Peach Coglo

From Peach Trees to Peach Jam

We managed to pick some White Lady peaches the other (that is kind of funny name :) and they finally and thankfully made it into jars yesterday.  Let's hope they took!

In the peach orchard, there is always a little "eeww" factor-fallen peaches and the animals that love them.

And then there is the freakish but fascinating fungi.

Love the end result~peach jam and peach pie filling!

Thanksgiving at Home

 
The crew is hanging out reading Little Bear's Thanksgiving.  That book is so old.  I feared I would never see it again.  Thank goodness for our awesome public library.  I think this was one of my cherished moments, watching the kids snuggle up to listen to one of my childhood favorites.

This year we spent Thanksgiving at our house.  Usually we head up to my parents' home to celebrate.  It was a little different having only the crowd of our family.  I was also a little worried I would completely muck up the meal, but the family enjoyed it.  We missed everyone, as we are all scattered around the country, but it was also wonderful to just hang out around the house at a much, much slower pace than usual.  The day felt measured and long, and our cozy house was filled with good smells and a lot of niose. 

Greg finished up on some yardwork and I started preparing the house for the holidays (i.e. a teency bit of cleaning which felt pretty darn good).  I didn't get a photo of it due to food-covered hands, but it was fun to have the kiddos help me make our traditional cornbread dressing.  There is something about crumbling cornbread.  They do it with such abandon.  Another fun moment was The Planting of the Trees.  Greg ordered some fruit trees a while back and we have been waiting anxiously for their arrival for a while now.  They finally arrived on Thanksgiving Eve.

We spent the day hanging out, doing this and that and thinking about what we are grateful for in our lives.  We have so much!  Our Gratitude list was a very, very long one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you all for your beautiful Thanksgiving wishes.  I hope each and every one of you had a fun, delicious and safe holiday!  What was your favorite moment?

 

 

Last Harvest

 

 

Please excuse my tardiness today.  I've had some technological difficulties.  Today's photos wouldn't upload.  After I got over my initial panic that something was truly wrong with my computer and/or camera, I realized something.  It would appear that one should keep one's camera battery charged if one would like to upload a photo or two.  Hmmph.  So today's post which was going to be about Halloween costumes and the rushy-rushiness of it all will be postponed until Monday.  Thanks for understanding and coming along. 

I have been meaning to share this for a while.  We gathered our last tomatoes a couple of days ago.  They survived one light frost on the vine and I didn't want to chance another, so the tomatoes were brought inside.  It's amazing how they ripen on their own - quite suddenly in some cases.  We now have tomatoes on the kitchen counter and back porch window sills.   After what felt like a slow start to the season ended with an explosion of tomatoes.  They were popping out every which way.  I am grateful and surprised at this.  I think we waited too long to plant them outside.  There wasn't much choice as this year it was chilly and rainy well into June.  Next year we'll have to take advantage of Greg's greenhouse space at school so that we can start our garden earlier.

 

 

I am most pleased with the Red Siberians we planted.  They are hearty, tasty and put on flowers below 70 degrees (a plus around these parts).  You can find them at Landreth Seeds.  So now begins the task of figuring out what to do with late tomatoes.  I think I will try a green tomato salsa.   I am not sure my salsa lover, Elijah, will eat green salsa but we will see!  Since many are actually ripening before they rot (some are actually not in the best shape due the deluge of rain we had for weeks and the incident with the light frost), I am wondering what else I can do with them.  Does anyone have any recipes for late season, not-the-greatest-tasting garden tomatoes?  I will do anything to avoid the task of cleaning out the garden, including more canning!

Oh and we had another late season gift.  Fabulous, I love it!

 
Happy Halloween and have a wonderful weekend!

Caramel Apples

 

 
Caramel-mmmm.  I have always enjoyed it.  When I was a kid, nothing would make me happier than getting those Kraft caramels for Halloween or a fall treat.  Well, that and candy corn, would simply make my season.  I have always loved the way caramel apples looked, even though I didn't eat them.  I know; I have some odd eating preferences. 

