Totally Tomato

Color inspiration from my garden.

Love the distinct color bands.

Yes, joy really can be found from something as simple as a tri-colored tomato from my own garden.

Homemade Gravy

Or spagetti sauce as some like to call it.  It's brighter than it appears in the photo, this will simmer for awhile and then the meatballs go into the sauce to cook.  First up tomorrow, John's homemade lasanga!!! 

Recipe can be found on my blog here

More Inspiration

Tomato cages.

Garden 051212

Taking a break, spent most of the day outside finalizing garden plans, planted cucumbers, helped John to unbury our stash of wooden fence posts (for my new fence) and retrieve old decking material for constructing more raised beds.  Above: John tilling the north garden with our trusty tiller Rotilla the Hun! 

Tomato Hutch 012812

The shelves are a tomato red color, the back a tomato vine green, and the sides a tomato blossom yellowish color, so with that in mind I'm calling this my tomato hutch!

Tomatoes, etc

Woke up in horrible pain this morning, my right rotar cuff decided it to let me know that it wasn't happy with me, apparently spending the entire day in a car driving across the state and back is not a nice thing to do to one's bum shoulder.

So to work the knots out I mowed the yard, transplanted some perinneal's and planted them under the cherry tree, planted 33 tomato plants, cleaned off the driveway in anticipation of having a yard sale, pruned a whole bunch of trees out of the yard, and pulled gobs of weeds.

It worked I know longer feel my shoulder because my knees are hurting worse than my shoulder was.

If it doesn't rain here tonight then tomorrow I will run a couple of natural dye baths, madder root, out of doors, and plant the rest of my garden goodies which is mainly cucumers and cabbages at this point in the game.

Swine Flu Update

Well I'm recovering, finally, from the swine man swamp flu!  I still have a cough hanging on.  The canning came to a near screaching halt, John took 4 days off from work but the reality is 1. I'm more organized than he is, which isn't saying much btw, and 2. there was way more that needed canning than one person could do alone!  He did get a dozen or so pints of pear butter put up and a dozen or so quarts of tomatoes canned.  I'm feeling better but not by much, a simple drive across town  and back still wears me out and I need a nap just to recover from the experience.  To make matters worse I have a show coming up this weekend and I"m no where near being ready for the event.  More later from the kitchen!!!

Roma Tomatoes

Various varieties of Roma Tomaotes.

Garden Fresh!

Roma tomato from my garden, John and I shared it for dinner it was wonderful!

Cabbage Seedlings

Oregano, Cilantrao, Basil (sweet basil)

Roma Tomatoes

Purple Cabbages (above) and Green Cabbages (below)

I'm hoping they will all make it if so I'll have a bountiful garden this year!

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup

1 Cup Chopped Potato - we used Russets

Fresh Chicken Broth made from cooking the chicken hind quarters.

1/4 Cup Cooked Chicken

1 Cup chopped Carrot.

2/3 Cup. Corn

2 T. Chopped Roma Tomatoes

2/3 Cup Chopped Green Beans

A tablespoon of chopped onion is added to each jar. Dh wanted to know where the garlic was???

Each jar gets half chicken bullion cube which is placed in the jar first on the bottom.

We experimented with the layering trying to find one that was visually pleasing.

In the AA and ready to be pressure canned - 90 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure.

Layered Chicken Vegetable Soup Recipe

Wow this is very popular so here is the recipe and the next post will be pics of what we did.

The potatos, carrots, tomatoes, and onions were raw (I soaked the cubed potatoes for four hours with a bit of vinegar) The corn and green beans were frozen.

Amounts are approximations for a quart jar:

1c cubed potatoes
1c sliced/cubed carrot (depended on the diameter of the carrot most ended up cubed)
2/3c corn
2/3c green beans
1/4c cooked chicken meat
T Onion
2T chopped fresh roma tomatoes
1/2 Chicken bullion Cube

Cover with the broth you made when you cooked the chicken meat. PC 90 minutes.

I arranged it in layers so that it would be pretty!Potato, carrot, green bean, chicken, corn, tomato, onion.

Tonight's Menu - BLT's

A very happy BLT eater!!! Of course he's grinnin like this because he hates having a camera in his face all of the time but also because his pickles are almost done.

Two BLT's assembled and taste tested.

The assemblage begins, mustard, and mayo are required.

The birds ate my tomatoes so I had to purchase some from a local grower for tonights meal.

Tomatoes

Well my plants were damaged by high winds and hail I'm suprised I have this much left to be quite honest. The plants are missing so many vines they border on looking rather sickly!