Our Sweet Girl

We said goodbye to our sweet Lucy last night.  She was a beloved member of our family, and we are heartbroken.

Goodbye my sweet sweet girl.  We love  you, and we will miss you so very much.  You are always in our hearts.

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Tuesday Garden Party - September Heat

We have had quite a string of hot weather this month.  Last week was particularly hot, with temps over 100 every day, and one day 112!

Still the peppers like it.  Ghosts coming along like crazy.

Scorpions too.

And so many cayenne!

Even the little seedlings are managing.  Carrots...

 ... and broccoli!

So hard to imagine that October is right around the corner!

We are close to picking the first of our ghost peppers.  I wonder if we'll be able to handle the heat!  You will have to check back next week to see - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

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Harvest Monday: September 17, 2012

Some nice things came out of the garden this week.

We had peppers.

And tomatoes.

And more peppers!

Lots of basil and hot peppers too, though I neglected to photograph them. We did eat them though!  In fact, we've been eating lots of things that we've made from our garden bounty:  tomato ketchup, habanero peach ketchup, tomato and basil sauce, and my personal favorites lemon-sage wine mustard and habanero honey.  I wonder if the mustard and honey could be combined....  hmmm...


I'm a little surprised that we got anything this week.  We had incredible, record heat.  Over 100 every day except Sunday... and 112 on Friday.  I'm surprised that anything made it through that (including me)!


Total Harvest for the Week: 6 pounds, 7.3 ounces
Total Harvest for the Year: 60 pounds, 10.9 ounces



 Linked up with Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday... hop on over and see what else is being picked this week.

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Killer Blondies

My Grandma used to bake lots of great treats.  Her cookie jar was always filled with something delicious - one of my favorites was Sour Cream Drop Cookies.  Another delight from Grandma's oven was blondies.  Blondies are like brownies, only without the chocolate.  I love chocolate, but sometimes it's nice to have a change.  I've adapted this recipe from my Grandma's recipe.

Killer Blondies

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons  butter, melted
• 1 cup  brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 
• Pinch salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 toffee candy bars such as Heath bars
• 1 recipe Brown Sugar Frosting (below)

Directions:

Butter an 8×8 pan

Mix melted butter with brown sugar – beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla.

Add salt, stir in flour. Break up the candy bars and mix them into the batter.



Pour into prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 20-25 minutes, or until set in the middle.

For the Brown Sugar Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted

To make the frosting, melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir in brown sugar and milk. Bring mixture to a boil then remove from heat and let cool to lukewarm. Sift in the confectioner’s sugar, mixing until smooth. Spread evenly over blondies.

Let frosting set before cutting into squares, about 30 minutes.

These are aptly names I think.  So yummy.  I brought them to the office - my co-workers complained that they were too rich to eat more than one but they had to take a second one anyway!  I think that's a good testimonial.

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Sweetly Lethal: Habanero Honey

Warning:  I'm not kidding when I call this "sweetly lethal."  If you don't like spicy, don't think about making this.  If you do like spicy, this is to be used in moderation.

Just a disclaimer.  Because it tastes so good, you'll want to eat more.  But it's hot (HOT!) so you will want to stop.

The recipe is super easy - just two ingredients.  Honey and habaneros.  They're even in the name of the recipe - cannot get much simpler than that.

I used two types of honey for a bit of different flavor profiles.  You'd think that with all of those habaneros, you wouldn't taste the honey, but you totally do.

Fill a half pint jar half-full with honey.  Thinly slice enough habaneros to fill the jar. (NOTE:  Use gloves for this part.  You'll thank me when you are not crying the first time you touch your mouth or rub your eyes after you've done this step.  Or at the very least, not be yelling at me.)

I think I used 8 or 9.  Pack the habaneros into the jar, and make sure they are covered by the honey.

Put the lid on the jar, and turn the jar upside down a few times to distribute the peppers evenly.  Let it sit for a day or so.  And it is ready to eat!

Doesn't this look yummy?

Great on crackers or vanilla ice cream.  Or as a glaze for grilled chicken.  Or perhaps drizzled over a slice of goat cheese cheesecake?  Hmm... I may have just decided on our Sunday night dinner's dessert.

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Summer of Canning: Lemon-Sage White Wine Mustard

With all of the tomato processing we've been doing, we wanted to change it up a little bit.  We thought we'd make mustard.  Did you know you can make your own mustard?  And it isn't difficult?

Lemon-Sage Wine Mustard

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch fresh sage
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup yellow mustard seeds
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• Grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons
• 1/2 cup liquid honey
• 1/4 tsp salt

Directions:
1) Finely chop enough sage leaves to measure 1/3 cup and set aside.

