Preserving the Harvest

A rainy day led me to cook up a storm! Let me know what you have recently made by emailing me at lindadansbury@comcast.net and please put Anchor Run in subject line to I can find your email. I have a veggie garden of my own, so with both the farm and my garden being bountiful, I have had to really think about how to best use my harvests so they don't go bad.

Tomatoes - for the first time ever, I made my own tomato juice. It turned out great and was super easy to make. Remove cores and cut up tomatoes. Place in pot and cook, adding a good amount of salt to the pot. Cook until tomatoes are tender - about 45 minutes. Allow to cool slightly then run through a food mill. Place juice in a pot and add more salt if needed, black pepper and other spices and/or hot sauce if you want - paprika, cumin, cayenne, celery salt are a few choices. I just added a bit of celery salt.

Tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, onion, garlic - Made a classic Minestrone Soup. There are a couple of recipes on this site - I just made mine up. I made a double batch so will have plenty to freeze.

Tomatillos, onion, hot pepper, cilantro - made the Chicken Stew with Tomatillo Sauce. One of my long time favorites, I learned a few years ago that it comes out even better in a pressure cooker. Served over rice or on tortillas, and topped with feta cheese - so good.

Tomato, watermelon, hot pepper, basil, mint, onion - prepared the Watermelon, Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Salad - all I can say is that it is summer on a plate!

Zucchini, peppers and onions - did one of my go-to's for this summer. Grilled a pile of veggies and then had the leftovers in a green salad with balsamic dressing.

Cherry tomatoes, rosemary, garlic - I had so many cherry tomatoes to use up that I made a cherry tomato compote. Placed tomatoes on a sheet pan, drizzled with olive oil and salted and added some crushed garlic. Cooked in a 235 degree oven for 2 hours, then added a sprig of chopped rosemary to the pan and mixed it all up. Roasted for another 2 hours and removed from oven - oh my gosh! Amazing!!