Compromise

Today was all about compromise

I've been putting the garden tour off

The last time I looked everything was Beautiful!

Really Beautiful.  That late summer was several 

Sept. weeks of warmth and the plants responded.

But now cold nights and wet days and I didn't want to look

BUT I DID

It's normally the time I get the garden ready for
winter and plant the garlic and winter lettuce

BUT there were humming birds and stray bees wanting
to dip into the remaining flowers.

So I Compromised.

I pulled enough plants, off  to the compost,
and planted the Garlic and Shallots

And I left all the plants that were still flowering. 

It will be a lot of work,
taking plants out as they succumb
but some of the pleasure of

having a garden is sharing it.

So here is today's garden mid Oct. 

What an odd year!

 Garlic in the brown areas, sweet peas in back

Very tasty kale 

Can you believe these flowers?

This is one of my hints for odd year success

When I saw how cold it remained during the summer 

I waited and finally in late July I put in as many zucchini 

plants as I could fit in the box.  I got lucky, Aug and Sept

had a lot of warmth and I got tons of squash.  I never do 

but by taking a risk and putting in so many plants I enjoyed 

both yellow and green zucchini!  I picked three more today

The tomatoes have been in the garden all summer 

Early July on. 

Now these cherry tomatoes are nearly the lovely

Gold I hoped for .  Will they make it....I doubt it

There are tons of these. 

Always a mistake for me to

plant tomatoes.

That's a pea bloom and still some peas, they went all summer it was so cool

and on the right are my sun gold beans.  Finally the pole beans get going

As families began to cook their dinners, I could smell it in the breeze

I was out dumping three potato cans.  

A pitiful year.
Half of what I would usually get. 

In the 1990's I had several years without
any potatoes so I shouldn't complain

Really the one easy plant I always get
good harvest from is garlic. 

You must learn how the season of garlic works
and then you will always get plenty!

So on the garden goes...It still is very pretty but fading fast.

yes I took these photos today Oct 13

Click on the photos to enlarge and get a good peek

it's getting colder

Do you feel it?  

It's getting colder.

Fall is here.

This is when you harvest smaller veggies with the idea

they won't grow much now that it is colder.

Tonight I took a stroll through the garden to collect dinner

The air was chill and there was a breeze, I could feel the excitement

of the seasons to come.

Here is what I collected on my garden walk

pretty red kale, purple carrots, white carrots peas..wow

broccoli, purple, yellow and green green beans, chard with it's 

lovely deep pink stem, two fun onions.

Parsley, three kinds of thyme, oregano, rosemary,

 some perfectly sized yellow and green zucchini

And sweet peas for the table! 

one hour later.....vegetable soup....yummy 

No recipe needed!

Canning Canning Canning

I've been doing a lot of canning this week and want to give you this posting from the National Center for Home Food preservation.  It has the questions people often ask.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/questions/FAQ_canning.html#4

Here is there home page   http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html

Don't make the mistake of using old recipes, good as they may have been they can endanger your family and friends who eat what you can.  Tomatoes are hybrid to the point they have little acid in them at all and so must be treated like a veggie.  Sugar is for taste and so is salt, aspirin is a no no!...YOU CAN USE lite syrups to the point now anyone should be pleased.

 I like to start those who are beginning canners on fruits.  You can learn proper methods for preparing & water bath use.  It's hard to make a mistake and if a jar doesn't seal it is worry free to reseal unlike veggies where I use caution to excess.  

If you have questions call me I'm happy to help you out.  I read a sign at McClendons in Woodinville saying they will test your gauges on pressure canners...wise thing to do..

Well out to the garden to see if there are enough beets for spiced beets!  Salsa is done, hot peppers, pepper rings done, pears tomorrow and apples after that.  I'm holding off on the kale for a few more chilly nights.

Last meeting of the season this morning

I hope to see a lot of you at todays end of season meeting.  I hear there will be food from
your gardens and we will talk about what we all learned and what we need to do to enjoy the fall season. There were questions about garlic and we will cover that also.

