Harvest Recipes

It has been a busy fall (no time for blogging). Here is some of what we've been cookin' up.







Squash Patties

(Recipe from June)

INGREDIENTS

• 8 medium yellow squash, shredded
• 1 onion, shredded
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the squash and onion in a colander, sprinkle with salt, and drain about 30 minutes, until no longer moist. If you have less time (like me) then decrease the salt and squish the moisture out with your fist.
   
2. In a bowl, mix the squash and onion, flour, cornmeal, egg, and cheese. Season with pepper. My squash must have been bigger than their concept of medium because I ended up adding another egg and more flour/corn meal to get it to stick with the correct consistency.
   
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Drop squash mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls into the skillet, flatten with spatula, and cook 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. I used a lot more than 1 Tbs olive oil. I probably used 1 Tbs each time I cooked up 3 in the pan at a time.

I halved the recipe and still had LOTS.

Zucchini/Tomato Herb Casserole

This recipe came from Scott's mom Maggie. I tried it with the zucchini I had frozen using the technique below, and it turned out well.


Canned Peaches

Pick your own.org has some great peach recipes. See Peach Butter below...



Peach Butter










Zucchini Pickles
I haven't actually tasted these yet, but they look good in the jar.

Frozen Zucchini
It turns out a little "rubbery" once you defrost it and use it again, but it certainly tastes good and reduces the glut of zucchini this time of year!

June's Tomato Soup

Its the ripe home grown tomatoes that make it taste so good. I used this recipe:

110 ripe home grown tomatos

7 tbs flour

6 med onions

14 tbs butter

5 stalks celery

salt to taste

14 sprigs of parley (or can used dried)

4 tbs sugar

1 bay leaf

2 tsp pepper

dried basil to taste (or fresh)

Wash, blanch, skin and seed tomatoes. Reserve the juice. Chop onions, celery, parsley, bay leaf and basil. Place in a large pot with tomatoes. Cook until onion and celery are tender. Blend until smooth then return to boil. Mix butter and flour with tomato juice and add to boiling soup. Add salt, sugar and pepper. For a smoother consistency put through sieve (I skipped this). Fill clean jars to within 1 inch of top. Process in pressure cooker on 15 psi for 15 minutes (for my altitude).

What to do with a Girl like Zucchini

August was Zucchini time. Better not blink or there will be one the size of your forearm on the plant. Here is what we did about it:

Freezing: Found this article. We'll see if it doesn't turn them to mush when I defrost them!

Canning: Since the cucumbers are getting a slow start, we'll see if we can't pickle zucchini instead.

Cooking: Zucchini Bread. Zucchini gratin. And my favorite, Grilled Zucchini.

Giving them away: Don't leave your car unlocked if you come around my house in August.

Apricot Yum

My family helped a neighbor harvest her apricot tree awhile back and in return she gave us a bucketful.

We quickly got to work on making them into jam. I made 3 batches and also dehydrated quite a few.

I always thought that making jam was a pain, but I watched Melinda Shishim doing it with cherries a few weeks ago. I've been jammin' away ever since.

Essentially the process is this when using Pomona's Pectin:

1. Clean and blanch the fruit for a minute or so. This makes it easy to pull the skins off and pit them quickly.
2. Add lime juice and calcium water, and put it on the stove
3. Mix pectin and honey or sugar in a separate bowl, and then add to the stewing jam
4. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir to make sure the pectin is dissolved
5. Transfer the liquid into sterilized jars, wipe around the edges to make sure the tops will seal and add the caps (not tightening too much).
6. Place jars in boiling water bath for 10 minutes. Add one minute for every 1000 feet in elevation
7. Allow the jars to cool. The jam congeals when it is completely cooled.

Pomona's Pectin requires much less sugar, making it a bit easier to swallow.

Thanks to my Mom for cooking with me last visit and the sista-in-law for inspiring me to jam this year!

Goats at the Fair

The County Fairgrounds, located conveniently across the street from my house, were the temporary home to GOATS this weekend for the La Plata County Fair.








There were some good lookin' nannys and kids, and I spoke to a guy who raises them- his kid took champion and first runner up with his goats. He said he knows a guy who is giving goats away right now- woe (and woa!) is me... my land lady would have a fit.

Also present were, chickens, pigs, cows (uck), sheep (eew) and an assortment of flashy fair rides.



Oink!

Cherry Tomato Woes

My Sweet 100s are looking a little peeked. Anyone have any ideas about what's up?

Tomato Blight?

Under watering?

Aphids?