Frog and Goat

I canned two jars of tomatoes this morning because what else could I possibly have to do the day before we leave on vacation? I also roasted tomatoes and eggplant and froze that mix. While I was roasting those vegetables I roasted a butt-load of Anaheim peppers and packed those in an old artichoke jar with some olive oil.

I have some corn cooling after being blanched. Those kernels will be frozen. Enough!

When I picked this tomato, I thought it was actually two growing next to each other. Actually it looks to me like this franken-tomato was actually three tomatoes. Whatevs. Into the pot of sauce it went.

*Jeez, did I use the word actually enough in this post?

Well yesterday was Sunday and you know that means time for canning here at F&G. We whipped up the Sweet and Sour Caponata from the Silver Spoon cookbook and then processed it in the hot water canner like we’d do for tomatoes. Hopefully we didn’t cook up a batch of botulism…never made caponata before but it should be plenty acidic with all the tomatoes and vinegar. We had just a wee bit leftover and will eat that tonight–the sample bites we tried yesterday were quite good.

We also had some green beans. Not nearly as small and tender as the gazillion other jars we made but still they turned out quite nice. We’ll be eating green beans quite a bit later this year. We grew contender beans (as I coulda been) on the advice of the MIL and I have to admit she was right. The beans are great.

The better-half just picked the last of the sweet corn and pulled up the plants. The garden is starting to get sparse. Just green beans, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and a watermelon. We’re planning on doing a little fall/winter gardening this year and will have to get that set up after vacation.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned but the lettuce we grew in a pot under our backyard maple (for speckled shade) is nearly finished. I was afraid the lettuce would be bitter but it’s been quite nice so far. I think the saving grace was that it wasn’t in full sun and it hasn’t been too brutally hot.

Sunday we spent most of the day putting up corn and tomatoes. I had planned on writing a longish entry with step-by-step pictures but since today is Wednesday and we did this on Sunday and I have a raging headache today, it’s not going to happen.

We grew Silver Queen and some damn yellow corn that neither of us can remember the name. We have maybe another dozen ears out in the garden and then we’re done. The corn has been outstanding this year. We’ve eaten enjoyed many ears and as I mentioned, we canned some. The leftovers went into the freezer.

We also had a small wave of tomatoes come in so I roasted some of our anaheims to make salsa. We ended up with one jalapeno out of the garden just in time for the salsa making. A tiny habanero from last year went into the mix too. With all of those peppers, surprisingly not too hot, but certainly not bland.

We had leftover tomatoes after making the salsa and were able to can two pints. A little extra leftover went into making tomato juice which I’m sure will be lovely with the pepper vodka we infused.

This week has been busy. My last night of class is tomorrow and then we’re headed to Cafe Rustica for dinner. Then, somehow, I’m going to manage to last yet another week before vacation. I feel like I could sleep for a week.