I thought summer might last forever now that it was finally here but I see the vine maples etc are changing color and that signals colder nights.  Looks like our gardening time is changing, I'll cover what you can do at this point in todays meeting.  I have a nice handout on fall and winter vegetables and I made a special pudding to share with you all. 

See you at 10:00 please drop in if you can....

If you wondered about light and growth read this!

http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/09/03/7589725-126-pound-cabbage-just-misses-world-record-mark

One look at what can grow in lots of sunlight and warmth 

makes me weep!

Remember it doesn't get warmer in Alaska than it does here,

yet what makes that "growing" magic?  

Yes all that light. 

Anyone want to move north?

BLUE BERRIES

My yes we are into food this time of year! 

There isn't a day when I don't eat something fresh from 

someones garden.  what a delight this is.  

We went Blueberry picking today.  It was so neat

to hear the kids exclaim "oh this is a big one!" as they

picked the berries closer to the ground.  We had a great system

Tall adults picking above, short, and med kids picking 

down below.

The weather was heavenly but warm as we left.  

Picking for myself reminded me of blueberry

picking with my son and his friends, they filled so many big buckets 

for me it was amazing how good they were at blue berry picking. 

I was shocked how many pounds I ended up paying for.

So if you only ended up with a few pounds like me 

why not eat them? There is nothing more healthy

than eating in the season of the plant.  

All the vitamins are perfect.  

Why not enjoy them now?

Here are my favorite blueberry recipes for your enjoyment.

Marie McKell's yummy Blueberry pie

3 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and draining

1/4 cup cornstartch

1 1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon lemon Juice

1/4 teas. salt

1/8 teas nutmeg 

1  9" pie shell pre-baked

whipped cream for topping

Place 1 cup of blueberries in a 3 quart saucepan.  crush with a potato masher.  Stir cornstarch into the 1 1/2 cups water, until smooth.  Add to crushed blueberries with sugar, honey, lemon juice, slat and nutmeg.  Stir until well blended

Add remaining blueberries and stir over med heat.  Stir while bringing

to a boil.  reduce heat to a low and simmer for 

10 mins. or until berries are cooked. 

Cool slightly before pouring into a pre-baked pie shell

Cover just the berry filling and chill at least 1 hour

top with whipped cream 

This is best served the day you make it

Pie crust 

(this recipe used to work but with the new shortenings who knows if this still works)

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teas salt

1/2 cup shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons cold water

Mix flour and salt together

cut in shortening until the size of small peas

add cold water, stirring in a little at a time with a fork

Add until flour stir's into a ball.

Chill for 15 minutes

Roll to size for 9" pie pan

bake at 450 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes

I always cook single pie crusts with weights on the crust 

to keep it from falling into the bottom.

If you don't have any use a small piece of foil

fitted it the bottom and sides of the

raw crust.  Trim any that is above the crust.

  Pour in dry beans, fill the sides and bottom 

with the beans.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove the foil holding the

beans and continue cooking the rest of the time

**********************************

Blueberry scones

This is in the ward cookbook

Katherine Currit recipe.  

2 1/2 cups flour

1/4 Cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup of butter, well chilled

1 cup blueberries

1 large egg

1/2 cup buttermilk

Glaze

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tablespoon cream

powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder together until well blended.  

Cut in butter. 

Mix egg and buttermilk (should equal 3/4 cup) Stir until blended

Add to flour mixture to evenly moisten , forming a soft dough.

DO NOT OVER MIX

Pat dough into 2 circles, 6 to 7 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.

Place one circle on parchment paper.  

Press blue berried into dough 

 add a second circle on top and gently press together

Cut into 8 wedges and separate each wedge slightly so they do not touch. 

Bake 15 20 minutes, until golden.

Whisk all the glaze ingredients together to make a 

slightly thick frosting that will melt to a glaze 

when spread onto the hot scones.

These are really good!

