How To Peel a Tomato

Peeling a tomato seems like a tedious task,

but it's actually pretty simple.

First, cut an "X" on the bottom of the tomato.

Not a deep cut, just cutting into the skin.

Then, blanche the tomatoes for 30-60 seconds.

I did mine around 45 seconds on average.

Immediately remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and place them in ice water.

You'll go through a lot of ice if you have a lot of tomatoes,

so it might be a good idea to have a bag of ice on hand.

Once they're cooled (which doesn't take long)

the skins pretty much slide right off.  

It's really that easy!

I also discovered that to peel tomatoes and 

make sauce is an all day project.

You can peel the tomatoes one day

and refrigerate them till the following day 

to save on time.

The Pressure Canner

I purchased this Presto Pressure canner from Amazon some time ago

after I thoroughly read each review

(OK, maybe not each one since there were a lot, but a good many).

And once I had it at my house

it became apparent that I have a canning phobia.

It does not have its own name on the phobia list but it should.

Eventually the prospect of having wasted $70 for the canner,

not to mention the wasted tomatoes,

prompted me to go ahead and attempt to can and not blow up the house.

 The result?

I managed to can 3 quarts of Roasted Garlic and Pepper Spaghetti Sauce

(it's delish! I'll share the recipe in the future)

 I also realized that I didn't blow up the kitchen

and it doesn't appear that I will kill anyone with botulism either. 

I have since managed to can several quarts and pints of chopped tomato

and 7 jars of red pepper jelly.  

This canning thing is a cinch!

Salsa

I love fresh salsa in the summer months. 

With 15 tomato plants, 

I have more than enough tomatoes

to make salsa to eat and freeze.

I chopped the tomatoes

removing as many of the seeds as possible.

Then I chop onion.

I don't have any measurements, 

just add the amount that you think looks right based 

on your personal preference.

Same thing with the green peppers.

Then use some fresh cilantro to round it out.

You can freeze this in a freezer bag or

a container approved for freezing.

Here Comes Fall

With the onslaught of Labor Day,

I figured I should get the garden going for fall.

I've never done a fall garden before

and I'm not very good with following suggested planting tips

so we'll see how it goes.

I planted Russian Pickling Cucumbers (my family is addicted to pickles),

Scottish Kale, Cabbage, Pumpkins,

Peas (because while he eats nothing I cook, 

my son will eat peas straight from the garden. I plan on letting him graze)

Butterfly Spinach, Zucchini

and Leeks.  

Zucchini and Leeks aren't fall crop food, 

but what the heck.

We'll see how it goes.

Nature's Pest Management

While I was out picking tomatoes,

I came across Nature's way of controlling hornworms.

The white things are eggs/larvae of a Braconid Wasp.

The wasp lays the eggs on the live caterpillar, 

and the young feed on it.

And it dies.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I came across a recipe for a chocolate zucchini bread and thought

what the heck

I have more zucchini than I know what to do with.

Since my fiance said it was "DELICIOUS"

and "GREAT"

I figured I'd share it here.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 cup canola oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt

set aside

In medium mixing bowl, beat sugar and eggs until fluffy

add oil and vanilla

add to dry ingredients along with the zucchini and chocolate chips

stir until combined

divide between 2 loaf pans

bake 50-60 minutes or until top is cracked and springy to touch

I think it could have used a few more chocolate chips, other than that it was pretty good.

Goes down nice with a tall glass of ice cold milk!

Check back for other possible zucchini bread recipes as I plan on trying a zucchini pineapple recipe 

and a lemon poppy seed zucchini bread recipe.

Preserving Pumpkins

It might seem a little early to start talking about pumpkins,

but I had some that were ripe.

Actually, I only had 1 ripe one,

but because the pumpkin vines were decimated

I wanted to preserve what I had.

This is a pretty easy method that doesn't require peeling the pumpkin.

First, Cut off the stem and cut the pumpkin in half.

Oh, and preheat the oven to 350

Scoop out the guts with a spoon.

Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray 

and place the pumpkins flat on the sheet.

Bake at 350 until they're done.  

I don't have a specific time to cook them.

Small pumpkins won't take long, thick pumpkins will.

Basically you want the inside mushy.

Scoop out the pumpkin with a spoon

leaving the shell behind.

Let it cool

then bag it up and freeze.

I was thrilled with how easy this was.

This year, my pumpkin cookies will be made completely from scratch!

And I decided to plant  another hill of pumpkins

(and hope I can keep the squash bugs at bay).

Even though we won't have them for Halloween,

we'll have them for pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies.