Harvest Time - A First And A Last

We had another bountiful harvest and we even had two more first for the season and a last.  We picked our first sweet potato and our first pumpkin.  I know it is a bit early for a pumpkin but the plant it was dying and I decided to save the pumpkin.  I am not sure how we can get it to last until Halloween and if we can't we will be finding out how to turn it into pumpkin pie.  We also picked the leaf lettuce for the last time this season, it has been good.  We also picked another huge watermelon.  I have no idea how much it weighs but it is heavy!  If this watermelon is as good as the last couple we are in for a real treat...and a lot of watermelon.  If you notice in the picture you will also see some more cucumbers!  Yup the pickle queens will return again!  How many quarts or pints will we make? Check back and see!

More Tomato Fun And Pickles Too

We had some more fun playing with tomatoes yesterday.  We made 9 quarts of Pasta sauce and then we made some really delicious salsa.  I cannot handle really spicy food and most of the salsas I try are too spicy for me.  Last year Lisa made salsa but could only get medium heat which was way too spicy for me.  This year we found a mix that we did not know the spice level but I am happy to report that it was mild and the salsa has a really great flavor.  Once again I am not a fan of the fresh tomato and the fact that I got to pulverize the tomatoes for the salsa was disgusting due to the fact that I had tomato all over my hands, yuck, but I did it and it was worth it. 
The Pickle Queens were back and we got to taste our bread & butter sandwich slices that we made last week and they really were good.  So we decided to made some more.  Over all yesterday we made 10 pints of salsa and 13 pints of bread and butter sandwich slices.  I have updated the total on pickles but I am pretty sure we are reaching the 200 jar mark.  It was a good day!

Making Tomato Soup...From Scratch

We spent our day playing with tomatoes and creating something really yummy!  If you know me then you know I hate the fresh tomato but love all the by products from tomatoes.  Lisa has harvested quite a few tomatoes and so we needed to use them before they went bad. I found a recipe for Tomato Basil soup and it looked like an easy recipe to make so we decided to give it a try.  Thanks to all the equipment and ingredients Lisa had it was easy.  I found out how nice and kind of fun it is to have a food processor, something I never had, and a Ninja blender.  They did all the work for us in order to create the items for the soup.  I will share the recipe at the end of this blog.  We decided to double the recipe and we are so glad we did.  The soup it delicious and we will definitely be making more.  We are trying a new technique for storing the soup, we are freezing the soup in Jars.  Ball jars are freezable now so we had to try it.  If they freeze well, no breakage, we will definitely be doing it more.  It is too  hot outside for soup now but come this winter it will be a perfect dinner especially when have it with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

Tomato Basil Soup
Serves 6 to 8
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 medium cloves of garlic, minced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
8 Roma tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
A squirt or two of lemon juice, optional

Instructions:
1. In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in garlic, carrots and onions.
2. cook over medium-low heat until the onion is tender.
3. Add the chicken broth, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for another 10 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and use a hand held mixer ( we used the Ninja blender) to blend soup smooth.
6. Stir in the basil and parsley.
7. Add salt & pepper to taste.
8. If the flavor is flat, add 1 to 2 squirts of lemon juice to taste.

Give it a try, it is good!

Star Trek Beyond

We went and saw the movie "Star Trek Beyond" yesterday and it was good.  It is action packed from the very beginning and does not quit until the end.  It also has some great humor in it.  If you are a Star Trek fan you will love it but if you are not I think you will still enjoy the movie.  We went to the movie with George & Lisa and Linda & Larry.  Linda hurt her knee a few days ago and was in a leg brace, ace bandage and crutches; such a trooper.  After the movie, we all went to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. For the past few weeks Ruby Tuesday has offered coupons for their email members and they have been great,  Buy one entrée get one free.  Last night's coupon was buy one entrée get a burger free so we took advantage of it.  Thanks George & Lisa and Linda & Larry for joining us.  It was a fun day out!

It Was A Fruity Day!

We have fruit!  We picked another watermelon and this time is was ripe, huge and delicious!  The first watermelon that we picked, if you remember, was not ready yet.  When I cut that watermelon it was still yellow inside.  Yesterday's watermelon was red and juicy and had a lot of taste.  There are two types of watermelon growing in the orchard one is sangria and the other it a round version that has little seeds.  We also have two type of cantaloupe growing.  One is the standard one and the other is called small sweet.  The small sweet grow to be about 12 inches in diameter and are called "personal cantaloupes".  They were delicious too and perfect for just one person.  Their flesh is a deeper orange than a standard cantaloupe but juicy and sweet, yum!  So for the next few weeks we will be able to eat fresh watermelon and cantaloupe, my favorite!  We also made 31 half pint jars of grape jelly making the grand total so far of 47 and there are more grapes to be picked!
On the raccoon count, George trapped three yesterday in the corn field.  That makes a grand total of 8 so far in 6 days.  If the raccoon were not destroying all of our corn, 11 rows gone already, we would not be doing this but since they think the corn is theirs we have to take these drastic measures. George and Tim take the raccoons and release them at the river.  No raccoon has been hurt as far as we know.  I will begin a running tally on how many we trap!  Remember, we do this to Save Our Corn!  So, as you can see, it really was a fruity day!

Making Grape Jelly

We had another successful harvest and caught another raccoon.  That is 5 in 5 days!  We are hoping eventually the raccoons will stop coming but so far we keep trapping them.  We did pick a few more grapes so it is time to make some grape jelly.  Last year our jelly turned out pretty good and kept us supplied with Jelly for most of the year.  So this year we will be making a bigger batch of Jelly.  It takes two days to make jelly.  The first day you wash, de-stem the grapes (thanks George) and then crush the grapes.  Then you add some water and cook the grapes.  One the grapes are cooked you strain the juice into a container with a lid and set it in a cool area to sit overnight.  On day two you have to strain the juice again but this time we use a grape strainer and cheesecloth.  Then you add sugar, we are going to try a batch using stevia too, and cook it to a rolling boil.  After it is boiling add pectin and boil for another minute.  Now it is time to fill the jelly jars.  We made 16 half pints of jelly and we will be making more today!
We did have success with our stevia bread & butter pickles.  The first batch we made were awful but this batch was perfect and tasty too.  It is also the reason we want to try a batch of jelly using stevia instead of sugar.  Check back and see how all the jelly turned out!  It was a sweet day...literally!

Freezing Green Beans

We have had a bumper crop of Green Beans in the orchard and they are delicious but we cannot eat them fast enough so Lisa and I spent a couple of hours prepping and packaging the green beans we picked to be enjoyed well into the winter months. It is not a hard process it just takes time.  First we wash the beans then cut the ends off the beans.  While this is happening there is a stock pot on the stove boiling water.  After the ends are cut off the beans they get placed into the boiling water for three minutes.  While the beans are boiling an ice bath is made in the sink.  After three minutes the beans are quickly taken from the boiling water and placed in the ice bath where they sit for a few minutes.  They are then strained and placed on paper towels to get as much water off the beans.  Lisa has a sealer machine so she the packages up the green beans into a two person serving size and seals the bean packets so they are air tight.  Once completed the beans are placed into the freezer for future use.  It will be nice to enjoy the green beans that were picked in July during the winter months.
We also started the two day process of making grape jelly but we will save that for another day!  We also trapped another raccoon, that makes four, so Tim and George took the raccoon to the river and released it.  A busy but fun day!