whatchabuildin

tomato junk

Wow! The days are flying by here. Where did the summer go? Labor Day is just around the corner and harvest season is starting. I love this time of year. The abundance of everything. Vegetables, fruit, smells, sounds, sights. Farmers Markets are chock full of the best of the best. County Fairs, bike rides, camping, swimming, running, playing...pack it all in before the crisp autumn days start. Here in Vermont, we are already experiencing the cool, very cool, August mornings. Thick dew on the cars and grass, foggy and damp. The days still sing "summer", busy and always fun. 

Within all this last minute, pack it all in before summer goes craziness, I am making Tomato Junk. Yes, you read that correctly, Tomato Junk. It is another one of my fast and easy recipes that you are rewarded months from now, deep under winter's blanket, while making Chili for a crowd. The recipe comes from the book,"Stocking Up". It is one of my favorite "putting food up" books. It has a lot of recipes for canning and freezing, and great recipes to make food gifts, now, for the holidays. My copy is well worn with notes and splatters from my kitchen creations. Here's the recipe.

Tomato Junk (to freeze)

8 quarts tomatoes, quartered. I use a mix of plum and regular tomatoes

3 large onions, chopped

3 large green peppers, chopped

12 cloves of garlic

4 hot chili peppers (optional)

3 stalks of celery, chopped

Blend all in the food processor. Pour into a large stainless steel pot and cook for 45 minutes. Let cool, then freeze.

This recipe easily doubles or triples. And, true to my character, I don't follow this recipe exactly all the time. Sometimes I add some yellow and orange sweet peppers, basil, oregano. I experiment. When I thaw the Tomato Junk in the winter, I usually add some tomato paste to thicken it for sauce. It works great for chilis, soups and stews.

Have fun!

right now

Wow. Where have I been? It seems since I came back from my mini vacation, I have been on the go! Do this, do that ... catch up with laundry, gardening, baking, playing with the little guy, more laundry...and more laundry! It's always like this isn't it? Life. I remind myself daily to slow down, Watch. Listen. Breath. Lay in the grass and feel the warmth of summer around me.

Take a walk. Notice colors, textures, sounds. Just be.

++++  ++++  ++++

This week, midst this craziness, I am making a small batch of Current Jelly. I have two beautiful bushes that produce plump, juicy currents. I use current jelly on my toast and English muffins and rolled into crepes. It is also great on chicken or pork. Take a few tablespoons and spread it on top the meat before baking and you will have an easy, elegant dish to serve with a fresh salad and maybe some corn-on-the-cob. Yum.

Have a great rest of the week and remember to breath.

frozen whip and working away

This is that time of year where whipped cream is said in the same sentence as strawberry shortcake, at least around here that is the case. As much as I love whipped cream, and do pile it high on the strawberrys and shortcake, we still have a lot left over and it doesn't last very well in the refrigerator. I discovered a couple years ago that you can freeze it for later use, and it works really well!

Take some waxed paper and lay it out on a cookie sheet, and place serving sized dollops of the whipped cream on it. Freeze it for about an hour. Take it out and cut the waxed paper into squares around the dollops and place into a freezer container.

When you are ready to use them, take them out for about 15 minutes to soften. Then pile it high on your strawberries, or pie, or gingerbread...or...! Yum, you get what I mean!

I am working away on my goodies for the shop update on Monday. I will have some fun summer totes, refrigerator magnetics and a few children's smocks. And hopefully a few more goodies, if time allows. Off I go to the studio! 

it's summertime, and the bruschetta is easy

 Oh, I just love this time of year! All the fresh produce, right out of my own garden. There is nothing better, and so rewarding, than to be able to go out to the backyard, pick some basil, tomatoes and garlic, come in the house, blend it all together, and devour.

This is what I devoured this weekend:

Summertime Bruschetta

3 ripe tomatoes, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

Basil - about a 1/2 cup chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1/8 cup balsamic vinegar

Blend all together and dive in.

Have a great week!

a strawberry weekend

Our Fourth of July weekend was fun filled, but mostly it was....

...filled with berries! Strawberry picking...

 strawberry freezer jam...

 Oh, so yummy, strawberries and cream scones...

Recipe follows:

Strawberries and Cream Scones

Preheat oven 425 degrees

2 c. flour

2 T. sugar

1/2 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 c. butter

1 c. chopped, fresh strawberries

3/4 c. buttermilk (I use whole milk with 1 T. vinegar for sour milk)

Heavy cream for brushing on top

------------

- In bowl combine flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder.

-With pastry cutter, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

- Gently mix in strawberries.

- Add milk and stir in gently.

- On a floured surface, knead for about 2 minutes. Dough will be a little wet, so knead in a little of the surface flour.

- Pat into a 3/4" thick circle and cut into 8 pieces (like a pie)

- Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

- Brush with heavy cream and sprinkle with sugar.

- Place in prepared oven for 25 mins. or until golden brown on top.

ENJOY! ~ excellent with coffee of tea.

... and a strawberry quilted picture! I am still trying to find my "voice" with these little fabric pictures, but I really love making them! Stay tuned for more down the road!

Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend!

tofu love all over again

I really like tofu. It is so versatile and easy to cook. But I have been so tired of the way I cook it that I stopped using it, until now. I found a great new recipe from the online Moosewood recipes, and it was a big hit around here. Well sort of... Colin is going through a really picky "I won't eat anything new" phase. But that's OK, he can eat yogurt and applesauce till he's in college. More of the good stuff for me! ( did I just say that?) 

