We braved the heat to roast beets after a big harvest last Saturday. They finally made it onto our plates in our classic beet salad last night.
We tossed a garden medley (onion, garlic, squash, red pepper, and Swiss chard) into the cast iron skillet for our second course.
We served the sauteed veg on top of a bed of quinoa.
A bit later, we rounded things out with peaches and shortbread for dessert, but the peaches were feeling camera shy (or the photographer was feeling lazy).
In an effort to use up a little vacation time, and give myself a couple of “me” days, I took the past two Mondays off. Relaxation efforts on the first Monday? A big fat FAIL.
I told myself I would do better this past Monday. That all flew out the window when I foolishly offered to deal with our latest tomato harvest, which included my first foray into pressure canning.*
I watched nervously as the pressure built, fearing the worst (broken jars) as I heard some suspicious noises from inside.
Nothing to do but wait. Eleven pounds of pressure for fifteen minutes, them time for it to fully depressurize.
A peek inside . . .
No tomato vomit, i.e., tomato bits floating in the canning water, indicating certain jar breakage. I still held my breath as I removed the jars, since sometimes a jar can crack, but remain more or less intact until moved.
All intact! Of course, I kind-of overshot my goal of cooking the tomatoes down enough to only have to do one round (seven quarts) of canning. My super thick sauce only yielded five quarts, which I divided into four quart jars, two pint jars, and a pint-and-a-half of tomato juice to give me seven jars for a full load.
So, relaxing Monday FAIL, but canning SUCCESS. I’ll take it.
*We bought the pressure canner last summer, right before Pookie arrived. Matthew used to can a few batches of green beans, but I was pretty out of commission during that time. Matthew’s mom handled all of the tomato canning last year (water bath method), and she’s done a ton of it for us already this season.
The title of this post is often, though not always, the answer to the question posed in the title of the last post. Little Pookie likes to eat. Because of this, he is not so little anymore.
He still breastfeeds four times a day, but I’m not sure that mama’s milk is his favorite food anymore. Tomatoes have stolen his heart.
Saturday night we had a garden fresh dinner of steamed edamame, braised fingerling potatoes, and gazpacho. Pookie chowed down big time on the potatoes and edamame, eating almost as much as I did.
Chowing down on birthday cake
He uses his height to good advantage, getting up on his tip toes and stretching out his little arms to procure items of interest off the table.
Is this how it works?
He snagged a banana and chomped down, peel and all.
But the real trouble started when Matthew returned from the garden with a boatload of tomatoes (which I had foolishly offered to turn into sauce and can — more on that in a later post). We used our table to spread out the tomatoes, but realized our space was limited the center of the table after we found him double fisting fresh tomatoes.
Appeased, for now
I missed the actual photo op, but snapped the above after the fact, once I removed the smashed tomatoes from his fists and offered him a few cut-up bites as a replacement.
Unfortunately, the tomatoes on the table proved such a distraction at meal times that he had a hard time focusing on the food on his plate. Oh, little Pookie.
. . . but the mania is mostly of my own making. I took the day off to “relax,” which quickly turned into a long to-do list, which mostly involves wrangling fresh produce. There were also some adventures with grilling — in the end, I prevailed, though it made the day much crazier than planned. Off to deal with a HUGE zucchini.
A couple more photos from our trip at the beginning of the month before returning to the home scene.
Very bummed to see this sign on a road in Ames, Iowa:
Sec. 4.15. BICYCLES PROHIBITED ON GRAND AVENUE.
The riding of bicycles, tricycles or unicycles on the roadway of Grand Avenue in the City of Ames, Iowa, is prohibited. Any person who shall ride a bicycle on the traveled portion of the roadway of Grand Avenue between Lincoln Way and 30th Street in the City of Ames shall be in violation of this section.
Ugh.
On to happier things, my beautiful boy after spending some time in the wading pool with his cousin.
Despite more rounds of sickness, the refrigerator drama, and job hunting (and with it, the search for new child care arrangements), we’ve found time to continue settling in to the new apartment.
Finally hanging the pot rack was a big deal for us. We need every bit of counter top and cabinet space in the kitchen, and this is a great solution.
We’ve debated adding a second one, and I’ve looked at several DIY pot rack options, maybe someday. I’d love to hang our cast iron pans, but I would worry that the rack would come crashing down under all the weight.
Tomato season is in full swing, along with eggplant, summer squash, and cucumbers.
We’re enjoying finding new ways to create delicious one-dish meals featuring toms, eggplant, and squash (some recipes coming soon), including this ratatouille-style dish that also featured our freshly dug fingerling potatoes.
We served the sauteed veg on top of a bed of quinoa.
Her Green Life 