With Autumn and Halloween arriving, I wanted to do some cooking with the kiddos.  While reading sweet Heather's blog I was reminded of how much I liked looking at caramel apples (she also shares some other awesome crafts and recipes).  Why not make some?  Yes, I will take on caramel making.  No one told me how tricky it could be.  Despite a few bumps, I rather enjoyed the process.  It was just not what I was expecting, and I am still not sure I got the candy consistency that I needed.  Well actually I am sure it wasn't what I needed, but it did the job.  Miss Impatient didn't wait until she could "form a soft ball" with the caramel.  Oops, lesson learned.

I found the simple caramel recipe here.   It uses everyday ingredients.  I must confess the scariest part of the recipe was 'cooking' the sugar.  I was so paranoid about scorching that the process took longer than it should have.  I mean it took a looooonnnngggg time to melt that stuff down and it looked all kinds of crazy while it was cooking!

 
Starting the sugar melting process . . . .

 
Getting some help . . . .

 
What is going on with this sugar?

 

 
I guess this is supposed to be progress.

 

 
Finally . . . except I probably should have cooked the caramel mixture a bit longer.  I also should have walked my lazy carcass across my tiny kitchen and gotten out the candy themometer.

 
We used wooden "food" dowels in hopes that we can reuse them later for more apples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

I will definitely do this again.  I heard the caramel apples were good, and Doran really enjoyed the process.  I learned my lesson about the 'ball-forming' phase.  Indeed, I do think we have ourselves a new fall tradition around here.  This is a fall candy-making first for us.  Our usual tradition is going to the store and buying some candy corn (a tradition we'll continue to keep as I am not giving up my candy corn).  Are there any fall foodcrafting traditions you enjoy?

 

 

It was Just Peachy

 
On Friday, I was canning again.  I told my friend Julie that she could now call me a 'caniac'.  I think I am.  This time I canned was the peaches we had picked.   I must say we have had the worst time finding organic pick-your-own peaches around here.  Maybe it's due to the fact that peaches are soft-skinned and therefore tricky to grow (or grow profitably) without bathing them in pesticides, or so conventional wisdom claims.  So I chose a process that would make use of washed and peeled peaches and hoped for the best.

I used the peach jam recipe from Preserving Summer's Bounty.  I lucked out and had the exact number of peaches the recipe called for, but I was a little concerned about their size.  Whenever a recipe calls for a medium something or another, it's hard to know what the author considers to be medium.  The more uptight part of me would like a descriptor like "your peaches should be about the size of a tennis ball".  Given the vagueness of the size requirements, I didn't know whether or not I was using too much or too little pectin.  The recipe was supposed yield four half-pints.  I ended up with six half-pints, four four ounce jars, one whole pint (I had run out of wide-mouth lids for my half-pints).  I even had enough to fill a prep bowl at the end.  Surprisingly, despite all of the surplus, the jam actually set.  Yippee!  Greg thinks it's quite tasty, and I must say I enjoy it myself.  It is like a little bit of golden heaven, tangy and sweet.

So we now have blueberry and peach jam for our bread.  I think this peach jam will bring its own set of memories on blustery winter days! 

 

Canning Victory

Yeah it's a victory for me.  It's gotten that personal between me, my tomato garden and the weather.  I am stoked because I actually had enough tomatoes to make some sauce, and there are still some tomatoes left to ripen on the vines.  That means there is possibly homemade salsa in my future and maybe even some whole tomatoes.  I do enjoy canning.

The kiddos were home today and somehow I thought I would be able to process the sauce, apples and the peaches today.  I am sure you have figured out by now that only the sauce got done.  Well tomorrow is another day.

I started with a super duper extra clean sink because I thought I would be washing apples and peaches.  Well it was great to have a super duper extra clean sink anyway - a lovely way to start the day.  There is nothing like Bon Ami.  I am told my great grandmother loved the stuff!

Elijah, Eden and I picked the tomatoes that were ripe enough to use.  I was so excited to see those tomatoes.

Eden took a bite out of this one.  She is stealthy and quick.

