Veggie Mania

The other day, I commented to twitter that it’s time to bring in my plants from outside. For me this includes a thyme plant, a lemon thyme plant (neither of which grew in the slightest, but neither of which died back at all either), and an asparagus fern. There’s also some really cute volunteer flowers and some volunteer chives in pots my landlords left, but those can stay where they are. I’ll harvest the remainder of the chives, chop them up and freeze them.

My friend, Ellen responded, “I stood by my back windows and contemplated the huge task of harvesting the backyard… Too much food.” Assuming she meant that there’s just a lot of work getting all the food from her copious garden into her house, I volunteered to help.… Continue reading →

Smitten Kitchen’s Naked Tomato Sauce

I have told you all in the past how much I didn’t like tomatoes. I liked ’em ok in sauce, ketchup and, you know, things like that. Cooked, let’s say. Then Corrine and an unknown farmer came into my live & bulldozed that into oblivion. You all know that.

Now I really like tomatoes, in season. I still kind of find winter tomatoes repulsive. So now, possibly more than any other food in the world, I’m vaguely obsessed with finding a way to preserve this for the future. Of course, I’m pretty new at this “preserving things”, so it’s going slowly.

The other day I managed to can a dozen pint jars of tomatoes. I don’t know if that’s a reasonable size or not, but I decided it seemed better than quarts for a family of two.… Continue reading →