2) Coarsely chop remaining sage leaves and stems to measure 1/2 cup and place in a small stainless steel saucepan with white wine. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring and pressing sage to release flavor. Remove from heat. Cover tightly and let steep for 5 minutes.
3) Transfer sage infusion to a sieve placed over a glass or stainless steel bowl and press leaves with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard solids and return liquid to saucepan. Add mustard seeds. Cover and let stand at room temperature until seeds have absorbed most of the moisture, about 2 hours.

4) Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
5) Combine marinated mustard seeds (with liquid) and vinegar in a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process until blended and most seeds are well chopped, but retaining a slightly grainy texture.
6) Transfer mixture to a stainless steel saucepan and add lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, salt and reserved finely chopped sage. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and boil gently, stirring frequently, until volume is reduced by a third, about 20 minutes.
7) Ladle hot mustard into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.

8) Process jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

Wow - is this ever good!  Spicy, tart, sweet and a hint of wine, lemon and herb.  Easy to make, and super-tasty.  How can you go wrong with that?  I was thinking of making it to give as gifts, but I'm reconsidering.

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Summer of Canning: Basic Tomato Sauce

My Grandfather once told me that he would disown me if I ever ate any commercially-prepared spaghetti sauce.  He had a particular fixation with spaghetti-os.  I was maybe five years old.  

That was Grandfather.  He was Italian, and fancied himself a bit of a godfather.  I am quite sure he meant it.

I've eaten plenty of sauce from a jar in my life (though I have never had spaghetti-os!), but I always prefer my own.  This is a bit of a shortcut to making a great sauce for spaghetti.  But you can also use it as a base for pizza sauce, chili, enchiladas, soup... well you get the idea.  Wherever you need tomato sauce, this is what you need!

Basic Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

• 20 lb tomatoes (about 60 medium) 
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 large)
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup finely minced, fresh basil
• ¼ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice per jar

Directions:
1) Wash tomatoes; drain. Remove core and blossom ends. Cut an "X" onto the top of each tomato.

2) In small batches, drop into boiling water, removing after 1 minute.  Peel and then remove core and blossom end.

3) Saute onion and garlic in olive oil until transparent. Add tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4) Puree tomato mixture in a food processor or blender, working in batches. Strain puree to remove seeds and peel.

5) Combine tomato puree and basil in large saucepot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until volume is reduced by half, stirring to prevent sticking.
6) Prepare for water-bath canning:  wash the jars and keep them hot in the canning pot, and put the flat lids in a heatproof bowl.
7) Ladle the boiling water from the canning pot into the bowl with the lids.  Using a jar lifter, remove the hot jars from the canning pot, carefully pouring the water from each one back into the pot, and place them upright on a folded towel.  Drain the water off the jar lids.
7) Add ¼ tsp Ball® Citric Acid or 1 Tbsp bottled lemon juice to each hot jar. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.

8) Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 35 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Remove jars and cool. Check for seal after 24 hours. Lids should not flex up and down when center is pressed.

And here's a quick tip that I read about somewhere on the internet.  If you find that you have film on your water processed jars, add about 1/4 cup of vinegar to the water when you are processing the jars.

This recipe required two batches of processing, so I did one without vinegar in the water (left) and one with vinegar in the water (right).  Looks like it works!



Many jars of tomato sauce later, Grandfather would be proud.

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Tuesday Garden Party - Fall is the New Spring

On September 11, 2001, terrorists changed the lives of all of us.

Take a moment today to remember those who lost their lives as a result of the attacks of a few people filled with hatred.

I will always remember.





Gardenwise, we had a busy week.

Cayenne busting out all over.

Same with jalapenos.  These are only two of the many plants.

Hello Ghost Pepper!

Welcome Scorpion!

Soon we'll be seeing Scotch Bonnets too.  What a year for hot peppers this has been!

A couple more tomatoes on the way.... from a nice volunteer.

These hydrangeas were blue when we bought them last year.  They keep growing pink and green now though, which I like a lot!

And aren't these aloe flowers pretty?  We've got a huge aloe plant (the hummingbirds love it!) - I just wish I had more uses for it.

Lemons all over the tree, along with lots of little blossoms.

Oranges on the way too.

And this?  Though it looks like a flat piece of dirt, in reality, it is peas, carrots and broccoli.  You just can't see them quite yet.

This little guy sat and watched me turn the bed, incorporate the compost and plant my seeds.  His friend left, but he watched me.

And another one of these.  I am so done with things (aside from me) eating my plants.  We haven't had carrots or broccoli before - I wonder what kind of pests we'll be finding now.

New planting - feels like spring!  We've got mustard greens and baby lettuce on the way as well.  We're sure looking forward to them!

We should see our seedlings emerge this week.  And I sure hope that we've taken care of the critter issue.  You will have to check back next week to see - in the meantime, check out An Oregon Cottage for her weekly Garden Party.

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