Remember the cheesy old movie "Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes"? It's so stupid it's funny. Anyway, I kept hearing the theme song from that flick while preparing our harvest of tomatoes for canning. I came home from Chicago and Jack had lovingly picked them and had them waiting patiently for me.
I lined them up so nicely. Romas and then the bigger ones...(I can't remember their proper names!) I call them killer because of their "killer"..ie fabulous..taste! The Romas got made into spaghetti sauce and the others were canned or eaten. Nothing better than a fresh tomato from the garden with a little salt thrown on! Or maybe a tomato sandwich? However you like them I'll be preparing them. See those cute green peppers in the green bowl? Underneath those cuties were also green beans.
The peppers got made into stuffed peppers or sliced for the freezer for use on another day. A little spag sauce in the middle. How about those green beans? I know you want to know!
The beans made it into jars and soon will line the shelves. I know it's much easier to head to the store and buy produce in cans or frozen. I still do that too but there's something about growing your own and "putting it up" as the saying goes. There must be many other wanabee farmers out there because finding jar lids is like a treasure hunt going store to store. I finally found some at our local hardware store. They were up at the registers and you were only allowed to purchase 2 boxes at a time. We do live in an Amish community but I've never had a problem getting lids until last year. Folks probably figure you'd better grow your own food incase there's another run at the grocery store. Still can't grow toilet paper though! (No more Sears catalogs either! Ha!) So this is my first run of the harvest season. Our produce has done well and we'll give a high five to the Alpaca poop from our neighbors. That stuff is amazing and it doesn't even stink! Canning and freezing will be on my list of "to dos" for the next month. We'll savor the fresh tomatoes while we can. Winter will have us dreaming of them soon! Just so you know I didn't spend all weekend with veggies, here's a pic of a new cake recipe:
It's a bundt cake that's a take off of one of my families favorites...Texas Sheet Cake. Jack said this cake looked like Texas Sheet Cake's little brother! The frosting is the killer here. When I make the sheet cake I always double the frosting so I did the same here after Jack test tasted it and said it needed the same treatment. I'm taking half of it to my son's house tomorrow. We'll see if it gets 2 thumbs up!
6 comments:
Hi, YaYa!
I'm excited to read this post and examine your high yield from the garden. You collected enough tomatoes, peppers and green beans to open your own farmers' market! Yessum, picking your own garden fresh veggies and bringing them to the dinner table in various recipes or canning and storing them for a snowy winter day, is rewarding, and beats store bought. How cool that the alpaca across the fence provided poop that helped grow your crops. I've heard that Yeti dung is also excellent for that purpose. If you go to the Creepy Woods and ask nicely, I'm sure your lovable Bigfoot will be happy to contribute.
I think I already told you that when I was a little boy I loved to sit on the back porch with a garden fresh tomato in one hand and a shaker of salt in the other. It was a delicious treat. I think I also mentioned that Mrs. Shady loves tomato sandwiches and that she also does her share of vegetable canning. Your bundt cake looks delicious. I'll have to ask Mrs. S if she knows the recipe for a Texas Sheet Cake. If memory serves, my friends Addy Rae Rae and Lexie will be enjoying their portion of your cake today.
It makes me very happy to know you are back to enjoying life again after an extended period of trials and tribulations. I hope it stays that way. Have a wonderful week, dear friend YaYa!
Wow, I love all of your garden produce. I love gardening, but have never canned or bottled. I wouldn't know where to begin. That cake looks delicious! Catching up on posts - I hope your sister is doing well. It's good of you to go to Chicago and help her. Hope you have a good week. See you again soon!
That took me back to seeing mama can her tomatoes. She could grow the best. I love the canned tomatoes, but of course you can NEVER beat the fresh ones on a sandwich, in my opinion.
The cake looks and sounds delicious...
I'll start with the cake, I want a piece. It looks yummy.
Wow, your tomatoes are huge. Nothing compares to those homegrown tomatoes. I only planted 2 cherry tomato plants and three Scotia tomato plants in my garden. The scotia tomatoes are for the short seasons and are a medium size. The herd of deers ate all the tops of George tomatoes at the farm and I'm not sure how they survived.
I haven't bottled beans for many years and was wondering if you process them in a pressure cooker? I have an abundance of beans and would like to bottle some but no longer have my pressure cooker as I gave it to my brother years ago to process his moose meat.
Enjoy your garden bounty. I hope your sister Midge is doing fine.
Hugs,
Julia
I use to can, but these past few years have not grown a garden. Maybe I should do it again as there is mothing like a fresh grown tomato! Hopefully your cake will be a hit. Looks good! Janice
You have some blue ribbon produce there....and blue ribbon canning as well. Although I do not like raw tomatoes (well, I make an exception for bruschetta), there is nothing like home canned sauce/stewed tomatoes. And home canned green beans taste SOOO much better than store-bought. I got rid of most of my canning things years ago already. I know I could just do the old fashioned hot water bath, but probably don't even have enough jars....and would have to buy all the produce...and yes, we had a lid shortage year last summer already. That cake looks positively dreamy...you need to share the recipe for it (and the frosting!!) with us! And now you have me hungry for stuffed green peppers LOL. ~Robin~
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