will take time.

And.... I think you probably used too much cornstarch. Small amounts typically suffice.

Yeah, I used way too much. I had guests and we were tired of waiting, so I decided to try out this new thing I had learned about corn starch -- that it can thicken sauces! Well, my sauce was thick all right. Like library paste. I had no idea what I was doing. Disgusting. College days, before I knew how to cook most anything.

FamilyGardening Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:55 pm

Tomato sauce has to cook down if you want a thicker sauce.....but...if its a little thin you can always cook your noodles Al dente: http://www.ehow.com/how_2069399_cook-pasta-al-dente.html

then add your noodles to your sauce and let the noodles soak up some of that sauce that's to thin.....we love it this way...

must be why spaghetti always taste better the second day....because its had time for those noodles to soak up some of that sauce Very Happy

happy gardening
rose

**sanderson** Thu Sep 11, 2014 1:18 am

John, Neither DH nor I can remember our exact date (Jan 17-19), and we get a little fuzzy on the year, also. Going on 23 years this Jan. (I think) Embarassed

**llama momma** Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:34 am

Pole beans are relentless. 3 squares went to the top of 8 ft trellis. There was 9 or 16 per square. Don't remember. I didn't know they would be this prolific. Many pounds of frozen beans in the basement freezer plus four qts of canned dilly beans besides all we can eat fresh. The current weather change should slow things down. Maybe dehydrate the rest. Just too many beans! Rolling Eyes

herblover Fri Sep 12, 2014 7:19 am

LM, that is how I am feeling about tomatoes! 1000+ from the 'Sugar Lump' cherry alone! I have frozen 4 pts of Italian Roasted Tomatoes so far. last night I made no cook Herbed Tomato Pasta sauce and got 2- 3c containers of that in the freezer. And we still have a good month before our first typical frost date! i will be thankful; you never know when you garden how the year will be and I always remember what my grandmother said; "Put up as much as you can because you never know what may happen". Keeps me going when I just want to stop!

Marc Iverson Fri Sep 12, 2014 1:38 pm

Remember some of us are jealous of you folks with so much good produce you have to slave away at canning it all up. Count your blessings!

CapeCoddess Fri Sep 12, 2014 3:07 pm

Marc Iverson wrote:Remember some of us are jealous of you folks with so much good produce you have to slave away at canning it all up. Count your blessings!

+1 !!!

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