• 2019 garden stats and notes

    It was a fairly low-key and humdrum gardening year. As is our custom, we exerted minimal energy and scraped by with just the necessities. Good-enough gardening, I call it.

    Stats:
    Strawberries: 51½ quarts sliced with sugar and frozen; 16 quarts whole, frozen; 20 pints of assorted recipes of freezer jam; 4 quarts crushed, with lemon and sugar
    Sour cherries, frozen: 4 quarts; 5½ pints
    Rhubarb, frozen: about 2 gallons
    Basil: 16 half pints assorted pesto recipes, frozen
    Zucchini: 13½ pints of relish, canned; 3 9×9 pans sausage and zucchini parm, frozen; 8 one-cup bags grated, frozen
    Blueberries, frozen: 22 pints
    Green beans, Roma, frozen: 25 (very large) quarts
    Tomatoes: 86 quarts and 5½ pints, chopped and canned; 32½ pints roasted tomato and garlic pizza sauce, canned; 60 pints and 5 half pints roasted tomato sauce, canned
    Cucumbers: 24 quarts and 3½ pints sweet pickles, canned
    Nectarines: 2 quarts sugared, frozen; 2 gallons of chunks, frozen; 7 pints dried, frozen
    Peaches: 9 quarts canned; 2 quarts frozen; lots of peach leather
    Corn, frozen: 23 quarts
    Red raspberries, frozen: roughly 16 quarts
    Grapes: 16 quarts of puree, frozen; 22 quarts juice
    Peppers: 3 pints cooked and frozen; several quarts fresh chopped and frozen
    Apples: 36 quarts applesauce, canned

    Notes:
    *Much to my children’s consternation, I decided to forgo salsa since we still had some leftover from previous years. However, we are quickly running out, oops. Next year, make bunches.
    *I wasn’t going to make applesauce, either — again, we had some leftover, and my family doesn’t eat tons of it anymore — but now we’re nearly out and I’m reconsidering. It is awfully nice to have applesauce on hand, and I’ve yet to find a good store sauce… (Update: we made applesauce over Thanksgiving weekend!)
    *What a bumper crop of strawberries! We filled an entire small chest freezer, which makes me feel crazy rich. Here’s a good dessert: thawed lightly-sugared strawberries over vanilla ice cream (Costco’s is best) with fat, crunchy pretzels from Pennsylvania.
    *Also from the garden for fresh eating: asparagus, Swiss chard, beets, jalapenos, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, radishes.
    *Gazpacho was a new, fantastic discovery.
    *I almost didn’t bother picking the red raspberries. We hadn’t taken care of the bushes and they looked pretty scraggly. But then I decided I should pick at least a few and, like so — picking every other day — look how many I got!
    *Zucchini parm freezes and reheats beautifully. Too bad most of the progeny aren’t fans.
    *We really could use more blueberries.
    *We are cruising through the canned nectarines (leftover from previous years) — my younger daughter loves them in green smoothies — so next year I need to can a bunch more.
    *We had so many grapes! A month after I stopped picking (and after a couple light frosts), there were still bunches of (super sweet) grapes on the vine.
    *I didn’t make any pesto torte and I miss it.

    This same time, years previous: the day before, the quotidian (11.25.13), Thanksgiving 2012, Thanksgiving of 2011, apple rum cake, Thanksgiving of 2010, chocolate pots de creme.

  • the quotidian (11.25.19)

    Quotidian: daily, usual or customary; 
    everyday; ordinary; commonplace

    What in the world is wrong with people?

    The organized baker.

    Homemade frosted cornflakes: a first (and maybe last) draft. 

    Habaneros, cleaned and frozen: a wonderful addition to chili. Also, cocoa powder.

    And then all the fire alarms went off. Repeatedly. 
    It was pretty bad.

    Loyalty: I will wait while you pee. 

    TMJ: the pain is real. (She’s seeing a chiropractor this week.)

    It’s so strange, the things that soothe us: her beloved childhood spit rag.

    Plank your sister.

    The neighbors got a husky and we stole/borrowed it.

    Horizontal for a week.

    Exquisite. 

    This same time, years previous: the quotidian (11.26.18), curried Jamaican butternut soup, in my kitchen: 7:35 a.m., candid crazy, how to use up Thanksgiving leftovers in 10 easy steps, a big day at church, a Thanksgiving walk, right now, cranberry pie with cornmeal streusel topping.

  • a fun kitchen hack

    My latest kitchen hack is as follows….

    Sometimes when I’m working in the kitchen and have some time to kill, I mince an onion or two and saute it in a bit of butter over medium heat until it has cooked through. Then I scoop the soft onion into a half-pint jar and stick it in the fridge.

    I do the same with green and red peppers, sometimes with a couple jalapenos mixed in (and, when I have them, sliced mushrooms, too).

    Now, the hard work done, here’s the fun part.

    I smack a skillet on the stove, fling in a pat of butter (or bacon grease), and set it over medium heat. While the skillet warms, I gather my various jars of pre-sauteed veggies from the fridge, and then, once the fat has melted, I plop in whatever veggies I want. Once they’re sizzling, I toss in a couple handfuls of fresh spinach, if I have it, and, when the greens are just barely wilted, the scrambled egg. Lots of salt and pepper, of course. Occasionally, I crumble in some bacon, or chopped ham. When the eggs are done, I add cheese.

    I’ve been doing this ever since the soiree when, in order to minimize the last-minute tasks, I prepared all the breakfast elements ahead of time. That weekend, I finished the eggs with goat cheese and fresh chives.

    I’m not a huge egg eater, at least not on a regular basis, but eggs thisaway are immensely satisfying and delicious, and, therefore, I’ve been making them more often. Serving them to the rest of the family at the start of an ordinary workday, I feel almost goddess-like.

    Of course, the cooked veggies can be used for more than just eggs. Think: adding them to leftover rice, a pot of beans, a bowl of ramen, grilled cheese, pasta, etc. The important thing is, it’s good food, real food, transformed [waves magic wand] into fast food.

    This same time, years previous: the quotidian (11.19.18), the quotidian (11.20.17), apple raisin bran muffins, sock curls, new clothes, a new ritual, pasta with creamy pumpkin sauce, swiss chard and sweet potato gratin.