If I make them now, cool them and then

pack in my airtight bags, freeze, they make a tasty holiday treat with no work

They stayed frozen perfectly until Christmas and after.

**************************

Spiced Blueberry preserves

1 quart blueberries

1/4 Cup cider vinegar

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1) Wash and stem blueberries

2) combine in heavy pan with cider vinegar, sugar, 

allspice, cinnamon, and cloves

3) cook until thick, stirring often.

To test, place a spoonful on a refrigerated plate and see if it is thick enough for your taste.  This is the consistency the preserves will have when cold.

If it has not reached the jelling point, cook a little longer.

4) Pack into hot sterilized jars, seal.

**********************************

Blueberry Bread with orange Glaze

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup of boiling water
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tablespoons grated orange rind
1 egg
1 cup sugar
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup blueberries
*******
2  tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon grate orange rind
2 tablespoons honey


Melt butter in the boiling water in a small bowl.
Add 1/2 cup orange juice and 3 tablespoons grated orange rind
Beat the egg with sugar until light and fluffy.
Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with Orange liquid until smooth.
fold in blueberries.
Pour batter into a greased loaf pan.
Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes.
cool 10 min. and remove from the pan onto a cooling rack


Prepare a glave by combining the 2 tablespoons of orange juice, 1 tablespoon of grated orange rind and honey.


Pour over loaf.
makes one loaf


**********************

Add them to Smoothie's and my favorite is to top my pancakes and dutch babies

with fresh blueberries.  Great tossed into salads also.


And finally for my personal favorite.
My third child was born in a surprisingly fast way
it was lunch time and because her birth was so sudden and it took them all off guard they didn't think twice about handing me the lunch that was being served.
WOW it was the best food I'd ever tasted and dessert was blue berry buckle.....
 So very good!

Blueberry buckle

Blue Berry Buckle-from The readers digest Back to Basics book

4 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup milk

2 cups blueberries, rinsed

Crumb topping

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

sweetened whipped cream

Cake: 

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. add the flour mixture alternately with the milk into the creamed mixture beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into a buttered 8 inch square baking dish. Cover the batter evenly with the blue berries

Topping:

Combine the butter, sugar, cinnamon and flour. With a pastry blender or two knives cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. sprinkle the topping over the blueberries. 

bake 40 minutes in a 375 degree oven. 

Serve warm with whipped cream

Makes 6-8 servings. 

Yes the perfect after labor treat.

Dinner from the Garden

 click on photo to enlarge...

It was raining but I just thought how nice Mother Nature was to wash my dinner greens!

I collected peas, all kinds of lettuce, chard, onions, and these beautiful dark purple carrots!

When you grate these wonderful carrots the orange strips have a tiny edge of purple.   

Very nice.

I like to cut each veggie differently.
Peas were cut into diagonal, carrots grated on large,
zucchini in little cubes or little match stick size etc.  

After washing and slicing and arranging all the above on a plate I topped 

the salad with some left over barbequed chicken and come candied pecans.

These candied nuts only take moments to make and

I had them on wax paper cooling before I began cutting up the veggies.

I guess all I need to give you is the recipe for the candied pecans. 

It comes from Julia Anita's Salad Sorcery....my youngest daughters and I 

took a cooking class from her while we were in 

Florida many years ago.  Great Salad book!

Candied Pecans

1 cup pecan halves

1/4 cup of granulated sugar

sprinkle of salt  (recipes calls for 1 teas.=too much)

Heat a heavy skillet over high heat

add the sugar/salt

watch and don't step away not even for a moment

I shake the pan to keep the dry sugar moving

into the melted sugar.  

As soon as all sugar is liquid (this takes but a moment)

remove pan and stir in nuts, be sure and move those nuts until fully covered

pour the nuts onto waxed paper 

use a fork to push them apart so they don't make a big mound

you are looking for individual nuts where possible. 

Allow to fully cool or they won't pull off the wax paper,

You can make these nuts ahead and store them in an airtight container.  

Nothing makes a salad more special than fresh veggies picked from your garden

and candied pecan topping!