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Tomato Adventures

This is our first summer we've had any sort of tomato harvest to speak of. I guess when you've prayed for five years for tomatoes, God answers. Interestingly enough, in our answered prayer, God decided to deduct green peppers from the equation. Perhaps he knew that we are having a hard enough time keeping up as it is. I've had two bags of green beans sitting in the fridge waiting to be blanched for who knows how long. I do miss green peppers though. They're probably second after tomatoes for things we use the most of out of our garden.

Getting back to tomatoes though. While we haven't had a "bumper" crop to speak of, we've had more than we've ever had before. We were given a yellow tomato plant from one of Lance's co-workers that did quite well. It produced large, perfectly shaped tomatoes. The only difference I really noticed between your traditional red tomatoes and the yellow ones, was that the yellow ones might be slightly sweeter. Slightly. Out of the garden we were also able to harvest roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and your traditional large red globe tomatoes. Our cherry tomato plant did amazingly well. Picking hundreds of cherry tomatoes starts to feel like punishment after awhile, especially when you are hunched over, standing awkwardly between plants, trying not to crush tender roots while leaning precariously trying to get that one cherry tomato just out of reach.



This year we decided that our canning adventures would be limited to diced tomatoes and salsa. We never really had enough large tomatoes at one time to can, so we had to supplement with tomatoes from Lance's parents' garden and my parents' garden. Combined, we had tomatoes coming out of our ears.

In true Lance and Kara fashion, we devoted an entire weekend to tomato canning, following the recommended guidelines from Iowa State extension. It made me hate life just a little bit. The kitchen was sweltering with gallons of boiling water and tomatoes simmering on the back burner. I felt like I blanched mountains of tomatoes. We don't use a pressure canner, so one batch, start to finish, probably took close to 2 hours. For a jar of tomatoes that I could purchase for around 70 cents. Yep, I'm still weighing the cost savings on that one. We did applesauce last year because you can noticeably taste the difference between homemade and store bought. Diced tomatoes? Not so much. On the second day we also did salsa, following a tested recipe from Ball. It did not call for salt. It needed it. Now I have quarts and quarts of salsa that needs salt. Fantastic.

What will we can next year? No idea. Some sort of fruit? Green beans? Or maybe ... we won't can at all. Shhh ... don't tell Lance (actually I can't even blame Lance. I seem to always get this itch to try something new every summer, so it's always partially my fault too)

Up next in tomato adventures - bruschetta.

Here's what's going on at the Knaack household

Tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes. Granted, these ones come from my mom, but lots of tomatoes. Tomatoes that are going to be turned into canned tomatoes. Once again, I embark on another canning journey. A journey that keeps me up to 11:30 at night. Not cool. Especially when you can buy a can of diced tomatoes for 69 cents. These better taste freakin awesome.



This is stuff out of my garden. About a hundred cherry tomatoes, some good sized regular tomatoes, a few yellow tomatoes and some nice cucumbers.



Sounds like gazpacho to me! Too bad I think it's waaaayyy too much work for something that tastes like salsa :)

Abounding Abundance - garden

Part of the Abounding Abundance blog is gardening. Since living in our present house, we have planted a garden every year. It allows my farmer husband the opportunity to play in the dirt. It gives me the opportunity to dream up new ways to use the produce in our menus.

Our favorite plants are tomatoes and green peppers. Much to our chagrin and annoyance, tomatoes and green peppers are typically the two plants we struggle with the most. We have never been able to pinpoint what the problem is as it seems to vary year to year. Some years we get stem rot from too much rain. One year we put the mulch down too early and everything molded after more torrential rain. Sometimes I wonder if it's our neighbor's black walnut tree that is causing so many problems. I've read that when rain water runs off a black walnut tree, it's toxic to garden plants. Really, it's hard to tell. We've done soil testing and countless other experiments to try and make the garden better. Things ranging from crushing egg shells and planting them with the tomatoes for extra calcium, planting marigolds as a bug deterrent, to making an au natural mixture of milk and water to use as a fungicide. We haven't had stellar results with any of those experiments.

My friend Katie asked if we were going to plant a garden this year - heck yes! Just because we had a baby, doesn't make us less hungry. Besides, planting a garden is a money saver if you make the most out of it. And true to Team Lance & Kara, we not only planted a garden, we expanded the garden. I guess we're always trying to test the limits of our sanity :) And if we manage to produce a successful tomato crop, I've already agreed to canning tomatoes. Lance and I also have plans on putting up sweet corn too. And probably drying apples again. Yep, I've confirmed it. I'm nuts. But like we always do - go big or go home. It's always an all or nothing game with us. Hit rewind of previous summers: Strawberry jam ... Applesauce ... Lance would say freezing breast milk.

