So Many Tomatoes!

It's that time of year! Hip hip hooray! Too many tomatoes to pick, too many to eat, too many to can or freeze. Home grown tomatoes have become god's jewels to all foodies, and to non-foodies as well. Heirloom tomatoes have gained in popularity at a rate I can't even fathom. They are amazing in variety, and somehow seem to be fairly disease-resistant. My neighbors grow some that are so incredibly beautiful with yellow, peach, and pink streaks, they should take the place of a flower bouquet centerpiece on your table or kitchen island.

I am a huge fan of Green Zebras, which freeze very, very well, and make a fantastic pasta sauce in winter. This is an essential part of living well. I put in 3 plants that I bought from the farmer's market in spring, and one of the plants is producing something different. Its fruit is almost purple, bigger, and less globular than a green zebra. Maybe a Cherokee Purple?

Oh, how delightful, the surprises that come up from the ground.

For those of you who need another use for your tomato bounty, I offer this recipe. It is an old-fashioned recipe, and I'm not really sure where I got it. It is delicious on English muffins.


TOMATO JAM

Ingredients:

1 lb. tomatoes, cut into 3/4 inch chunks
3/4 c. sugar
juice of one lemon
2 t. grated ginger root
1/2 t. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a 2-3 qt. saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the consistency reaches a thin jam. Let cool. Refrigerate in a tightly sealed container.

Here's a tip: fresh homegrown tomatoes can be watery. You might drain the chopped tomatoes before cooking.

Something Funny

Here's something funny: I composted a beet that had dehydrated in my fridge, and it grew again! I think I will continue this practice with all dehydrated beets.

Weird Pizza Hut Invention vs. Tree Bark for Food

This new form of pizza is being advertised on TV, and it is really freaking me out. I post these pictures so that you, too, can freak out.

I really don't know what to say about such an invention made from pizza-type food. Except that, yes, we do have an obesity epidemic.

And yes, people will dip those weird little cheese-filled things into Ranch dressing.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, have you read "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck? Well, I recently read "Pearl of China" by Anchee Min, and so I became very interested in Pearl Buck's life. She was an American (white/German) daughter of missionaries who worked in China. She grew up there, and therefore considered herself Chinese. When she was an adult, political events forced her to leave China, and spend the rest of her life in the U.S. She won the Nobel Peace Prize and a Pulitzer for "The Good Earth," which was also made into a movie.

I'm on page 96 of "The Good Earth," and boy, is it depressing! It is just like reading "The Grapes of Wrath," a book forced on teenage Americans in high school. I understand why this is a great work of literature, but oh, boy! Only one-third through the book, the family is starving and eating grass and tree bark, and taking a walking trip to lands south where there might be more food. I don't think this is a summer read.

I am not a religious person, but I am thankful every day of my life for the luck I have in food. We are growing totally delicious and healthy vegetables, I know how to cook them, and we are never, ever bored of the available bounty. I am totally aware that it may not last for my whole life, or for my daughter's whole life. So each day, I am thankful for my food.

Muggy, Not Sultry

Did you know that "muggy" is an Old Norse word "mugga," meaning "mist or drizzle"? I bet you didn't!

Today is a muggy day in Minnesota, and I got to wondering where that word came from. I really prefer a sultry day to a muggy one, but this is what we got.

I haven't posted in a a while because it has been so hot this summer, and the kitchen is really not where I want to spend my time. But we gotta eat! This is how I have been compensating for my lack of culinary magic:

1. Getting more take out.
2. Telling my family to fend for themselves.
3. Getting my calories from liquids.

However, because of this hot, rainy summer, the garden is going crazy, and so I am forced to harvest vegetables much earlier than I am ready. For example, our beets are big enough to pluck from the ground, but who wants to cook beets when it's hot? It takes like an hour to cook them!

Anybody out there who knows how to store root vegetables, please advise. I picked about 10 of them, rinsed them and cut off the leaves, leaving an inch of stem. I stored them in the basement, in a wire basket. A few days later, I did the same thing, and discovered the previous batch was starting to degrade already. So I decided to cook them all today, on the grill. I have no choice but to eat beets every day, and to pickle the rest.


CZECH BEET SALAD
Recipe from my mom & dad's next-door neighbors

Cooked beets, peeled and shredded
fresh dill weed, chopped
sour cream
lime juice

Mix all ingredients together. Serve cold.


ITALIAN BEET & CUCUMBER SALAD
Recipe from Georgio's on Hennepin, our favorite restaurant ever, now closed

Cooked beets, peeled and sliced
sliced cucumbers
blue cheese, or gorgonzola

Layer ingredients on a plate. Drizzle your favorite vinaigrette (but it must include mustard) over the top. Serve at room temperature.


Yes, I used the kiddie pool to wash my veg.

You Can't Buy This

My favorite dish this week is blueberries & cream for breakfast. We went to our friends' "farm" on Saturday to pick fresh blueberries.

Baby Beets

Lately I am feeling like an inadequate food blogger. I am just not a good food photographer. I know that the number 1 reason for success as a food blogger is in the pictures. For example, check out these photos. Ridiculous! I am going to have to work on this little problem.

Anyway, let me tell you about my baby beets. They are so delicious and tender! And they cook very quickly in a saute pan. Butter. Yummy with baby cucumbers, fresh dill, and sour cream. I just love thinning out the beet rows!

Also noted this week: Ariel had her first ice cream sandwich, my favorite childhood treat.