Tag Archives: brandywine

nesting: salsa and pacifiers

Posted on by
Reply

I was gifted with a child-free day today and made use of my special (read: don’t know when this will ever happen again!) time on last-minute nesting projects like finally turning all those October tomatoes into roasted tomato salsa and a big batch of roasted tomato soup. Since I was in the mood to boil water, I also sterilized a bunch of pacifiers. Funny juxtaposition, isn’t it? Ah, well, such is life right now.

I can’t really even begin to describe the great sense of relief I have now that I don’t have to stare at all those tomatoes every time I come through the back door. I’m so grateful they didn’t go to waste because I knew I wouldn’t be able to get to them once our babe arrived; I just dreaded the thought of having to see them again as I was walking through the door with a new little birdie. Whew!

Have a great weekend in your nest, lovelies! Here in Traverse City there are a couple really cool things happening that I just had to mention: an indie art fair and the nation’s first XC ski race of the season, for which they are hauling in shaved zamboni snow from the local ice rinks. Something for everyone…

Happily cool and rainy

Posted on by
Reply

Wet, cool fall has decided to officially arrive in northern Michigan after making a brief appearance then quickly running away for the blazing hills for about two weeks. It’s actually quite a relief because I don’t have the guilt of not playing in the backyard when I’ve got a mountain of indoor projects that I’d like to tackle. Funny how that works, isn’t it? After a trip to the grocery store and long enough at our local children’s museum, we’re settled back in our nest while the rain coats the windows outside. It feels good. Looks like this weekend will be chilly and rainy too and I’m looking forward to lots of indoor (nesting) projects like figuring out what I want to do with this surprise bounty of October tomatoes. I’m starting with about six pints of salsa and then moving on to tomato jam if I have some tomatoes left. Any other ideas, lovelies?

What fun things do you have planned for your weekend? Are you looking forward to a lazy weekend in your nest? I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Bundling up in northern Michigan…

tomatoes, finally!

Posted on by
Reply

It seems that for the last couple of months our garden just kept getting greener, wilder and more overgrown, but wasn’t producing much of anything. I wondered if we would ever harvest anything but herbs, salad greens and peas. And then seemingly overnight we are giving away big ole brandywine tomatoes to friends, neighbors, even the appraiser who came by this morning. I noticed that we’ll have a head or two of broccoli this week and it got me wondering about the fingerling potatoes in the ground… The dark, leafy greens we planted last week are sprouting too. Pretty soon I’ll be complaining that we have too much to keep up with – be careful what you wish for, right? Make haste and get the canning jars out, lovelies! It’s tomato season. Finally!

What are you harvesting from your patches of green, lovelies? Any fun farmer’s market finds lately? Cheers!

 

Tomato jam

Posted on by
Reply

Thanks, Internet, and thanks, Food in Jars. My life has so very much been enriched because of this tomato jam. Who knew?! I was perusing the Internet for ideas of what else to do with all this $%^&*@#$#$%^&**!!  (lovely) deluge of brandywine tomatoes and stumbled upon this recipe for tomato jam. It is SO GOOD. I mean, really really good. Spicy, sweet, but not too sweet, just plain delicious. We had it with some cream cheese on crackers. It is a fantastic use of five pounds of fresh tomatoes. Did I mention that this stuff is really good? Have you ever had such a thing? It reminds me of a pepper jelly, but richer, fresher and a bit more complex. Can you say “stocking stuffer” ?!