Anyway, getting back to the point. Our garden. Each year we try and plant something new. Last year it was eggplant (which never did anything. We got our first blossom in late September) and onions (the onions got toppled in a windstorm and never really grew). In fact our garden was planted super late to begin with. My memory is hazy, but I think Lucan was born before anything was planted. I'm not sure, those first days were tumultuous to say the least. As far as new things go, we have a yellow tomato plant. We replanted eggplant again and it never came up. I wanted to do garlic, but we ran out of time. So the only true new item in our garden this year is spinach. The garden this year is pretty standard for us:

Cucumbers. I love me some girlie cucumber sandwiches.



Green beans. We really didn't need to plant more as each year I freeze gallon ziplock bags full of them. Lance was digging at the bottom of our freezer and found 2009 ones. Opps.


Sugar snap peas. Perfect for snacking and stir frys. Once the peas are done, Lance is going to plant late season carrots. Carrots will be a first for me.



The peas climb quite well on the fence. The peas, green beans, and cucumbers share three sides of this fence.


Some Early Girl tomatoes peeping through. I cannot wait for my first tomato of the season. It will be a banner day!



Edamame. Much cheaper than buying it. Ours is from special order seed as seedlings aren't mainstream enough to be found in a local green house.

Hot pepper plant for salsa. I learned my lesson last year - use rubber gloves when dicing. Otherwise you could be left with one on-fire eye from inadvertently rubbing it.

Cilantro trying to take over my basil. Cilantro and basil are my two favorite herbs in the entire world. You cannot substitute dried for the freshness and quality of garden picked cilantro and basil.

I really do need to cut back my cilantro.

Cherry tomato. We're also growing Roma tomatoes too, which is my favorite variety. They are the perfect cooking tomato.

Spinach. Yum. We also planted lettuce, but it didn't come up. Bummer.

Baby zucchinis. I'm sure in two weeks I'll have them coming out of my ears and I won't be able to get rid of them or sneak them into any other foods without arousing Lance's suspicion.

See what I'm talking about? This zuc is one plant. It's a monster. Just think if we'd plant multiples. Bad idea.

Very weedy onions.

Butternut squash. Speaking of which, we still have two from last year. They really do last indefinitely. Regardless, we need to get rid of them. I think we've already roasted three and frozen them. Last year we had a bumper crop of butternut squash - the plant jumped the fence and was halfway across the yard.

Mary, Mary quite contrary - this is how my garden grows!

Garden Time

It's about this time of year I really start itching for garden food. Fresh, delicious vegetables. And the farmer's market. (But mostly so I can eat samosas and egg rolls on a Saturday morning within blocks of each other!) Lance and I will start our seeds indoors and then move them outside once the threat of frost has disappeared. One thing to note, lettuce should NOT be started indoors. It's a hearty, early year vegetable and will do just fine outside. In a moment of longing, I made my garden list at work yesterday. Once again, I was astounded by the amount of produce we pack into our small, humble garden plot. This is what I'm planning on growing/killing this year:

• green peppers
• hot peppers
• green beans
• sugar snap peas
• cherry tomatoes
• roma tomatoes
• big boy tomatoes
• onions
• butterleaf lettuce
• cucumbers
• zucchini
• butternut squash
• edamame
• eggplant
• misc herbs - cilantro, basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary

New items are onions and eggplant. I think that onions are fairly low-key, we'll see about the eggplant. Lance and I consider a successful garden one that produces tomatoes. In the last 3 summers, our tomato harvest has been very hit or miss. Last year we had an enormous amount of pear tomatoes. We had so many that I was pretty tired of picking teeny-tiny tomatoes by the end of the summer. I hope that my romas do well, I love using them in cooking. They make the best sauces. Last year was the first time we successfully grew cucumbers and zucchini. Lance learned to love cucumber sandwiches and be suspicious of things that I might have snuck shredded zucchini into by the summer's end.

Oh Butternut

Two things I love: butternut squash and Pure+Clear Palmolive dish soap. I love the taste of butternut squash and I love the smell of this soap.


This is the first butternut squash out of our garden. Isn't it beautiful? It's also huge, most never get this long (hence the picture by the dish soap to demonstrate the height). I love the lovely mild taste of butternut squash. I think part of this guy may get pureed into a bisque. The other part may get baked with brown sugar and butter. There's nothing more comforting than baked squash ...

I also got a couple of acorn squashes from a co-worker. We grew acorn squashes last year, I really prefer the texture of butternut squashes to acorn. But they are still tasty!

Sundried Tomatoes

One of my fantastic Craigslist finds last fall was a food dehydrator for $15. We dehydrate everything. (Lance gets a little carried away) We have an influx of cherry tomatoes. More than I can possibly imagine ever eating or giving away. There are only so many options when it comes to garden fresh produce. You can either a) eat it b) give it away c) can it d) freeze it e) dehydrate it. Tomatoes do not freeze well. There's too much moisture and it's just a bad idea. I don't can. I don't know how, I don't have the supplies, and I don't have the space. Maybe someday ... my MIL cans, so it is not impossible to think that someday I might learn. So that leaves me with a few remaining options: eat, give away, or dehydrate. We're going with the last option and making our excess tomato supply into sundried tomatoes. We'll rehydrate them and throw them into chili, soups, chicken catcatorie (I know it's spelled wrong) and other things for bonus flavor.