Anyway, this recipe makes a HUGE batch so you can freeze it. I made the burgers and then placed them on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer for a couple hours until they where frozen. Then I put them in freezer containers for later dinners.

The recipes says to bake these in the oven for about 30 minutes, but the first time around I didn't want to wait the half hour for the burgers, so I fried them. They didn't turn out so good. So the second time around I followed the directions  *duh!* And they turned out great. I did broil them for and extra five minutes to make them extra crispy. They were good, so good.

because it was so good...

...we ate most of it from the baking dish! I know, isn't that the number one rule of refrigerator etiquette? (up there with don't drink from the milk carton!) Don't eat from the leftover dishes in the frig! Take it out and put it in a separate dish, then eat it! But we did, and couldn't help it. It was soooo good! This is a new recipe, found here, that I love. Yum! Navajo Peach Crumble. It really is one of the better ways to eat peaches...unless it is coming straight from the tree! Enjoy! (straight from your frig!)

finally. i'm making.

So, I finally carved out some time to make a few things last weekend. Things have been a little crazy around here lately, no time for anything. Well, no time for things that I really want to do!

Here are some hankies that I made for Mom. *Ahem* a belated Mother's Day gift! Ugh! I know!

I started with a 12" x 12" square of fabric. Then I used the mitered corner method like I did here. I like these so much, I think I will make a few for myself!

Next, I made a small pillow for my little guy's bed. He moved into his toddler bed a couple months ago, and the adult standard sized pillow was too big for him. So I bought a 12" x 22" pillow and made a cute cover for it. He loves the frogs! I think a few more fun fabric pillowcases are in order. And, no, I won't wait two months to make them! Ugh, bad mom, really bad mom! Two months without a nice pillow? Bad mom...bad...

And, I even had time to make some stuffed shells and stash them away in the freezer for dinners during the busy week. I make the shell stuffing using a basic ricotta, cheddar cheese, garlic, onion, and oregano filling. Oh, and an egg. Fill the pre-cooked shells and place them on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. I stick them in the freezer until frozen (a couple hours) them I place them in a freezer storage container. Then I can pull out as many as I need for dinner. Heat them up and pour sauce on top, and there you go - dinner!

That's it for now! Be back in a few days! 

friday night is pizza night

Friday night is pizza night around here! One of our family traditions we started years ago. Gathered in the kitchen, we discuss our plans for the weekend while I start a batch of homemade pizza dough. Oh, wait! Back up. First I pour myself a glass of wine, then I start the pizza dough. Better. Yes, much better.

Ok. So, pizza night around here has turned into quite an event now that I have a little helper. He loves pizza dough. Not just the eewy gooey-ness of it, but he actually eats it. Raw. I know, I know. Yuck-o! 

Anyway, pizza night with an almost three year old is well, yes exciting and fun! This is how it we do it.

The recipe that I use is from the Martha Stewart's "Comfort Food" cookbook. You can find a similar one on her website, here. The main thing I do differently is that I just make it up in a bowl by hand and not in the food processor. Saves washing the food processor, and lugging it out of it's place in the bottom cabinet, way in back. I also just let it rise once for 30 minutes, not twice.

So, as I am making up the dough along comes Colin...

"Mommy I want to help too! Get my apron, pease (please) I want to tir (stir), I want to tir! Pease, pease mommy...mommy can I pat it up? Pat it up mommy! Should I tir it now? Can I pease? I want to pat it too, pat it up mama, mommy whasdat? Is that your grape juice? Can I have grape juice too? Oooh, Mommy das ticky (sticky), das ticky mama. Can I cut too? Mama what are you doing? Whasdat?..." he says with demanding excitement.

Yes, that was one continuous dialog from Colin. In between I interjected a few "Yes, honey", "no, not yet, not yet. Wait. Wait. Wait honey, ok now you can do it. Wait. OK. Now you can. OK." **sip** "No, that is wine. It is adult grape juice. No, but can have some of your grape juice."

Phew!! Are you exhausted yet? Were not done yet! So tonight we made our basic cheese, spinach and sauce pizza.

The easy way to wilt spinach is to put a bunch in a bowl with a tablespoon of water and put it in the microwave for a minute on high. But if you get weirded out sometimes like I do about putting things in the microwave, you can just steam it for about a minute on the stovetop.

So after I pat the dough into the pan, put the sauce, spinach, and oregano on, Colin's job is to put the cheese on. And, what a good job he does! We stick that baby (the pizza, not the child) in the oven for 22 minutes, exactly. Yes. Then sip a little more wine and wait for pizza goodness.

Notes:  We used sharp cheddar for this recipe. The Greek Oregano was harvested from my garden last summer, it is so nice to have this time of year! I highly recommend having an oregano plant in your yard or garden. One plant dried and harvested will last all winter.

There you go! This is how our pizza night goes. Good pizza, good family time. Yes, always good family times!

morning time

Our weekday mornings are quite busy before we head to work and school, but we always make time for a good breakfast. One of our favorites is fast, yummy and healthy oatmeal with peanut butter and maple syrup. Add a glass of orange juice and you have a wholesome easy breakfast to help start your day right.

This is my recipe for the oatmeal:

3/4 c. whole oats (not instant)

1 1/2 c. water

Place water and oats in large bowl together. Cook on stove top or in the microwave, following box directions. When done cooking stir in one large dollop (a healthy tablespoon) of peanut butter and drizzle maple syrup on top. I love the "B grade" maple syrup on my oatmeal. It is becoming more common these days and should be easy to find.

There you go! Have a great day!

++ yes, that is an icecube in Colin's oatmeal! He likes to cool his down that way!