I enjoyed blanching.  Tomatoes really do look a lot like apples.

 
And folks we have a canning victory.  I did have to get a little creative with the jars.  I am so excited we have some sauce for the winter, only a little, but we have some.  Yay!  Who knew it took so many tomatoes to make a decent sauce?  I didn't. 

So today it is on to the peaches.  A couple of them are starting to look poorly.  Off to the kitchen I go with my Bon Ami in hand.  Have a wonderful weekend everyone! 

Canning Sauce

Mason jars, with their lids and bands, have always fascinated me.  The treats and foods they held were a mystery.  How did they get in there?  You mean an individual person can save tomatoes for winter?  Don't you need a factory and machines to do this?  Lately I have been thinking about sustainability, food safety, commercialism, and self-sufficiency.  Canning is one way of being more in charge of the food my family eats.  We know where is was grown, and how it was made.  It will be a wonderful treat to eat in the dead of winter what we grew the summer.  In no way are we a self-sustaining family.  We could not survive on our tiny little garden and our food-growing methods.  Often we make two trips to the grocery a week for milk (we need our own cow and a bigger refrigerator). 

Greg and I tinkered around with canning some blueberry jam and salsa, separately of course, when we were first married.  Recently we made some blueberry jam using the freezer method.  So now it is back to tomatoes.  I made tomato sauce using Soulemama's tasty recipe.  I didn't have any balsamic vinegar, but it was divine nonetheless.  There really is a difference between even good commercial tomato sauce and homemade sauce using your own garden tomatoes.  

I didn't have many tomatoes as they have been slothfully slow in turning this season.  A certain person who shall not be named insisted that my piddly amount of tomatoes would be enough for one batch (you know who you are).  I was using my Red Siberians - small, tasty, small, juicy and did I mention they are small.  In hope and desire to can something, I charged ahead.  The blanching went well.  I actually enjoyed it.  The pureeing, spicing, and sauteing of garlic and red onions went swimmingly.  The sauce smelled so good.   

I think my first and probably biggest problem was my piddly amount of tomatoes.  Here is what my labors produced.

 
There was barely enough sauce to feed our family of six for one meal.  We do like our sauce, and a lot of it in this family.  Oh well, we decided to put that tiny amount of sauce to use.  There was no point of using a water bath since we couldn't ensure safety of the sauce with that gaping amount of headspace.

Tortellini with homemade garden tomato sauce!

Finally this week, our tomatoes have begun ripening in earnest.  Today I will attempt to can some more homemade sauce.  The taste is addicting.  We will also attempt to process some apples and peaches we picked over the weekend.  The kiddos are out of school for Rosh Hashana, so this should hopefully make for a good time.  Wish us luck.  I think we may need it.  ;-)

Rhubarb

I wish I liked rhubarb.  I wish I liked rhubarb the same way I wish I liked ice cream sundaes and yogurt.  It just seems like I should, a lot of people do.  It's so summery and fresh-looking.  Alas, I am not a fan.  My husband loves it.  Elijah and Helena seem to like the sticky rhubarb juice that comes from making a pie.  Eden eats rhubarb pie not just the juice.  Doran has the same reservations that I have.

But the leaves sure are fun.  A few weeks back, I walked out to the backyard to see such a scene.   I had to run back inside for my camera. 

 
I think all kids must do this if the leaves are big enough.  I remember seeing Gardenmama's kiddos doing the same thing with their rhubarb leaves.  They seem to go straight to the head.  (Gardenmama's garden leaf sculpture tutorial is awesome by the way.  We haven't made our sculptures yet, but I think they are going to make a quirky and fun addition to our garden.)  Elijah did perform an 'experiment' to see how long it would take for the leaf to shrivel.  Apparently, they can last a pretty good while.  They walked around with these same leaves on their heads for a few days.  Elijah left his out in the rain and that did his in quickly.  I spirited Helena's away to the compost.

 
It looks so pretty, but I am still unmoved.  I can at least look at the rhubarb and enjoy it.

And there is the rhubarb pie Greg made. . . .