They're kind of pretty in the dried, wrinkled up way.



But they are money and food savers, which is a combo that Lance likes best! I've thought about packing them in oil, but I'm really at a loss for how best to do this. So in the meantime, they'll stay locked in a cool dark cupboard for optimal storage.

Beautiful garden meal

Something I struggle with every year is how to find a variety of meals from the produce of my garden. Last night I wanted to make lemon pepper chicken, but I needed some accompaniments.
Here's what I had for fresh garden produce:

• Green beans


• Green pepper


• Zucchini


• Yellow crookneck squash


• Baby potatoes (from Lance's aunt)


• Parsley

Additionally, I also had broccoli that I wanted to get used up. I chopped everything up, added some onion for flavor, dropped in a few butter dabs and sprinkled the whole thing with a little garlic and salt/pepper. I wrapped the whole thing in foil and made a lovely little campfire packet.

I did the potatoes in a separate packet because I knew they would have to cook/steam longer on the grill. I scrubbed the potatoes, pricked them with a fork, added some fresh parsley, butter, garlic, and salt/pepper. Lovely aluminum foil :)


And here's the finished product. The veggies were so delish. I left them on the grill for about 25 minutes on low. I really tried not to check them because I didn't want to let the steam escape. Lance hates broccoli, but told me this was the best he had ever had. Ya know, considering it was broccoli and everything. The potatoes got about 40 minutes on the grill and I did flip everything once.

Here's the whole meal plate: grilled lemon pepper chicken, mixed veggies, baby potatoes with parsley and cous cous. It was a beautiful meal that we enjoyed on our deck. We don't have much time left this year to enjoy dinners al fresco.

Giant Produce

After my bumpy yellow crookneck squash lost to an oversized zucchini in my work State Fair Contest, I asked my mom how in the world people let their produce that big. Easy, she said - you just pick your garden once a week - like me!
This is a cucumber from my mom's garden that was well over a foot long. My exact reaction was "Seriously Mom!? I need to take a picture of that!"

Same Plant - Different Looks

These are two yellow crookneck squashes that were grown from the same plant. Can you believe it? The one on the left is decidely more orange and warty, while the one on the right is yellow (like it is supposed to be!) and much more smooth. Lance thought that it might have something to do with the lower temps we've been experiencing, but I'm not sure. They look so different from each other!



This is an entire box of cucumbers. We need to start giving some away. Clearly. I cannot eat cucumber sandwiches every single day like Lance. Last week I watched Lance eat half a cucumber in one sitting. Just in sandwiches! I told him that it can't be good for his digestive system, but I have no medical proof of this. Just my own "gut" instinct (I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.)

Garden Update

Mid year garden update ...


One of my zucchini plants is still living and producing well. I've put zucchini into pasta salads and done a lot of baking. Unfortunately, the plant is in the process of dying. Go figure.





Our cucumber plant is doing exceptionally well! Lance and I have never had a successful plant! We've had tons of cucumber sandwiches, which are great snacks. Lance's brother, Andrew, his girlfriend had never had a cucumber before. Strange. Do you also see that yellow crookneck squash? I'm still struggling with what to do with him. They're a little odd. And the roma tomatoes? They're dying. This is about the most I'll get out of three plants. Stupid blight.



But my cherry tomatoes are doing really well. One of my favorite things to do is have them with cottage cheese as a mid-afternoon snack. So yum!







As always, our green beans are doing spectacularly. A little too much. We could have green beans for every meal and not eat all the ones we have in the freezer from years past. We just froze our first batch on Sunday. I need to find more recipies that call for green beans.

Garden

Every year I cease to be amazed by my garden. Usually my wonderment is at both ends of the spectrum's - at how well some plants do and how poorly other plants do. This year I'm busy being amazed by the ginormous amounts of cherry tomatoes I'm getting as well as the huge zucchinis and crookneck squashes. I love cherry tomatoes, I can eat them as a snack if allowed. Because my garden has allowed for it, I've been really into cucumber sandwiches lately - made with 1 block of cream cheese mixed with 1 packet of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix. I spread that on rye cocktail bread and top with a thinly sliced cucumber and a smattering of dried dill. Delish!

The crookneck squash I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with it. I think I'm going to slice it up and grill it.

I would make some zucchini bread but the air conditioning is still on the fritz. And it's 91 degrees outside and Lance does not allow the oven to be on even when the air conditioning does work. We've said several prayers in the last 24 hours that Lance would be able to repair the air conditioning. He took a half day off today to go home early to work on it some more. In Lance's exact words "It's supposed to be 91 degrees out. If I don't get the air fixed we will die." Let's continue to pray this is not the case when I get home at 5 pm!

UPDATE: It's 9:33 pm and there is no air in my house. At least today I haven't cried.

On a different note, excellent PURE bar give away taking place at Iowa Girl Eats - check it out!