Well there is still some rhubarb in the garden.  I know I won't eat the pie, but this cocktail looks tasty; I think I can handle it.  We'll see.  In the meantime if anyone has any rhubarb recipes, Greg is on the lookout for some exciting new ones.

Late Summer Goodness

You-know-who harvesting our very first tomato a couple of weeks ago.

I sat organizing school clothes in utter disbelief that the summer is nearly over.  The trees are starting to change here and there.  The morning air is becoming cooler and more crisp.  Already?  I remember when summer days lasted for what seemed like forever.  Now I am scrambling trying to get in the last summertime visits to the beach and hoping all of the tomatoes turn before the truly cold weather sets in for good.  Here's some late summer goodness we hope to indulge in for as long as we can before the wind changes.

 

 

We are enjoying this summer orzo salad with basil and tomatoes.  Helena's favorite part is the red onion.  Doran loves the orzo, while Eden and Elijah eat the salad as a whole.  I got the yummy recipe here.  The recipe calls for fresh corn which I think is best, but the salad is also delicious with generic frozen corn from Whole Paycheck.  So if you can't get fresh corn, find a frozen corn brand that you like and you will do well. 

Oh boy, blueberry cheesecake ice cream!  I heard it was delicious.  It was gone before I could have a taste.  Luckily we still have blueberries galore in the freezer.  It's a recipe from Cooking Light.  The recipe is a bit of a process but well worth it according to Greg.  It's a good enough recipe that you can make your own adjustments (within reason of course) and the ice cream is still delicious! 

Have a lovely weekend everyone!  

Jamming!

 

As a part of our blueberry adventuring, we have had to find things to make with our pickings.  Oh it's such a hard job right?  Helena and Elijah wanted blueberries in their pancakes.  I think Helena was more in love with the idea than the actual product.  Greg used a different pancake recipe than the one we usually use from Apples for Jam.  Helena was none too amused with that change-up.  We have made a note of it and vowed never to stray from the original recipe again.  Sorry about that Helena.

So far I have frozen some blueberries.  Who knew you were supposed to freeze them on a cookie sheet for the best results?  I'll tell you who didn't know - me!  Well this year I have seen the light, thanks to a blueberry helpful hint sheet the folks at the orchard were giving out.  The blueberries freeze into perfect little violet marbles, ready to be used throughout the winter.  They look and sound wonderful as they roll around.  They will be a wonderful memory of our summer as we use these while the snow flies.

On the blueberry makings list are the following: blueberry cheesecake ice cream (I have made the vegan version which was great, but if anyone has a dairy version, I would be most obliged), blueberry buttermilk cake, blueberry muffins, a possible blueberry smoothie.  Amy just posted some delicious Italian Ice recipes over on her blog.  We will definitely be making blueberry Italian ice.  I can just imagine it with a touch of lemon or lime.  It's going to be tasty; I can't wait.

The other day we made hand pies and some blueberry freezer jam.  When Greg and I have canned in the past, we had no children or just Doran.  I usually prefer the boiling method.  I would love to try that with the children now.  There is nothing like hearing the pings and tinks as the jam jars seal tightly after hanging out in the hot water bath.  The process is just so gratifying. This go round we made freezer jam because Miss Eden is just a wee bit busy.  She insists on being a part of the action.  She drags the step stool all around our tiny kitchen and hangs onto the counter with her fingertips so she can see what's happening up close.  It would be way to nerve racking for me to can the blueberries using my trusty boiling method with her around.  We might try it if we can get her to take a nap one of these days. 

 
  

For our freezer jam, we used a no sugar/low sugar pectin.  We followed the recipe on the box and consulted a couple of cookbooks.  It worked wonderfully.  For some of the sugar we substituted a cup of white grape juice.  You can also use apple juice.   While he boiled the blueberries, Greg added some butter to decrease foaming.

 

Our canning funnel has taken some hits over the years.  Whatever happened to the metal ones?!  But just look at that rich color.  I am so happy with our results.

 

And so we have freezer jam.  Do you have some favorite blueberry recipes?